Louie and Ziggy have gone on a holiday. Currently they are residing on a 50 acre block about 15 kms from our property in Flowerdale. The pigs didn’t go on holiday because they were looking pale or needed a break. No, they went on a holiday because we needed a break from them.
Louie and Ziggy have gotten rather large over recent months – nothing like the supposed mini-pigs of the advertisement from Wings Wildlife Park. Not that they are huge – for boars they are pretty small but they are still growing. Right now they are about the size of Max, our Labrodor. The pigs have gone on a holiday because they make a lot of noise and they keep digging up the garden. The garden needs a rest or there won’t be much left of it. The pigs like the tree roots and have munched away on the Sycamore and Popular tree roots with great appetites. They also dig up the grass and create mounds of dirt which quickly turn into rain soaked bogs.
The bogs are good for the two ducks we got at the organic festival but it makes your boots sink in the mud when you try to walk around the pig enclosure. Also, the constant squealing can become annoying. They squeal when they see anyone or the dogs walking around because they want to go to the apple tree. Under the apple tree are a lot of fallen fruit and they love to munch away on this when I let them out. In fact, Louie is so good at getting apples that he jumps for them. I’ve videod him on my mobile phone and when I work out how to slow down the frame rate so that he doesn’t look like he’s in a sped up movie then I’ll post it on the site.
I do miss the pigs though. Despite the noise and the mud, they add a bit more life to the property. The ducks, chickens, dogs and kids still add to it but somehow the pigs have become a part of the landscape as well. I’m glad they are only holidaying and that a worse fate didn’t befall them. I miss not being able to give them the kitchen scraps because it seems now that it all goes to waste. Sure you can compost scraps but it was more rewarding giving it to the pigs.
By all accounts the pigs are going well. They are not making a lot of noise and have adjusted to the new location. They should be munching away on tree roots for a few months before they return. I’m not sure what size they will be but I know they’ll squeal all about it when they return home.
Tags: holiday, midlifexpress, pigs, squealing, tree roots
