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Of all the meat breeds in the world, four are the most popular among pig farmers.
Of these four, it is most often used not in purebred breeding for meat, but for breeding highly productive meat crosses. This pig breed Duroc, bred in the USA.
History of the breed
The origin of the breed is not reliably known. One version points to Guinea pigs as one of the undisputed ancestors of the Duroc. Another version claims that Spanish-Portuguese red pigs were brought to America by Columbus during his second voyage. In the third version, it is believed that the Durocs acquired their brown color from the infusion of blood from British Berkshire pigs. Today, Berkshire pigs are black, but at the time the Duroc pig was created, there were many brown ones among the Berkshires.
There were other “arrivals” of red pigs into the United States. In 1837, the owner of a Kentucky farm brought four red pigs from Spain. In 1852, several of the same pigs were brought to Massachusetts, but the owner soon died and his inheritance was sold to several other states.
Modern Duroc pigs are believed to be descended from two lines of meat pigs: the red pig, bred in New Jersey, and the "red Duroc" pig, bred in New York (not the city, but the state). The newly bred cross was at first even called Jersey.
Red Jersey pigs were large animals, characterized by rapid growth, large bone structure, the ability to gain weight quickly, and large litters.
The founder of the Red New York Durocs was born in 1823. The boar became famous for its sleek and high-quality body no less than its owner's stallion.
Duroc passed on to his descendants the name, already like a breed, color, fast growth, deep body, broad shoulders and powerful hams and a calm disposition.
New York Durocs were smaller than Jersey Reds with finer bone and better quality meat. Indicators such as fertility, precocity and longevity in the Durocs did not differ from the Jersey line.
As a result of crossing these two lines and additionally infusing the blood of red Berkshire pigs, as well as adding Tamworth pigs to the breed, the modern breed of Duroc meat pigs was obtained. However, the participation of Tamworths in the breeding of Durocs is doubtful even among the Americans, since there is no reliable documentary evidence of this.
When moving west, the settlers also brought the Durocs with them. The breed was finally cut in the states of Ohio, Nebraska, Kentucky, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. The Duroc became the leading pig breed for American farmers.
In addition, its ability to improve other breeds of pigs was later discovered. As a result, today Durocs are used not so much for direct meat production, but as a terminal breed in the breeding of industrial meat cross-breeding pigs. Duroc boars are of particular value in this production.
Description of the breed
The characteristics of the modern Duroc pig breed differ from those of the ancestral breeds and early representatives of this breed of pig.
Modern Durocs are somewhat smaller than their ancestors, since work on the breed was carried out in the direction of quality and maximum slaughter yield of meat.
The photo shows an ideal representative of the Duroc breed in the understanding of Western registrars.
- Long hairless snout.
- Drop ears.
- Long neck with short hair.
- Large front legs with powerful toes.
- Wide chest.
- Wide, muscular withers.
- Long side with well formed ribs.
- Seven clearly visible functional nipples on each side. Large distance between nipples.
- Strong, well-formed sacrum.
- Long, wide, muscular hams.
- The hind legs are straight, with a flexible, elastic hock joint.
Thanks to the mixture of numerous breeds (it is unlikely that only two lines of pigs took part in breeding the breed), the Duroc breed is distinguished by a fairly wide variety of colors. From golden yellow, almost white, to mahogany color.
In the photo the Duroc is white.
And the opposite color line is the darkest Duroc.
If you are offered a Duroc with erect or semi-erect ears, it does not matter what color it is. At best it is a crossbred animal.
The modern Duroc is a medium-sized breed.The weight of an adult boar is 400 kg, and that of a pig is 350 kg. The body length of a boar can be up to 2 m. When construction of a pigsty It’s better to take such a nuance into account right away, so that you don’t have to rebuild everything later.
There are larger boars. According to the author of the video, the exhibition features a boar weighing 450 kg.
