Interview with a pig

The Boss and I have two grown up sons who both live a few hours drive away in different cities. 

When our boys were growing up, they used to occassionally say to me "Mum, geeze you're SPECIAL!" This comment would usually be made after I had an idea or suggestion they considered to be a bit unusual or harebrained.

Anyway, when I asked our younger son to do me a favour and go interview a kune kune pig, he took it totally in his stride. You see this boy pig has been offered for sale or swap on Trade Me, and I thought it could be a great opportunity to rehouse our beautiful black kune kune boy, swapping him for a bloke who could become our breeding boar.

My homework led me to discover this young fellow was currently living just down the road from our son and his partner. Since it was too far away for me to go take a casual look, I figured who better to go and make a  judgement on health and temperament than someone who knows absolutely nothing about pigs.

New Year's Eve our son and his partner arrived here to see in 2011 in true Queenstown style.  They'd barely straightened out the kinks from their long drive before I dragged them off to The Vineyard to meet our kune kune piggles and share the results of the pig interview.

We wandered through the gully at The Vineyard, stopping to put the airhead turkeys back in their pen, then carried on strolling until we were greeted by crashing noises and squeals coming from the undergrowth.

The piggles all came plowing down the hillside before screaming to a halt just short of the electric fence. They then did a loud running commentary as they followed us to an area where I could give them a pat and do proper introductions.   Since I didn't have any food for them, the piggles soon got sick of standing around looking cute and went back to their usual mid afternoon poses of snoozing on the ground with legs pointed in various weird directions.

Apparently the Trade Me pig had made a very different first impression. He was penned in a smelly yard with a heap of piglets, wary of strangers and reluctant to even walk around.  Without a doubt, there is now no way we'll be swapping our happy wee bloke and sending him off to live in a world less luxurious than the one he's become accustomed to!  Of course, now I'm having a dilemma about this poor kune kune boar - I wonder how much the current owner would sell him to us for.....?

What I've learnt today:

1.  If you're thinking about writing a blog, DON'T tell your mates.  As soon as you miss a day or three, they start demanding updates as soon as you walk in their door.
2.  We candled the eggs in the incubator yesterday.  Some are undoubtably housing baby chicks, still can't see anything through the pheasant eggs - will have to wait a few days longer.