Walter, my long-suffering husband, never fails to make me laugh with a good story. I showed him the cutest video of a piglet being bottle fed, which made him remember his 4-H pig and his first encounter with Robert Rollins, who worked with 4-H in Macon County.
Keep in mind Walter’s family had just about quit raising animals and gardening, since most of the kids were grown and gone at that time. But Walter was about 12 years old and number eight of 10 kids.
He said his folks had seen all of the 4-H pigs they cared to see and had even torn down the pig pen. But, Mr. Rollins had a pig, and Walter had a yearning, deep down in his soul, to raise pigs to sell and make millions of dollars. So the deal was struck.
He rebuilt the pig pen with a little help from his older brother, Frank, and his dad. Mr. Rollins brought the pig; and, unfortunately, war was on.
She was a pretty white pig, but Walter said from the git-go she was the meanest pig on earth. When I asked what he named her, he said he never gave her a name “since their relationship wasn’t that good.”
She would charge head on and bite him every chance she got. He had to learn how to exit the pig pen very quickly, mainly by jumping the fence. Since she was his pig, he was the only caretaker, so the burden was all on him.
He kept that pig best he could, feeding and watering her twice a day; and, after six months or so, had her bred. Finally, he could see some profit from all of his suffering.
Then, on the coldest night in February, that pig gave birth to five or six piglets and promptly rolled over on them and killed all but two.
After about a month of trying to keep the survivors alive by bottle feeding them and keeping them in the house, Mr. Rollins came to the rescue. To the relief of all involved, he took away the pig and the surviving piglets and sold them.
Walter said he got back his initial investment from the sale, and he got credit for his project on his 4-H chart. That ended the Hunter family involvement in pig farming. From then on, all the pork at their house came from the supermarket.