Billy Berk, the story of a Berkshire pig

Contents

I How Billy Got His Name 7

II How We Understood Billy's Language 9

III A Surgical Operation 12

Chapter I HOW BILLY GOT HIS NAME

F IRST, I must tell you that Billy Berk is a little Berkshire pig. He was born on our farm in Central Illinois, on a cold February morning. When I found him cuddled up close to his mother in the clean straw, his little black body glistened and when I picked him up, he was as smooth as silk.

Any little boy or girl who could have seen him that morning would have loved him almost as much as a baby brother. His little body was beautiful. It was so symmetrical and plump and his pretty little head with the ears sticking straight up and his nose tipped with white was just the kind of a head you would like to place close to your face.

Billy’s body was all black except for the white around his nose, a white tip on his tail and white around each ankle.

At the time Billy Berk was born, my little daugh¬ ter, Roberta, was only 3 years old. But she loved to play with the Berkshire pigs as much as other chil¬ dren like to play with a fluffy white kitten.

Perhaps you will smile when I tell you how Billy got his name. You will understand, of course, that

“Berk” is simply an abbreviation of Berkshire. Berkshire is the name of the breed to which Billy belonged. But you will not know unless I tell you why we called him Billy.

On a neighboring farm lives a little boy by the name of William Hausam. William very often came through the meadow over to our farm to play with Roberta.

But William’s daddy did not call him William. He called him “Billy.” And so, of course, Roberta called him Billy. Billy Hausam was such a bright, active little fellow that when Roberta saw the new baby pig which I brought to her in the yard, his bright eyes, his erect ears, and his active disposition reminded Roberta of Billy Hausam.

When I asked her what she wanted to call the new pig, she immediately said, “Billy.” So Billy he was named. But in order to distinguish between Billy Hausam, Roberta’s little playmate, and Billy, the pig, we called him Billy Berk.

Chapter II HOW WE UNDERSTOOD BILLY’S LANGUAGE

A S LONG as I knew Billy Berk, he said only two words. But still with those two words he expressed all of his feelings and his mother and little brothers and sisters understood all that he said.

After a while I began to understand what he said too. For although he used only two words, those two words were said in many different ways and meant many different things.

The reason we think that pigs have only two words in their language is because that is all we can write. Pigs do not have a written language as we do, and so we think, as we listen to their conversa¬ tions, that they have only two words.

Those two words are “Ugh,” and “OO-ee-ee-ee ” It is difficult to explain what these two words mean because each word means many different things. For example, when Billy was eating his din¬ ner, he would frequently say “Ugh,” and that meant, “My, but this dinner is good.”

When Billy crawled through a hole in the fence one day and later tried to get back into his grassy lot, he said “Ugh” But that time the word meant “Where in the world is that hole in the fence.”

While we must spell these words in the same way, they really were said in a very different way, and as I have explained, meant very different things.

When Billy’s mother is angry with him she says “Ugh” and she means, “You naughty boy! Why don’t you mind your mother?” But the way she says it sounds very much different from the way Billy says “Ugh” when he is eating his dinner.

Perhaps I can explain the difference in these words to you in this way:

Suppose your mother has given you a present— something that you have wanted for a long, long time. In appreciation for this present, you say, “Mother.”

Now suppose that your mother is on the other side of the street and someone has called her on the tele¬ phone. You answer the telephone and then go to the door and say the same word, “Mother.” You say it in a very different way, don’t you, and it means a very different thing from the word you use when you are expressing your appreciation for a gift.

Now suppose that you want very much to go across the street to play with some of your little friends. You have asked you mother for permission and she does not seem to want you to go. You say “Mother” in a way to make her understand that you

HOW WE UNDERSTOOD BILLY ii want very much to go. But that word is a very different one and has a very different meaning from the same word used to call her to the telephone.

Don’t you begin to understand now how Billy uses the same word “Ugh” to mean many different things?

When Farmer John comes down the lane with a nice pail of fresh buttermilk and Billy sees him com¬ ing, he says “OO-ee-ee-ee.” That means, “Hurry up, Farmer John and let me have some of that nice fresh buttermilk.”

When the dog chases Billy, Billy also says “OO-ee-ee-ee,” but that does not mean, “Hurry up, Farmer John and bring the buttermilk.” “It means, “Moth¬ er, mother, come quickly. Chase this dog away.”

Don’t you see now how little pigs can talk by using only two words and still say all that they have to say?

