Big Pig Chronicles

Cee & Dee Frolicking in the Snow

2010-12-29T12:03:00.000-05:00

Here are my two big pigs, Cee and Dee, enjoying the mild morning. This is their winter pen - small in size, but handier to their winter pen - which has easiera ccess for me feeding, plus more level footing for them. Cee has had a sore R carpal joint this winter - 4 cycles of Bute seems to have cleared it up, but frolicks like these sometimes make a her a bit tender. Can`t begrudge her the pkay time, tho!

Razorbug Car

2010-08-24T20:43:00.000-04:00

UA Office of Admissions Kicks Off 2005-06 Year with Introduction of the ‘Razorbug’

Beginning this academic year, recruiters with the University of Arkansas’s Office of Admissions will travel the state in style and “Call the Hogs” along the way, thanks to a gift from Jim Jard Volkswagen in Rogers. During the past six months, that gift, a 2002 Volkswagen Beetle valued at $15,500, has been transformed into a rolling Arkansas Razorback, the first of its kind.

http://dailyheadlines.uark.edu/5134.htm

Flatulent pig sparks gas leak scare

2010-02-21T22:29:00.001-05:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6669425/Flatulent-pig-sparks-gas-leak-scare.html

By Tom Chivers
Published: 11:37AM GMT 27 Nov 2009
Telegraph.co.uk

The farmer in Axedale, a town in Victoria in the south-east of the country, called the emergency services after believing he had smelled gas.

But when the fire crews arrived, they found the real culprit – a 260lb sow the family's children kept as a pet.

“We could not only smell it, but we heard it and it was quite funny."

He added: "She got very excited when two trucks and 15 firies turned up and she squealed and farted and squealed and farted.

"I haven't heard too many pigs fart but I would describe it as very full-on."

However, despite the false alarm, Mr Harkins said the farmer had done the right thing by calling 000 (the Australian equivalent of 999). He told The Melbourne Herald Sun: "It's all bottled gas up here and a leaking cylinder could pose a major fire risk.

"It was because we took it so seriously that 15 volunteers still managed to attend the call out at 10.30 on Tuesday night."

Piglet Alive And Well Thanks To "Mouth to Snout" CPR

2010-02-21T22:26:00.000-05:00

Some Pig! A Heartwarming Tail of Pig Friendship

2010-02-21T22:25:00.002-05:00

A cute article about a friendhip among pigs.

Great post on Paw Nation!

Pig Video Arcades Critique Life in the Pen

2010-02-21T21:43:00.003-05:00

Pig Video Arcades Critique Life in the Pen

Pigs Use Mirrors to Find Hidden Food

2010-02-21T21:34:00.002-05:00

Pigs Use Mirrors to Find Hidden Food

Posted using ShareThis

Lupig van Beethoven's Fifth

2010-02-21T21:11:00.000-05:00

Kune Kunes @ UK Zoo

2010-02-19T13:00:00.000-05:00

Farm Pig For Adoption in Athens GA - #8211; Pudge

2010-02-12T01:38:00.000-05:00

29831 – Pudge

Pigs in Peril Find Forever Homes at Snooters Sanctuary

2010-02-12T01:34:00.000-05:00

Pigs in Peril Find Forever Homes at Snooters Sanctuary

The Pig of Happiness

2010-01-30T00:50:00.001-05:00

Nugent Videos - to go with News Story below

2010-01-29T19:14:00.001-05:00

I'm Keeping This Pig | Daily Yonder | Keep It Rural

2010-01-29T19:10:00.000-05:00

I'm Keeping This Pig | Daily Yonder | Keep It Rural

Wilbur: One Precious Pig Spared the Slaughterhouse

2010-01-27T07:16:00.000-05:00

And finally ...

2009-11-25T23:01:00.000-05:00

And another ...

2009-11-25T22:57:00.002-05:00

'Nother Swine 'flu Cartoon

2009-11-25T22:54:00.002-05:00

Swine 'Flu Cartoon

2009-11-25T22:48:00.002-05:00

Pigs Prove to Be Smart, if Not Vain

2009-11-15T02:05:00.001-05:00

By NATALIE ANGIER

We’ve all heard the story of the third Little Pig, who foiled the hyperventilating wolf by building his house out of bricks, rather than with straw or sticks as his brothers had done. Less commonly known is that the pig later improved his home’s safety profile by installing convex security mirrors at key points along the driveway.
Well, why not? In the current issue of Animal Behaviour, researchers present evidence that domestic pigs can quickly learn how mirrors work and will use their understanding of reflected images to scope out their surroundings and find their food. The researchers cannot yet say whether the animals realize that the eyes in the mirror are their own, or whether pigs might rank with apes, dolphins and other species that have passed the famed “mirror self-recognition test” thought to be a marker of self-awareness and advanced intelligence.

To which I say, big squeal. Why should the pigs waste precious mirror time inspecting their teeth or straightening the hairs on their chinny-chin-chins, when they could be using the mirror as a tool to find a far prettier sight, the pig heaven that comes in a bowl?

The finding is just one in a series of recent discoveries from the nascent study of pig cognition. Other researchers have found that pigs are brilliant at remembering where food stores are cached and how big each stash is relative to the rest. They’ve shown that Pig A can almost instantly learn to follow Pig B when the second pig shows signs of knowing where good food is stored, and that Pig B will try to deceive the pursuing pig and throw it off the trail so that Pig B can hog its food in peace.

They’ve found that pigs are among the quickest of animals to learn a new routine, and pigs can do a circus’s worth of tricks: jump hoops, bow and stand, spin and make wordlike sounds on command, roll out rugs, herd sheep, close and open cages, play videogames with joysticks, and more. For better or worse, pigs are also slow to forget. “They can learn something on the first try, but then it’s difficult for them to unlearn it,” said Suzanne Held of the University of Bristol. “They may get scared once and then have trouble getting over it.”

