🐖 Pig
Also known as: sow, Sus scrofa domesticus
A domestic animal that feeds piglets with milk but does not provide it to humans.
Pig is an omnivorous farm animal raised mainly for meat. A sow feeds her piglets with milk, but pigs are almost never milked. The reason is physiological: a sow has many teats (usually 12–16) and no cistern where milk could collect. Milk is released only during nursing, when the sow lies on her side and the piglets massage the udder.
The milk let-down itself is very short — only 8–40 seconds — and is repeated roughly every 40–60 minutes. It is preceded by a release of the hormone oxytocin; the sow grunts rhythmically to signal the piglets. Hand-milking a pig without giving it the hormone is almost impossible, so researchers collect milk samples in a special way.
Sow’s milk is richer in fat and protein than cow’s milk and supports very fast piglet growth. It is not used as a food for humans.
How it connects to milk
How it connects to Cured meats & charcuterie
🐖 Pig ← made from ← 🥓 Salo → kind of → 🥓 Cured meats & charcuterie
Links
- What milk it gives
- 🥛 Pig milk
- Feeds with milk
- 🍼 Piglet
- Belongs to
- 🔬 Mammal
- What is made from it
- 🥓 Salo, Jamón, Prosciutto crudo, 🍖 Prosciutto di Parma, Jabugo, Salami, 🍖 Jamón serrano, Jamón de Teruel, Jamón de Trevélez, Bacon
and 58 more
Pancetta, Guanciale, Lardo, Coppa, Culatello di Zibello, Saucisson sec, 🌭 Chorizo, Fuet, 🌭 Kabanosy, Prosciutto di San Daniele, Prosciutto Toscano, Prosciutto di Modena, Prosciutto di Norcia, Speck Alto Adige, Coppa Piacentina, Coppa di Parma, Pancetta Piacentina, 🥓 Lardo di Colonnata, Salame Piacentino, Salame Felino, Salame Cremona, Salame di Varzi, Salame Brianza, Salamini italiani alla cacciatora, Finocchiona, Ciauscolo, Soppressata di Calabria, Chorizo de Cantimpalos, Chorizo Riojano, Salchichón de Vic, Sobrasada de Mallorca, Saucisson de l'Ardèche, Saucisson sec d'Auvergne, Saucisson de Lacaune, 🍖 Jambon de Bayonne, Jambon noir de Bigorre, Jambon de Vendée, Lonzo de Corse, Rillettes de Tours, Pâté de campagne breton, 🍖 Schwarzwälder Schinken, 🥓 Tiroler Speck, Dalmatinski pršut, Kranjska klobasa, Gyulai kolbász, Szegedi szalámi, Slavonski kulen, 🌭 Nürnberger Rostbratwürste, 🌭 Thüringer Rostbratwurst, Jambon d'Ardenne, Kiełbasa krakowska sucha staropolska, Kiełbasa jałowcowa staropolska, 🌭 Kiełbasa myśliwska staropolska, Melton Mowbray Pork Pie, Traditional Cumberland Sausage, Rillettes, Luncheon meat, 🥃 Chixiang baijiu - Part of
- 🐾 Other mammals
- Similar and different
- Mangalica (Mangalitsa), Cinta Senese, Iberian pig
Frequently asked questions
Why aren’t pigs milked?
Milk is let down for only 8–40 seconds and only while the piglets are nursing; the teats are small and numerous, and there is no storage cistern.
How often does a sow nurse her piglets?
Roughly every 40–60 minutes, around the clock.
Can you drink pig milk?
In theory it is mammal milk, but it is hard to collect and is not a food product.
What to read next
- 🥛 Pig milk — Pig milk: almost nobody has tasted it.
- 🥓 Salo — Salo is salted pig subcutaneous fat from the back and sides, with or without skin, eaten in thin slices and sometimes smoked; a traditional product of Ukrainian cuisine with no protected name.
- 🍖 Prosciutto di Parma — Prosciutto di Parma is an Italian PDO raw ham made only from the leg of Italian heavy pigs and sea salt, aged at least 14 months in the hills south of Parma.
- 🔬 Mammal — The class of animals that feed their young with milk.
- Mangalica (Mangalitsa) — Mangalica (Mangalitsa, Mangalitza, the woolly pig) is a Hungarian lard-type pig breed with a curly winter coat, in blonde, red and swallow-bellied varieties; the Szegedi szalámi specification lists it among permitted breeds.
Similar
🐂 Musk ox · 🦔 Hedgehog · 🐘 Elephant cow · 🐻❄️ Polar bear · 🦘 Kangaroo · 🐕 Dog
What it includes
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- Salame Brianza
- Salame Cremona
- Salame di Varzi
- Salame Felino
- Salame Piacentino
- Salami
- Salamini italiani alla cacciatora
- Salchichón de Vic
- 🥓 Salo
- Saucisson de l'Ardèche
- Saucisson de Lacaune
- Saucisson sec
- Saucisson sec d'Auvergne
- 🍖 Schwarzwälder Schinken
- Slavonski kulen
- Sobrasada de Mallorca
- Soppressata di Calabria
- Speck Alto Adige
- Szegedi szalámi