Pig Visit
This afternoon my friend Nige is calling over later for a flying visit, so the morning routine is a flurry of jobs and catch ups. Yesterday I drove up to an isolated farm up in the hills to take a look at some Gloucestershire Old Spot Pigs. They were delightful.........benign ( you can see owner Jayne sat on the boar in the above photo who happily fell asleep as she did so) and inquisitive, these traditional "old English" pigs are renowned good eaters, but they are absolutely HUGE animals, much, much bigger than I expected them to be. I was amazed that the sow was quite happy for me to sit with her and her 11 piglets inside her sty, and didn't batter an eyelid as the babies bounced on top of me with their sharp little trotters.
What fun pictures John!! It looks like a little piece of 'hog heaven!!' :-)
ReplyDeleteThey are big aren't they. We have a GOS boar - Elvis and a large white female - Mrs P. If you get them used to being handled early on they are lovely. I spend a good half hour at the weekend scratching Mrs P. She loves it just behind her ears!! Mind - don't we all??
ReplyDeleteMaybe one other thing to take into account is the digging they do. they will turnover a large space very quickly unless you put a ring in their nose to stop them digging.
Good luck.
Coming back to your neck of the woods at the end of the month. Hope the weather will be good
Sue
What a great post and a fab picture John! My uncle used to run a pig farm in Northants for a Conservative MP in the 1960's - I used to spend summer holidays with them and loved the pigs. xxxx
ReplyDeleteNice pig! You would need quite a space and a large house if you had a pair of them! I hope you do get some piglets, I do like them.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are having a good day!
All I can think of is the childrens verse...And this little piggy went wee-wee-wee all the way home!
ReplyDeleteAwww, cute little piglets..
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear Red is still thriving!
Are you really going to get pigs???
ReplyDeleteI've heard they are wonderful but very smelly and rough on the land. I think I'll live vicariously through you on this one! ;-)
I'm so glad to hear that little Red is doing well. And he/she doesn't have any idea that you saved his or her life...
But YOU know!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Are pigs not just so fun! I would love to have pigs!
ReplyDeleteWe had pigs when I was a kid. They used to get out of their pen a lot and we would have to chase them down. Of course as a kid I thought that was great fun! ;O)... I can tell you my grandpa didn't see the fun/humor in this as I did ...LOL still tickles me to think of it.
I never gave much thought to them coming in different sizes. That big fella there would eat a lot I bet, tee hee.
PS
ReplyDeleteGlad Red is doing so well!!
'Food for thought'! Couldn't be more apt.
ReplyDeleteThey certainly are huge John. Brings back a childhood memory when my family spent a week on a 'working' farm in PEI. They had a few HUGE pigs roaming around everywhere. One day as we kids were watching them, a small flock of geese walked by and one big, mother of a sow ran at one of the geese and almost bit it's head off! The goose was blinded and walked around bumping into things for the rest of the summer.
Thanks for the memories John.
Jim
If I were Nige, I would have you either change the name of the post (from "Pig Visit"), or not start it out with "my friend Nige is coming for a visit"... that's a can of whoop-ass just waiting to be opened :)
ReplyDeleteAwww, but the little ones are so cute. Seriously though, that's a lot of pig to have running around the allotment. How about something like an American Guinea Hog?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.americanguineahogassociation.org/photos.htm
You may not have this particular breed in Wales, but, maybe you have something similar?
You could put a saddle on that thing! It's huge!
ReplyDeleteLove the pic of the pig.
ReplyDeleteThey are so intelligent.
Happy to hear Red is doing good.
xoxo
Great catch Jabacue! I didn't put the two together at first...I hope Nige doesn't either. I've heard pigs are incredibly intelligent. Will you raise them to eat or will they be dairy pigs? (Kidding... :-)
ReplyDeleteSue-ey! What fine pigs! My hubby was just bemoaning the other day that he misses raises hogs every year. (We have 2 steers in the hog barn at the moment.)
ReplyDeleteI was going to get some pigs but my friend says they never stop growing. Are you planning to eat them eventually?
ReplyDeleteThe do look really big. I just love your post on the quail. They are so cute.
ReplyDeleteWhoops! It was D@vid who noticed the link between your title "Pig Visit" and Nige's expected stopover...my mistake. Sorry D@vid! I thought it was so clever of you.
ReplyDeleteHoly cow! (or should I say holy pig?) That top pic is pretty cool. I've always loved to go to the pig barn at any county fair. They are really intelligent beasts. One of my favorite movies is Babe. Also Babe,Pig in the City. I have both videos and rewatch them once a year. (The daughter bought Babe for me before I had even seen it...she knew I'd love it.) Good thing you checked out their size first. Potbellies were a good size for you I think. Ever hear from/about Nora and Gladys now??
ReplyDeleteJohn, do you have hedgehogs in your area? I just read a sweet post from Scotland, and it made me wonder about your wildlife. http://zanzibahalpacas.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteNigel had to laugh at DAVID's comment!
ReplyDeleteluckily we had drunk a bottle of wine each so the "insult" of it was missed!
thanksallfor comments!!!!
I love roast pork but I don't think I could stand the smell of running a pigsty!
ReplyDeleteThere's still an unsettling connection between 'Nige stopping later for a flying visit'... and the saying "when pigs fly". Good thing you got him liquored up...
ReplyDelete