Kiddicraft Brick Farm – Pigs in the Open Field Building Set KC1103

Kiddicraft's Pigs in the Open Field is built from 57 pieces — an outdoor pig pen with three pigs and a hedgehog, plus fencing and greenery. Age 5+.

Pigs are clean animals, and the mud is air conditioning

The reputation is entirely undeserved, and the reason for the mud is physiological rather than behavioural.

Pigs have almost no functioning sweat glands. A human cools down by evaporating sweat off the skin; a pig cannot, and it is a large animal with a thick layer of fat and a small surface area relative to its bulk. Above about 25 degrees it is in real trouble, and pigs genuinely die of heat.

Wallowing is the solution. A coating of wet mud evaporates slowly off the skin and does the job sweat would — and it works better than plain water, because mud clings and takes longer to dry. It also blocks sunburn, which pale-skinned pigs are prone to, and smothers biting flies.

Given clean bedding and enough room, pigs are among the tidiest farm animals there are. They establish a lavatory area well away from where they sleep and eat, and they will keep to it — which is more than can be said for most livestock. Confined in too small a pen, they cannot, and that is where the reputation came from.

The hedgehog

A hedgehog in a pig set is the small realistic detail. They live in exactly this sort of place — field edges, hedge bottoms, undisturbed corners near buildings — and a farm without any is an unhealthy farm.

In the Brick Farm range

Sets KC1101, KC1102, KC1104 and KC1105 are the other small animal scenes; KC1106, KC1108 and KC1112 are the buildings.

Specifications

Pieces: 57 · Three pigs and a hedgehog, fencing and greenery · Series: Kiddicraft Brick Farm · Age: 5+ · Compatible with leading brick systems