Aaron Tolliver NESA 2016

The Decline of Heritage Breeds in

Pork Production

CHANGES IN THE PORK INDUSTRY

Originally introduced to North America in 1539

Used heavily as barreled salt pork, bacon, and lard

in the early 1900’s Cheap corn production lured the largely decentralized pork industry to the mid-west

WWII caused a boom in lard demand for war production but also increased the consumption of vegetable oils

The lard market never recovered and breed selection shifted to leanness

Vertical integration 1987 “The other white meat” slogan was

released

WHAT ARE HERITAGE BREEDS?

Uniquely tailored to a specific local environment, farming type, and purpose.

Often developed over careful selection over hundreds of animal generations.

Choctaw, Mulefoot, Ossabaw Island, Gloucestershire Old Spots, Guinea Hog, Large Black, Red Wattle, Tamworth, Hereford, Saddleback

10 total 3 critical with less than 200 in the U.S. 5 threatened less than 1000 in the U.S.

WHY IS HERITAGE BREED PRODUCTION IMPORTANT?

Preserve national heritage Save biodiversity Often utilized in alternative management systems Solve global management issues

DRAWBACKS IN HERITAGE PRODUCTION

Often Inbreed Low availability of stock Can not compare to the production in CAFOs Often Fatty compared to lean market standard

SUPPORT FOR HERITAGE PRODUCTION

Organizations for conservation Chefs and Consumers Studies characterizing Porcine genomes

RELATIONSHIPS AMONG AND VARIATION WITHIN RARE BREEDS OF SWINE

University of Missouri Kizzi Roberts under the direction of William

Lamberson Methods

Collected hair samples from Guinea, Ossabaw Island, Red Wattle, American SaddleBack , Mulefoot, British Saddleback, Duroc, Landrace, Large White, pietrain, and Tamworth

Samples genotyped with Illumina PorcineSNP60 BeadChip SNP data was then converted to Pedigree and genetic maps Analyzed in PLINK to create genomic relationship matrix and

inbreeding coefficients Finally the data is plugged into a Multidimensional scaling tool

RELATIONSHIPS AMONG AND VARIATION WITHIN RARE BREEDS OF SWINE

Results Created a matrix of relation and

inbreeding Found that most of the rare breeds

to be more inbreed Breed cluster with high levels of

relatedness(i.e. Duroc and Red Wattle, Large white, Pietrain, and landrace)

Breed Inbreeding Relatedness Cluster

Landrace .15 Lowest(.03) 1

Pietrain .12 .07 1Large White .15 .05 1

B. Saddleback .15 .14 2

A. Saddleback .08(lowest) .15 2

Guinea .26 .17 3Ossabaw Island

.47(highest .37 3

Mulefoot .39 Highest(.69) 3

Red Wattle .28 .49 4(close to 5)

Duroc .25 .21 5(close to 4)

Tamworth .41 .46 6 (distant from other groups)

MOVING FORWARD

Preservation of genomes Prevent inbreeding Assist registries Determine like breeds

Support for small farmers to continue small scale agriculture Education Marketing contact

THANKS AND WORK CITED NATIONAL PORK BOARD- PORK CHECK OFF

THE LIVESTOCK CONSERVANCY

CHEN, ELI. "SMITHSONIAN, FOUNDATION BUILD DNA LIBRARY." LIBRARY JOURNAL 139.14 (2014): 16. WEB. 2 MAY 2015. 

 HUANG, Y., ET AL. "ESTIMATION OF U.S. YORKSHIRE BREED COMPOSITION USING GENOMIC DATA." JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE 92.4 (2014): 1395-1404. ACADEMIC SEARCH PREMIER. WEB. 26 JAN. 2016.   ROBERTS, K S, AND W R LAMBERSON. "RELATIONSHIPS AMONG AND VARIATION WITHIN RARE BREEDS OF SWINE." JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE 93.8 (2015): 3810-3813. MEDLINE. WEB. 26 JAN. 2016.

ROOSEVELT, MARGOT. "EAT THEM OR LOSE THEM." TIME 165.24 (2005): 45-47. WEB. 2 MAY 2015.  SPONENBERG, D. PHILLIP, JEANNETTE BERANGER, AND ALISON MARTIN. AN INTRODUCTION TO HERITAGE BREEDS: SAVING AND RAISING RARE-BREED LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY . N.P.: N.P., N.D. PRINT. 

 

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