They are less than two weeks old, but these piglets already have wrinkles and are making history.
The litter of eight Meishan piglets are the first of their kind to be born in the UK for thirty years.
The breed, with their long floppy ears and wrinkly faces, is popular in China but has never been properly introduced in this country.
Owner Linda McDonald-Brown, 51, brought the litter’s year-old mother Miep and nine-month-old father Wrinkles over from northern Holland with husband Graham, 47, last year.
And two weeks ago Miep gave birth to seven girls and one boy.
The couple plan to start the UK’s first pedigree line of the species and have already sold two of the litter to a smallholder in Essex.
Linda, from Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway, now intends to bring other boars in from Eastern Europe to create a foundation Meishan family from which every pig in the UK will descend.
She said: ‘We are really pleased with the birth. They are the first to be born in this country for about 30 years so it’s very exciting to be involved.
‘We went across to Holland to stay with a friend who also breeds pigs. We didn’t set out with the intention of buying anything but when I saw them I just fell in love with them and bought two sows then and there and later a boar.
‘I have never seen anything like them in my life.
‘They are really prolific breeders in China and are very popular because of their unusual appearance and fatty meat but for some reason they have never taken off here and I want to change that.’
source: dailymail
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