Know Your Pigs by Jack Byard - The Accidental Smallholder

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The Know Your ... series of books is ideal for novice enthusiasts of all ages. For Know Your Pigs, his fifth book, Jack Byard has selected 29 breeds of pigs, including all those you are likely to see in the UK on farms or at rare breeds centres.

Some of the breeds are old favourites such as the Berkshire, one of which, the fictional Empress of Blandings, was the subject of Lord Emsworth's devotion in fiction by PG Wodehouse. Others are new commercial breeds, the types you will see in pig arks on farm land, such as the Meidam and the Hybrid AC1.

A third group are those breeds of pig which you might see on holidays abroad or which have an intrinsic interest, such as the American Landrace.

Every pig breed has two Know Your Pigs pages devoted to it: a full page photograph opposite  a clear profile of the pig and some notes about the breed history and its current status. The author makes an impassioned plea for the preservation of those breeds which are currently at risk.

Paperback, 64 pages with 29 photographs.