Nursing sow with piglets – photo by April Nugent
As many of you may know, one of our recent graduates created a Gloucester Old Spots pig breeding program here at Hampshire College. For her Division III project, April Nugent conducted research on the nutritional and environmental impacts of raising breeding swine on pasture vs. woodlots. We thought you might be interested learning the results of her research, which can be found here: https://drive.google.com/a/hampshire.edu/file/d/17IroMLsXDNhOOgseBbinM8MvGcmDdPRK/view?usp=sharing
This breed of pig, originally from England and known for its domesticity and intelligence, is on the Livestock Conservancy’s “threatened” list, meaning that as of 2018 there were fewer than 1,000 annual registrations in the United States and there was an estimated global population of less than 5,000. This breed, which has excellent maternal skills and thrives on pasture, was once very popular, but fell into decline with the advent of intensive, indoor pig production after World War II. Characterized by its distinctive white coat with black spots and its calm temperament, the breed nearly fell into extinction in the 1960s, but has been recovering slowly since then.
For more information on our ongoing program, follow us on our Gloucester Old Spots Facebook page.
