Pig Fact 5

DORSET BLACK

Both the Dorset Black and later the Imporved Dorset, were bred by Fredrick and John Coates, from Sturminster Newton in Dorset, in the nineteenth century. These small breeds were prone to become over-fat, and the Black Dorset was described as 'roly-poly', and was said to be so obese that it could scarcely walk-- young pigs sometimes suffocated through over feeding. When the taste for leaner pork began to make itself felt these breeds quickly died out.

"To market, to market,
To buy a fat pig
Home again, home again,
Jiggety jig!

To market, to market,
To buy a fat hog,
Home again, home again,
Jiggety jog!