I learned their language by watching them for many years. Some days I would go into their pens and lie down with them on their beds of clean bright straw. And if I lay real still, they would come up to me and poke their cold little noses under my head and say “Ugh.” That meant, “Roll over, and let me lie down in the bed your head has made.”

As you read the stories of Billy Berk, you will learn some of the other meanings of the two words in the pig language, “Ugh” and “OO-ee-ee-ee^” ^

Chapter III A SURGICAL OPERATION

W HEN Billy was only two weeks old, he was sleeping comfortably one day under the clean pile of straw in the corner of the hog house. His mother was outside, but his brothers and sisters were all sleeping in the straw.

Billy was suddenly awakened by a noise. Some¬ one had quickly closed the door of the house. Billy jumped up, shook the straw from his head, and looked around. Farmer John was sitting on the floor beside him.

Billy was a little startled, but he was not fright¬ ened because Farmer John had been very kind to him. He did not begin to squeal until Farmer John picked him up.

Little pigs always squeal when they are picked up. They do not enjoy being held as little kittens do and while they do not squeal because they are seri¬ ously frightened, they squeal in a way to indicate that they are not entirely comfortable.

In other words, the Oo-ee-ee in this case means, “I would rather be on the floor.”

Farmer John held Billy under his left arm. In his

A SURGICAL OPERATION

*3 right hand, he had a bright instrument. Of course, Billy did not know what this was. Farmer John held Billy’s nose between two of his fingers and with his thumb and forefinger held one of Billy’s cars.

Suddenly Billy felt a sharp pain in his ear, and he squealed louder. This time the Oo-ee-ee meant “Ouch, that hurts.”

Then Farmer John shifted Billy in his arms and held the opposite ear with his fingers. Billy began to struggle and Farmer John held him more tightly. Then Billy felt another sharp pain, this time in the other ear.

He squealed “Oo-ee-ee” even louder than before. This time “Oo-ee-ee” meant, “Say, Farmer John, isn’t once enough? Don’t you hurt me any more.”

But again Billy felt a sharp pain.

Finally, Farmer John put Billy down on the floor and Billy quickly scampered to the opposite corner and stood there with his head hanging down with blood dripping from both ears. Billy had been expe¬ riencing his first operation. It was a surgical opera¬ tion and was necessary to protect Billy’s good name.

Farmer John had cut notches in each of Billy’s ears. One notch in the left ear and two notches in the right ear. Of course, Billy had no idea what this was for, but all little pigs that have purebred parents and have a pedigree of their own as Billy had, must have these notches cut in their ears in order that

*4

they may be recognized and not be mixed with other pigs.

A pedigree is a long list of the names of all of the ancestors of a pig and this long list is guaranteed to be correct by a record association which makes a business of keeping records of all purebred pigs that are registered.

If you will look at a litter of pigs the next time you have an opportunity, you will see what a difficult task it is to tell one from the other. When you realize that Farmer John had 300 pigs, each one with a different pedigree, you will understand how nec¬ essary it is to mark each pig so that he can be told from all the others.

The mark in Billy’s left ear indicated a number and the mark in Billy’s right ear indicated another number.

Farmer John used a system of numbering that makes it possible to mark any pig with any number desired by varying the number of notches in each car and by varying the position of the notches.

The notches are made in a little pig’s ear with a special tool and numbers from one to ten can be indicated by making not more than three notches in either car.

Notches in the left ear indicate from one to ten, and notches in the right ear indicate numbers over ten. That is, the notch that indicated one in the left

A SURGICAL OPERATION

*5 car meant five. The notch that indicated two in the right ear meant 20. If a pig’s number were 25, the number indicating 20 is punched in the right car and the number indicating five is punched in the left ear..

These notches remain in a pig’s ear as long as he lives, and so it is always possible to tell one pig from another.

Following his first surgical operation, Billy stood quietly in the corner of his house with his head hang¬ ing down.

When his little brothers and sisters had all been taken care of in the same way, Farmer John opened the door. But the little pigs were not so lively the rest of the day. However, following that day they were just as full of life and fun as ever.

On this very day, Billy had his name entered in Farmer John’s big book and a record of the mark¬ ings on his ears was made. Farmer John a little later sent an application to the Berkshire Registry Asso¬ ciation and later on received an official document indicating that Billy was a registered purebred pig.

