The man who tends them...

[Anonymous Poster]

(me and Hannah)



I thought I heard thunder. It was late evening, all the chores were done, feeding complete, peaceful. That really calm time of day when the pigs graze quietly or root about to find a place to claim for the night. The goats come up to the fencline to bed down where the house is in sight and the dogs are close by in case there's a predator in the night.

I noticed Hannah, one of the sows, stretched out on her side, laying out in the middle of the pasture. Not that unusual, but I eyed her for a minute just to make sure nothing was amiss. Her tail twitched.

“Oh, you’re all right.” I muttered to myself.

Just as I turned to walk back into the house I see Gracie. Same story. Laid out like a pig rug in the middle of the pasture.

“What the heck?”

One of the pasture dogs wandered past and sat down practically on Gracie’s head and she didn’t move an inch. I was starting to become mildly alarmed. What was this, some type of swine coma? I got to looking and found that there was a trail of sows littering the ground all the way back to the boar pens, and suddenly I got it.

My husband was home. Looked for his truck, yep there it was, looked for the husband, yep there he was, bent over one of the girls rubbing her belly.

This is his way of relaxing, walking the pig pasture, spending time with the animals. Some of them can just see him coming and they will fall over like they’ve been shot. I think I found the source of the sound that I’d mistaken as thunder. It was pigs falling down willy-nilly all over the place.

I’d forgotten what it was like to have a bunch of sows all bred and blossoming. Those itchy stretchy bellies just begging to be scratched. I’ve seen him lay them out for twenty minutes or better with just a few sure strokes of his hand. He makes more friends that way.

The little gilts, next year’s breeders, stood at a distance, their ears twitching, up to their bellies in the thick green grass, clearly wondering about the bodies scattered all over the place. They don’t know about the itchy stretchy bellies yet, but their day will come and they too will learn the magic of the man who tends them, and more importantly, tends to them.

 

[RichZ]

Another great story, Cindi!

And I love to hear about a guy who gives tummy rubs to pigs. People think I'm wierd when they hear I give tummy rubs to my horses and goats, not to mention my dogs and cats!! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Now at least everyone in TBN Land knows I'm not the only one who gives tummy rubs to their critters.!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Nothing is more relaxing than quietly making an animal feel good and secure! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Fred does it for enjoyment, plain pure and simple, and as you can see by the picture, it's something that we both do, but there is an added benefit. When you breed an animal of this size, it's always a good policy to have a passing good relaitonship with them. That way when we have to crawl in with them and their babies, they are less likely to get freaked out.

Animals have pleasure sensors just like we do and they can tell when someone loves them and cares for them by the way we put our hands on them and speak to them. I don't ever want to get so many animals that I can't enjoy them and have them enjoy us. I'll quit first. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif