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Did You Know?

Do you eat like a pig?

If you only ate healthy foods from the four food groups and no snack food, then you can say you ate like a pig! Pigs eat grains like corn, barley and soybeans, mixed in with vitamins and minerals. Pig feed is usually all mixed together, ofthen into a pellet, kind of like dog food. Animal feed can be purchased from a feed mill or mixed on-farm. A lot of scientific research has helped farmers learn the exact amount and type of food a pig needs as it grows.

Sweat like a pig?

Impossible, since pigs don't sweat! Storybook pigs are often shown in the mud as they try to keep cool and out of the sun. Real pigs actually like to keep clean. Today's pig barns help keep pigs cool in the summer and warm in the winter with lots of fans to help circulate the air. Did you know some barns even have water sprinklers to help keep pigs cool and comfortable?

Houses of Straw. Sticks, or Bricks?

Only pigs in the storybooks or movies live in houses, talk, and wear clothes. Most real pigs in Canada live in barns, not outside in the mud. Why, you ask? Barns are designed to provide pigs with the right enviroment, and temperature. Barns also protect pigs from predators, like the big dad wolf - that part from the story is real!

Pigtionary

Barrow ... Male pig that needs to be neutered

Boar... Adult male pig that fathers the piglets

Farrow... To give birth

Gilt ... Young female that has never given birth

Litter..... Group of piglets born at one time from one sow, still nursing from her

Market Hog... Pig raised for meat, weighs up to 120 kg

Piglet ...... Newborn pig, weighs 1-2 kg

Runt ...... Smallest piglet in the litter

Sow ....Adult female pig ( "sow" rhymes with "cow")

Weanling . .. Young pig weaned from the sow, 3 - 8 weeks old