Pigs have a reputation of being harder to move than other farm animals. It’s been attributed to everything from their intelligence to their short wheel base. Perhaps it also involves their point of view or more specifically, their blind spot. Let’s compare pigs with a horse.
A horse’s eye view
Horses have evolved for speed and endurance and their ability to kick influences how handlers work around them. This horse was fairly quiet. I just moved back and forth across behind him to show how he could keep track of me without moving his feet.
- His ears are up out of the way and his neck is long enough that he can get his head up higher than his shoulders.
- His eyes bug out past the side of his head enough that he only has to turn his head a bit to switch eyes and catch movement from one side to the other behind him. Anything too close is likely in kicking range.
- his neck is long and flexible enough for him to face back along his side if he wants to
You might think of horses as coming equipped with a periscope: a pair of eyeballs on a pole.
A pig’s eye view
Pigs are not built for speed or endurance and we’d be more careful with our chase boards if they kicked like horses.
Pigs’ necks are shorter and less flexible than a horse’s. Instead of just tipping their heads, they have to bend and adjust their bodies more to keep handlers out of their blind spot. The simple act of stepping across behind this sow encouraged her to turn back. Stepping out into her view again straightened her out.
Stepping into blind spot turns sow
Extra people often causes additional problems. This sow had to turn back or sideways to keep track of both handlers and once she was facing back, that’s the direction she wanted to go.
Turning back to keep both handlers out of blind spot
Summary
So are pigs more contrary and hard to move than other farm animals? Their physical structure gives them special needs when we’re handling them but if we give them what they need they move quite nicely
For the most part we don’t respect pigs’ space as much as we do that of larger animals that are able to kick or run us over. We might be able to crowd pigs without getting ourselves injured but it damages their willingness to cooperate and move for us.
That’s it for this week
Take care
Nancy Lidster