That added a great deal to Billy’s value. It did not add any to Billy’s pride, because he had about all of the pride a little pig could have. He always car¬ ried his head erect and his ears straight in the air, and his pretty little white tipped feet were lifted somewhat like a race horse.

Chapter IV BILLY RECEIVES A LESSON IN NEATNESS

I T HAD been raining for two or three days, and then the weather had suddenly turned hot. The yard near Billy Berk’s house was a mud puddle. Billy became so warm that he lay down in the mud and wallowed. He rolled from one side to the other, shoved his little white nose under the mud and water and the result was that he looked almost like a mud pie.

After he had played in the mud for some time and had rooted and wallowed and rolled to keep himself cool, he came into the house. He was tired and he wanted to sleep in the nice, clean straw in the cor¬ ner. He was just ready to put his little nose under the straw and make a bed for himself when his mother seeing him, grunted loudly and came toward him.

“Ugh, ugh, ugh,” she said. That meant, “You naughty pig. You must not crawl into the bed when you are all covered with mud.” Billy was not real sure just what it meant, because he was very young and had not learned this particular lesson.

Perhaps you did not know that pigs are very par-

BILLY RECEIVES A LESSON i7 ticular about keeping their beds clean. If their house is big enough and they have sufficient room, pigs are naturally cleanly and want to keep their beds as clean and as bright as possible.

Billy’s mother knew that she must teach him a lesson. So, when he paid no attention to her and started to lie down, she put her big nose under Billy’s little dirty body and with a mighty push threw him against the side of the house.

Billy was almost stunned and he stood for a min¬ ute after he regained his feet trying to determine what to do.

His mother kept a watchful eye on him and when he started back to the bright straw bed again, she put her nose under him again. This time she was not quite so rough, but she pushed him away from the bed.

Billy really did not know just what his mother wanted. But very soon his mother showed him. She walked up to the side of the hog house, leaned her big black body against a post that was a part of the wall and rubbed her body up and down against this post. Then she moved ahead a step or two and rubbed again.

As she did this, Billy watched and he realized that he was covered with mud and he soon understood that the “ugh, ugh, ugh” of his mother meant “Clean your dirty body against the post as I do.”

i8

So Billy walked up to the post and rubbed his body along the edge of it. Then he turned around and rubbed his body on the other side. Each time he brushed against the post, mud fell off.

After a bit he thought perhaps he had cleaned himself sufficiently, but his mother was not satisfied and she saw to it that Billy rubbed himself until the mud was all cleaned away.

There was still mud on Billy’s little white nose and Billy rubbed it under the trough in which Farmer John fed the pigs until that too was cleaned.

Then his mother allowed him to lie down in the clean, bright straw. In this way his bed was kept clean.

This is a lesson that all little pigs must learn just the same as all little boys and girls. Isn’t it strange that both little pigs and little children at first dislike the responsibility of keeping themselves clean. After they have learned the lesson, they realize it is very much better to be clean than to be dirty.

Chapter V CAN A LITTLE PIG BE A SAILOR?

I T WAS in the spring of the year. It had rained almost every day for two weeks. Down back of the barn was a small stream which ordinarily was not very deep. But the rain had swollen the stream until it was a large river.

Billy was wandering around in the pasture through which the stream ran, one day, and it so happened that a big barn door had floated down the stream and was caught in some bushes at the bank. Right in the center of this barn door was part of an car of corn. You would hardly expect that a little pig like Billy Berk could resist the temptation to go after that corn, would you ? Well, Billy was not good at resist¬ ing temptations, and sure enough he jumped onto the door to get the corn.

He had not quite reached the corn when the barn door began to move. Billy’s weight had loosened it from the bank and it started floating down the stream. Billy saw the bank of the stream getting farther and farther away. He became frightened. He forgot all about the corn.

He ran first to one side of the door and then to the other. And on all sides he found nothing but water. The water was black and looked very deep and Billy did not like the idea of trying to swim. Small pigs can swim, but they do not enjoy it and it is not very often that a little pig like Billy will jump into the water if he can avoid it.

So Billy ran back and forth on his raft and squealed and grunted and grunted and squealed, but every minute he was being carried farther away from home. Billy wondered if there was anything he could do to make the barn door go to the side of the stream where he could jump off onto the dry land. But he could not think of anything. In fact, I doubt that there was anything that Billy could have done to have saved himself.

Billy floated on and passed the next farm. Then he floated under a big bridge. But the barn door stayed near the center of the stream and Billy was sailing farther and farther away from home.

