Why Don't We Drink Pig Milk?

Subject: pig milk

To: Marcia Stevers

Marcia, a friend asked me a question for which I had no answer.  And now I am eager to find out.

Why do we not drink pig's milk, or make anything from it?  The animals must produce a lot of milk.  We commonly use the milk from cows, goats, sheep and buffalo.  Why not pigs?

From: Marcia Stevers

Subject: RE: pig milk

So good to hear from you.  Milk from all mammals is good to drink.  A pigs milk would be rich, sweet and creamy just like a goats milk.  Piglets will gain up to 240 lbs in 6 months.  If it was milk from one of our girls I suggest you wash the teat as they love their mud puddles.  Sows like to give their milk when they are laying down, they do not often stand to be sucked.  Soooo you might have to lay on your belly, either suck or milk with finger and thumb.  I will have a pig milking in about 4 weeks as she is due to have her babies.  Three days after the piglets are weaned she will stop letting her milk down.  Come visit.  Marcia 

From: Lesley Mattina

Suject: RE: pig milk

So why don't we also use their milk?

It's not because of the taste:
 pigs belong to the same order of mammals as goats, sheep and cattle, and their milk tastes similar.

The real reason we don't get our daily pint of pig's milk is, according to the Milk Development Council, far more simple -

it's the devil's own job to milk a pig.

Unlike their farmyard cousins, pigs don't have udders - instead, they have teats.

And so far, it's not proved worthwhile to develop the equipment need to extract milk from them.