Sheila is 72 inches long ( 6 foot, 182cm) and her girth is 68 inches ( 172cm). She is 34 inches high at the highest point of her back and when I measured her girth I could not reach all the way around her, I had to lean over her back and kind of throw the end of the tape around and underneath her, then crawl under her belly and retrieve it.
Not many pigs would be happy with all that behaviour but Sheila and I have an understanding.
After applying the equation from yesterday Sheila’s weight comes to 832 pounds/377 kg. And the WINNER of words is Eydie with an amazing estimate of 831 pounds. Email me Eydie at celima.g.7@gmail.com and we can discuss your guest post on the 18th of February. If you want to of course. No worries.
In many old Polynesian cultures if the king and his wives were nice and fat and well fed they were seen to be successful and powerful. Only the poorest or hardest working were as skinny as the skinny girls of today. I love Sheila’s size. Pigs keep growing and I know of some perfectly healthy and still working boars who have reached 1500 -1700lbs sometimes more. There are even some show pigs as much as a ton (2,000 pounds) though I imagine their lives are not very long. Sheila will keep growing in size this is why one must NOT overfeed pigs unless they are not expected to live terribly long. In winter Sheila eats 4 pounds of my special feed mix a day (quarter of which is alfalfa or rabbit pellets) one egg, fruit, all the hay she wants and vegetables on store day. 
In the animal kingdom the biggest and tallest and strongest and most flamboyent are the leaders of the herds.
Our big Sheila is the leader of her herd. This is why she has been deemed a Pet on the farm. I want her to stick around. She knows all my ways and trains the younger ones and keeps the older ones in order. She is a natural and firm but fair leader.
Yesterday we smoked a couple of our own pasture raised chickens in John’s new home made smoker.
We had fun yesterday. Sheila loved the attention. All the measuring and hugging.
When I left her last night she was standing in the yard happily munching on hay intent on getting even bigger.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
74 responses to “Sheila is a tall girl”
I loves that pig xxxx On 8 Feb 2016 13:11, “thekitchensgarden” wrote:
> Cecilia Mary Gunther posted: “Sheila is 72 inches long ( 6 foot, 182cm) > and her girth is 68 inches ( 172cm). She is 34 inches high at the highest > point of her back and when I measured her girth I could not reach all the > way around her, I had to lean over her back and kind of throw the” >
She’s fabulous. … three cheers for the big girls!
I’m thrilled I came so close! Glorious Sheila! Long may she…waddle.
What an extraordinary weight! Her bone density must be like steel. I’m very impressed.
Sheila looks perfect to me!
I noticed that smoker in one of your recent pictures – it looks fantastic and I’m quite jealous. I bet the chicken tasted amazing, but don’t tell he pigs about it… not the boars anyway 🙂
Oh Mad, this smoker is right up your alley.. now I am looking at smoking everything, but i need to fill the racks when it is going so i am looking into smoking vegetables.. c
Smoked cheese is gorgeous. They don’t do it in France, so that’s one of the things I miss.
Sounds good and Poppy needs to hurry up with a some plonkers 😉
I make smoked garlic salt with our garlic and good sea salt.
Wow she certainly is a big girl! Love her. That chicken looks good 😀
It was quite divine and very easy to cook – we will cook like this more often now i hope.. c
Amazing smoker! That must have been quite a job to build. Chickens must have been amazing.
Long live Sheila!!!!
John likes to work with steel.. But it is so heavy it is lucky we have a tractor to shift it!.. c
My favorite book as a child was “Hamilton,” by Robert Newton Peck. It was about a pig who was misunderstood and teased for his size until he becomes a hero by just being who he is. The chorus was “A pig is just downright supposed to be big.”
Hamilton! I will find it – i am always looking for books for the young ones.. c
It is a wonderful book. Sadly out of print, but it was a Weekly Reader selection, and every couple of years, I run across it for $.75 at a used bookstore.
Oh! he’s the one who wrote “A day no pigs would die.”
Yes, and all the Soup books. Which are hilarious. “A Day No Pigs Would Die” made me cry!
Well done Eydie, hope we get to hear from you next week. Wow, Sheila is impressive size and weight, better not to pick a fight with her! Do we get to have an annual “guess the weight of ….” need not be Sheila every time? Many African Cultures too regard large girths and prominent bottoms as a sign of great prosperity – we have many examples 🙂 Laura
Next week! Gosh that sounds close – i need to start making the lists! c
Sheila is a beautiful girl of traditional build and powerful personality. She is a goddess among pigs… That’ a very good looking smoker and those smoked birds look extremely tasty. Our John is a very handy man to have around, to deal with the fruits of your labour so creatively!
Yes, she is beautiful. I think so too.. c
Whoa! I never knew that pigs kept growing. I imagined that some I had seen were in the 1,000 lb range but never knew they could go upwards to 2,000 pounds. I think my heart would go all aflutter if I were near a pig that weighed 2,000. I think I am glad that you have trained and loved up Sheila from a little grunt to her beautiful and grand size now! ❤
(I just read a Steinbeck short story about a big pig and unlike Sheila she was a frightfully evil pig. Three cheers for Sheila the Sweetheart!)
fightfully evil! Ha ha .. wonderful.. c
That pig is amazing! I love her! Thanks for sharing her with us! She is the perfect farm pet for sure!
Yes, I am lucky she gets on with any animal (unless they get close to her food) c
well done Eydie looking forward to your post. Well done Celi for giving us all something to think about – as usual. And well done the porky pig Sheila for being the star of the day. xx
Morning Jane! c
Nothing like smoked chickens, turkey, or your own pasture raised pork!!! Yum!!!! 🙂
Aren’t we lucky! You and I.. c
I love Sheila… and I proudly wear my Sheila t-shirt. It gets a lot of comments at the nearby farm stores. Will you do t-shirts again?
Yes, I must do the T shirts again. the calendars this year dissappointed me – the colours came out quite wrong on the ones I received. T shirts are more fun.. c
I LOVE my calendar and think it is colorific! Much love, Gayle