Researchers have also found that no matter what new detail they unearth about pig acumen, the public reaction is the same. “People say, ‘Oh yes, pigs really are rather clever, aren’t they?’ ” said Richard W. Byrne, a professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of St. Andrews. “I would recommend that somebody study sheep or goats rather than pigs, so that people would be suitably impressed to find out your animal is clever.” His feigned frustration notwithstanding, he added, “if you want to understand the evolution of intelligence and social behaviors, it’s important to work on animals like pigs that are not at all closely related to us” but rather are cousins of whales and hippos.

So far, and yet so near. Last week, an international team of biologists released the first draft sequence of the pig genome, the complete set of genetic instructions for making the ruddy-furred Duroc breed of Sus scrofus. Even on a cursory glance, “the pig genome compares favorably with the human genome,” said Lawrence Schook of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, one of the team leaders.
“Very large sections are maintained in complete pieces,” he said, barely changed in the 100-million-plus years since the ancestors of hogs and humans diverged.
Dr. Schook is particularly eager to see if the many physiological and behavioral parallels between humans and pigs are reflected in our respective genomes. Pig hearts are like our hearts, he said, pigs metabolize drugs as we do, their teeth resemble our teeth, and their habits can, too. “I look at the pig as a great animal model for human lifestyle diseases,” he said. “Pigs like to lie around, they like to drink if given the chance, they’ll smoke and watch TV.”

Pigs have been a barnyard staple for at least 8,000 years, when they were domesticated from the wild boar in Asia and Europe. Domestication was easy, given that they loved to root around in dump sites. “The pigs were hard to hunt, but if you put the garbage out, a lot of them would be drawn out from the woods,” Dr. Schook said. “After a while, people realized, we don’t have to hunt them. All we have to do is put a fence around our garbage.”

Pigs were tireless composting machines. “They fed on our scraps,” Dr. Byrne said. “Everything we produced, they turned into good meat.” Pork is among the world’s most popular meats; in many places, pigs are a valuable form of currency. “In parts of New Guinea, they’re so important to villages that they’re suckled by people,” he said.

Of course, pigs aren’t always handled so lovingly, and these researchers denounced factory farms. “I’m German and I love sausage, but I would never eat pork that isn’t free range,” Dr. Held said.

Even in domesticity, pigs have retained much of their foreboar’s smarts. Dr. Byrne attributes pig intelligence to the same evolutionary pressures that prompted cleverness in primates: social life and food. Wild pigs live in long-term social groups, keeping track of one another as individuals, the better to protect against predation. They also root around for difficult food sources, requiring a dexterity of the snout not unlike the handiness of a monkey.

Because monkeys had been shown to use mirrors to locate food, Donald M. Broom of the University of Cambridge and his colleagues decided to check for a similar sort of so-called assessment awareness in pigs. They began by exposing seven 4-to-8-week-old pigs to five-hour stints with a mirror and recording their reactions. The pigs were fascinated, pointing their snouts toward the mirror, hesitating, vocalizing, edging closer, walking up and nuzzling the surface, looking at their image from different angles, looking behind the mirror. When the mirror was placed in their pen a day later, the glass-savvy pigs greeted it with a big ho-hum.

Next, the researchers put the mirror in the enclosure, along with a bowl of food that could not be directly seen but whose image was reflected in the mirror. They then compared the responses of the mirror-experienced pigs with a group of mirror-naïve pigs. On spotting the virtual food in the mirror, the experienced pigs turned away and within an average of 23 seconds had found the food. But the naïve pigs took the reflection for reality and sought in vain to find the bowl by rooting around behind the mirror. No doubt the poor frustrated little pigs couldn’t wait to get home, crack open a beer and turn on the TV.

Pigs join the ranks of domesticated animals with sequenced genomes

2009-11-14T13:19:00.001-05:00

Nov 14, 2009
DVM NEWSMAGAZINE

Champaign, Ill. -- Dogs, cats, horses, cows, and now pigs. A first draft of the swine genome has been mapped, according to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The pig whose genes have been sequenced is a red-haired Duroc from a farm at the University of Illinois.

Most of the sequencing was performed at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, based in Hinxton, England, but help was provided by scientists and genome-sequencing centers around the world. Funding was a global effort as well, with the $24.3 million bill to complete the sequencing footed by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the USDA Agricultural Research Service, and American, Asian, and European funders.

Researchers will now be able to use the genome to search for genes that can improve pork production and breeding practices, provide clues to swine diseases, and help preserve endangered and wild pigs globally. In addition, pigs are often used as human models of disease since the two species are similar physiologically and behaviorally and have related nutritional needs. So the swine genome will also benefit research into human health.

"This sequence provides a tool of real value in helping the research community to better understand human diseases, in particular by facilitating cardiovascular, pulmonary, gastrointestinal and immunological studies," says Allan Bradley, director of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "Thanks to the immediate release of sequence data as it has been produced, the scientific impact of this research is already being felt."

CBC Radio Doc on Large Black Pigs

2009-10-21T19:43:00.003-04:00

CBC did a radio doc this week on the farm I visited a couple of weeks ago - it's about 20 min. You can listen to it HERE.

Rude Pig FAIL (Warning)

2009-10-16T10:20:00.000-04:00

see more Epic Fails

NPR - but couldn't resist!

2009-10-16T10:18:00.002-04:00

see more Epic Fails

Oh Dear.

2009-10-16T09:54:00.000-04:00

see more Epic Fails

English Large Black Pigs @ Upper Canada Heritage Meats

2009-10-11T23:34:00.005-04:00

Took my students to visit Upper Canada Heritage Meats nr N Augusta ON (Canada) - as an example of a mixed-species farm, specializing in meats from heritage breeds - incl English Large Bkack pigs and Lincoln Red cattle. I have been in love with ELB pigs for years by photo only, so was thrilled to be able to see some in the flesh!

