A Gloucestershire Old Spots pig is a placid, friendly animal to leave in someone's care, with two characteristics the arrangements must respect: it is a strong, intelligent pig that will investigate any weakness in its fencing, and its pale, sparsely covered skin burns in sun that a darker pig would shrug off. Holiday cover is therefore built around measured feeding, water and wallow kept right, shade checked as seriously as food, and boundaries inspected daily. Get those four things covered by a visitor the pig knows, with written instructions and a vet's number, and an Old Spots will spend your holiday doing what it does best: eating its ration, wallowing, and sleeping.
Choosing and briefing the visitor
Pick someone who is comfortable around pigs and not intimidated by a large animal arriving at the gate expecting food. Show them how you feed, where you stand, how you move the pig back from the gate without a contest, and how you check it over: body condition by eye and hand, skin condition, feet and gait, appetite. Name a backup who has also met the pig, and introduce them before you go rather than leaving introductions to the day they are needed.
Feeding: measured, and nothing extra
Leave rations weighed or clearly measured per feed, with the scoop marked and the total written down, because the Old Spots is a traditional breed that lays down fat readily and a generous visitor can add visible condition in a fortnight. Write the rule plainly: this ration, nothing more, no kitchen scraps, no extras from visitors, however hopeful the pig appears at the fence. If the pig is on pasture, specify any supplementary feed exactly and note that fallen fruit in an orchard paddock should be cleared or the area fenced off if windfalls are heavy, since gorging on fermenting fruit is a real pig mishap. A pig that leaves its feed, by contrast, is telling the visitor something is wrong, and that call goes to you and, if it persists, the vet.
Water, wallow, and the sunburn problem
Water must be checked at both visits: drinkers tested, troughs scrubbed and filled, because pigs foul water enthusiastically and drink a great deal in warm weather. The wallow is not a luxury. Pigs cannot sweat effectively, and the wallow is how an Old Spots regulates its temperature and coats its skin in protective mud. The visitor should top up the wallow, confirm shade covers the lying area through the heat of the day, and look at the ears, shoulders, and back for the pinkness that precedes sunburn on this pale breed.
Fencing, housing, and security
Have the visitor walk the fence line daily. An Old Spots tests boundaries with its nose and shoulders, and electric fencing should be checked as live, with vegetation cleared off the line. Check the gate fastening twice: pigs learn latches. The hut or arc needs dry bedding topped up and a look at the roof and floor, and in wet weather confirm the pig's lying area is not waterlogged, since this breed does not thrive lying damp.
Contacts and authority, ready before you leave
Leave your number, your backup, and your vet with out-of-hours details, plus written authority for the visitor to call the vet and approve emergency care, and a note of anything individual to this pig: a healing cut, a tendency to a sore foot, an ongoing matter your vet knows about. KinsLe's Care Pass hands your pig sitter temporary, clear access to the rations, shade and wallow checks, and contacts in one place while you are on holiday, so the routine you demonstrated is the routine that actually happens at the gate each morning and evening.