Pink 2.0 was one happy piglet Saturday afternoon.
He was, after all, getting a personal belly massage. Miles Smith Farm assistant manager Teresa Downey rubbed him up and down, and Pink 2.0 rolled over, stretched his legs, closed his eyes, and – there isn’t another way to describe it – smiled as he gave soft little grunts.
Downey spent some time with Pink 2.0 and his siblings as they napped in-between visitors. Hundreds visited the farm both Saturday and Sunday during the annual New Hampshire Open Doors event.
When I arrived just after lunchtime Saturday, I noticed an immediate difference in Pink 2.0: he wasn’t skittering around when people approached, but rather, welcomed the friendly pats. He didn’t flinch as children, adults (including me) sat down next to him, and gave him a good scratch.
“This is Pink 2.0’s first social event,” Downey explained. “They become extremely friendly, fast. By the end of the day, they really don’t care.”
Farm owner Carole Soule purposely holds these types of open houses to not only market her products, but to give farm animals and humans the chance to interact.
“With any animal, the more you handle them, the happier they’ll be in the end,” Soule said. It makes a meat pig’s final moments less stressful, too, she said, if the pig isn’t afraid of human handlers.
“It just makes it easier,” Soule said.
Humans, of course, liked meeting Pink 2.0 and his siblings, too. Christine Pratt brought her 18-month-old daughter, Khloe, to meet the piglets. “I want her to learn about animals and get comfortable with them and for her to experience new things,” Pratt told me.
As her daughter tottered around the pen and sat next to the piglets, Pratt said, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Age: 8 weeks
Weight: 50 pounds
Cost at this point: Previous cost ($126.59) + electricity + bedding + labor + sow feed + piglet feed = $149.25
Note: Due to a slight miscalculation in grain costs, the previous amount of $126.46 has been corrected to $126.59.
(This article is part of an ongoing, six-month project by Ag & Eats blogger and Monitor staffer Elodie Reed, who is documenting “Pink 2.0” to see how locally raised pork is cared for, processed and eventually consumed. Have questions or Ag & Eats news tips, events or recipes? Reed can be reached at 369-3306, ereed@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @elodie_reed.)