Duroc meat has layers of fat, which makes Duroc steak tender and juicy. It was this quality of meat that made the breed so popular, first in the USA, and then throughout the world.
Diet features
Like all representatives of its species, the Duroc is omnivorous. But due to the rapid growth of muscle mass, piglets need high-protein food. For fattening piglets you can use:
- peas;
- barley;
- wheat;
- bran;
- oats;
- potato;
- acorns;
- return;
- serum;
- bread;
- kitchen waste.
Those who are not afraid of the GMO acronym can also feed soy. Instead of meat, it is better to give piglets blood or meat and bone meal. Fishmeal is usually present in regions where fish processing plants are built. It is also suitable for fattening pigs. You can also negotiate the purchase of fish processing waste at a symbolic price.
In addition, if possible, the diet of pigs includes fodder beets, overripe cucumbers, carrots and zucchini. People no longer eat such stale and stringy vegetables, so they can be bought at half the price. And the pigs will be happy.
Silage recommended on many sites is not recommended. The technology for making silage involves fermentation, which results in excess acid appearing in the feed. Increased acidity in the stomach impairs the digestibility of other feeds.In addition, silage is prone to rapid souring.
Duroc piglets reach a slaughter weight of 100 kg by six months of life. If piglets were raised not for breeding, but for slaughter, then there is no point in keeping them longer.
Breed conditions
Since these pigs were bred in the relatively warm United States, they are not particularly frost-resistant, requiring warm housing in the winter. At the same time, Durocs are demanding in terms of living conditions, in addition to warmth, they require fresh air, coolness and the absence of drafts. It is quite problematic to meet all the conditions without climate control installations. Perhaps this is why, despite all their advantages, pigs of this breed have not become widespread in private farms, remaining the genetic material for the production of meat crosses on pig farms.
In this case, the owners have to master the profession of a veterinarian, doing inhalations to internally cleanse the piglets of mucus and pus and putting antibiotic drops into the piglets’ noses. But for these procedures, you still need to be able to catch the piglets.
With the onset of warm days, it is recommended to keep pigs outside.
Indoor pens are arranged based on the direction of keeping and the size of the pig. For animals being fattened for meat, the size of the pen should be minimal, or they should all be kept in a common space, the size of which depends on the number of pigs being fattened. If it is planned to breed Durocs, then breeding boars and pregnant uteruses are allocated separate pens with an area of 4-5 m².
Straw or hay is used as bedding. It is better not to use wooden flooring as a floor.If the pig is not given a separate corner for the toilet, then the urine will flow under the boards and decompose there. As a result, the expression “it stinks like a pigsty” will become anything but figurative.
It is better to make the floor asphalt or concrete and cover it with a thick layer of straw. On pig farms, special metal flooring with holes is used. But the farm maintains a stable temperature of about 25°C.
Breeding Durocs
It is better to buy pigs from specialized breeding farms. But even here you need to have a good understanding of this breed. With any breeding there is always a certain percentage of animals for culling. When raising pigs for meat, you can not attach importance to the fact that the animal was rejected from breeding. But if you want to breed high-quality breeding pigs, you need to carefully look at what they are trying to sell you from the farm.
Duroc breeding pigs:
Pigs are distinguished by good fertility, producing 9-11 piglets per farrowing. Sows of this breed are good mothers who do not cause trouble to their owners.
Important! During farrowing, the room temperature should not be lower than 25°C.
By two weeks, piglets gain weight of 2.5 kg. They can already weigh 5-6 kg per month.
Month-old Duroc piglets:
Reviews from owners of Duroc pigs
Conclusion
Duroc is a good breed for those who do not like fat and do not want to cut it off the carcass. High-quality and tasty meat compensates for any longing for lard. If it were not for the difficulties with maintenance, Duroc would be an excellent choice for beginners, since the main problem is not maintenance issues, but the aggression of pigs towards humans. Duroc does not have this defect.
