CHESTER WHITE
History
The Chester White breed originated in Chester County, Pennsylvania and thereby derived its breed name. At first it was called the Chester County White, but later the “county” was dropped. The Chester breed was derived in Jefferson County, New York.
Thomas Sharpless started the first Chester White Record Association in 1884 and he was its first secretary. From that period, until recent years, there were several record associations developed as the breed spread across the country. The National Chester White Record Association was formed in 1893, with offices in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
It was through the efforts of F.F. Moore, Rochester, Indiana, that all of the associations and recording offices were combined into one recording association. This association was named the Chester White Swine Record Association, with headquarters in Lima, Ohio.
All of this gathering and combining of associations started about 1911. In 1930, the Chester White Swine Record Association was reincorporated under the laws of Delaware with the offices in Rochester, Indiana. The offices moved to Peoria, Illinois on June 1, 1986.
The strengths of the Chester White breed are: mothering ability, durability, and soundness. Chester Whites have kept their popularity with thousands of pork producers. Not only are they preferred by producers, but packers prefer animals with white skin and proven to be superior in muscle quality.
Chester Whites will remain an important breed in the future progress of swine production for many years to come because of the many productive traits which they strongly possess.
Breed Guidelines
Breed Classifications – Effective September 20, 2021
- Must possess Chester White Breed characteristics.
- Must be ear notched within 7 days of birth.
- Must be solid white in color, no color on the skin larger than a silver dollar, no colored hair.
- Any skin pigmentation other than white that exceeds five in number are disqualified.
- Ears must be down and medium size.
- Any signs of weighed ear tags or evidence of past existence of such ear tags are determined to be not permissible and are grounds for disqualification.
- All boars and gilts must have six (6) functional teats on each side for exhibition.
- The Chester White Swine Association requires that all sires used for recorded litters be DNA stress-tested negative before they can be part of the Chester White recording base. Additionally, all sires that are the result of a negative-negative mating must be DNA stress-tested negative prior to being part of the Chester White sire database.
- All Chester White pigs consigned to national shows/sales or state association events are guaranteed to be stress negative by the exhibitor.
Questions, call the Certified Pedigreed Swine office at (309) 691-0151.