Tomorrow will make exactly one week that we’ve had our kunekune piglets and what a week it has been! As I’ve said before, my husband is an exceptional researcher and doesn’t rush into anything important like something such as this. But, what we’ve learned in the past week could never have been Googled.
We made the trip down to Ramer, Alabama last Saturday to pick up our piglets. We already knew which ones we were getting by photos, but pictures do not do these creatures true justice. They are so stinking cute! We got a male kunekune that was born on Christmas Day 2017 and we got two female sisters that were born on Valentine’s Day 2018. Since we knew we didn’t want to be breeding right away and wanted to learn more about the breed, we had the male neutered. They call that a companion pig. He is solid red, so we named him “Red”. I thought it was a fitting name too because my Paw Paw Murphy’s nickname was Red.
As we made the journey last Saturday morning, I was having a little anxiety, which I always have but it was a little elevated. I think what was making me anxious was just the fear of the unknown. I’ve always grown up around animals; cats, dogs, horses, cows, chickens, sheep, etc. but this time was different. Maybe it’s because I would be their new “mama” and their new caretaker. I love our two dogs more than anything and I work daily to provide the best possible home and life for them. But I know how to love and interact with a dog. I have no clue how to do that with a pig. A pig? All of these thoughts raced through my mind on the way to get the kunekunes.
I had seen videos that my husband showed me and listened as he told me how docile and smart they are. But, honestly, until you are actually with the animals, you have no idea. The minute we met Red, he was very talkative and squealed a lot. I thought that he would be squealing the entire ride home. I was worried because Red wasn’t very social and only seemed to want to be near someone if they had food, which I had none. So up goes my anxiety. Then, we meet our two girls. They had never left their mother’s side and mama wasn’t happy that strangers were picking up her babies. Up goes my anxiety again. We get the three piglets into cages and put them in the back of the SUV. The people we were buying them from put grass in their cages and said we’d be good to go. Inside, I’m dying.
As we pulled away for the almost 3 hour ride home, all I could think about was getting these animals to their new home, introducing them to our dogs Izzy and Jax and helping them to make a smooth transition. Much to our surprise, the kunekunes didn’t really make much noise on the way home. That helped relieve some of my anxiety a bit for it to only build up again once we were home with the dogs.
I wasn’t worried about my dog Jax, as he is a very happy dog who loves everyone. But my Izzy is another story. She is a sweet dog, but is very protective of me and her territory. She is the dominant dog of the two. The kunekune paddock is on the other side of our yard fence so the dogs would be able to be nose to nose with the piglets. That was lesson number one. The dogs couldn’t get their noses through the dog wire, but Izzy sure tried. She barked and howled and growled and just began freaking out. After all, she had never seen a pig before. Thankfully, the pigs weren’t bothered by her at all and still aren’t’. So I decided that Saturday night we needed to hang a tarp over the fence so Izzy couldn’t get too close although there are still gaps that she could see the pigs.
The people that we purchased the kunekunes from were very knowledgeable and nice. They did tell us a lot. But what we have learned in the past week can only be learned when you are spending time with the animals. I am a teacher and my husband works for Publix. He was in management for almost 7 years before he stepped down. One of the reasons he stepped down was so that we could spend more time together and do things like starting our farm. He had taken this week off with me and it has taken both of us working to make the transition smooth not only for Izzy and Jax but for the kunekunes as well. I would say our first week as kunekune owners has been a success.
Some of the things we learned have been how amazing their personalities are. Each one, though different, have unique personalities and characteristics. They will get in your lap like a dog and they love belly rubs! And I’ve learned how much water they drink and that pigs can even get sunburned. I didn’t know that. And like I said, Blake has Googled for this type of information for over a year, but we never saw that one. And the pigs like to sleep piled on top of each other and can sleep for many hours, or at least ours do. The pigs love wild onions and grass and since they are grazing pigs, there’s lots of grass here for them to eat. That was part of our purpose in getting this particular breed; to eat grass and keep brush trimmed back holistically and naturally.
We named the two girls Piper and Lilly. Red has taken the role of big brother seriously and does not like to be separated. Up until last Saturday the girls had never met Red and Red had never met the girls. They have taken to each other very nicely.
I think the biggest thing that we have learned this past week is that, not matter what is going on, if you go spend time with the kunekunes, the big stuff doesn’t matter. Big problems seem smaller. Your anxiety diminishes and a sense of calm comes over you. Since Blake and I have been off from work together this week, we had a long list of things to get done. I’d say maybe 15% of what we needed to get accomplished got accomplished. We have spent the majority of our time out with our dogs and kunekunes. We have literally just been sitting in the grass watching the pigs eat and roll over for belly rubs. I know that doesn’t sound too appealing but trust me, there’s nothing like it. Time stops and problems can wait or sometimes disappear altogether. The stressors in life go away and a sense of calm and peace comes over you. If you want to see videos of the belly rubs, head over to our Instagram account.
I never thought I would ever have a pig, much less three pigs nor love these animals so much. Red has my heart and the girls are right behind him.
