Pigs range in size from the small pygmy weighing about 13 pounds to the giant forest hog around 300 pounds. The biggest pig on record is Poland China hog Big Bill who was 9 feet long, stood 5 feet 9 inches tall at the shoulder and weighed an astonishing 2552 pounds!
This was Tammy - a ginger Tamworth and a rare breed. A pig with
character! She was 7 feet 6 inches long and 3 feet to the shoulder.
A large lady!
A total of 48 piglets played the role of Babe in the film. For continuity reasons, the piglets could only be filmed when they were between 16 and 18 weeks of age and so a new group had to be trained and ready for filming every three weeks.
The duration of pregnancy for a pig is 114 days – 3 months 3 weeks 3 days. There are usually between 8-12 piglets in a litter although in 1961 a record 34 piglets were born in one litter over a 2 day period.
Pigs have existed in some form or another for at least 45 million years and belong to the order Artidactyla (even toed, hoofed animals). With the exception of Antarctica, they can be found in every continent, where – unless domesticated – they mainly inhabit forests, meadows and swamps. Talking about swamps ….
This is Hubie – a pig in a bath! Hubie is a Gloucester Old Spot, he has featured on Tshirts around the world. Hubie is a clever pig, he can open pig gates; pigs shouldn’t be able to open a pig gate.
Pigs are clever creatures following closely behind apes and dolphins in the animal kingdom intelligence stakes. They are quicker than dogs at learning tricks and simple discipline. Scientists believe that their grunts have a variety of meanings enabling them to communicate with each other.
Hubie likes to know what’s going on!
Pigs
do not sweat and this is why they spend so much time rolling in mud when the
weather is warm. The water from the mud evaporates, cooling the pig down and
then the mud hardens in the sun forming a protective layer which keeps the pig’s
skin from getting sunburnt.
A local vet once said that pigs get two diseases, one is erysipelas and the other isn't!
A common surname in China is ‘Chu’ meaning ‘pig’. It is said that people named themselves this so that evil spirits would believe them to be animals and leave them alone. It was also customary for ancient Chinese people to have their herd of pigs buried with them when they died.
In January 1998 two pigs known as the Tamworth Two escaped from a lorry on their way to an abattoir. They swam across a river and roamed Wiltshire for six weeks before they were captured. They were bought by the Daily Mail and now reside in comfort in Tamworth Towers.
These are Tamworths but not the famous pair. They are Tammy and Toy Boy. When Toy Boy was just a few weeks old he fell in love with Tammy and used to gaze longingly at her through the electric fencing. One day he charged through the fencing to join her and they became a serious “Item”
‘Pigs might fly’ is a popular phrase to express disbelief in what is being said. Similar expressions exist in other languages but using different animals. For example in France the equivalent phrase refers to chickens having teeth. (Similar to here where we would say ‘as rare as hens teeth’) The Spanish use the unlikely image of a hairy frog.
Talking about flying …………
Pigs have a keen sense of smell and exceptional eyesight. As their eyes are placed on the sides of their heads, pigs have good all round vision. They also have excellent vocal chords as a pig’s squeal can measure up to 115 decibels – that is louder than a supersonic Concorde.
Tammy couldn’t fly but she used to round up a herd of cows and move them to another field. When she was happy that they were in the right place she would go back to being a proper pig.
(The cows never argued!)
The expression ‘to go the whole hog’ is thought to date from the 18th century when a shilling coin was also referred to as a ‘hog’. Spending a ‘whole hog’ on entertainment was seen as extravagant – presumably you got a lot more for your shilling in those days. (For anyone who doesn’t know, in proper money, a shilling was worth 5p.)
Pigs have always been raised for meat but some breeds can also make good pets and become as much a part of the family as a dog or cat – or even more so. As Winston Churchill once declared: “Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals”. Actually people usually say “Pigs look us in the eye”. They do.
“We’re hungry” they say as they look you in the eye.
They really weren’t starved ………
Mrs Beeton was very rude about pigs. She says in her Book of Household Management: “………… he is everywhere known for his gluttony, laziness, and indifference to the character and quality of his food”. She fails to add that pigs are very clean. Unlike other farm animals or horses they have a “poo” place and are quite meticulous about their own cleanliness. Mrs Beeton goes on to explain about the “Tony pig”. Such a delightful description about the runt of the litter that it is quoted in full as follows:
“ … there is always one who is the dwarf of the family circle, a poor, little, shrivelled, half-starved anatomy, with a small, melancholy voice, a staggering gait, a woebegone countenance, and a thread of a tail, whose existence the complacent mother ignores, his plethoric brothers and sisters repudiate, and for whose emaciated jaws there is never a spare or supplemental teat, till one of the favoured gormandisers, overtaken by momentary oblivion, drops the lacteal fountain, and gives the squeaking struggler the chance of a momentary mouthful. This miserable little object, which may be seen bringing up the rear of every litter, is called the Tony Pig, or the Anthony; so named, it is presumed, from being the one always assigned to the Church, when tithe was taken in kind: and as St Anthony was the patron of husbandry, his name was given in a sort of bitter derision to the starveling that constituted his dues; for whether there are ten or fifteen farrows to the litter, the Anthony is always the last of the family to come into this world”.
When I was a child my mother used to say that the “only thing you couldn’t use from a pig was his squeak”. It is true. The skin is used for leather, the hair or bristles for brushes, and the meat for ham, pork, bacon etc. Hodge was a delicacy and chitterlings were wonderful. To clean chitterlings, you would put one end on the cold tap, turn on the tap and Hey Presto – cleaned and ready to cook. If you haven’t got a clue what that was all about – well you have missed something special!!! Making bacon was wonderful too. A lot of old properties still have a bacon chute where a side of bacon was dropped (chuted) down into the cellar for salting onto a salting stone. After salting it was hung to dry, usually in the living area where there was a fire. The warmth and air circulation would help to dry out the bacon/ham and also, importantly, the coal tar derivatives from the open fire would also add to the preservation process. Very unacceptable now! we use chemicals and inject a salt solution into the meat and get a disgusting white slime when we cook the bacon. Obviously so much better and healthier
And so to bed…….. – the longest day of the year.
