The history of mini pigs is murky at best. It’s sufficient to say that there are dozens of different breeds over dozens of different countries that have contributed to the Mini or Micro pig. Some estimates are up to 50 different breeds have contributed. That is also the reason why mini pigs vary greatly in size, temperament and appearance. Records of early crosses and breeder motivations are nonexistent. Everything from domestic hogs to feral pigs have contributed to the gene pool. The Minnesota minipig was first bred in the 1940s. In the Hormel Institute of the University of Minnesota, USA researchers intended to breed a small-sized pig, to use in laboratories. Pigs are very close to humans in many ways and make good lab subjects, but dealing with a 500+lb pig isn’t easy. Also, large hogs do not always have the best temperaments, they tend to be bull headed and can become aggressive. They are powerful and strong and can easily cause damage to the lab and personnel. So, breeders of laboratory animals started trying to breed smaller pigs with docile temperaments. However, current suppliers, such as Aachener Mini Pigs, are breeding closed colony pigs that mature at 2 years to be approximately 45kg, or 99 lbs.

Lab situations required a smaller pig, and one with a much better temperament than full size commercial hogs.

The original Juliana Pig registry was started in Germany. It has no connection to the registry in this country which was started by a private breeder who simply borrowed the name. Gottingen pigs are bred and sold for use in labs but are not available to breeders. I’ve tried several times and you need lab or university affiliation to order one. Again, like most lab animals, they are a closed colony.

There are rumors that they did the same thing in China, but I haven’t found any documentation. There was a group on the internet about 5 years ago who advertised tiny pigs from Chinese labs. The buyer was to sent $2000 and a tiny pig would be sent. I have never known anyone who actually sent $2000 to an internet site in China, so I have no idea if there were really pigs and if they were really shipped.

In the 1960s small pigs were imported from Vietnam and became popular as Miniature Vietnamese Potbelly Pigs. They could run from 150 – 300 lbs full grown and had folds and wrinkles especially over their head. KuneKune are pigs with lovely colors, but again, they run 150- 200 lbs. The latter have become popular with hobby farmers as they are good eating and much easier to deal with than full size hogs.

Unfortunately with mini/micro pigs are no good breeding records for 90% of the animals labeled mini or micro pigs. There are only two registries, both of them fairly recent and they register only a fraction of the mini pigs. Another problem is that there is a lot of variety in "mini" and "mico” pigs. There is no such thing as a "Teacup" pig and photos are always of babies in cute poses. Saying they are "Teacup" pigs is like showing an Anne Geddes baby picture and calling it a "Teacup" Human.