Montana Large Animal Sanctuary & Rescue

Judy is a nice pig. After 5 years and 225 offspring, she was scheduled to become sausage. Her previous owners, on the small farm in Montana, admitted their family was attached to Judy, she is the mother of all the "free range" hams they had sold. They just couldn't afford to keep her around if she couldn't make more baby hams.

When we went to meet Judy she was waiting in her open stall for her evening coffee can ration of pig feed. One of the owners explained Judy's life style on their farm. Although she appeared to be highly irritated, supposedly after she was fed she would return to her usual docile self. Her enclosure seemed small. We were told she got to exercise in an adjoining horse area. Judy, not unlike other domestic pigs, sadly suffered from frostbite and sunburn. As I stood by an adjacent pen containing several piglets, the little boys explained how Judy could bite you if you weren't careful. We were assured that by enticing her with food it was going to be easy to load Judy and take her to her new home at the Montana Large Animal Sanctuary.

Three weeks later, after setting up a large truck van with food and hay, the moving day began.

Daanje and Andy went to pick up Judy while Dave, Jerry, Stan and Lee hauled a new 8'x12' shed with a gambrel roof to the sanctuary.

Loading Judy was not so easy. After several attempts, lowering the ramp to the van worked. Judy made herself at home by quickly rearranging the hay bales and snacking on a 40-pound bag of feed in the back of the van. The trip to the sanctuary went well. Daanje only occasionally needed to tap Judy lightly on the nose with a glove to keep her from climbing into the cab area with them. When they arrived at the sanctuary, Daanje left the cab to open the gate. Judy poked her head into the cab. Instead of the glove tap, Andy said, "Oh hi, Judy." She took this as an invitation to come all the way into the cab, at which point Andy jumped out, leaving Judy alone in the driver's seat! It was just then that Kathryn, of MLAS&R, came down to the gate to greet Daanje and Andy. All she saw was Judy completely filling up the front seat of the van, engine running and lights on. Luckily they were able to coax Judy back into the rear of the van and drive through the sanctuary grounds to the pasture where her newly constructed home was located.

Judy waited patiently in the rear of the van while the finishing touches were completed on her new shed and the gate was hung.

The big Dave Taylor Roofing van was backed up to Judy's just completed new home. Judy was understandably anxious to get out. There was quite a bit of discussion at this point about how to get Judy down from the high truck without the ramp which had to be left behind. Finally it was decided to just open the big door of the truck and see what happens. Well, it happened fast. All 500 pounds of her leapt from the truck, sliding across the bumper and then landing on all fours. She seemed at home the minute she arrived.

The first thing Judy did was to strut with an air of complete confidence around the perimeter of her new big yard that gently slopes to the middle where spring run-off makes a small wetlands. This area will make a great pig wallow for the summer. The llamas next door were very interested in their new neighbor and many of the herd of male llamas came running over to greet her.

There was also considerable snorting from the potbelly pig neighbors on the other side. A bale of straw was broken up inside Judy's shed and she promptly went inside and rearranged it.

Seeing that Judy was content, we left for home after a full day of work.

Two weeks later we returned to the sanctuary with a flatbed truck full of apples and produce trimmings. Brian, one of the managers of the sanctuary, said that Judy was doing very well and had quickly become one of his favorites. She loves for him to rub her belly. We took a gunnysack full of produce to Judy's pen. She seemed very happy to see us and took great delight in all the food, especially the cantaloupes. After eating Judy decided to take a little nap. We sat around with her in the grassy area scratching her behind the ears and anywhere else she wanted. Judy has a very sweet disposition and really enjoyed our company.

The Montana Large Animal Sanctuary and Rescue never sells or adopts out animals. The animals have a caring home for life. Judy is one lucky pig!

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