It was a raw day ... but the pigs were great! Recent arrivals: 28 piglets in 2 litters - only a few days old. Nothing cuter!

Fat!

2009-10-11T20:46:00.000-04:00

CIWF Pig Video

2009-10-04T16:51:00.003-04:00

Bidgiemire Pig Arks - UK

2009-10-01T10:23:00.002-04:00

Bidgiemire Pig Co is a UK company selling a range of Very Cool pig arks. Prob too far/expensive to ship to North America - but some good inspiration for the handy among us! Plus they have arks made out of recycled materials, as well as accessories such as troughs, fencing, etc. Love it!

Backyard Pigs - UK

2009-10-01T10:09:00.000-04:00

Chinese Pet Pig

2009-09-05T09:24:00.001-04:00

Another Victory for Pigs in Canada

2009-09-02T19:38:00.002-04:00

From the web site of the Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM).

---------------------------------------------------

Life continues to improve for pigs in Canada. In July, PCRM announced an Advanced Trauma Life Support win for pigs in Toronto. Now, the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine announced that it too will stop using live pigs in its program and exclusively use the TraumaMan System.

PCRM planned to file a complaint on Sept. 2 with the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) against the University of Saskatchewan. It urged officials to end the use of pigs in upcoming trauma training courses because it violated Canada’s national animal welfare standards.

But PCRM’s senior medical and research adviser John Pippin, M.D., recently learned that the university purchased and received one TraumaMan System and will rent a second. The TraumaMan System will replace the use of animals in the university’s Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) program. The university’s decision was covered by Canwest, the largest media company in Canada, and was reported in newspapers and TV stations across the country.

“The use of live pigs at the University of Saskatchewan undoubtedly caused pain and distress, and there was no valid justification for using live animals,” says Dr. Pippin. “The university’s decision to purchase the TraumaMan System underscores what 95 percent of ATLS programs already know: nonanimal teaching methods offer a more effective—and more humane—way to teach lifesaving procedures.”

Prior to the planned September complaint, Dr. Pippin sent three letters to the head of the trauma training program, Paul Hayes, F.R.C.S.C., that went unanswered, although he acknowledged seeing the letters. In the letters, Dr. Pippin asked that Dr. Hayes stop killing pigs in its trauma training program and switch to superior nonanimal training methods.

The win follows PCRM’s recent success at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, which stopped using animals and now exclusively uses the TraumaMan System.

But there’s still plenty of work to do in Canada and the United States. This summer, PCRM argued that Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s use of live pigs in a July trauma training course violated the federal Animal Welfare Act. ATLS training conducted at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee involves cutting into live, anesthetized pigs and practicing emergency medical procedures. Effective nonanimal training methods have been approved by the American College of Surgeons, the body overseeing these courses.

Vanderbilt is one of the last institutions in the country using animals in such courses. Lifelike human patient simulators or human cadavers are used at 95 percent of U.S. and Canadian facilities providing ATLS training.

But you can contact Vanderbilt’s dean of the school of medicine Jeffrey R. Balser, M.D., Ph.D., today and politely ask him to end animal use in the institution’s ATLS program before the October course.

To find learn more about ending animal use in ATLS programs, please visit HumaneTraumaTraining.org. Then join our Humane Trauma Training cause on Facebook.

Pig Cam - Pig Rooting in Mud

2009-08-31T18:28:00.001-04:00

Click HERE to see a short video from the Museum of Animal Perspective's Pic Cam - Pig Rooting in Mud. Very Cool!

Warthog Puzzle

2009-08-06T10:06:00.000-04:00

Wild Hogs in Texas

2009-07-31T13:04:00.001-04:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Quote of the Day

2009-07-30T18:30:00.002-04:00

"All truth passes through three stages.

First, it is ridiculed.

Then it is violently opposed.

Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."

~ Arthur Schopenhauer

In defence of pigs re: "Swine 'flu"

2009-07-02T10:57:00.000-04:00

Quote of the Day

2009-06-23T17:06:00.000-04:00

"But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh,

we deprive a soul of the sun & light"

~ Plutarch

Meet Elbert - and Kudos to Lydia

2009-06-05T13:23:00.004-04:00

Here is a video of Elbert, a pig rescued from neglect by pig e-friend Lydia. As you will see he has undergone a strict diet & exercise regimen, and the progress has been remarkable. Lydia has done an amazing job with him! Congrats!

Here is a description of Lydia's "program" to save Elbert:

Elbert was fed free choice Science Diet dog food for years. He was kept on a concrete floor with a litterpan, even in the summer....no outside time because he got so fat, and his feet were so neglected he could not walk at all. He lived like this until the age of 6 when he arrived at my house last August (2008).

He was estimated at 250lbs + when he got here but with some time and dieting he is now about 140-150lbs and mobile.

I fed him 3/4 cup of the Mazuri Elder twice a day, plus lots of low cal veggies. We have a huge garden so every day he got salad, tomatoes, squash, zuchinni, watermelon rinds, cantaloupe rinds, etc. These are mostly water filled items and while they taste great and are satisfying, they don't pack on pounds readily. I gave him several cups of the veggies....whichever I had extra of....every day.

Exercise was critical to Elbert's success. At first he was not strong enough to support his own body weight, even after getting his feet trimmed so he could stand. I would use a grape to bait him around the stall. First few days he could only walk about 4 or 5 steps before going back to his knees. We built on it every day. I would never take his food to him, but made him come across the 12ft stall to get his meals. No matter which spot he chose to lie down, I made him move to eat. Over time he got stronger and stronger.

