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Not long ago a woman named Valerie Weihman-Rock wandered into the Blanchardville co-op where Linda volunteers on Wednesdays, looking to give away a surplus of green beans she’d grown. Linda immediately volunteered the mulefoots to take care of them, and the two women got talking. Valerie, an artist and welding instructor, and her husband Mike, a metal- and woodworker, live on 151 acres about ten miles south of Blanchardville in Argyle. They have have the capability to grind their own organic corn and grains, and once the Rocks heard about the mulefoots they decided they wanted some of their own. An initial deal to buy two piglets from each litter to start a new breeding herd expanded to the whole group and two adults (Cherry and Churchill) after the Rocks got excited about propagating the breed.
Here’s Linda’s report on the big move, which happened about a week and a half ago: “Capturing and loading the piggies proved to be a bit more challenging than tagging them, mostly because they have been gorging on acorns that have begun to fall by the bushel-full and they weren’t very hungry. In the thrill and excitement of pig roundup, Mike grabbed one, who let out a bloodcurdling squeal and then a couple of his buddies bolted out the door. From then on, it was a circus. . . . Once we got the piglets and their moms in the barn, we . . . closed the door and leaned against it to keep the pigs from pushing out. Inside, Mike and Mark got the piglets loaded into a crate, while Cherry and Crystal roamed around the barn. From our side of the door, the squeals, bumps and thumps had us wagering on who would emerge alive–the pigs or the fellas. All survived, and with the piglets in a crate, the door was opened to let Cherry and Crystal outside. We gave them grain and green beans to distract them from the piglets who were confined in the barn. Mark used our tractor to lift and transport the eight crated piglets out to our pickup truck and we drove to the Rock’s Farm.
Stay tuned. . .
