The biggest pig in history, a hog named Big Bill, weighed 2,552 pounds. However, normal weights for adults range from 110 to 770 pounds depending on the breed and sex. An average adult female pig, or sow, weighs 300 to 500 pounds; the males, or boars, are heavier.
Domestic pigs, or swine, are among the earliest domestic animals. The Chinese were the first people to raise pigs as food, beginning about 6000 B.C. People also raise pot-bellied pigs and other small breeds as pets.
Pigs usually weigh about 2 1/2 pounds at birth but grow rapidly. Farmers sell them as nursery pigs until they weigh 50 pounds and as feeder pigs after that. Hogs are ready for slaughter when they weigh 240 to 280 pounds.
