Better Farm Welcomes Matilda The Pig

Matilda at 5 weeks.

Well hello there, gorgeous!

We're very excited to introduce Matilda, the newest addition to Better Farm. This little pot-bellied piglet is just 5 weeks old, and joins us because an injury to her back leg soon after she was born means she needs to live in a forever home where she'll get lots of attention and physical therapy.

We got a call a little more than a month ago from our friends at Storie's Swine Sales, an independent pig breeder in Gouverneur (pet adoptions only! If you're looking to give a beautiful potbellied pig a wonderful home, definitely reach out to Samantha Storie -- she is fabulous). Turns out one of the mama pigs went off the deep end and ran amok in her pen, leaving one of her own piglets with a bad muscle tear on a hind leg. Looking to find a great home for this little piggie, Samantha contacted us to see if we'd like to take her in for some TLC, lots of attention, and a promise of a safe, loving home.

How can you say no to this face?

So yesterday, the Better Farm belles hopped in the car and took a cruise out to Gouverneur, where we picked up this little bundle of joy:

Back at Better Farm, we gave Matilda a bubble bath, and hooked her up with some Young Living essential Oils (Stress Away, Deep Relief). She had a couple tiny nicks on her ear from rough-housing with some of fellow piglet friends, so we rubbed some antibiotic ointment around the wounds. All this rubbing and heavy petting put our baby girl right to sleep!

All cleaned up and smelling wonderful, we let Matilda relax from a stressful, unfamiliar morning with a stuffed animal, some towels and a little Mozart on the stereo. Here she is doing her instinctive burrowing in some fresh shredded paper:

We put some water and grain in with her, and let her sleep it off... except for a few interruptions to give her belly rubs and snuggles:

When Matilda is big enough (and she will be -- pot belly pigs top out around 200 pounds!), we'll set her up in rotating paddocks outside -- because as much as we will be handling her and getting her used to people, she's a pig! And we want her to be able to do pig things like dig in the dirt and dance around in the fresh air all day. As we rotate her through grazing areas, we'll be planting gardens behind her in the turned-over paddocks. This way, she will always have fresh vegetation to eat, sniff and roll in -- and we will always have fertilized ground to garden in.

And, assuming she and the dogs can find some neutral territory, she'll also be welcomed in and around the farm house as she sees fit. A perfectly symbiotic relationship, no?

To learn about all the animals finding sanctuary at Better Farm -- and to help! -- click here.