History and current status of the breed
Mangalitsa is an autochthonous fatty type pig breed, created from the old Serbian Šumadinka breed. During the nineteenth century, pigs were the main export product of Serbia, especially in the northern part of the country (today’s Autonomous Province of Vojvodina) and in the region of Šumadija (central part of Serbia). In Šumadija, pigs were mostly fattened in the forests where they were searching for oak and beech acorn and other forest feed resources. The majority of animals were exported to the former Austro-Hungarian monarchy. In that time, the pig farming was based on local indigenous breeds with the dominant breeds Šiška and Šumadinka. Šiška and Šumadinka were the most primitive breed of pigs, created by domestication of wild pigs Sus scrofa ferus. Šiška once had high importance, in the relatively recent past (eighteenth century), not only in Serbia but also in Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. In the nineteenth century, a new breed Šumadinka was created by domestication of wild pigs (Sus scrofa ferus) and reared in slightly better conditions. Both of these breeds are lost in their original form. However, Šumadinka can be considered as an important ancestor of Mangalitsa. In the Republic of Serbia, there are three Mangalitsa breed types: swallow-belly strain (Srem black Mangalitsa or Buđanovci pig developed in the area of Srem near Ruma, a village of Buđanovci), white strain (blonde or Hungarian strain, created when in 1833 Prince Miloš Obrenović gave two boars and 10 sows of Šumadinka breed to the Hungarian nobleman Palatine Joseph on the farm Kisjeno where better rearing conditions, accommodation and food source were provided, which lead to the creation of more productive pig breed of white Mangalitsa) and red strain (mainly represented on the territory of Hungary and Romania and, in our country, present only in traces).
Apart from Serbia, the Mangalitsa is present in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Switzerland, Great Britain, USA and Canada.
Exterior characteristics
The main morphological characteristics of the Mangalitsa breed are summarized in Table 1. It is a medium-size breed, known for its thick, wooly coat similar to that of a sheep. The three Mangalica breed types are blonde, swallow-belly and red Mangalitsa. Swallow-belly strain (Figure 2), which is one of the most numerous in Serbia, is late maturing type, resistant and well adapted to extensive rearing and housing conditions. It requires only a simple shelter from rain and snow. The head is relatively small, with large ears that hang in front over the eyes and face. The earlobe is set high and elastic to the touch. The ear length is 2/3 of the length of the head. The chest and short torso/body are broad and deep and extend to just below the elbow. The back and loin are straight or slightly curved from the side view. The back part of the body and thighs are well developed, wide and muscular. The abdomen is long and cylindrical with the mammary complex consisting of four to six pairs of teats. Limbs are long, wide and muscular. The skin is pigmented, dark or brown in colour, with dense, bright and curly bristles that are shorter in swallow-belly strain. The colour of bristles can be from grey-yellow to reddish (ginger). The eyelids, eyebrows, muzzle, nipples of the mammary complexes, hooves, tail tip and natural openings on the body are always black. Brinzej states that there are two varieties of this type, of which one from the western breeding region is called “Buđanovac” variety named after the village Buđanovci. This variety has a greater part of the body pigmented (entire head, body and the sides of the body and the legs from the outer-lateral side to the claws). The second variety—“Otok” and “Lasa” named after the village of Otok in the western part of the Srem region—with the legs pigmented only to the hock joint and the lower part of the papilla is white. The Otok variety has regularly strongly developed bristles, which the “Buđanovac” variety lacks or is less developed. At birth, piglets have characteristic stripes, which disappear in 10 days in white strain piglets and in 3–4 months in swallow-belly strain.
Use of breed and main products
Mangalitsa is a late maturing pig breed, selected for fat production. It has low fertility, long suckling period and a very weak-slow growth. But on the other hand, Mangalitsa is very resistant and well adapted to extensive conditions of housing, where the needs are only for a simple shelter from rain and snow. With such features, its cost-effectiveness is in low investment in housing facilities with large areas for pasturing and acorn nutrition, preferably if an organic breeding system is possible. Considering the low production performance (low daily gain and meatiness), crossbreeding with the Moravka, Resavka, Duroc, Hampshire or Berkshire breed could contribute to an improvement of growth and carcass traits, with the shorter fattening period and higher percentage of meat content in the carcass. The animals not chosen for the nucleus herd could be crossed with Duroc, Hampshire or Berkshire which would contribute to more economical production of meat and the production of traditional high-value products (ham, sremski kulen and Sremska sausages) and their marketing as highly valuable organic products or products protected by a geographical indication.
Dry-fermented sausages are meat products with a very long tradition of production, and today there are numerous national variants of these products. The most popular types of traditional fermented sausages in Serbia are kulen and Sremska sausage. Kulen, a traditional fermented dry sausage, is a well-known and very popular meat product in the north of Serbia (Srem, Bačka) and Croatia (Slavonia, Baranja). remska sausage is a Serbian dry-fermented sausage traditionally produced in the north-western part of Serbia (Srem region).
(excerpt from pig333.com)
Mangalitsa
(Mangalitza)
(Mangalitca)
