Pork, as well as meat products made from it, has always occupied an important place in the human diet. But with the popularization of proper nutrition, lean meat has become the main consumer demand, and therefore today it is lean pork that attracts the attention of buyers and is more in demand on the market. And meat processing workshops for the production of sausages require meat first of all, not lard and fat. To meet the needs of the market, farmers have engaged in the cultivation of bacon pigs in the field of productivity. Pietren pigs have become very famous among such animals.
The Pietren breed is of Belgian origin. It appeared at the beginning of the last century, around 1920. The breeding of pigs of the meat and bacon direction was carried out on pig farms in the small village of Pietren (province of Brabant), from which the name of the breed originated. The ancestors of the Pietrens were the best local pigs, purebred Berkshire boars and large white pigs of English breeding. Around 1925, it was decided to crossbreed in a more scientific way in order to obtain a special breed of pigs, less fat and with more muscle. Two years later, a promising sample was presented for the first time at an exhibition competition organized by the agricultural commission in the nearby town of Zhodoyne. And by the beginning of the Second World War, almost all pig farms in Brabant were engaged in breeding pietrens.
During the creation of the breed, closely related mating was widely used to consolidate the desired meat type of body structure. As a result, in addition to achieving the desired result, undesirable side effects arose in the form of weakening the health of animals, deterioration of their adaptability to conditions of detention, low acclimatization capabilities, reduced fertility and survival of young animals, increased demands on the quality characteristics of feed and the microclimate of the room.
For a long time, the breed was small and bred only in Belgium. But in the 1950s, the demand for lean pork meat grew rapidly in Europe, and pietrenes became very popular. In ten to fifteen years, animals of this breed have spread almost all over Europe. In many countries, they were used to improve the meat qualities of local breeds and mongrel livestock. Today, breeding organizations not only in Belgium, but also around the world continue to improve the physical characteristics and quality indicators of the breed. The export of products received from the pietrens is steadily growing, ensuring the financial success of their owners.
The animals of the Pietren breed have a characteristic, very different appearance from other breeds. The body of pigs is long, cylindrical, and emphatically muscular. In pietrens, especially at a young age, due to a very poorly developed fatty subcutaneous layer, muscles are clearly visible. In the front part, the trunk is relatively narrow, but the loin, sacrum and hams are wide and filled. The separation between the muscles, the right and left sides of the hams is clearly distinguishable.
The legs are long, the belly is taut, the chest is narrow and shallow, which makes the animals seem tall. The back is straight, without sagging or hunching. The neck, compared to other breeds, is long and muscular. The head is small, the ears are short and erect. The profile is straight or slightly concave in shape, the muzzle is of medium length. The suit is mottled: dark gray spots are randomly arranged on a white background. The borders of the spots are clear, but slightly lighter than the main tone of the spot.
The weight of adult boars ranges from 230 kg to 260 kg, sows weigh less: 160 – 220 kg. Boars can be used as producers up to three or four years of age. Later, their activity decreases, and the quality of the seed deteriorates.
Sows are not highly fertile. Full-aged pigs bring only about eight piglets per farrowing. The fertility of young, repair pigs is even lower. Maternal qualities are also low – low milk content prevents offspring from gaining weight quickly during the suckling period, and the careless behavior of the sow itself can cause the death of some piglets. The older the pig, the better it grows its brood, therefore it is recommended to use sows as long as they are able to give and feed offspring.
While the offspring are under the uterus, the growth rate of young animals is largely determined by its milk content, therefore, during the suckling period, sows are recommended to feed dairy feeds with a high protein content and provide abundant watering. The inclusion of macula and whole cow’s milk in the sow’s diet usually significantly increases its milk content, which immediately has a positive effect on the average daily weight gain of suckling young. The daily weight gain of piglets from the beginning of complementary feeding and with full feeding after weaning is about 400-500 g per day.
The Pietren breed is rather late-maturing, not having high growth energy. Only at the age of seven to nine months, the young reach a weight of 90-100 kg and can be sent for slaughter. The meat obtained from such animals is of very high quality, it has almost no fat layers, is tender, is quickly absorbed by the body and requires only short-term heat treatment.
The slaughter yield of carcasses is about 70%. The average cost of feed when keeping young animals up to 100 kg is about four feed units. Further, the feed conversion is reduced to 4.5 – 5 feed units, and the meat is obtained with some fat content. But, due to the genetic predisposition to building a meat-type body, it is extremely difficult to fatten pietren to fatty conditions. Even with enhanced feeding, the thickness of the fat in adults is insignificant.
If we evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the breed, then the bright signs of a meat orientation and the ability to persistently transmit them to offspring are, perhaps, the only significant advantage of pietrens. Among the disadvantages of these pedigreed animals, I would attribute the demands on the conditions of detention. Neither overheating nor a strong decrease in temperature should be allowed in the pigsty.
For example, at a temperature of +10 ° C, which is quite acceptable for most farm animals in general and other pig breeds in particular, pietren pigs feel uncomfortable, freeze, huddle together or tend to burrow into the litter. At lower temperatures, the livestock have symptoms of colds. Young animals reduce their already low growth rates, and also increase feed intake. High temperature (above +30°C) may cause heat stroke, as a result of which even the death of animals is not excluded.
Due to its accelerated metabolism, the breed is also demanding in feeding. Pietren feeds should contain a lot of protein and energy. Only with such feeding, the young are able to reveal their unique breed potential. More specifically, the best feed will be a special factory compound feed, but in the absence of it, you can make a diet of extruded soy, corn, peas, meat-bone and fish meal, dairy products and premix.
It is not always profitable to breed pietrens in their pure form for commercial farming, but the breed is the best suited to improve the meat characteristics of the existing livestock. So, when crossing these animals with durk or with landrace, the negative characteristics of pietren are not transmitted to the offspring, and it grows quickly, and in carcasses we get high-quality, so-called “marbled” meat.
