Most of the other pigs here at Sugarshine also deeply appreciate human interaction. There is something deep inside a pigs psyche that can’t resist a good belly rub. The humans seem to know just the spot. If they decide it’s time for pig patting, it’s like a some deadly disease flows through the barn – pigs flopping to their sides left right and centre! There’s really nothing like someone gently stroking your back, belly and cheek. I bet even humans love a back-rub!

People who have only ever experienced pigs as food, or sport, are always the ones who love patting time the most. They cannot believe that such a ‘loud’, ‘aggressive’ animal is really just like any dog or cat they might have waiting for them at home. It never gets old. The expressions they pull. Priceless.

Sometimes the humans even lay down in the straw and make nests next to us to get comfortable and continue to give belly rubs for as long as possible! I think humans and pigs are more alike than everybody thinks we are. Pigs love belly rubs, humans do too, pigs love making nests, humans do too! Pigs love sun baking and from what I’ve heard from Baby pig (who has been to the beach) humans love it too!

We are often rough with each other simply as a sign of communication. How else to you decide who to respect? Human families that are close with each other are often rough with one another are they not? The way I see it is, being able to push someone around without feelings being hurt is a sign of friendship. 

It is more common to find piles of pigs laying around next to, on top of, or near each other trying to catch some shut-eye. The piglets Baby, Olive, Dreamy and Hazel all love to lay on top of each other and snuzzle one another for comfort as their mothers are no longer with us. You see, we take comfort and solace in our fellow pigs more often than we are bossy to one another.

Sugars is a problem. The princess pig who thinks she’s the cat’s meow. I mean, just because she’s Kelly’s favourite and all the humans fear her, does NOT mean she has the right to go around ridiculing, sass-talking, bossing and bothering everyone else! DO YOU KNOW WHAT SHE DID TO ME THE OTHER DAY? She told Hamish and Cecil that I had placed her second-in-command and told them that the humans had laid out a gourmet taster plate of food just for them. Of course they followed her instructions perfectly, (my subjects are nothing if not efficient) and destroyed lunch for EVERYBODY! I would NEVER do that to any of my fellow-pigs. Such humiliation.

[sigh] If you can’t tell, speaking about Sugars gets me into a tiff.

You want to know how I keep order? And why Sugars is NOT Queen-B? Respect and trust. The others trust that I would never ask them to do anything humiliating or dangerous. I don’t get angry, although from a humans perspective it may seem that I do. I am stern with everybody. I push them away if I have to, but I never bite with intent to seriously harm. I could take a fellow-pigs ear off if I wanted to. But I don’t. There’s your proof. I can’t say I have a friend in any of the animals at the sanctuary, less I destroy my reputation. But I don’t need friends, I have respect. No one can look up to a friend as a Queen. I keep my socialisation to human interaction only.

Like any family, our group of pigs has every kind of personality you can think of. This means we clash, but we always find a way of making up, either by vocalising our issues, or simply through body-language.

I don’t mind really. I know the humans really appreciate that I keep everyone in line, and it makes them feel good that they’re in cahoots with the roughest, toughest pig-in-charge.

I guess I do the work for them [the humans] really. I keep the others [pigs] in line and I’ve accepted them [humans] so they don’t have to get onto all fours and fight it out with Willy-Joel or Sandy. Seeing one of those scrawny two-leggeds on their knees trying to wrestle a 1000 Kilo pig is not something I need in my life right now.

When I say pigs are vocal, I’m not kidding. Today I had to have a stern speaking to four troublesome piglets names ‘the mini maloos’. They are new to Sugarshine, so I can forgive them for not following the rules just yet. First, I spotted their troublesome black and white patched be-hinds outside the fence – a big no-no from the start – and when they eventually caught on that they had to come back in, one piglet decided to be rebellious and stay outside the fence. You should have heard the curses that flew out of his mouth when he realised his siblings weren’t part of his plan! Thank goodness that the humans don’t try to speak our language or they would have learnt some new words that day! Pigs are usually very clean creatures. I can’t say that is true of those youngsters, after hearing what can come out of their mouths.

The four of them continued their unproductive profanity back and forth for a long while. Nothing I said or did had any effect on those young ruffians. All I can hope is that they will fall in line one day. Although I consider pigs to be very intelligent, I suppose I can’t speak for everyone.

If you love roosters as much as we do check out the social media profiles of some of our favourite famous rooster personalities! P Blizzard the rooster And Ricky the Chicky And of course we follow all the other animal sanctuaries in Australia and around the world, who also have many roosters in their care. Brightside Edgar’s mission, FAR and many more.

Each of the sheep at Sugarshine are miraculous. Bonnie, Lollie, Opal and Maartin are defying the odds each day they live past eight months of age. This is the age lambs are sent to slaughter in the lamb industry. The wool industry is an entirely different ball game. Because of the high amounts of sheep per farm and lack of observation, lambs are lucky to make it past a few days old. If they do, their tales and ears are cut, their skin in certain parts of their body is shaved in order to attempt to prevent fly strike, when in reality the open wounds attract flies. This is all done without anaesthesia. If they survive all this they are then left to grow wool in amounts that are not natural. When the farmers are ready to profit from the sheep, their precious wool is taken from them in often what is a horrific experience for the sheep. Sheep scare easily, even the gentlest of shearers are likely to scare them. The wool industry views sheep as products, not as delicate individuals, therefore the majority of sheering is not gentle, and it is not uncommon for sheep to have cuts and bruises after the ordeal. When these sheep have stopped producing as much wool as is needed to keep consumers happy, they are sent to the abattoir. Sheep in the wool industry are very lucky if they ever live out their natural lifespan. The sheep at Sugarshine will continue to live happy and healthy lives until they are 12 or older.
If you want to read more about the reality of wool please click here

Goats such as Millie, Shirley, Forest, River, Misty, Rueben, Nibbles, Never, Sunshine have outlived their factory-farmed counterparts by years. Cheeky Millie Moo is more than a year old, but would not have lasted more than a day if he had stayed as part of the goat dairy industry. This is because male kids are considered a waste product because the industry has to sell the milk their mothers produce for them. Goats used for meet are usually killed within five months of being born, still kids. Their natural lifespan can be up to 14 years. Millie has a lot of cheeky tricks to perform yet!

Don’t let appearances deceive you. All the animals sent to the abattoir are babies, no matter how big they look.

In the meat industry, Turkey’s like Harry Butternut and Petiah Potato-Bumbum are killed at five months of age while their female counterparts like Tofurky-Lou are either sent to slaughter at three months or artificially inseminated and left to lay egg after egg in over-crowded sheds for as long as their bodies will allow. Each of the Turkeys here at Sugarshine are more than two years old. Better yet, we are led to believe that Harry is more than 10 years old! Despite his age, Harry Butternut keeps us on our toes, whenever someone comes near ‘his’ paddock he fluffs up all his heavy feathers and follows us until he can get a good shot with his beak or kick us with his big feet. He will continue his effort to kill us for another 10 years or more! Turkeys naturally live to more than 20 years of age.

The chickens at Sugarshine – Pecky Stewart, Oden, Mamma and the Pipsqueaks, Salty, Broccoli, Inira and Gaea (to name a few) get to live out their eight years or more in relative peace and quiet (when you live with over 15 roosters it can be hard to get a moment of quiet. In the meat or egg industry our beloved pals wouldn’t make it past two years if they were a hen laying eggs, six weeks if they were broilers, or 1 day if they were male in the egg industry.
If you’d like to learn more about these beautiful birds find A Poultry Place on Facebook and ask away!

Don’t let appearances deceive you. All the animals sent to the abattoir are babies, no matter how big they look.