THE BRITISH LOP PIG SOCIETY

The history of this great breed goes back beyond the first volume of the herd book in 1921. Those writing at that time had memories stretching back to the 1880’s, nearly all based around the Cornwall/Devon border. It seems very likely that the breed’s development over time, in that relatively small geographic area, was by farmers wanting to turn grazing and by-products of other farming activities into saleable pig products. The result was a pig able to produce high quality pork, or easily be taken on to bacon weight without laying down too much fat. They were further developed over time to meet that need. Indeed that niche is still filled by the British Lop, as we know it today.

PRE-WAR YEARS

The popularity of classes held at the May 1921 Devon County Show together with the high quality stock shown under the auspices of the then-named ‘The Long, White, Lop Eared Pig Society’ gave a great boost to the popularity of the pigs. Foundation stock must have still been being inspected at this time to allow publication of the first herd book.

There was a brief flirtation with the Welsh Pig Society in the late `1920’s- and although separate sections were maintained in the herd book, both sides quietly went their own way before the onset of the 1930’s. These years, before World War 2, were perhaps a high point for the breed with many bred pure, and registered predominately in the area of origin.

POST-WAR TO PRESENT DAY

With their thriftiness and fecundity the Lops (although still not officially British Lops) should have been an ideal pig for food production during and after the War. Sadly, this was not to be as, in what now seems a very short-sighted move, the Ministry of Food urged farmers to concentrate on breeding other commercially viable white pigs such as the Large White and Landrace. The Lop suffered very much as a result. Few families, still prominent in the Society, managed to keep the breed going through what must have been a narrow gene pool.

The low period for the Society was during the 1960’s and 70’s with only 105 boars and 222 gilts registered in a ten year period. For comparison purposes that is about 1/10 of annual registrations today. There were 11 breeders maintaining the breed