According to M. Girard, “the pig has always existed in the Pyrenees and in all cases the species was black”. And so, evidence of the Noir de Bigorre pig’s existence can be traced back to ancient times, from the Gallo-Roman period until the 20th century, via the Middle Ages, in particular in the many Benedictine Abbeys present in the Bigorre region.
Reared in its original territory, it feeds copiously on the natural resources of its environment.
The grazing for theses pure breed animals consists of natural grasslands or land sown with grass (fescue, orchard grass, rye grass and brome) and/or legumes (white, purple and crimson clover, hop clover and alfalfa); as well as, depending on the season, fruit (acorns, chestnuts, apples and medlars,…) and other resources from the environment, many earth worms and other molluscs which burrow in the earth.
The area is made up of hills and valleys carved out of deposits from the Pyrénées. The soil and the humid climate ensures that grass grows more or less continually apart from during a short winter period. It is capable of making the most of areas that are difficult to cultivate (forests, moors and grassland) and when it is hot enjoys rootling around in the shade of chestnut and oak trees.
