Amersham escape artist micro pig fathers 71 piglets

Blanket the boar devised a way of climbing on a bench and leaping over a fence

A persistent pig took to climbing on a bench and launching himself over a fence in order to mate with the sows in the next enclosure.

The boar, named Blanket, has fathered 71 piglets so far this year at Kew Little Pigs, a micro pig petting farm in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.

His escape artist tactics came to light when he broke the bench, leapt the fence and mated with two sows in full view of a group of visitors.

Blanket's benches have now been moved.

The farm breeds miniature pigs to sell as pets, so are used to having lots of tiny trotters running around the place.

However, the breeding programme is strictly controlled so when a number of unexpected piglets arrived, they were baffled.

The hefty horny hog broke his bench

New mum Jill with some of Blanket's offspring

Blanket gave the game away when his amorous ways got the better of him.

He got so excited, the bench broke under the hefty hog's weight as he leapt the 4.5ft (1.4m) fence and began mating with two sows in front of visitors in the petting enclosure.

Olivia Mikhail, owner of Kew Little Pigs, said: "We do breed micro pigs as pets... so we are well prepared to look after piglets here, but we also take security and welfare very seriously.

"Enough was enough."

She said: "Now he has broken the bench and we have put extra measures in place, sadly for Blanket and his girlfriends the fun is over."

There will be no more fence-leaping for this one

Thanks to his rampant summer of love, Blanket has sired 71 piglets.

The farm has another breeding boar, named Milo, but they said Blanket's rival was only responsible for about 20% of this year's piglets.

Staff described Blanket as a "very handsome and confident" pig, but had to admit he was a "horny hog".