Meat
Yorkshire
D tier
Yorkshire is a large white English breed (closely allied to the Large White) selected for prolificacy, long body, and efficient lean growth suited to bacon and fresh pork. Conformation emphasises length of side, light bone relative to muscle, and a pale pink lean with moderate fat cover when finished under commercial feeding. Culinary use is broad: fresh loins and legs for roasting, belly for curing and streaky bacon, and trim for sausages and mince. Yorkshire-type genetics underpin much of the world’s white commercial sow base and appear as purebred or hybrid pork wherever lean, mild table meat is the goal.
Also known as: Yorkshire / Large White type, American Yorkshire
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Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
Grading systems
Grades are placed along a shared scale so systems can be compared side by side.
History
Large white pigs of Yorkshire and northern England were improved for bacon length and farm efficiency.
Early show and market recognition of Yorkshire white hogs fixed a lean, long-sided commercial type.
Yorkshire imports to North America established the American Yorkshire as a major maternal and bacon breed.
Herd-book standards linked Yorkshire and Large White identities in British pedigree breeding.
Yorkshire genetics spread globally as a foundation of intensive lean-pork production systems.
American Yorkshire selection programmes prioritised litter size, feed efficiency, and carcass lean yield.