Why does AppleJack own pigs?

[Dapper Charmer 591]

This is a thought that occured to me a couple of days after watching the episode AppleJack's Day Off. In that episode we see she has pigs and chickens. The chickens make sense because you can get eggs from chickens. But pigs are the only farm animal that is only useful, at least to a farmer, after it is dead. So the question is If pigs are only good for eating why does AJ have a pen full of them?

[ManaMinori 4,145]

Truffle hunting? County fair pageants? Exports to carnivores (like the griffons)?

[Fhaolan 4,483]

Pigs are also excellent ways to clear new land. They eat *everything*, including the roots. So if your fields are being consumed with invasive weeds, you use pigs.

[cmarston1 5,959]

Because she lives on a farm.

That is all that I can think of.

[Guest]

Also pigs are sold as pets. That's a feasible explanation.

 

Or the animators just don't care because they don't think people will think that far into it.

[twiia 1,843]

So that she can make pork, but aren't ponies herbivores?

[MoltenKitten 341]

She raises them to sell to the niche market that is carnivore ponies

[Luminance 2,186]

Because they're essential for the episode's plot.

[PacificGreen 1,163]

Because obviously there is an oppressive caste system in the speciesist, supposedly utopian society that is Equestria.

 

Joking aside, I'm not quite sure. I haven't seen Applejack's Day Off yet, but the pigs don't seem to talk (unlike the sheep and the cows) so maybe they're just cared for the same way that squirrels, birds and bunnies are.

 

The truffle hunting idea brought up by @@Nightmare Muffin actually seems like a really neat idea that's worth exploring in a fanfic.

Edited June 6, 2016 by PacificNatsuDonkey

[FlootahBabby 265]

They like eat grass n' shit.

Edited June 6, 2016 by FlootahBaby

[4HFan 476]

Maybe she sells them to dragons?

[Justin_Case001 4,882]

Because they needed some plot device animals to fit into the whole unnecessarily complex feeding routine.  And because pigs say oink.

 

OH WAIT....I just figured it out.  Because Applejack has a contract to supply meat to the human world.  She has a portal under the floorboards of the barn.

 

All of the bacon in the human world comes from Equestria.

 

 

[powerpuff-tsubasa 448]

well she grew up in a barn with her apple family. so thats how she raised many pigs and chickens

[AlbaTross 1,586]

Come to think of it that makes absolutely zero sense since I have no idea what use pigs have other than meat, and ponies don't eat meat. Come to think of it, I highly doubt they eat eggs either, so what use are chickens?

[TheRockARooster 50,856]

Who knows but the thought of it is a crackle.

 

BAD JOKE

[Malinter 3,064]

Probably because you can use pig poop to make fertilizer. They also make good companions as anyone who plays Monster Hunter will know.

[Cirrus. 1,089]

Well duh! Something has to eat the bad apples...

 

I mean that literally...

 

 

and figuratively...

Edited June 7, 2016 by Cirrus.

[BlackWater627 700]

Probably because you can use pig poop to make fertilizer. They also make good companions as anyone who plays Monster Hunter will know.

Monster Hunter Pig Belly Rubs Confirmed!  *brohoof*

 

Also, an excellent point about fertizlizer. Some of the details of farming can get quite...nature-oriented.  :awuh:

[PiratePony 8,475]

Come to think of it that makes absolutely zero sense since I have no idea what use pigs have other than meat, and ponies don't eat meat. Come to think of it, I highly doubt they eat eggs either, so what use are chickens?

Equestria ponies do eat eggs. Rarity cooked Sweetie Belle eggs for breakfast in Sisterhooves Social for one example.

[Castle Bleck 19,334]

Like others have said: fertilizer, garbage-disposals, pets, etc.

[Quinch 1,120]

Could also be they're tenants. Less for farming, but maybe she gets paid to take care of them.

[Buck Testa 5,505]

Well she did say she makes Gumbo 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c1prv18ikE

 

Gumbo is known to have Chicken, Pork, or Shellfish in it. Plus they are already known for eating products with egg and milk in it. 

[cider float 2,537]

• Pig fat used to make shampoo for Rarity

Pinkie Pie's tambourine is made from pig bladder

Pig collagen used to make Rarity's face mask

Paintbrushes made from pig hair

Pinkie Pie uses pig gelatin to absorb cloudy elements on her fruit drinks to make them look clear

Pig meat used to feed pets like dogs

Part of pig is used to make glue for Applejack's woodworking

Uses pig gelatin to make gelatin desserts

[Mand'alor Dash 2,224]

Because they needed some plot device animals to fit into the whole unnecessarily complex feeding routine.  And because pigs say oink.

 

OH WAIT....I just figured it out.  Because Applejack has a contract to supply meat to the human world.  She has a portal under the floorboards of the barn.

 

All of the bacon in the human world comes from Equestria.

 

 

 

 

You think Twilight has it bad? Just imagine Spike's rude awakening when he finds out what was in his dog food.

[Red Cedar 1,408]

Truffles. Ponies love truffles. Also fertilizer. Farmers love fertilizer.