Piglets born by the dozen

A squeal rang out from the pig pens at Centennial Farm on Friday afternoon, but it wasn’t coming from 400-pound sow Leilani or any of the 12 piglets she birthed early that morning.

With all eyes transfixed on the dozen frolicking piglets, the sizable crowd’s attention suddenly shifted to the next pen, where Kiele farrowed, or gave birth to, a squeaking piglet at 2:45 p.m.

“We’re going to need some help,” volunteer docent Sandy Slobodian called out after responding to the hullabaloo, later adding that she was expecting the delivery because Kiele had been restless all day.

For the next few weeks, the 3-pound newborns and their mothers will spend all their time nursing and sleeping. After a couple months, some will be auctioned off and others will be donated to agricultural education programs, such as the FFA club at Westminster High School.

“These are market pigs — in other words, they’re pork,” Slobodian said. “They’re big, right?”

Despite the piglets’ cuteness, 9-year-old Sam Woodward of Newport Beach advised other children against being tempted to take one home.

“Little kids don’t know that one of these little pigs will grow up into one of those big, furry hogs,” he exclaimed, pointing to the new mother. “They will stink up the place, and you would have to clean up after them and pick up their poop — and they get ugly.”

Still, the pigs draw the Woodward family to the farm each year when they come to the fair.

“I was meeting with my friends this morning, and all everybody was talking about were the pigs,” Sam’s mother Michele Woodward said. “It’s not too often that city kids can see real baby farm animals that were just born.”

To see a video of the piglets, click here.