However, dangerous or ill-natured animals are not tolerated. I grew up right next door to my grandparents house and have the pleasure of knowing first hand what living on a farm is all about. The good and the bad, though most of it is good. There are many stories that I can tell about interactions I had as a child with the cows, chickens, ducks, mules, and ponies on that farm, but my most memorable stories are about the pigs. We had three different pig lots between our house and my grandparents house.
Pigs are fascinating animals to watch and the best part is when baby pigs come along.
We always knew to pick up a nice sturdy stick when walking through the pig lot. Most mother pigs will just let you walk on by, but every now and then one of them wants to make a show of being protective and might charge a person walking too close to her babies. Just the threat of a stick will warn most of them away, but occasionally you had to nudge a particularly protective mother back with the end of that stick. Grown male pigs, on the other hand, were aggressive and very dangerous. They generally did not stay with the other pigs and, unless it was breeding season, they were kept in separate lots behind an electric fence.