I name many of our livestock, especially those who are around for a long time like the sows and boars in the breeding herd who we will need to discuss as in "Out's back in with her newly farrowed piglets - saw her down to the far end of the south field this morning." Out's the name of the sow. Names tend to have something to do with the animal. A physical or behavioral characteristic that is distinctive. The sow mentioned above is named Out because she slipped out through a very small hole in the fence and farrowed in the forest. Her aunt Flop is named for her particularly floppy ears. The boar Archimedes is named because he always seems to be peering studiously over his non-existant glasses. Big Pig is named for, well, you can guess on that one. Normally I don't name animals initially. On the breeders it is generally after about six months or so of age that they 'tell me' their names. That's when we start to need to differentiate them from the run of the mill finisher pigs who are going to market as in "My, that Longson is a particularly long and fine looking pig and he grew sooo fast. Perhaps we should keep him for breeding." Sometimes it is a pattern in their coloring. For example there is cookie who looks like she has chocolate chips on her and Soviet who had the soviet flag on her butt. Mouse got her name because she has a rather famous Disney logo on her shoulder. The birthmark looks just like Mickey Mouse - the two of them will have to squabble over the intellectual property rights on that one as I'm not getting involved. With a name like Mouse you might think she's small but she's probably 700 lbs at this point and still growing. There's nothing small about Mouse despite her name. On the topic of spending excessive money on vet bills for named animals - doesn't happen here. Not even close. Name vs number makes no difference. Can't afford it for one thing. Dogs don't get it either. I do what doctoring I can as needed. Mostly we just try to avoid injury and illness. Heck, I don't even spend much on myself or my wife. Admittedly the kids are another matter, but then they're pets and I'm a bit emotionally attached to them. :) Cheers -Walter Sugar Mountain Farm in the mountains of Vermont http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/ http://HollyGraphicArt.com/ http://NoNAIS.org