Curly

In 2013, a land conservancy fundraising event was auctioning off a heritage-breed, “organically-fed” pig; the auction winner would get to choose a pig from a “free-range” farm and walk away with the slaughtered, packaged remains ready for the freezer.

Thankfully, a family in attendance was so horrified by this that they bid the highest in order to save the pig.  Soon after, the whole family went to the farm to pick one out of the 13 piglets. Knowing the choice of who to spare was nearly impossible, the family deferred to their 6-year-old son for the decision.

He was drawn to the smallest piglet, who he named “Curly Tail”, after a character in one of his favorite books, The Pig’s Wedding. And she does indeed have an intact and curly tail! This kind family then reached out to us, understanding they could not provide Curly with the level of care she would need. When Curly arrived, she stole everyone’s hearts. Although she was frightened at first, she quickly began to request belly rubs and was happily snorting at the other pigs in the barn.

Curly relaxing in the wallow on a sunny day.

Curly strolling around the pasture by the pig barn.

Over time, she began spending more and more supervised time with the big pigs. Curly now spends her days in the senior barn and has reached an age that is truly remarkable for a pig of her size. For over a decade, she spent every day beside her best friend Amelia. These two were inseparable and they even slept touching their hooves or snouts together. Sadly, Amelia passed in 2025 and Curly misses her dearly. She still finds the energy to enjoy a cool wallow on a nice summer day.