HOG HEAVEN: For Big Jake, there's nothing better than a little ear scratch

Susan Kendall of Lebanon, Maine, gives Jake's ears a good scratching on Thursday at the Granite State Fair. (Rochester Voice photo)

ROCHESTER - Jake may be bound for the breakfast table, but for now, he's getting a lot of love.
"He likes scratches on his ears and back," said Susan Kendall of Lebanon, Maine, as she cuddled with Jake.
Well, not actually cuddle, cause Jake's a growing boy, all of 500 pounds at just eight months.
The Midwest Hereford breed hog, called so for its resemblance to British Hereford cattle, is known for fattening up fast, and Jake is no exception.
Kendall, who is showing Jake at the Granite State Fair, said she also has 15 Iceland goats, chickens, ducks and geese on her Shapleigh Road property.
"I'm a homesteader," Kendall said. "We try to grow our own food, and I love that we can."
She said she and her husband, Larry, both have full-time jobs as well as doing the farm chores.
"I love it, but people have no idea how hard it is," she said as she scratched Jake's ears so well he squealed with delight.
Kendall said Jake can get pretty jealous sometimes.
"He saw me scratching another pig in the barn here and he didn't like it a bit," she said.
Kendall said she grew up in Saugus, Mass., about 10 miles from downtown Boston, before moving to Rowley, Mass., and later to Lebanon.
"I can't go back to city life," she said. "I can't do that grind."

You can stop by and see this handsome guy in the animal barn near the fair's admission gate.