At first he would eat on his knees, but now he stands to eat. He is finally out and about, doing remarkably well all things considered. His knees ar permanently bent and he takes meloxicam for that, but even there he is going much better, and I have cut way back on his dose.

Here is a video we did of Elbert that chronicles his long and rather arduous journey. He's been here 10 months and really has made remarkable progress. Likely he's about as good as he will ever be and The Snelbert stands as the poster child for what NOT to do with a pig food-wise. I don't forsee an exceptionally long life for him, with his leg problems arthritis will likely take him fairly young, but I am determined to make whatever years he has very, very happy years.

The Soul ...

2009-06-05T09:56:00.001-04:00

"The soul is the same in all living creatures,

although the body of each is different"

~ Hippocrates

Our Lives Begin to End ...

2009-06-02T14:13:00.002-04:00

Appalachian Pig Lady

2009-06-01T15:08:00.001-04:00

http://2009.soulofathens.com/?q=node/40

Spring Pics

2009-05-24T10:04:00.004-04:00

I've been a bit remiss on keeping the blog up to date ... so here is the recent news and some pics from around the barn!

I lost Charlotte in April - not exactly sure what happened. I vaccinated all the pigs that am; at eve chores, she seemed a bit off, which I attributed to a bit of a vaccine rx - so I covered her up in blankets. In the am she was dead. Odd.

Nicky (the pig formerly known as "slug", she was so fat!) is amazing and svelte ... she has great conformation - bec despite being So Fat, her eyes are now clearly visible, and despite haveing Very Long hooves, her pasterns remained upright and now that she's trimmed up, she looks great! Pics below.

Before:

Now:

My waterfowl are reproducing at an alarming rate. I had about 7 ducks from the HS - last year one hen hatched a brood, but none survived past a few days (predation, I suspect). This year we have two brrods hatched, for a total of about 20 chicks - and the mothers are hanging together with the seeting mass of ducklings. Very Cute - but so much poop! I think I will remove any remaining nests etc - don't need more ducklets ... and I'd like to get them all herded down to the pond before we get too far into summer.

We have a new dog - Gus - a pug. Not my usual preferred type of dog, but my daughter fell in love with a relative's pug, and the rest is history. We just love him - he's so great with the kids, and a snuggly cuddle-pug on the couch in the eves.

The Lighter Side of Swine 'Flu

2009-05-07T17:17:00.000-04:00

2008 Animal Slaughter Data - US

2009-04-20T14:46:00.000-04:00

Warthog Video (link)

2009-04-14T11:47:00.000-04:00

http://animal.discovery.com:80/videos/fooled-by-nature-wart-hog-warriors.html

2009-04-13T14:46:00.001-04:00

Available on-line from Target:

H5N1 virus may be adapting to pigs in Indonesia

2009-04-03T13:51:00.000-04:00

Robert Roos News Editor
CIDRAP News - March 31, 2009

Scientists report that H5N1 avian influenza viruses may be adapting to pigs,as evidenced by the finding that H5N1 viruses isolated from pigs in Indonesia were less harmful to mice than were H5N1 viruses from chickens. The finding suggests that in growing in pigs, the virus may have become lessharmful to mammals in general, the authors report. That sounds reassuring,but the authors say it may mean the virus is one step closer to turning into a human pandemic strain. In the study, scientists from Japan and Indonesia collected viruses from chickens and pigs in Indonesia, grew them in laboratory cell cultures, and used them to infect mice. They found that the viruses from pigs were less lethal to mice than the viruses from chickens,according to their recent report in the Archives of Virology. "We found that swine isolates were less virulent to mice than avian isolates, suggesting that the viruses became attenuated during their replication in pigs," thereport states.

Full text: http://tinyurl.com/c6h8f4

Quote of the Day

2009-03-13T09:08:00.000-04:00

Whenever people say 'We mustn't be sentimental,' you can take it they are about to do something cruel.

And if they add 'We must be realistic,' they mean they are going to make money out of it.

-Brigid Brophy

Dinosaur tries to eat Pig!

2009-03-11T14:39:00.002-04:00

Be careful what you wish for!

2009-03-11T10:51:00.002-04:00

The Truth About Teacup Pigs ....

2009-03-03T11:30:00.000-05:00

Ain't no such thing!

http://www.scampp.com/The_Truth_About_Teacup_Pigs.pdf

The Real Reason Dinosaurs went Extinct

2009-03-02T15:12:00.001-05:00

Kingsford the Piglet

2009-02-23T12:41:00.001-05:00

Kingsford Goes to the Beach - video powered by Metacafe

Sy Montgomery: Great Souls

2009-02-16T00:23:00.001-05:00

The Good Good Pig - video trailer

2009-02-16T00:17:00.001-05:00

Spay-Neuter Video

2009-02-09T08:30:00.001-05:00

Awwww.

2009-02-08T13:04:00.001-05:00

Awwww.

2009-02-08T13:04:00.000-05:00

Superbowl 2009 Pet Videos

2009-02-02T14:28:00.001-05:00

Pigs: Mans' Other Best Friend?

2009-01-29T10:53:00.001-05:00

Choose Your Pets Wisely!

2009-01-29T10:42:00.001-05:00

Still more ...

2009-01-29T10:11:00.001-05:00

More Vintage Pig Pics

2009-01-29T10:10:00.002-05:00

Vintage Pig Pics seen on ebay

2009-01-29T07:14:00.000-05:00

Unlikely Friends

2009-01-18T18:50:00.000-05:00

Estimating your Pig's Weight

2008-12-05T15:36:00.001-05:00

Sesame Street Newsflash - Three Little Pigs

2008-12-04T14:33:00.002-05:00

A classic!

