THURSDAY DECEMBER 6, 11:15am: HAIRY PIGLETS related to the extinct Lincolnshire Curly Coat pigs have been born on a farm near Horncastle.
Seven of the cute, curly-coated pigs, which have to be sheared like sheep because they are so hairy, were born late last month at the Rectory Reserve near Horncastle.
Four of the pigs were obtained for breeding last year from Tony York, owner of Pig Paradise on Salisbury Plains, who managed to get a permit to bring 15 of them over from Austria and Hungary.
It has been nearly 40 years since the Lincolnshire Curly Coat pig died out, but these hairy porkers, bred with the Mangalitza pigs in Austria and Hungary, are a close relation.
"They are about the size of rabbits and stripey grey and cream," says Brian Codling.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, the Lincolnshire Curly Coat was extremely popular, with more than 100 entries registered in the 1911 catalogue for the Lincolnshire Show.
