The name derives from that of the town of Husum on the coast of Nordfriesland in northern Schleswig-Holstein, where pigs of this kind are documented from the late nineteenth century.

Separatist farmers bred the pig to resemble the Nordic cross in the flag.

[8][9] It was recognized as a breed in 1954; the last time a sow with piglets was seen at a show was at Rendsburg in 1968, and thereafter it was thought to be extinct.

[5] In 2007 the breed society was the Schweineherdbuchzucht Schleswig-Holstein e.V..[10] Breeding populations exist in the Berlin Zoological Garden, the Hanover Zoo, the Tierpark Arche Warder near Kiel, in the ZOOM Erlebniswelt Gelsenkirchen, in Dalmsdorf (Mecklenburg), Hof Lütjensee, and on the Archehof Blumencron.

The German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein supports preservation of the breed for its cultural value.