The original Minnesota Mini Pigs had careful records, but they no longer exist as a registrar. There is a report by the Agricultural research Service of the US Department of Agriculture in 1977 that reports the development of The American-Essex (AE) pig for laboratory use. It notes the contribution of the Hormel Institute in Minnesota which started developing small scale pigs in 1949. This report acknowledges the Minnesota lines as root stock for several strains.  It goes on to talk about pigs once commonly raised in the Hill Country of TX. Some of these herds date back to the early 1900s. It also notes that their “Docility was remarkable.” They were noted to be small, black with russet tinge to their hair and “breed true due to natural selection.” They were locally known as Guinea-Essex, or Guineas. This experimental line, like the Minnesota Institute pigs faded out.

The American Guinea Hog is now a separate breed. Once near extinction like the Essex hog of England from which is probably originated, is a true American breed, developed as a landrace in the southeastern United States. Guinea Hogs were prevalent in the southeastern states in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Their small size and lard conformation caused them to fall out of favor when America’s food and industrial industries discarded lard in the 20th century. In the 21st century, thanks to the work of the breeders and the breed association their numbers have increased and in 2014 they moved from Critical to Threatened on The Livestock Conservancy Conservation Priority List.  However, like the Cun Cun pig, they run about 150 lbs full grown.

The American Mini Pig registry has a code of ethics, their breed standard has not only a top size, but a lower size limit. In fact, they state in their code of ethics that you can’t say your pigs will grow up to be under 50 lbs. or 15 inches at the shoulders We do not belong because our pigs are vet weighed to be under that weight and under that size using a “wicket.” (A device used to measure dog size for breeds with size limits in their standard.) So far breeders do not share vet established size and weight on full grown animals. Much of the description of size and weight is an estimation. If you have ever tried to get a pig to stand on a scale or for a wicket, it isn’t easy.

The Juliana registry is a color registry and will only register spotted pigs, so solid color pigs from the same litter and same genetic background are not eligible for registry. Our first breeding male was a solid black Juliana who was not eligible for registration. Other than color, the standard is pretty general . This registry took the name from a German Registry of Laboratory animals, but has no affiliation.

The only existing well documented bloodlines are from a handful of breeding colonies around the world that produce pigs for laboratory use. These breeding records are carefully documented and the colonies are “closed” meaning that no new bloodlines are introduced into the line. This is typical of research breeding programs as they need to control as much as possible the differences in the individual animals. They are uniformly fed and raised and are consistently full grown at right around 100 lbs, which means they would be much larger than what pet breeders are now looking for. Pet breeders can not purchase animals from these colonies. They are only sold to laboratories, universities and grant recipients. One of several labs, Göttingen mini pigs, shows up on internet search engines, but again, they are larger then typical mini pigs and are for laboratory purposes only.

In short, at this point, there really are no true registries of mini pigs, much like there were no registries of most cats until a few decades ago. Cat shows helped promote new breeds and new registries, but since there are no mini pig shows, there has been no real interest in registries.