MEETING THE PIG

If you've ever visited a family farm, a petting zoo or even some pet shops, you are probably at least a little familiar with "the pig". If you've never met a pig, well, you ought to. Pigs are interesting characters.
I've met a few pigs in my time. Some I have liked and some I haven't. Pigs will be pigs and they have a mind of their own. None the less, I find them fascinating and even cute in their own way. I met Mr. Bacon one morning while sitting down to breakfast. There he was smiling up at me right below my two sunny side ups (eggs), eggs and bacon with a couple slices of rye toast slathered with orange marmalade and a cup of steaming hot coffee. MMmmmm, Mmmmm, but it was when I met Hammy that I got to thinking about pigs. I'd just spread two slices of whole grain bread with some of that honey/horseradish mustard and slapped down a couple slices of Swiss cheese and a few lettuce leaves. I was about to add a good size serving of ham slices when something caught my eye by the kitchen window. I turned to see what it was. You're not going to believe this but there was a pig, a full-grown hog peering through my window and he didn't look happy. I kid you not. This is the truth. I looked at the pig. The pig looked at me. I went to the refrigerator, returned the ham to the shelf and took out the roast beef.
I live in a village of about 12000 people and on a main street, in an apartment, second floor with a deck and there was indeed a pig looking in my window while I was slicing up pieces of what may have been his kid brother for lunch. I don't know who was more upset, me or the pig peeking in my kitchen window. This particular pig happened to be a pet pig. My neighbor's pet from the building across the way. It had escaped the confines of her apartment (yes, it lived in her apartment, not penned and had full run of the place) and it had come visiting me. I called her. She came and put a leash on her pet and walked it home again. Anyhow, the whole ordeal got me to thinking about pigs. I grew up country. I've known a lot of pigs and every one of them lived out behind the barn until they were big enough to be butchered and brought to the dinner table.
Some folks think they make good pets. Others think they are better service animals than a well trained search and rescue dog or guard dog. there are those who think the pig is a dirty, disgusting creature but that isn't necessarily so. It all depends on how you see things. Most folks think of the pig and what's for dinner in the same breath. That is how I relate to the pig, what's for breakfast, dinner or a tasty lunch. There are those, oh I have heard them, who will tell you, even stress adamantly to you that for your life sake you should "keep pork off your fork", but isn't that what pigs are for, to eat?
Now that I have grown a bit older and wiser in my years, however, I'm inclined to agree with the "keep pork off your fork" philosophy. Pigs probably do make better service animals or pets than they do the main dish on your dinner menu. I'm sure if you were to ask the pig, the pig would agree as well. Pigs are a lot more intelligent than most folks give them credit for.
Pigs are also called porkers, swine or hogs. They are native to Europe and Asia and were domesticated thousands of years ago being raised as food for man. Pigs are directly related to the wild boar and the hippopotamus and peccary (a similar animal to the wild boar of Europe and Asia but native to the western hemisphere)and the feral pig, a wild pig that was once domesticated but escaped or was left to manage on its own and has turned back to the wilderness. Their population is ever increasing. They are prolific to say the least. Pigs, domestic or wild can give birth twice each year and frequently have as many as nine or twelve baby pigs (piglets) to a single litter.
There weren't any pigs in America when the white man first arrived here. I'm told, I've read that the pig was introduced to the new world when it sailed from England on one of those tall ships, brought here by an adventurer/pirate/sea captain named Captain Cook. I'm not sure if he did us any great favor or not but pigs are here and they are likely to stay. They are survivors and have managed quite well to live life on the wild side as well as down on the farm.