Performing Pigs - Nat Geographic Program

2008-12-04T14:10:00.002-05:00

Thai Pig Doing Mathematics

2008-12-04T13:58:00.000-05:00

Muppet Show: Pigs in Space - Out of Swill

2008-12-04T13:55:00.001-05:00

Wilber the Family Pig

2008-12-04T13:53:00.001-05:00

Happy Holidays from Babe the Pig!

2008-12-04T13:50:00.002-05:00

Meet Alpha-Pig

2008-12-04T13:42:00.002-05:00

Sow adopts puppies

2008-12-04T13:36:00.002-05:00

Pig Hackers

2008-12-04T13:33:00.002-05:00

Fun video on how pregnant sows have managed to outwit radio-collar controlled sow feeders in UK.

James Dean plus Pig!

2008-12-03T14:00:00.001-05:00

A postcard of actor James Dean with a pig in Fairmount, Indiana in 1954. The photograph is by Dennis Stock.

Cool Pig Pin in Farm Sanctuary On-line Auction

2008-12-02T20:36:00.005-05:00

Farm Sanctuary is having an on-line Christmas charity auction, which includes this Very Cool pin! Bidding starts at $100. Check it out!

Ranch-hand hog

2008-11-27T19:17:00.000-05:00

Flying Pig Garden Stake

2008-11-25T18:49:00.002-05:00

When Pigs Fly!

An optimistic artist from Pennsylvania crafted this garden stake to remind us that anything is possible ... including the day "when pigs fly!" The three-dimensional sculpture is laser cut from steel; natural-rust patina will gradually deepen with exposure to weather. Two-foot stake is included.

Size: 14"H x 16"W

US $42.95

The Three Little Pigs

2008-11-24T23:55:00.003-05:00

Three Little Pigs went out to dinner one night.. The waiter came and took their drink order. 'I would like a Sprite,' said the first little piggy.'I would like a Coke,' said the second little piggy.

'I want beer, lots and lots of beer,' said the third little piggy. The drinks were brought out and the waiter took their orders for dinner 'I want a nice big steak,' said the first piggy. 'I would like the salad plate,' said the second piggy.

'I want beer, lots and lots of beer,' said the third little piggy. The meals were brought out and a while later the waiter approached the table and asked if the piggies would like any dessert. 'I want a banana split,' said the first piggy. 'I want a cheesecake,' said the second piggy.

'I want beer, lots and lots of beer,' exclaimed the third little piggy. 'Pardon me for asking,' said the waiter to the third little piggy,But why have you only ordered beer all evening?‘

The third piggy says - 'Well, somebody has to go 'Wee, wee, wee, all the way home!

Charlotte & Noodle

2008-11-20T14:36:00.003-05:00

Charlotte & Noodle are semi-permanent boarders - their owner is going through some complicated life changes that mean she can't keep them right now. They are funny girls. Noodle is Very Assertive ... and can be LOUD! Charlotte is much more reserved. They are small pigs - prob 50 lbs each. We are working on getting their feet back in shape since they arrived here last summer - esp Charlotte, whose feet were quite long. Every few weeks, I tackle them, flip them onto their backs on my lap, and whittle away. They are improving greatly.

They now live with Willie, tho I have to separate them at feeding time, as they are fast eaters on limited diets, whereas he is a slow eater who gets more food with lots of warm water to encourage him to drink (see prev post re: his urinary issues). They don't always appreciate having to dine al fresco (esp now that it is colder), but I scatter a little chicken feed in the yard to occupy them while they wait for Willie to finish mis meals.

Noodle is the short, round one, and Charlotte has the loooonnng snout.

It is cute to see them all buried together in the straw for the night, tho! Will try to get a pic of that sometime.

Charlotte:

Noodle:

Willie Pictures

2008-11-20T14:29:00.004-05:00

Catching up on posting some pics of my piggers. Willie is my old fellow - about 10-11 yrs old; I've had him about 1.5 yrs. He is a sweetie. We struggle with recurring urinary issues, but seem to be getting a handle on how to handle them - hit him with antibiotics at the first sign of urinary anomalies (hunching to pee, dribbling, straining, prolonged protrusion of the penis).

He is mid-treatment again right now (last time - much more acute was in July), and seems to be rallying well. I suspect the change in weather (colder!) has caused him to drink less, which may have triggered this bout.

Here are some pics of the old fellow - on a much warmer day than today (winter has arrived - at least in temperature - here in Eastern ON).

Rescue 911 - Pig Episode

2008-11-20T13:34:00.000-05:00

MISSOURI: New breed of hog farmers let pigs run wild

2008-11-18T16:42:00.001-05:00

17.nov.08
STLtoday
Georgina Gustin
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/318AFFCCB22B3E7A8625750400093F5E?OpenDocument

FRANKENSTEIN, MO. -- Hog farmer Russ Kremer stands at the edge of a pen, surveying his pigs as they scamper and snort in the mud."They like diversity," he says, pushing a camouflage ballcap off his forehead. "Some of them are down there in the water, some are grazing on the rough ground. Some are pretty cliquish; they remember their litter mates."

Kremer won't go so far as to say they're like children to him, but clearly his animals are more than meat products in the making. Kremer raises nearly 1,000 pigs on his 160-acre farm in rolling Osage County in central Missouri. These days, though, he is often traveling around the nation, preaching the gospel of natural farming. "I'd rather be in my pen, enjoying my pigs," he says, "but some weeks I'm home just two, three days."Over the last decade, Kremer has become an evangelist for raising animals outdoors, with fresh air, room to root and run, and without antibiotics.

In the process, he has persuaded other farmers to go the same route, helping to create — and feed — a growing appetite for meat raised humanely and largely without drugs. The demand for naturally raised pork has become so steep that Kremer and small-scale farmers like him are sealing sales deals with companies around the country — and large industrial farm operators are taking notice.

