Tamworth Pigs for Sale

Tamworth Pigs or Irish Grazers are ginger to red colored meet pigs from Tamworth, UK and Irish pigs. They are among the oldest of pig breeds, but as with many older breeds of livestock, they are not well suited to modern production methods. There are fewer than 300 registered breeding females remain and are listed as threatened.

Long, lean, and athletic, the Tamworth might be the most direct descendant of Northern Europe’s native pig stock. There is historic documentation that some of the stock used to develop the breed may have had an Irish origin through an importation around 1812 by Sir Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between 1834 to 1835 and 1841 to 1846, to his farm in Tamworth. Peel is reported to have crossed Irish pigs with the local pigs of Tamworth. The Tamworth pig was standardized during the early to mid-1800s, becoming uniform in type. The Tamworth was recognized as a breed by the Royal Agricultural Society in 1885 and fell under the authority of the National Pig Breeders’ Association of Great Britain.

Tamworth pigs were first imported to North America by Thomas Bennett of Rossville, Illinois in 1882. Many more Tamworths were imported into Canada after 1888. The American Tamworth Swine Record Association was founded in 1887 with national headquarters in Ames, Iowa. In Canada, the Tamworth was admitted to the Dominion Swine Breeders Association Herd Book in 1893.

The characteristics of the Tamworth reflect the breed’s centuries of selection for outdoor life. These pigs were expected to find their own food, especially mast or acorns of oak and beech forests. Long heads and impressive snouts enable them to be efficient foragers. Long, strong legs and sound feet give Tamworth pigs the ability to walk for considerable distances. Ginger red coats make the pigs adaptable to a variety of climates and protect them from sunburn. Tamworths have an active intelligence and an agreeable disposition. Sows are prolific, able to produce and care for large litters. The piglets are vigorous and often have 100% survivability. Both sexes of this breed reach a mature weight of 500 to 600 pounds (227-272 kg).

The Tamworth was traditionally considered a “bacon” breed, meaning that the pigs thrived on low-energy foods but grew slowly. They produced meat and bacon that was lean and fine-grained. The breed has an excellent carcass yield of up to 70% due to their fine bones creating more productive meat-to-bone ratios for finished meat products.