Pigs are mammals. A mammal is a warm blooded animal, including humans, dogs, cats, horses, cows, sheep, goats and a whole lot more, that suckle their young. They all have mammary or milk glands that fill up with milk (or lactate) after the young are born and the young suckle or nurse to drink the milk and get the nutrition they need to grow. Pigs have thick bodies and short legs with feet that have four toes, two small toes and two large middle toes on each of its four feet. They have small eyes and pointy ears that may either stand up straight or lop over and they have a rather long and semi-pointed snout that is very leathery and strong for a nose. Pigs have a very keen sense of smell. The
pig also has a small tail that may be kinked, curly or straight. Its head is quite large and it has 44 teeth when full grown that can give you a very nasty bite. The canine teeth are quite long and on some species of pigs may grow very long. These canine teeth are called tusk. The tusk grow continually unlike the other teeth and are extremely sharp. The pigs skin is covered with bristle hair that is quite strong and flexible. Pigs, the domestic kind are commonly raised as livestock on farms for their meat called pork, also what we know as bacon, ham, sausage, pork chops, roast of pork, brawn, head cheese, hot dogs, bologna, spare-ribs and there are probably more that I don't recall off the top of my head. Their hides are tanned to make leather called "pigskin" and their hair is used to make brushes. There isn't much of the pig that isn't used for something. Pigs come in a variety of sizes and colors from a yellowish or pinkish white to brown gray or black and even spotted or dappled with a combination of colors.
The pig is an omnivore meaning that it will eat both plants and animals. A pig will eat most anything including its own young. They are commonly know as a garbage disposal. In the wild the pig is a scavenger and feeds on vegetation, small rodents, bugs, beetles, fowl and fishes and the carcasses of dead animals.
Some folks think of the pig as being a dirty and smelly animal. If they are, it is more likely to be the result of their keeper not keeping a clean place for them to reside in. Pigs are really quite clean given the opportunity to be so. They appear dirty because they do enjoy rolling in mud and wading in water, any water. There is a reason for this. The pig does not have active sweat glands and it is perspiration that cools us and other animals in hot weather. Water is needed to keep them cool in the hot summer sun or those who live in year round hot climates. The mud works like an insulation from the sun's hot rays and works sort of like a sun screen to prevent them from becoming sunburned. The mud also works as an insect repellent to protect them against bits or being stung by flies, wasp and various other insects and parasites. Pigs like places with ample shade and like having a bed made of clean straw or hay to sleep on.
I wrote a children’s story about a pig named Clara who got herself in a heap of trouble by wandering off to the duck pond and not knowing how to swim. It's a cute story but fiction, in reality, pigs love water and are very good at swimming when the need to swim is apparent. Most, however, especially the domestic varieties, prefer to wade and wallow in the shallows. When pigs do swim they do a sort of "doggy paddle" and they can keep their heads above water quite well. Wild pigs have been known to swim fairly long distances to get to new feeding grounds. They are also quite good at fishing and fish along beaches at low tide in search of crabs, mussels and fish that have been washed ashore and left marooned there when the tide goes out again. Pigs also love a tasty dinner of seaweed. Though pigs can swim and will when necessary, most pigs don't swim. They wade, they wallow and may even paddle around a bit but are not really known as long distance swimmers. They also seem to have more endurance in cold water than in the warmer waters.
Pigs have an excellent sense of smell and have been trained to do search and rescue, to hunt, to search for and find illegal drugs, bombs and even people. Pigs are very intelligent animals and most of them are friendly. They really like you if you have a bag of apples handy or a bucket of slop or you are willing to stand around and scratch their backs.
It's a good idea to get acquainted with the pig. You may just run into one someday down on the bog, in some woodlot or maybe even trotting along a beach somewhere but you are more likely to meet up with the pig down behind the barn of your local farm or in some "Piggley-Wiggley" or other super market over in the meat or deli department. Pigs are interesting characters, alive or dead and I imagine you are already familiar with a porker or two if you have ever enjoyed a ham sandwich, roasted hot dogs over a campfire or sat down to a breakfast of bacon and eggs. Most of us have at one time or another. They all come to us curtsey of "Mr. Pig" and though some folks will adamantly suggest we "keep pork off our fork", most of us won't.
None the less, with apologies to Clara, Hammy, Mr. Bacon and the rest of the pigs who live down behind the barn, a thick slice of ham in a pineapple and currant glaze served up with mashed potatoes made with real creamery butter, fresh peas with tiny pearls onions, a side salad of lettuce hearts tossed with slices of apple and crumbled blue cheese dressing sure would tantalize the tongue and graciously fill that empty spot in my stomach. So much for counting calories, carbohydrates and watching my cholesterol.
I think I'll go make me a ham and cheese sandwich but first I'm going to pull my blinds. Thanks Hammy. You're an inspiration.