VIDEO Prudence is some pig!As all mums know, if your youngsters are going out in the hot sun you have to cover them in sunscreen to avoid sunburn.And it's not just us humans who can suffer from this uncomfortable - and potentially dangerous - condition.

PRUDENCE is some pig!

As all mums know, if your youngsters are going out in the hot sun you have to cover them in sunscreen to avoid sunburn.

And it's not just us humans who can suffer from this uncomfortable - and potentially dangerous - condition. It can also affect pigs, especially those with pink skins.

But obviously they can't reach for the Factor 15 cream. Their preferred method of sunscreen is to wallow in the mud - but what happens when the mud dries out?

Prudence has the answer. The intelligent prize sow from the Baylham Rare Breeds farm has discovered that if she rocks her tank the water will slosh out and form mud for her litter of piglets.

The youngsters also enjoy a shower as the water sploshes out. Her antics were captured by The Evening Star and video of her unique mud-creation can be seen by visiting our website.

Prudence is a middle white, a rare breed of pig that used to be commonplace in farms around London.

However since it was officially recognised as being rare, its numbers have increased - and once again its meat is valued by butchers and chefs.

Richard Storer, from Baylham Rare Breeds Farm, said that during the high summer staff hosed down the pigs to keep them cool and help create the mud they need to wallow in.

He said: “They know that rolling around in mud helps them to keep cool, but to be honest it hasn't been necessary to do that just yet because of all the rain we've had.”

Prudence has had eight piglets. The females will be sent to other farms to help build up the numbers of these rare animals while most of the males will be fattened up before being sold on to butchers to end up on our plates.

Mr Storer said: “The chef Anthony Worrall Johnson did a blind tasting of different types of pork and came to the conclusion that middle whites produce the best meat.

“He has his own herd now and will only use pork from them. They were very common in earlier years and the breed is coming back quite well now.”

See Prudence making mud for her offspring at www.eveningstar.co.uk

Have you pictures of animals displaying great intelligence? Send them to starnews@eveningstar.co.uk.

This little piggy facts:

Pigs produce large litters of piglets - and unlike most other animals sows are happiest if they are pregnant or nursing youngsters most of the time.

Baylham doesn't have a middle white boar - Prudence was visited by a borrowed animal to get her pregnant.

Middle Whites were very common in the early part of the 20th century, but cross-breeding during the war to increase production led to a dramatic fall in the pure-bred numbers.

The foundation of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and the interest in the breed has led to a significant increase in numbers over the last 20 years.

The breed is popular in Japan - where the emperor has his own herd of middle whites.

Source: Baylham Rare Breeds Farm/British Pig Association.