We were supposed to take our hogs in to be butchered this last Thursday. Because of extreme winds and the fact that we have to go 60 miles to the butcher, I rescheduled for next week. Another week of feeding the pigs, yay. Annoying, but definitely not really a problem.
Yesterday we noticed one of the hogs following whoever is outside, up and down the fence, squealing. Checked her out and can't find anything wrong so we'll just keep an eye on her. This morning it is glaringly obvious that she is in heat. I've had pigs in heat before and it was never a big deal. Well..........................................
This pig is running the fence line with that angry squeal they can get, not all that interested in food or anything else. Crossing my fingers that she'll stay in the pasture, I go in for breakfast. Yeah, right. I no sooner sit down than my husband hollers that she's out. Yay. We throw boots and jackets (because it's still awfully windy) and head out, anticipating all sorts of disaster. Now this pig is not really what one could call tame or friendly. She's not aggressive or anything, just not friendly, doesn't like being touched, etc. Which is fine, we prefer not to make friends with the food.
This morning, though, is a different story. She is looking for love and will take anything she can get. When we get outside, she comes right up to us and presents. Scratch her back and she stands there, solid. Standing heat, ok, got it. However, she's so hopeful that we can't get her to move. So, both of us together, shove her toward the pasture. One shove, one step. It took us a while.
Get her back on the pasture, fix the hole she made in the fence and go back in. Nothing doin'. She goes right back to the hole and starts working her way through. Hubby and oldest child have just left, like 30 seconds ago, to take oldest child to an event. I'm on my own. I run out to chase the pig out of her hole when, lo and behold! the cows break down the gate between their pasture and the pig pasture. Bad words were being said at this point.
I make a mad dash for that gate hoping to beat the pig there. And I did, barely. Close the gate. The cows are scattered between the two pastures, but who cares at this point, they can wait! I'd had a small pen attached to the horse trailer to hopefully make them easier to load for taking to slaughter. When we rescheduled, I let them loose again and took the trailer out of the pasture so they wouldn't destroy it. The panels that made the pen were still there though. Ah hah! I'll stick her in there. I got her and one of the others in but the third was waaay too interested in the cows. Fine, he'll be on his own. I tie another panel across the open side and two pigs are now contained.
By this time the cow and her calf are deciding that now would be a good time to panic about the pig. Why? I don't know. They've only shared a fence line for 6 months. I head over to the gate between cow and pig pasture to grab some twine that over there to make my emergency pig pen. The cow sees where I'm heading and comes flying over. Great! Get her back in her pasture and somehow manage to get her calf to follow her whilst keeping the remaining loose pig on his side of the fence. Not quite sure how I did that as he was right on the cows' heels. He found them to be most fascinating creatures, although rather hostile. The calf knocked him over at least once.
Now to do my best to build Fort Knox for the crazy, in heat pig. I've got hog panels all secured, but they are only 3' high and I have seen pigs try to go over such things with sufficient provocation. I'm not sure, but this pig may have thought that she had such. I find enough panels to make a second layer so now the pen is 4.5' high at it's lowest point. Hopefully that'll do it. Oh, and I managed to get the third pig in there as well.
Feeding them will be a long, involved process, but so far she has stayed there. I really, really hope she doesn't root under it before her heat is over. It should only last a day or two more, but it may be an eventful day or two!
So, how was your morning?
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