Red Pigs

Three little Tamworth piglets came home with me today. They are a very nice looking lot. I must say I'm partial to red pigs. For the moment they are stuck in a small pen with a calf hutch for shelter. I'll move them to a section of pasture in a couple weeks once I'm sure they've mastered the feeder and learned to recognize electric fence. Being hopelessly irreverent, I'm calling them the "better dead than red" pigs. Lenin, Stalin and Khrushchev. While picking them up I took a look at the next litter, Tamworth/Berkshire crosses. Most of them are white with black spots. I'll be getting 3 of those as well when they are weaned. I was tempted to name one McCarthy, but do not want to memorialize that regrettable chapter in US history any further.

Why keep pigs? I don't like the way most pigs are kept both for the stress levels on the pigs, and the quality of meat for me. My pigs live in portions of the sheep pastures, always with fresh green grass to dig up and eat, and enough room to run and buck and play. Yes, pigs play. On cool summer evenings they can really kick up their heels. During acorn season I move them if needed to get all the acorns that fall. They LOVE acorns. They don't live fancy lives, but certainly they enjoy pleasant ones. I only buy my piglets from small local farmers who keep their sows well, with room to relax.