Mathilda is a Wild Boar crossed with Tamworth and Berkshire. This mixture of
old and wild breeds gives us a pig that is as close as possible in size and
appearance of the domestic pig kept by the Anglo-Saxons, from the evidence
of archaeology and early manuscript illustrations. Our pigs have long
snouts, prick ears and dark hairy coats with a distinctive ridge along the
spine behind their shoulders, and look completely unlike modern pigs. The
hairy coats keep them warm in winter and consist of two layers, the coarser
bristles (used for making brushes) and a fine fluffy undercoat to trap warm
air next to the skin. This coat is shed in late spring in large lumps,
making them look very scruffy for a few weeks! In the hot weather they keep
cool by rolling and digging in wet mud and water, but unlike modern pigs we
don't have to put suntan cream on them!
Hilda, Mathilda's mother, gave birth to nine piglets - seven male and two
female - in February 2002, and looked after them very well, despite our
worries that she would not know what to do, as she had been bottle-reared by
museum staff because her mother was unable to look after her. Wild Boar
piglets are stripy when they are born and this characteristic has shown up
on all the cross-breed piglets born on the farm; it makes them look very
cute indeed. The stripes gradually fade as they grow up. Millie's tail was
very curly when she was small, but curiously this straightened out as she
grew older.
Millie was well known as an escapologist when she was younger and was quite
adept at digging under, wriggling through or climbing over all sorts of
obstacles. However, like Pooh Bear she has a healthy appetite and is now
rather too large for such tricks. She was particularly fond of her
great-grandmother, Rosie, and would often snuggle up to her for an afternoon
nap. Rosie is an indulgent old lady and Millie would run off to her when
Hilda had told her off for anything.
Eight of the piglets were sold but we could not resist keeping such a
likeable pig as Mathilda, who is now quite a size and can be distinguished
from her mum because she has a slightly more ginger coat, a kink in her tail
and a permanent Mona Lisa-style enigmatic smile. We chose the name Mathilda
because of its similarity to Hilda's name, but she answers to the less
formal pet name of "Millie. The ginger colouring reflects the Tamworth in
her breeding, whereas her mother has a darker coat which is more
characteristic of Berkshire pigs.
Pigs were kept both domestically and hunted in the wild in the Anglo-Saxon
period. They were useful not just for meat but for their skins. They are
easy to fatten up as they will eat a wide range of food, and could have also
be used to clear land or forage in woodland for acorns in the autumn. The
meat is easy to preserve by salting or smoking.
As well as proprietary pig food, our pigs enjoy fruit, vegetables and green
fodder. Their favourite game is playing with mouthfuls of fresh straw
bedding, or with twigs and branches when we have been pruning trees and
shrubs.
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