When the farmer's away, the pigs will play.

That's what happened Thursday afternoon when a herd of pigs escaped Wyandotte Farm, owned by Mike and Elizabeth King.

A horseback rider on a wooded path behind the Route 6 farm spotted the sow and seven piglets around lunchtime, according to Animal Control Officer Mark Patnaude.

The Kings were not able to be reached at the time, and a search didn't turn up the swine.

“We walked in the woods but couldn't find them. We saw the ground all scuffed up,” he said.

Another call around 3:30 p.m. revealed that the pigs had come home...almost. They found a nice place to root around in the yard that neighbors Wyandotte Farm.

Police and animal control from Mattapoisett and Fairhaven responded to the scene and kept the pigs from running into the busy road and becoming bacon.

After some time, Elizabeth King and a farmhand arrived. They opened a space in the fence and ushered the pigs back home.

At the same time, another report of an additional pig at Old Rochester Regional High School came over the scanner. It's unknown if that pig was also found.

Animal Control Officer Kathy Massey, who heads the department, said this isn't the first time Wyandotte's pigs have gone on the lam.

Last time, she said, two boars and the then pregnant sow made it to Prospect Road. There have been other incidents of loose livestock, including guinea hens that have flown the coop and meandered onto Route 6.

This time, Massey said there were be consequences.

“We're having a hearing,” she said.