I love pigs

I don't keep pigs on my farm is because the only reason to husband them is to eat them and I don't like eating pigs - not because I'm part Jew but because, if you have ever known pigs, you will know that they are as intelligent and affectionate and as loyal as dogs - and anyway pork is tough, dry and tasteless. (Okay, I'll confess that ham and bacon are delicious and life isn't always fair - to pigs or people.)

My grandfather had a dairy farm outside Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State, South Africa but he also kept chickens and pigs. Every time that we went to the farm when I was still a little nipper, the first thing I did was head for the pig-sty. I just adored those pigs. Of course pigs are not saints and, one day soon after one of the sows gave birth to a new litter, little Joseph, the son of the black kitchen maid, crawled into the sty and was killed (and eaten) by the sow.

One of the myths about pigs is that they are dirty. Nope, they're actually very clean and will bathe often if given access to clean water but, being practical critters, they make the most of whatever filthy sty one houses them in although they would prefer it to be clean. That's why I enjoyed this story so much.











Cinders the saddleback pig is afraid of dirt:

A pig called Cinders will front a campaign to highlight the plight of British pig farmers after she overcame her fear of mud with the help of a pair of bespoke boots. The six-month-old saddleback, above, suffers from mysophobia - the fear of dirt. Her owners, Debbie and Andrew Keeble, of Thirsk, North Yorkshire, asked a designer friend to create the boots, which have been made with no footwell, allowing her trotters to slip straight in. Now the couple, who run an award-winning sausage company, have chosen her as mascot for their fair-price campaign for pork.

All I can add is, poor little Cinders the future pork sausage.