While these independent farmers gain a toehold, some industrial farmers also have started to question what, exactly, constitutes a "naturally raised," and "antibiotic-free" pig. Farmers set their own standards — the only government designation that assures an antibiotic free meat is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "organic" label. At the same time, large corporations such as Cargill and Smithfield, have introduced their own antibiotic-free lines to capitalize on the demand."Usually these are market-driven programs," said Craig Rowles, a veterinarian and hog farmer from Carroll, Iowa, adding, "Antibiotic-free means different things to different people."

WASHINGTON: Green swine good for environment, scientists say

2008-11-18T16:40:00.001-05:00

16.nov.08
Gannett News Service
Philip Brasher
http://www.freep.com/article/20081116/NEWS07/811160444/1009WASHINGTON

A group of 21 hogs living at an Ontario university have been genetically engineered so their manure will be less polluting -- but just as smelly as a conventional pig's.Scientists at the University of Guelph envision the Enviropigs' pork being marketed as good for the environment.

No one has eaten it yet, but the scientists say the pork should taste like any other pig. They "look like regular pigs, they act like other pigs, and they regrettably smell like other pigs," said Cecil Forsberg, one of the Guelph scientists.

But for now, the pigs can't leave the lab, although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering an application from the university to allow the pork to go to market. The FDA recently proposed guidelines for regulating genetically engineered animals such as the Enviropigs, but consumer activists say the rules are inadequate: The guidelines won't require developers to disclose key details, such as what genes have been used to give the animals their distinctive traits, and food from the animals won't have to be labeled.

Even if the FDA approves the Enviropigs or other biotech animals, it's unclear whether farmers and processors will consider commercializing them. There is no evidence that consumers are clamoring for high-tech foods."We more often hear the cries for something that is closer back to nature," said Scott Eilert, vice president for research and development at Cargill Meat Solutions Corp., one of the largest U.S. meatpackers.

Eilert didn't rule out marketing biotech meat, but he said it is "hard for me to imagine today." He spoke at a forum on the issue sponsored by the consumer advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest and a liberal think tank, the Center for American Progress. The pork industry shows little interest in genetically engineered hogs, said Mark Bogges, who follows swine research for the National Pork Board.

Pigs and Humans - 10,000 Years of Interaction

2008-11-10T13:02:00.003-05:00

Edited by:

Umberto Albarella, Keith Dobney, Anton Ervynck and Peter Rowley-Conwy

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Pigs are one of the most iconic but also paradoxical animals ever to have developed a relationship with humans. This relationship has been a long and varied one: from noble wild beast of the forest to mass produced farmyard animal; from a symbol of status and plenty to a widespread religious food taboo; from revered religious totem to a parodied symbol of filth and debauchery.

Pigs and Humans brings together some of the key scholars whose research is highlighting the role wild and domestic pigs have played in human societies around the world over the last 10,000 years.

The 22 contributors cover a broad and diverse range of temporal, geographical, and topical themes, grounded within the disciplines of archaeology, zoology, anthropology, and biology, as well as art history and history. They explore such areas as evolution and taxonomy, domestication and husbandry, ethnography, and ritual and art, and present some of the latest theories and methodological techniques.

The volume as a whole is generously illustrated and will enhance our understanding of many of the issues regarding our complex and ever changing relationship with the pig.

Available from Amazon, or in e-book form from Sony.

MRSA in pigs and pork in Europe and N. America

2008-11-10T10:49:00.000-05:00

08.nov.08
Pig Disease Information Centre
Dr. Michael Meredith
www.pighealth.com

At the recent International Pig Veterinary Society Congress in South Africa (a biennial event), a number of swine-specialist veterinarians gave papers given on MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) infection in pigs. MRSA is causing increasing concern to swine breeders and pork producers around the world, especially since it was reported to be spreading in breeding pyramids in The Netherlands.

A European survey of MRSA infection in pigs is currently in progress, supported by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). There has been mounting concern in the European Union after discovery of MRSA in Dutch and German pigs and EU farm workers and vets. Canada and USA pig herds have also been affected.

The main concern about MRSA in swine is the risk it poses as a zoonosis risk to farmers, vets and meat industry personnel who may come into contact with infected animals. There is also concern about the effect on consumer confidence, although the real risk to consumers is very small, because the organism is easily destroyed by cooking and the main risk to humans comes from other human beings (hospital or community-acquired infection) and, to a lesser extent, from close contact with pets and horses. It is likely that some, or even many, animal infections may have come humans in the first place.

Veterinarian David Burch, of the Octagon Services farm animal health consultancy in the UK, says that MRSA probably mostly has little to no effect on pigs themselves - S. aureus is not commonly a primary pathogen, more of an opportunist infection. Piglets which acquire skin damage from rough flooring, fighting wounds, or develop infected navels or gum damage after teeth clipping, are at risk of developing MRSA bacteremia and blood-borne spread of infection to other locations. In a survey of 4,000 submissions to a diagnostic laboratory in the Netherlands, 97 isolates (2.4% of cases) of S. aureus were found. Affected organs were: joints (48%), lungs (12%), heart and pericardium (8%), spleen (8%). The incidence of brain, abscess, kidney and blood infections was below 5%. Only 16 of these (0.4% of submissions) involved MRSA, demonstrating the low clinical impact the infection has in the pig, despite surveys indicating 39% infection of Dutch pigs and 81% of pig farms being infected.

Apart from hygienic precautions, especially thorough hand-washing after handling potentially infected animals or equipment, Burch recommends that pig keepers should ask the breeder about MRSA checks before purchasing breeding stock.

He suggests that MRSA-related biosecurity at both national and farm level also has to be increased. More information about MRSA in pigs can be found at: www.pighealth.com

The Duchess Fund

2008-11-07T01:48:00.003-05:00

The overall purpose of the Duchess Fund is to enlarge the amount and enhance the quality of data available to the individual practitioner relative to the care and needs of potbellied (and other miniature) pet pigs as a long term companion animal. It is expected that the fund will promote, encourage and support research that leads to an extended life as well as optimal quality of life.

