The Belgian Landrace, also known as the Improved Belgian, Belgian Improved Landrace, and the Belgian Lop-eared, is a breed of domestic pig

Domestic pig

The domestic pig is a domesticated animal that traces its ancestry to the wild boar, and is considered a subspecies of the wild boar or a distinct species in its own right. It is likely the wild boar was domesticated as early as 13,000 BC in the Tigris River basin...

 from northern Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. It was created from importing English breeds and improving them until they were "graded up" to the German Improved Landrace from 1930 to 1945 and then breeding them with the Dutch Landrace in 1945. Other breeds were also incorporated into the bloodline to strengthen it, such as with ones from Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

 in 1955, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 in 1971, and the Czech Republic in 1974. Used in many different countries, the Belgian Landrace is also one of the "four major commercial breeds" in France.

Breeding

Because the Belgian Landrace breed is well known for its pork production, it is often bred with other breeds to increase the overall quality of the pork. It is known for being more heavily muscled than other breeds and for being considerably large, along with having a consequent "lower fat content" which leads to "more rapid postmortem metabolism, paler meat color, and lower water holding capacity." A significant amount of ongoing testing has been conducted in the past few decades to maximize the amount of high quality lean and minimize the amount of fat on the breed. There are "eight stations testing over 5,000 pigs per year to isolate those strains capable of further improvement."

In order for the breed to go to sale in Belgium, Belgian Landrace sows

Sow

Sow may refer to:* Sowing seed* Female animals: badger, bear, pig family* Shape in which metal is cast* Type of siege engine* River Sow, England* "Sow", a poem by Sylvia Plath* Sow , the band/spoken word project comprising Anna Wildsmith-People:...

 are often bred with Piétrain

Piétrain

Piétrain is a breed of domestic pig native to Wallonia, which takes its name from Piétrain, a small village of the Walloon municipality of Jodoigne. This breed became popular in the 1950s during the difficult period of the swine market in 1950-51 . Piétrain swine were imported into Germany in 1960-61...

 boars, which improves the quality of the Belgian breed. The offspring are then bred back into the main Belgian Landrace line, bringing with them the better quality of pork.

Description

The Belgian Landrace has been described as "a muscular white breed with heavy drooping ears." They are shorter in a number of characteristics in comparison with other Landrace breeds, but are also "a very practical type that are sound in feet and legs, have good fertility, are good mothers and milk well until early weaning".