Laertes, son of Polonius

Allow me to introduce Laertes. He is the son of Oldefarm's Polonius. He is a gentle giant. I also had his brother who was black with thin brown stripes. I actually preferred the colouring of his brother but he was a cranky character. Laertes is the exact opposite. We realised that once he was separated from his brother that he had been bullied by him. He now has the luxury of leaving his food until later. He never had that opportunity before.

When the day came for them both to go to the abattoir we loaded his brother relatively easily.  But Laertes was cute and evaded loading. Because of this he got a reprieve. My son convinced me it was an omen and anyway he had "Lestat" eyes. He was full of reasons as to why we should not kill him. I was between two minds but, having already killed a sow I wished I hadn't, I was dithering. Later that day I got him into the horse box but something stopped me from closing the ramp and rather sheepishly I walked back up the field.

Now we have decided to keep him as a breeding boar. He has a lovely gentle nature and even as he gets fully grown I can't see this changing. And although he was not unduly lonely I decided to get him a companion. Mini me arrived and he was so gentle with her it was really heart warming.

She is the boss. She learned the routine so quickly. The only time I have seen him get mad at her is when she tries to eat his veg. Today he head butted her through the electric fencing because she tried to steal something he was eating. I don't think he intended to do this but he is so much bigger than her she's easy to send far.

She's a real squealer. She never stops and sometimes I think he looks at me as if to say "can you take her away before she wrecks my head?"

But I think in spite of himself he is happy with her company.

Laertes, son of Polonius. You were lucky.