Village Squire, 1976-10, Page 7Pigs: you'd better beat 'em cause
who wants to join `em
BY SANDRA ORR
'My experience with pigs has always convinced me that pigs are
not the lowly animals people generally think they are. The pigs
I've had the pleasure of meeting have been able to outwit us
two -footed humans most of the time and it was only by hard
effort, hard thinking, and enormous release of adrenalin that we
were able to exert control.
Right from childhood, I was amazed. The two pigs we kept for
market purposes (our own table) were able to distinguish my red
mitts and savour them presumably because they looked like red
apples and disdain my sister's equally odiferous blue mitts.
These same two pigs liked to get out under the fence and keep us
in lively chase around the yard. We were always one step behind
them. Could they find the hole? No, they could not. Not until we,
fagged to the lirpit from chasing, had a brain wave and set the
dog, a Doberman Pinscher, on them. One nip on the heel and
they found that hole toute de suite.
Well, wouldn't you know that I would have to help in the
raising of pigs as a livelihood? I shuddered at the task. Had I
not been outwitted before?
One of my first duties was to keep an eye on these animals
while my husband was at work. With little warning, I was
subjected to the supreme test. One warm August evening, my
VILLAGE SQUIRE/OCTOBER 1976, 5