Specific objectives include:

Establish and maintain a repository for existing and new data that is both conveniently accessible and supportive of research efforts.
Collect existing data that is currently held by individuals, practitioners and universities and incorporate into the central database.
Promote orderly data collection efforts such as surveys of breed characteristics and health conditions and integrate results into the database.
Fund diagnostic studies and necropsies that have a high probability of adding to the available store of knowledge and might not otherwise be affordable for some pet owners.
Support projects that have a high probability of enhancing our ability to extend and improve the quality of life for pet pigs.
Organize and support conferences that bring researchers together to share new data on quality of life management for miniature pet pigs.

The medical records are completely confidential and only a case number is used for identification purposes. The Duchess Fund retains access to the owners and veterinarians names should future follow up be required on certain cases. Veterinarians world-wide may search on-line for specific cases using criteria such as "symptoms" and "diagnosis" in the database.

We will be offering a video tape on the website illustrating routine veterinary care of potbellied pigs including neuters, spays, hoof trims, tusk trims, vaccinations and blood withdrawal among a few. Our Medical Library will have a host of articles pertaining to diseases and conditions of potbellied pigs as well as links to other resources. We will continue to enlarge the library.

The contribution of your pet pig's medical records enables us to fulfill the goals of the medical database. Please print out a release form and forward to your Veterinarian so that we may obtain and add your pet pig's medical records to our confidential medical database. We appreciate records on both living and deceased pet pigs.

Your monetary donations to this Fund empowers us to financially contribute to various medical projects and research which are aimed at fulfilling the goals of the Duchess Fund. Make check payable to "Duchess Fund"

The Latest on the Hormel case - Charges Laid!

2008-11-07T01:26:00.001-05:00

From a PETA mailout, dated October 23, 2008:

Dear Allison,

We have very important news. Last month, we told you about our new undercover investigation on an Iowa pig farm that breeds piglets to supply Hormel. Our investigation revealed that pregnant pigs were confined to barren gestation crates, beaten with metal gate rods, and kicked by farm workers. Workers were documented shocking pigs and spraying toxic paint around their eyes and up their noses, and one supervisor even raped a pig with a cane.

We are pleased to announce that the Greene County Sheriff stated in a news release yesterday that six individuals employed by the farm at the time of PETA's investigation now face a total of 22 counts of livestock neglect and abuse.

Those charged include a former farm manager and a supervisor. Fourteen of the counts are aggravated misdemeanors—the stiffest possible charges under Iowa state law for crimes committed against farmed animals—and each carry up to two years behind bars. Such charges are unprecedented.

PETA is on the front lines, fighting as hard as ever to expose and end cruelty to animals. We can't and won't let animal suffering and abuse be ignored or forgotten. Please take heart in the results of this investigation and the fact that your help and support makes this victory and everything that we do to help animals possible. And please know that we will continue to expose and end these abuses until the day comes when we bring an end to factory farming.

You can still help! Please forward the video to everyone you know and urge them not to eat pigs or any animals. And if you haven't already written to Hormel to demand that the company follow PETA's eight-point policy to govern future pig-farming operations, please do so now.

Thank you for all that you do for animals!

With kind regards,
Ingrid E. Newkirk

Sheriff To Look Into Pig Abuse On Iowa Farms

2008-11-07T01:24:00.002-05:00

The next in a series of updates on the Hormel pig abuses from Sept 2008 - stay tuned - even more recent news to come!

The Associated Press
Published: September 18, 2008

WASHINGTON - An Iowa sheriff said Wednesday that he has launched an investigation into a videotape showing abuse of pigs at a farm.

The video, shot by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, shows farmworkers hitting sows with metal rods, slamming piglets on a concrete floor and bragging about jamming rods into sows' hindquarters.

Greene County Sheriff Tom Heater said he had met with PETA representatives Tuesday."They provided us with what appears to be some really good information," he said. "Our next step is to secure interviews with potential suspects, and definitely make sure that there's no further abuse occurring down there; that's our main concern at this point."Asked whether crimes had been committed, Heater responded: "It appears that there were. Yes."

On the video, obtained by The Associated Press, a supervisor tells an undercover PETA investigator that when he gets angry or a sow won't move, "I grab one of these rods and jam it in her anus."

The farm, located outside of Bayard, Iowa, about 60 miles west of Des Moines, is a supplier to Hormel Foods of Austin, Minn. PETA wants to use the results of the investigation to pressure Hormel, the maker of Spam and other food products, to demand that its suppliers ensure humane treatment of pigs.

Hormel spokeswoman Julie Henderson Craven called the incidents "completely unacceptable."PETA is seeking prosecution of 18 people on animal cruelty violations. According to PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich, the video shows eight people directly abusing animals.

CALIFORNIA: Hog hell: Investigators uncover shocking abuse at pig farm

2008-11-06T12:45:00.000-05:00

30.sep.08
Modesto Bee http://www.modbee.com/opinion/national/story/447356.html

Dan Paden, a research associate in People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' Cruelty Investigations Department, www.GoVeg.com, writes that every time PETA has sent an undercover investigator into a factory farm or slaughterhouse, we've found egregious animal abuse. Our latest case is no exception. Raising and killing animals for food is an ugly business even under the best of circumstances, but only a sadist could swallow what PETA's investigators saw at a Greene County, Iowa, farm that produces piglets destined for Hormel and other pork companies.

Supervisors and workers were caught beating pigs with metal bars, kicking them repeatedly, shocking them in the face and spraying paint into their nostrils and all over their faces. They slammed the heads of piglets who were deemed too small to be profitable onto the concrete. This common industry practice, known as "thumping," is supposed to kill the animals instantly, but many of the piglets at this farm survived the blows and some were still writhing in pain more than 12 minutes later.

