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Mornings begin early out on Elmo Weedon Road in the outskirts of Bryan, with 17 pigs to feed Janice and Les Morey began their mornings out at the barns on their property checking in and loving on their four-legged residents.
The dream is a long time coming for Janice, who has been an animal lover and volunteer at shelters for her entire life. Her and her husband, Les, opened This Little Piggy Sanctuary in January 2018 to provide a safe environment for pigs to live out their lives.
The residents all come from a variety of backgrounds with many coming from homelessness or as owner surrenders, Janice says. As she walks through the farm, she shares the back stories of each pig and greets them all with a smile.
“Freckles was a FFA project reject, who has a bald spot. His owners wanted to sell him as a feeder pig,” Janice says. “Daisy Mae was abandoned by her owners and found as a stray.”
The Morey’s originally began with three residents — Sid, Yogi and Petunia — who all love a good belly scratch.
“They like attention — some of the pigs will walk right up to you to get a scratch while others are sometimes afraid of guests,” Janice says.
The pigs all have their own herds, which are separated by personality — each having one alpha. With four herds on the farm, the Morey’s rotate once or twice a day on which herd wanders the larger pasture.
“Some pigs are adventurous and some like to stay closer to their pens,” Les says. “During the summer, some of the pigs like to go into the woods because it's shady and there's lots of grass that grows taller.”
To help keep up and maintain the farm, the Morey’s depend on volunteers, who help with cleaning duties as well as making sure the pens are in good condition. Many of the groups that come out are Texas A&M University student groups who are getting their volunteer hours, Janice says.
“We have them do various things — there's always poop to scoop, the bowls always need washing and pools in the summer time,” Janice says. “We've got the property needs — things need trimming and sometimes the fence needs fixing or painting. Sometimes we have the students help trim the grass or rake the hay.”
Currently the pig sanctuary is at capacity with 17 pigs with no plans to expand at this time. Due to having a limited number of residents, Janice says they are able to more carefully keep an eye on the pigs to ensure they are healthy.
“We do try to keep the number down because then we can keep a close eye on their health,” Janice says.
“If we were to have a larger number of residents, we could miss seeing an abscess or other health issue right away and there would be a delay in treating it.”
Even with a full house of pigs, Janice says there are still many more pigs who need help finding their place.
“All across the state, pig sanctuaries are full,” Janice says. “Many people will get a mini pig and once they start to grow people realize they can no longer provide for them.”
With the growing number of people who want pigs as house pets, the Morey’s want to help educate on pig lifestyles and habits as well as bring awareness to the fast growing animal.
“There are many people who get pigs because they think they are cute when they fit in your purse, but they don’t realize that a mini pig is going to be around 150 pounds,” Les says. “Most people don't realize that their cute little piglet is going to end up tearing the baseboards and then they decide now they gotta get rid of it.”
For more information about This Little Piggy Sanctuary, visit their Facebook at This Little Piggy Sanctuary.
