Hilda II

Anyone who's spent any appreciable time in the country has some sort of quirky story about an animal that displayed an astonishing amount of personality.  Well here's one of my most recent ones.  It's the story of Hilda II.

Hilda I was a beautiful red wattle gilt that we got from a breeder down the road for $50.  She enjoyed a steady diet of acorns, scraps, a little pig feed, chickens ( and whatever else she scrounged up.  Her meat was dark red and delicious.  We butchered her in February of this year, and immediately felt the pangs of porcine longing.  Sure she was still with us, in our deep freeze, but it just wasn't the same.

One day, I was visiting a neighbor and three little piglets ran across the drive in front of me.  Out we jumped and at the end of it all, one little porker came home with us.  We put her in the chicken brooder and she began to put on the pounds.  She finally ventured out into the daylight and one unfortunate day she ran away.  I tracked her rootings for a ways down our drive and out onto the roadside, but then lost her.

A full two months later, I see her standing in the neighbor's coastal field, right underneath one of the horses.  We contacted our neighbor and inquired as to her arrival, and low and behold, it was indeed our little Hilda II!  He explained that they had an old nag that was declining in health and was probably going to be put down, until Priscilla (their name for Hilda II) showed up and befriended the poor animal.  The horse and the pig became almost inseparable, and thanks to a steady diet of alfalfa and corn, both began to pack on pounds again.  He wondered if we might extend the arrangement through the winter.  Hmm, someone else feeds out my hog and I still get to butcher her?  Absolutely!

This morning, while driving the kids to school, I saw the two of them, standing in the field happily munching together, oblivious to the destruction to come at the end of the winter, but none the less enjoying life.  It's almost enough to make a guy turn vegetarian...almost.