Casertana pig

The Casertana is a breed of domestic pig from Campania, in southern Italy.[2] It is mainly associated with the province of Caserta, from which its name derives, but was in the past also raised in the provinces of Campobasso, Naples, Rome and Salerno. The area of the lower basin of the Garigliano and Volturno rivers, including the comuni of Carinola, Mondragone, Minturno, Sessa Aurunca and Teano, was particularly known for production of the breed, which may also be known as the Teanese after the town of Teano.[3]

Casertana
Conservation statusFAO (2007): critical[1]
Other names
  • Maiale di Teano
  • Teanese
  • Pelatella
Country of originItaly
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    170 kg[2]
  • Female:
    140 kg[2]
Notes
Breed standard
  • Pig
  • Sus scrofa domesticus

The Casertana has two unusual physical traits: it is virtually or totally hairless, which gives rise to its alternative name Pelatella, "hairless one"; and it has two wattles or cylindrical appendages hanging from the lower part of the throat.[3]

It is one of the six autochthonous pig breeds recognised by the Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali, the Italian ministry of agriculture and forestry.[4]

History

The Casertana was in the past numerous and widely distributed in Italy. According to a census taken in 1942, there were more than 50,000 head in the province of Caserta alone. As with other indigenous Italian pig breeds, numbers fell sharply in the second part of the twentieth century, and the Casertana came close to extinction.[3]

A herdbook was established in 2001,[5] and is kept by the Associazione Nazionale Allevatori Suini, the Italian national association of pig breeders. The population remains low: at the end of 2007 it was 594,[3] and conservation status of the breed was listed as "critical" by the FAO.[1] At the end of 2012 there were 403 pigs registered.[6]

References
  1. Barbara Rischkowsky, D. Pilling (eds.) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Accessed April 2011.
  2. Breed data sheet: Casertana/Italy. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed May 2014.
  3. Daniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon (2008). Atlante delle razze autoctone: Bovini, equini, ovicaprini, suini allevati in Italia (in Italian). Milan: Edagricole. ISBN 9788850652594. p. 429–31.
  4. Norme tecniche del Libro Genealogico e del Registro Anagrafico della specie suina: Allegato 1 a D.M. 11255 del 13 June 2013 (in Italian). Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali. pp. 8–9. Accessed May 2014.
  5. Strutture Zootecniche (Dec. 2009/712/CE - Allegato 2 - Capitolo 2) (in Italian). Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali. Section I (e). Archived 4 May 2014.
  6. Andrea Cristini, et al. (23 June 2013). Relazione del comitato direttivo alla assemblea generale dei soci (in Italian). Rome: Associazione Nazionale Allevatori Suini. Archived 7 May 2014.


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