hampshire pigs

This breed is from England and has a high lean meat percentage but with few cases of PSE (pale meat, soft and exudative) and with low production yield. The males are usually used for cross-breeding to improve the lean meat percentage of whichever breed. Nowadays, in Spain, there are only about 100 females of this particular race. Its meat usually has a rather low pH which means it has a low capacity for water retention; this is related to its having a gene called RN.

This pig breed has high standards of quality for ham, but low productive potential.

Its main characteristics are:

- They are medium sized, with good bone proportion and conformation. Boars can weigh up to 180 kg and females up to 145 Kg.

- Colour: black with a white stripe around the neck and forelegs.

- Head: intermediate size, its forehead is rather broad and almost without wrinkles.

- Ears: medium-sized, raised and slightly turned outwards.

- Neck: short, well interspersed with head and trunk, and with little jowl.

- Shoulders: well attached to the stem, perfectly formed and somewhat depressed.

- Back: broad, somewhat curved, with no decline on reaching the back and spine.

- Spine: long, wide, develops equally with the rear and fore legs.

- Thorax: a little sunken, elongated, and somewhat curved ribs.

- Abdomen: smooth, complete with the bottom line, has twelve teats at least, all equally distributed.

- Rump: large, elongated and slightly sunken, decscending from the top down to the tail.

- Buttocks and thighs: quite wide, complete and well formed.

- Tail: sturdily situated in the middle of the higher zone.