OUR MICRO PIGS GREW INTO 25-STONE BEHEMOTHS!
As his brace of piglets got bigger and bigger, Matt Whyman was amazed by their intelligence and single-mindedness – so much so that he wrote a book about them, he tells JANE WARREN
Park, an award-winning adventure farm in West Sussex, on a bright October morning so he can back up his thesis with real piglets.
We set off with our photographer and find a litter of five 10-week-old Middle Whites in a small grassy field. This is their cue for a cooling mud bath, coating their pink underbellies ready for the pictures.
“They use the mud for its evaporative cooling properties as they do not have sweat glands,” explains Matt, who adds that their “rubbery not wet” snouts are feats of engineering, combining highly sensitive tissue within a rim of cartilage that is a brilliantly designed natural excavation system.
When Matt climbs into their enclosure, the pigs rush towards him and sniff him out thoroughly.
“When a pig is sniffing you they are getting lots of information because their sense of smell is 2,000 times more sensitive than the human nose, and has more tactile receptors than the human hand,” he explains.
“This allows them to pick up the smell of an acorn three feet underground and persist for up to 18 hours a day in determinedly digging up this treat.”
While he smiles delightedly at the chance to commune once again with pigs, they are busy communicating with him in little grunts, pausing while he responds with effusive greetings, before resuming. It appears to be a genuinely twoway process.
“Oh yes, you can hold wonderful conversations with pigs,” says Matt, who may be 49 but who has something of the ageless schoolboy about him.
But where pigs come into their own vocally is with their peers.
“The communication between us and pigs is two-way but pigs also communicate closely with each other,” says Matt. “Those random oinks are believed to be a kind of pig status update for the group, so they all know what everyone is doing – be it looking for food, finding something good, going for a wallow or detecting a threat.
“And it never ceases. I think of it as a kind of pig social network – ‘What am I doing?’ ‘Where am I?’ ‘What have I found?’ – though pigs sometimes go quiet when they do find something so the others don’t find out.”
Perhaps the biggest surprise that Matt’s research turned up is that pigs are masters and mistresses of duplicity.
“Scientists have shown they will even trick their fellow pigs to get to food first,” he points out. “In experiments where they have located food they will then lead a dominant pig astray before rushing back to eat the food all by themselves.”
They also build nests – if a sow is about to have piglets she will spend 24 hours constructing it.
“Pigs belong to an exclusive club of non-bird nest builders. These nests are beautifully made and incorporate whatever is lying around, including buckets, hosepipes, bits of plastic.” Even television remote controls…
Once the piglets are settled in, the bond between pig mother and offspring can get started in earnest.
“The piglets knead the mother’s teats to let her know if they’ve had enough or need more next time. The way she responds sounds a lot like singing as well.”
It is a compelling insight which makes the strongest argument possible for their humane treatment. It’s little wonder Matt is a vegetarian.
To order The Unexpected Genius Of Pigs, by Matt Whyman (Harper Collins, £9.99), call the Express Bookshop with your credit/debit card details on 01872 562310. Alternatively send a cheque along with your details to Pigs Offer, PO Box 200, Falmouth TR11 4WJ or buy online at expressbookshop.co.uk UK delivery is free. For more information on Fishers Farm go to fishersfarmpark.co.uk