‘A Stock Hog Just doing his job’
Pa (Tom Wiggins) bought a pig at the North Carolina State Fair Livestock Show in the 1920’s. He was a Red Duroc and from a Championship litter. This pig was so small that Pa brought him home in a shoebox. Ma (Nannie Wiggins) tended to the welfare of all the animals on the ‘place.’ She entered the pastures and the hog pens without fear. Ma made sure the sows and piglets were cared for. She made sure that the first meal a sow got after giving birth to a litter of pigs was two or three ears of red corn. It was for a good reason that the ear of red corn was given. Red corn has twenty percent more protein and three hundred per cent more antioxidants than white or yellow corn. This information was handed down to the old timers by the Tuscarora. The Tuscarora had settlements in Toisnot Swamp, Town Creek and other areas near Pender’s Crossroads. Their expertise in growing beans, squash, and corn was valued by the Colonists. Although there was a time when conflict, and even a war, between the Colonists and the Tuscarora took place, some of the knowledge of the land and growing crops was still used by the Colonists and was valued.
Old Dave was brought to the Wiggins farm as a small pig in that shoebox and he was placed alongside Pa’s other hogs in the pasture. Ma paid special attention to Dave as he grew from the small piglet to his status as Big Dave the stock hog. She gave him special treats and he learned to come running to her when she called out “sooeey sooeey.” Pa had a lot of hogs and many of them were mean Poland China sows. Granny Nannie Wiggins had names for some of those mean sows. Old Duck was the name she gave to one of the meanest sows of all. The sows could be aggressive when they had small piglets. There are many ways to get hurt on a farm and an upset sow being protective of her litter is one of them.
Old Dave quickly outgrew the shoebox and he became a stock hog. A stock hog is a breeding boar and considered valuable to its owner. Old Dave lived up to the trait of the Red Duroc by remaining calm and not being aggressive toward people or other livestock.
Ma kept a five gallon slop bucket in her kitchen on the hearth. All the vegetable peelings, leftovers, pot liquor, food scraps went in the slop bucket, and she even poured most of the water off her dishwater and poured the remains in. The slop bucket was taken to the hog pen about twice a day and poured into the trough along with other food for the hogs. Nothing was wasted.
Old Dave grew to become a big stock hog and he roamed the pasture and did his job.
Ma was in the pasture one day feeding the pigs when a small pig got stuck in the fence and started squealing near where Ma was. She went to the fence and was trying to free the pig when two sows panicked and knocked her down and started attacking and biting at her. Old Dave ran to where Ma was. He attacked the sows and drove them off and away from her. Old Dave had saved her life. Granny Nannie told Pa what happened and that he must never sell or kill Old Dave. The small pig that came to the Wiggins Place in a shoebox had now made a name for himself. Grandpa Wiggins honored the wishes of his wife, Nannie Wiggins. Old Dave lived a good and safe life for many years. Old Dave was well cared for and well fed. The beloved Old Dave died of old age and at the time of his death he weighed 800 lbs.
(Some of the information for this story was provided by Richard Greene as told by his father, Russell Greene).
Montress Greene
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