Merry Meanderings # 17 "So, why curly coat pigs....

"This is another one of those frequently asked questions..... all the time peeps do say - "Why you got curly coat piggies?"
It's a bit of a shaggy dog story so I hopes you all sittin' comfortably..

Mangal & wurzel 05/07

Once upon a time there was a native Lincyshire piggie... it was famous for bein' huge and fat and hairy - hairier than a spannl - . It was called the Lincolnshire Curly Coated pig and many people in this part of the world did have one at the bottom of their garden. They would love it lots and feed it more... Sometimes the pig would be 'paid' to a family in exchange for their labours so many people did call it a Wage Pig.  It did make them feel good if they could make that pig the biggest piggie in the neighbourhood,
"The bigger my piggie, the bigger my position" would say the person....
Some piggies were very huge indeed - local mythology do put some of them at 40 stone - don't know how big that is but I only 24kg and I am not small.... so it an awful lot of spannls....
Now.. I say "were" because there are no more of these huge great piggies in the world - not one... not anywhere.

Ginger & Pepper 05/07

But before there were not any of these piggies anywhere a large number of the female curly coated Lincyshire piggies went to Hungary (which is where I am all the time nowadays - so I not really understand how bit fat hairy piggies who no longer live here once went to where I am now..... odd...). But I gettin' off the story.
The Lincyshire piggies what did go to Hungary went there because the local pig in that part of the world was in danger of disappearing forever too. It was after the big fight which the peeps do call World War 1 and the starving people did eat nearly all the piggies....

Saying god nite to the anipals

So An Important Person in Hungary did look all over the world for a piggy that was like his piggies so that he could marry them together. He found the curly coats in Lincyshire and he was a happy man and did buy many of them.  The 'new' piggies were called Lincalitzas because his piggies were called Mangalitzas. Five state-run breeding stations were made for the new piggies and family trees were recorded and the people were very proud of their new piggies.
But then there was another big fight and after that new people did take over the country and did trash all the breeding stations and get rid of all the Family Tree records and the pigs all became known as Mangalitzas because now no person could tell which was Lincalitza and which was not.....
Time passed and the Big Boss, who has always loved piggies, heard that a man who loved rare breed piggies was trying to import some of these rare Mangalitzas from Austria and he did think it would be wonderful to bring the Curly Coats back to Lincyshire.... He offered his help to the man.
And so it came to pass that eventually the Mangalitza piggies did arrive in the South of England, and the Big Boss did go down to 'see' them and did come home with two.

Curly Coat pigs return to Heckington Show 07/07

She (who must be obeyed) was not displeased but pigs not being Her thing, nor was she over the moon....
However She did say that it was a shame to have two such very rare piggies and just fatten them for the kitchen! (I think sometines maybe She did wish She had kept her mouth shut - She quite often wish that - but that another story...)
Well, he needed no more persuading - within a matter of weeks the Big Boss did arrange for
the boys, Mangel & Wurzel to be joined by Ginger and her brother Pepper. They were all young and friendly and we all did love them.

Paparazzi pigs 08/07

And the local people were all so happy because the Big Boss did bring the Curly Coat Pig back to Lincyshire after 40 or more years...... The piggies was in all the papers and on all the TVs and radios ... it was A Very Big Thing in these parts --- and it all did happen around the time I did come to live here so piggies have always been in my life.....


There is more to this story but that be the next chapter ............................