Preschoolers meet piglets
<p>Kaitlyn Ducept, 5, gets down with the piglets Friday at Dave Williams’ place as part of the Home Start Preschool field trip. </p> <div><strong><br /></strong></div>
PLAINS - Home Start Preschool students were tickled pink with meeting Dave Williams’ two female 3-month-old piglets Friday afternoon as part of a school field trip.
Williams, a Plains resident and pig farmer, invited the group to observe and play with his two newest additions to his stock.
At first, the group of young ones were timid to meet the other young ones, but one particular birthday girl - a Miss Kaitlyn Ducept of Plains - braved the tiny pig pen and stepped in with the pair of Yorkshire-Hampshire crosses. Ducept was described by her teacher, Miss Jess, as being brave and inquisitive. Also given the fact that it was her fifth birthday, Ducept expressed her eagerness to try anything. As the piglets sniffed at her clothes and shoes, Ducept tenderly pet them and tried to rub their bellies.
“Ah! They’re trying to eat my shoes!” Ducept said as she danced around the pen to protect her Skechers ‘twinkle toes’ shoes. “I think they’re trying to eat them because they’re sparkly.”
The curious piglets nibbled at Ducept’s shoes and jeans, but were playful nonetheless. Ducept’s bravery inspired classmate Logan Steinebach, 4, to climb the fence and step in with her and the piglets. Steinebach stuck close to Ducept, who showed him how to pet the piglets. While the preschoolers interacted with the piglets, teacher Miss Jess asked them questions about them.
“How do they feel?” Miss Jess asked her students. “Are they soft, or is their hair rough?”
The preschoolers bent over and pet the pair and concluded they were soft.
“These will be used for breeding,” Williams said of the piglets. “We got them out of Missoula and they’re not for slaughter.”