James Henry is a VERY large potbelly mix and was one of the 159 pigs surrendered to OMI when we moved to Tennessee and took over the herd in 2021. James Henry lives in the Old Guys neighborhood and he’s a respected and beloved member of the crew…regardless of his smaller stature.
Potbelly pigs are typically short and round, which leads people to believe they cannot live with larger pigs. That is a myth. James Henry lives with pigs twice his size. It is also a dangerous problem in the veterinary medical community when lay people mistakenly assign one set of care standards to “farmed pigs” and another set of standards to “pet pigs.” This distinction is mostly based on size of the animal and a generalization that some are considered food and others are not. They are the same species of animal in different breeds and sizes. Our work here involves raising the standards of care for animals who are typically considered “food animals” to fall in line with the standards we universally agree upon for “companion animals.”