Employees took pleasure in the animals' pain. One worker said that the pigs deserved to be hurt and that the more the pigs suffered, the better he liked it. He encouraged PETA's undercover investigator to pretend that a pig had scared away a "willing" 17- or 18-year-old girl and to punish the pig for it. Another worker said he "get(s) a lot of aggression out" on the pigs and laughed as he suggested they be shot in the vagina with a captive-bolt gun.

Managers behaved no better. One supervisor rammed a cane into a pig's vagina and boasted about shoving metal gate rods up pigs' anuses. The same supervisor - who instructed PETA's investigator to "beat on the b - - - h" and to "make her cry" - repeatedly kicked a downed sow. She gave birth the next day and was thought to be in labor during the abuse.Lacerations were found on dozens of sows at the farm; one pig's injuries lasted for nearly two weeks. Farm Sanctuary, an animal protection group that is caring for pigs who were rescued during flooding in southeastern Iowa, found wounds on the animals consistent with those documented by PETA's investigators, indicating that such abuse is systemic in factory farms.

PETA's exposes of other hog farms have led to felony cruelty charges and the termination of employees for animal abuse. But even when factory-farmed animals aren't gratuitously abused, they still suffer greatly. Pregnant pigs are confined to metal gestation crates so small that they can't turn around or even take a single step in any direction. Their piglets are taken away from them, castrated and mutilated - without the use of painkillers. In slaughterhouses, pigs are hung upside-down, bled and scalded, often while they're still conscious.

People who eat pork are paying to support these routine, industry-wide acts of cruelty, but meat-eaters and vegetarians can still agree that the willful abuses witnessed on the Iowa farm are wrong and must stop. When Dr. Temple Grandin, the world's foremost expert on farmed animal welfare, reviewed PETA's undercover footage, she said, "The treatment of sows on this video is atrocious animal cruelty. These people should be prosecuted. This is some of the worst abuse of sows I have ever seen."

PETA is calling on Hormel to enact and rigorously enforce strict animal welfare guidelines for its facilities and for the facilities it supports. Among other things, employees who abuse animals must be terminated and prosecuted, and cameras must be installed in animal areas and randomly monitored by a third party. It shouldn't take a PETA investigation to bring cruel behavior to a company's attention-or to remind consumers that by buying bacon, sausage, ham and hot dogs, they are supporting suffering. The best thing any of us can do to end abuses on factory farms is to stop eating animals.

NETHERLANDS: Dutch to trail a pig antibiotics database

2008-11-06T12:44:00.000-05:00

30.sep.08
Pig Progress
http://www.pigprogress.net/news/id1602-68410/dutch_to_trail_a_pig_antibiotics_database.html

Several pig organisations in the Netherlands have announced that the launch of an antibiotics database trial is expected before the end of the year.Essentially, the new tool is expected to give an insight into the real use of antibiotics in the pig industry, the agri- and horticultural organisation LTO and the trade union for pig producers NVV announced.The database will be linked to network monitoring systems. Eventually, the use of medicine will be registered on the basis of a model for doses per day, developed by Utrecht University’s Faculty of Animal Health.This will make it possible for pig producers, to compare the medicine use between each other – therefore optimising medicine use.

Three Little Pigs

2008-11-05T21:30:00.000-05:00

This is a true story, proving how fascinating the mind of a six year old is. They think so logically.

A teacher was reading the story of the Three Little Pigs to her class. She came to the part of the story where first pig was trying to gather the building materials for his home. She read, 'And so the pig went up to the man with the wheelbarrow full of straw and said: 'Pardon me sir, but may I have some of that straw to build my house?' The teacher paused then asked the class: 'And what do you think the man said?'

One little boy raised his hand and said very matter-of-factly ...'I think the man would have said - 'Well, I'll be damned!! A talking pig!'

The teacher had to leave the room.

The Browns by A J CALLAN

2008-11-04T14:15:00.002-05:00

Medium: Giclee Canvas
Status: Box Canvas
Edition size: 95
Image size: 30" x 30"
Free delivery in the UK

Price: £399.00(inc. VAT)
Price: £339.57(ex. VAT)

Signed limited edition print by John AJ Callan - The Browns.

"The Browns are a happy, tight knit family. The son and daughter are competitive but close. The proud parents stand behind them, hoping you''ll notice the family resemblance. Do they remind you of someone you know? I''ve managed to catch them all smiling at once and without a hint of red-eye! On this piece I have backlit the subject and used dramatic shadows to add more form and interest. I''ve intentionally cropped the picture tightly, giving the impression they''ve all perhaps squeezed into a tiny photo booth."

http://www.hepplestonefineart.co.uk/productdetail.aspx?&sid=15&s=Subject&n=A%20J%20CALLAN&p=4&pid=1762&m=The%20Browns

Land & Business Magazine (UK)

2008-10-28T11:40:00.001-04:00

My step-son came home from visiting relatives in the UK, and brought this magazine back with him. I can't find anything *in* the mag about pbps, but it's sure a cute picture!

In California? Please VOTE YES for Prop 2!

2008-10-23T13:15:00.003-04:00

To learn more about Proposition 2 - that will improve conditions for farmed animals, please visit:

www.yesonprop2.com

Piggy Motorcycle ....

2008-10-22T14:22:00.002-04:00

Someone who shares our passion for pigs ... and has a lot of time on their hands!

Pig Rubber Stamps

2008-10-16T13:46:00.002-04:00

Available from ebay seller: Cape Arago Rubber Stamps

Chinese Pig Painting

2008-10-16T13:43:00.001-04:00

Available from ebay seller: Ren's Chinese art shop