A Wessex Saddleback is a breed of which farm animal?

The Wessex Saddleback is a striking looking black pig with a white belt, which includes the front legs, around the body. (Historically, the Wessex developed almost alongside the Essex Saddleback, which differed only in having white hind feet and tail tip.) The ears are lopped forward. The Wessex is both prolific and hardy, and does well as an outdoor pig – being bred originally as a specialist bacon producer.

A Wessex Saddleback breed society was formed in Britain in 1918, but the breed (or a very similar one) may have been imported into New Zealand prior to this date. Sometime before 1905 a Mr Hardcastle described black pigs with a white stripe over the shoulder as being plentiful among the wild pigs of Canterbury, and a Mr Forster of Oxford is recorded as having imported white-shouldered pigs from England around the end of the nineteenth century.

In Great Britain, the Wessex and the Essex breeds were amalgamated in 1967, and became the British Saddleback. The Wessex Saddleback is extinct as a separate breed in Britain. However, the Wessex Saddleback survives in Australia and New Zealand