Finally, the raft came to a turn in the stream and, the current being very strong, the raft was driven against the bank. Billy was ready for just such an occurrence and running rapidly to that edge of his raft that was caught in the bank, he jumped off onto land and ran as fast as he could away from the stream.

Unfortunately for Billy, he was on the wrong side of the stream. His home was on the opposite bank,

Billy ran bac\ and forth on his raft and squealed and grunted and grunted and squealed.

but it was a long way from where he was. As a matter of fact, Billy did not have any idea as to where his home was. He did not know which way to go and so he ran and ran without thinking at all in what direction he was running.

He finally came to a fence and ran along this until he came to a barn yard. Inside the barn yard he saw other pigs and as he squealed the other pigs answered him and came toward him. But they were on one side of the fence and Billy was on the other, so he received little comfort from them.

The noise Billy made as well as the noise made by the other pigs attracted the farmer and he came out of the house and discovered Billy running along the fence making a great commotion. As you know, Billy was a very attractive pig. He had a beautiful white nose with little white feet and a white tip on his tail and his little body was smooth and round and a glossy black.

The strange farmer was very much attracted by Billy and he came up to him quietly with the idea of catching him and putting him over into the pen with his own pigs. But Billy was not anxious to be caught. So he dodged and ran, squealing all the time.

Finally the farmer secured a hurdle. Perhaps you do not know what a hurdle is. It is made something like a wooden gate only it is usually smaller and

__

CAN A LITTLE PIG BE A SAILOR?

made.of lighter lumber. It is used to place in front of a pig to drive him one way or the other. When the pig starts to come toward the farmer, the* farmer sets the hurdle in front of him. That sends the pig in the other direction.

By using this hurdle, the farmer drove Billy into the barn and finally into the yard with his own pigs.

Naturally, Billy was given much attention by the other pigs. They all came around and Billy slunk into a corner, not knowing whether the strange pigs would be friendly or not. Billy was very homesick. He wanted to be back in the grassy lot on Farmer John’s farm.

Finally, the farmer realized that he had seen Billy before. It was on a certain occasion when this farmer was passing Farmer John’s place and Billy was in a lot next to the road. So the strange farmer went to his house and called Farmer John on the phone. He asked him if he had lost one of his pigs. Farmer John said, “Well, now, perhaps I have. I haven’t missed one yet, but if it is a Berkshire it probably is mine.”

The strange farmer described Billy to Farmer John and it was not long until Farmer John came with his truck and put Billy inside and took him back to his lot.

Billy’s brothers and sisters were very much excited when Billy returned. He told them the story of his trip with many grunts and squeals, and then he crawled under the straw for a long nap.

Billy was very much convinced that he could not be a successful sailor and he stayed away from the bank of the stream for a long time, because he did not want to run the risk of being carried away onto a strange farm again.

Chapter VI BILLY HAS A TERRIBLE LOSS

B ILLY BERK was sleeping comfortably one warm summer afternoon. He lay in his house with his nose under the straw. That is the way little pigs like to sleep. When their noses are out of sight, they think they are properly covered.

Little pigs sleep during the day as well as at night. Usually Billy Berk goes to sleep after every meal. He may sleep for half an hour, and then run back to the trough to eat more food.

Well, on this particular afternoon, his little whitetipped tail happened to be hanging through a hole in the floor of his house. Of course, Billy did not know that.

After he had snored loudly for about five min¬ utes, he awoke with a squeal, and jumped to his feet. He blinked his eyes, shook his pretty little head, and looked around. But he saw nothing unusual, and he really didn’t know what had awakened him.

So he lay down again, this time rooting his little brother over so that he might get his nose under the straw again. Strange to say, his tail again dropped through that same hole in the floor.

Billy had slept for about five minutes when he awoke once more with a start.

This time he knew what the trouble was. Some¬ thing had a tight hold on his tail. Whatever it was, it had sharp teeth. Billy squealed as loudly as he could squeal. And he pulled as hard as he could pull. But those sharp teeth did not let go.

Poor Billy!

His little brothers and sisters awoke and ran around him sympathizing with their grunts. But still the sharp teeth held to Billy’s tail.

His mother came and with many loud grunts, rushed about the room. But still those sharp teeth hung onto poor Billy’s tail.

All this time, Billy was pulling with all his might. Finally, his mother put her big strong nose under Billy’s little body and gave him a mighty push.

