red mangalitza

how could I refuse to take a photo of such a sweetheart? When I saw its trotters crossed, it had to be my blip for Sunday!

Mangalitzas are an ancient breed of woolly pigs from the area of Austria-Hungary. In Switzerland and Germany their colouring is often black back with a white under belly but the further east a single blonde colour predominates and in parts of Hungary and former Yugoslavia the black back takes on a red tinge. They ranged freely foraging for food in the steppe and wooded regions, held in high regard of the quality of their bacon. At one time their meat products were in demand all over Europe to such an extent it was traded on the Vienna Stock Exchange and a hundred thousand animals a year were sold from Hungary to the West. In Switzerland the pigs were a very important product where they were slowly overtaken in importance by the dominant English style animals (e.g. large white) which are more suited to intensive rearing.