about a man and his pig!
This porker is a real corker
Squeaky the pig goes hog-wild for pizza, cow-herding
By RICHARD STEWART
ROSHARON — Call her Squeaky the Wonder Pig, or the cowpig or a 385-pound guard pig. But most of all, call her when it's time for pizza.
Squeaky is clearly no ordinary pig.
The pet and partner of Mike Veara, manager of Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan's China Grove Ranch in Brazoria County, she herds cows, eats pizza and greets most visitors to the ranch.
"And she's a wild pig," Veara said. "You never see a feral pig like that."
Veara insists that Squeaky taught herself all of her skills, not all of which are helpful.
She's been known to break into the ranch house and raid the refrigerator to messily slurp up raw eggs and leftover pizza. She considers a wallow in mud to be the height of fashion and doesn't like to be washed off. Although she seems to think of herself as some sort of porcine breed of dog, complete with barklike "oinks,"she's never become the least bit housebroken.
But Veara forgives Squeaky's little faults — and Squeaky clearly loves Veara.
She was only hours old when he found her on the ranch 2½ years ago. "Her mother was dead," he said. "Probably somebody had shot her somewhere else and she came here to die." Several other piglets with her were also dead.
He fed it the same formula used for orphaned calves with a baby bottle. "My grandson named her Squeaky because she made a squeaking noise," Veara said.
She adopted the 1,800-acre ranch as home.
One day Veara and some ranch hands were herding some cattle on horseback when Squeaky got between the riders and the cattle. "I said let's just back off and see what she'll do," Veara said.
Squeaky herded almost 200 head of cattle into pens, just where Veara wanted them. Since then she's been a real cowpig.
Watch her whole gallery here
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