Page 4
The Battalion
Tuesday, February 27,1990
u
P
IGOUT
atsy,' a voice calls out
across the back yard.
“Come here Patsy. Come
on. Good girl.”
Patsy comes running across the
yard wagging her tail and looking
for affect ion. but Patsy is not a dog.
Patsy is a pregnant Chinese pot-bel
lied pig at v The Best Little Pig
Ranch in Texas."
Todd and Debbie McGee, both
Texas A&M students, have started a
new business raising and breeding
miniature pigs to sell as house pets.
Debbie, a graduate student in the
MBA program, said (he public’s per
ception of pigs as big. messy animals
needs to change.
“Everybody still thinks of pigs as
huge animals wallowing in the
mud." she said. “Pigs can actually he
great pets, since they are so unique.
They’re friendlier than cats and
most dogs, especially after they get
to know you."
Todd, a junior environmental de
sign major, agreed that the pigs
make good pets,
“ The best house pets are barrows,
which are neutered male pigs," he
said. “The reason they’re neutered is
it takes away their scent glands, and
makes them more docile.”
The miniature pigs weigh about
70 pounds when full grown, Todd
said. Todd said his brother, Curtis
McGee, Class of ’83, sparked their
interest in pot-bellied pigs.
My brother got us into this,”
Todd said. “He was working over
seas and his realtor in Houston im
ported them. We went over and saw
the pigs after they had a Jitter and
thought they were pretty neat. To
see the little babies is just unbelieva
ble. They’re very cute, just like little
puppy dogs.”
The pigs, originally bred in
China, have swayed backs and round
“pot bellies” that almost drag the
ground, Todd said. Wrinkled faces
and dog-like tails are other charac
teristics of pot-bellied pigs, he said.
“When they get excited, that tail
ets to wagging 90 mites an hour.”
"odd said.
The McGees are expecting their
first litter of pot-bellied pigs to be
born around March 22. Six weeks af
ter the pigs are born they will be
available to buyers, so if you’ve got
the money, honey, they've got the
swine.
“We’ll wean them after lour
weeks,” Todd said. “Then they’re re
ady to be adopted after about six
weeks.”
However, you’ve got to be living
pretty high on the hog to afford one
of these pets. According to Todd,
the miniature pigs cost between
$1,500 and Sb,000, depending on
their markings, characteristics and
personality.
Pot-bellied pigs have been bred as
a pets for many years in other parts
of the world, but are relatively new
in the United States, Debbie said.
“The miniature pig has been do
mesticated for centuries,” she said.
“For a long time they were kept as
pets by Chinese emperors. They’ve
been popular in Europe since the
seventies, hut they’re still pretty new
to the U S.”
“Pigs are smart, curious animals
and they're easy to train,” Todd said.
“It’s easy to teach them to sit . it’s easy
to potty train them and it’s fairly
easy to leash train them. It’s an abso
lutely stunning sight when you see
one of these little pigs on a leash
walking down the street.
“They're good about minding. As
long as food is involved, they’ll do
anything. The way you train them is
Naming the pigs is one of the Mc
Gees' favorite aspects of raising
them, Debbie said. Names they have
chosen include Patsy Swine (named
after s in ge r Pa t sy C 1 i n e ),
Frankenswine, Valenswine and Ca
sanova. The McGees also enjoy
training the pigs to perform tricks.
by coaxing them with food.”
The pigs eat commercial pig food
in the mornings and evenings, and
eat cheese and Honeycomb cereal as
treats for successfully performing
tricks, Todd said. They also enjoy
eating acorns and grass in the back
yard, he said.
One of the problems the McGees
have encountered is city ordinances
that prevent pigs from being raised
within city limits. College Stat ion has
such an ordinance now, Todd said.
However, these ordinances are be
ing thrown out in many cities, he
said.
“In most of the cases that have
come up, city ordinances and deed
restrictions that prevent pigs from
being in an area have been overtur
ned, he said. “The reason is that
these pigs are pets and are actually
even cleaner than cats. As breeders,
we have a very important role to ed
ucate the public.”
The public’s view of pigs in gen
eral mu.st change before all of the re
strictions on miniature pigs will be
lifted, Debbie said.
“The biggest problem is the pig
image right now,” she said. “They’re
smaller than many dogs allowed in
the city limits and they're cleaner.
The biggest challenge right now is
trying to get them accepted as pets,
even in the city limits.”
Potential pot-bellied pig purchas
ers should give the matter thorough
consideration before "adopting"
one, Debbie said.
“When you buy a pig, it's like buy
ing a dog or any other pet that will
l>e around for a long time," she said.
“Since these pigs live for 10 to 20
years, it’s not something you do spur
of the moment."
Debbie McGee takes the pigs for a walk.
Honeycombs cereal is the pigs’ favorite snack.
The pigs put their best snouts forward when they want the barn door opened.
Story by
Bill Hethcock
Photos by
✓
Phelan M. Ebenhack
Annie Swine gives David McGee a pig kiss — she nuzzles him with her snout.