Taihu Pig

The Taihu is a domestic pig breed from the mild subtropical region around Lake Tai in the lower Yangtze River Valley of China. It is a large, black pig with a heavily wrinkled face, a broad forehead and large folded ears. The breed is valued above all for its exceptional reproductive capacity, with litters ranging up to twenty piglets and averaging around fourteen live births, along with strong disease resistance, traits that have drawn significant research interest. Western breeders have explored crossing Taihu pigs with domestic strains to try to combine its prolificacy and hardiness with better growth and taste, and the breed has been established outside China in France, Albania, Hungary, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.