What matters to me is taste. Will these pigs taste better than what's at the grocery store now? Not likely if they feed it the same crap & raise them in barns without fresh air. I got totally spoiled when I started buying my pork - half a pig at time - from friends. They weren't all that careful about what they fed the pigs, but they weren't confined to a barn. I can no longer tolerate pork from the store - it's tasteless.

Friends have taken a break from pig raising - can't wait until they get back into it.

Animal science professor in BUrlington Vermont at UVM raises Highlanders...... or did back in the 80's.....about that time several Belted Galloway herds in Maine..... both have extra thick coats.

Simmental added to the cattle herd on Barlett Island,Maine, owned by the Rockefeller family. Looking to improve the beef qualities, but keep the cows adapted to the environment.

Though not, as far as I know, the genetic modification, I thought that they’ve been trying to breed pigs to be less fatty for many years here. I e always thought that was why any pork I’ve eaten in the last maybe 20 years or so has been dry and tasteless no matter how I cook it - quite unlike the juicy pork chops I recall from my childhood, that had a nice yummy coating of fat surrounding each chop.

You're right Merpig, I remember pork like that too. My mother would cut into the fat on the chops (on steak too) so that the meat would lie flat, and cook properly without curling up.