Billy was free. And he ran around the house as though something were chasing him.

His mother made a great commotion. And by now, all of his little brothers and sisters were squeal¬ ing as loudly as their little lungs would let them squeal.

Farmer John happened to be going by and heard the noise. He went to the hog house. When he kneeled down to go inside Billy’s mother would not let him in. Finally Billy, in his excitement, dashed out the door and right into Farmer John’s arms.

BILLY HAS A TERRIBLE LOSS

His little heart was beating rapidly. Farmer John could feel it through his shiny black side.

Of course Farmer John did not know what had happened. So he began to examine Billy, and what do you suppose he found. Billy’s tail had been bitten off! Not the whole tail, just the white tip—for, you know, a little Berkshire’s tail is black to within about an inch from the end, and this part is pure white.

Poor Billy!

Now his tail was all black. The white tip was entirely gone.

Farmer John could not guess how this had hap¬ pened. So he crawled into the house on his hands and knees and looked all around. Finally his finger slipped into the hole in the floor. He looked, and there on the sides of the hole, he saw blood, and on the ground right beneath the hole he saw some of the white hairs that had been a part of Billy’s tail a few minutes before.

But still Farmer John did not know what had happened. The hole was too big for a pig’s tail to get caught in it. And the sides of the hole were as smooth as could be.

While Farmer John sat there wondering what to do, a brown fur-covered animal brushed past the hole. It stopped, leaving its long tail lying on the ground just under the hole.

Then Farmer John knew what had happened. A big rat had taken hold of Billy’s tail with his sharp teeth, and when Billy’s mother had rooted him, the rat had bitten off the tip.

Farmer John did not like to have Billy’s appear¬ ance ruined in that way any more than Billy or his mother did. So he quickly made up his mind that he would put an end to such things.

He carefully reached through the hole in the floor, and grasped Mr. Rat’s tail firmly. Then he pulled out his hand quickly and threw the rat against the side of the house as hard as he could.

And since then, no more little pigs have had their tails bitten off by this ugly rat.

Chapter VII IT’S EASIER TO GET IN THAN OUT OF A HOLE

B ILLY BERK was engaged in his favorite pas¬ time. His little nose was being thrust vigor¬ ously into the soil at the corner of the pen near his home.

Billy’s house was a low building with a door not much larger than the big body of Billy’s mother. The floor of the hog house was raised off of the ground a little way and Billy had to jump when he entered. The door was so low that Farmer John had to get down on his knees when he wanted to enter.

Right beside the hog house was a place where the water dripped when it rained and the soil had become very soft there.

Billy had been rooting at this same spot for several days and had dug a deep hole. Every time it rained, the water would fill the hole and this made the earth soft at the bottom. After the water had evaporated enough for Billy to get down into the hole again, he had started digging.

On this particular day about which this story is written, Billy was so far down in the ground that you could not have seen his little body at all.

3 °

Suddenly, as Billy dug, he felt the earth giving more easily and finally his little head pushed into another hole. Billy had dug into the burrow of an animal that lives in the ground.

Of course Billy did not know just what this hole was, but it was an opening wide enough for his body. So with many grunts, he crawled in.

First, he poked in his nose and sniffed. Nothing unusual seemed to happen, so he put his head in a little farther and tried to see. But Billy could not see a thing.

Then he stepped in with his front feet. There was plenty of room, but there was nothing to be seen, for inside it was as black as the inside of a stove pipe.

Billy had an unusual curiosity and he could not refrain from going still farther into the hole. He stepped in with his hind feet.

The hole seemed to be going toward the surface and Billy thought to himself, “Perhaps this leads out of the pen. Perhaps I can get to the corn field and find some nice corn.”

So he kept walking until finally his little tough nose was thrust against something very hard. It was a stone that blocked his path. There was a way around it, for the hole made a sharp turn and the animal that lived in the hole was able to go around the stone easily.

But Billy was not so agile. In fact, he was not

IT IS EASIER TO GET IN THAN OUT 31

accustomed at all to crawling through holes in the ground. His first thought when his nose touched the stone was to back out of the hole again and get into his own pen.

He tried to back, but it was not so easy as he thought it would be. Billy’s little feet were not accustomed to moving his body in that direction. He brushed against the side of the hole, first on one side, and then on the other. He scraped dirt into his eyes and the more he tried to go backward, the more frightened he became.