I locked up all the feed and opened the gates for Tima and Tane to go for a walk yesterday. Tima and Tane are an old married couple (both kunekune pigs) who have lived together for years. He has bad legs and she is a nosy fat Mama. 
Tima took off like a shot and ran straight up to the porch, looking in all the doors, she overturned all the buckets, she tried on all the boots, then trotted back down the steps and ran around the shed to see if there was a door open there.
It was like the Turtle and the Hare. Tima trotting about sticking her nose into everything and Tane very, very slowly and very, very surely walking out the gate, his crippled leg held above the ground, his other bad leg held out like a straight crutch, but he continued around the drive, past the shed, across the lawn and fetched up in his summer pen, where he spent the afternoon sleeping in the sunny straw left over there.
Tima found him in the summer house later in the day and they both walked back to the barn together.
By milking time they were tucked up, fast asleep in the deep straw in their sun-room in the barn. (Scroll down to the bottom of the page, past the comments and you will see them sleeping in the instagram image). Very cosy. Very cute. It was a very slow walk for Tane dragging his bad legs behind him but he seemed more doggard and determined than usual yesterday and when he was hurrying to keep up with Tima he even seemed to gain a rhythm to his strange gait.
He takes his pills like a trooper. He sees me coming every morning at the same time, sits down throws his great head back and opens his mouth wide showing off his teeth and tusks. All I do is throw the pills into his big wide mouth frog mouth and he swallows them without any problem. He does not care as long as there is apple going into his mouth straight after-wards.
I could throw rocks into that big mouth and he would chew them up.
I hope you have a great day,
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
35 responses to “Tane goes for a walk”
It’s like the old couples I see in the shopping centers. He is parked on a bench watching and waiting as she dodges in one store and out the other. It’s good to see him moving a little at least. So sweet.
YES! You have it exactly! Perfect! c
Ha ha, when my grandpa was alive we’d take him to the mall when he came to visit. He’d sit on one of the benches while we shopped and then give us a litany of comments on the people he observed, most often the women and what they wore. He was a real fashion critic but gentle. More the ‘oh my, that maybe wasn’t the most attractive outfit for her’. He was in his early 90’s then and such fun.
Tane is a lovely GOOD pig! Those two are like a sweet elderly couple. Thanks for such caring loving photos.
The old couple together… Wonderful.
How adorable Tane and Tima are. There are several little stories that would make a series of childrens books just with them, there there are all the other characters on the farmy. They look so comfy in their sun room.
How old are they in people terms? How long do pigs normally live? I hope it’s for a good bit longer yet!
We will need to ask Sherry – Sherry knows how old the pigs are but they are young – they will hopefully be around a while longer
I am here! I’ve been told as pets they can live 12 – 15 years! Pretty amazing. Of course as food they’d be lucky to make it until they were 2.
Percy was born in March of 2014, I believe your Tima was born just a little earlier.
yes – thank you sherry and tane was born about 6 months later I think. He is too young for this problem that is for sure
In a couple of those photos, they look like a couple at a wedding, allowing themselves to be photographed.
So dear
I was wondering why Tima kept nosing up to the doors, and then I remembered a photo in “the cast” section — Tima stretched out on her fat side, sound asleep, smiling. Next to her lies BooBoo, also asleep on his side, arm-legs crossed comfortably, breathing in the aroma of pig feet. I showed that wonderful photo to my dear but all she said was, “What must that house smell like!” So I told the story of how you train the piglets to “go” outside. No reaction. Some people, they just don’t understand about will power and repetition. Or they don’t agree with Walt Whitman about the peace that comes from living with animals. I do, having learned — not from reading Walt’s fantasies (I don’t think he ever was a farmer) — but from watching you and your many lively, colorful, responsive friends.
Just like old couples I see at the store… the fella waits around and follows slowly while the woman darts around looking at everything! They’re adorable.