Piggies!

I found them in New Berlin, on a way back road, on a charming little old farm with an adorable young farm couple with a little baby.  They are purebred Tamworths, a rare heritage breed from England by way of Ireland.  Tamworths are also called Irish grazers as they prefer to forage for their food than have it presented to them as feed.  Their snouts are longer for this purpose.  They have lovely red hair and are leaner than most breeds.  We brought them home tonight, just as the sun set on the little farm on Bundy/Pittsfield Road.   It took some doing as Mama Pig heard her babies calling and broke through the gate to rescue them.  Kyra Toful lovingly steered her back to her pen and her dinner, but she came running back a second and third time.  We finally managed to get the little (hardly) ones past Mama and into the Blazer.  They are now in their spacious piggie run, between the wooden milking stanchions and the wall of the long dairy barn where they can run races up and down.  Tamworths would be fine outside but this farmer can take care of them much easier inside inside the barn for now.  We have the perfect piggy field just back of the barn with a marshy area where the piggies can wallow in warmer weather.  With temps in the barn at 22 F. and minus 11 F. outside with wind and snow we are happy to have everyone under the same roof, including us.  I left "Scarlet" and "Sue Ellen" with a dish of warm slop and a big mound of hay to build a nest in.  Pigs like to make beds for themselves and sleep like spoons for maximum warmth.  A lone piggie is a very sad thing as they have nobody to slop with, play with or sleep with.  Kind of like humans...