The trip to pick up our piglets took about seven hours. It took us through some beautiful countryside in eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. We had one fairly heavy rain on the way there, but none on the way back, which was good since we transported the pigs in an extra large pet carrier in the back of the truck.
I caught my first pig today. It would have been pretty comical if I could have stood back and watched, because after I caught it I wasn't quite sure what to do with it until the breeder told me to carry him by his back legs. There was one of the boars that REALLY wanted to get out as we were loading the others. We hope he doesn't keep that behavior up, or we may a nice small roast sooner than we plan.
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| 3 scared little boars |
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| 4 piglets now that the gilt has joined us |
After seeing the tusks on one of the adult boars, the father of our boars, and talking to the breeder, we have scheduled our vet to come out next week and cut the teeth of our piglets. The boars tend to cut each other if they are fighting over food or something and we would like to prevent that if possible.
The piglets will be staying in the stock trailer in the barn for several days. We have severe weather forecast for the weekend and this will keep them nice and dry. It will also give them the opportunity to get used to the sights and sounds of their new home.
They sound funny. It is a new sound to our homestead. Pearl, our Great Pyrenees, got to meet them while they were still in the pet carrier, but they were quiet then. After we let the pigs out in the trailer, Pearl kept walking around trying to see what was making that funny noise.
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| Little girl peeking through the boys |
The piglets were happy to eat some grain, fresh squeezed goat milk and some fresh cut grass and weeds. I was able to barely scratch a couple of shoulders while they ate. Before we loaded up the gilt, Frank was able to scratch her back several times. I am hopeful it won't be long before they have settled down and are comfortable with us. But then again, there has been more than once today that we thought we were crazy for bringing home pigs.
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| The little gilt has a while spot on her back right foot. |
You may have noticed that we came home with four pigs instead of three. We decided to bring home an extra boar for a little more meat on the hoof. So now we have a herd of pigs. Do you call pigs a herd? It has been a long day. Let's see. A flock of chickens, a herd of goats, a pride of felines, one lone dog and a couple of humans. These are the intentional animals that inhabit our homestead. For now. We'll let you know how our little piglets work out.
Until next time - Fern
Fabulous news!
ReplyDeleteNow From the Oxford dictionary....group names:
- a litter or herd of pigs
- a crash of rhinoceros
- a swarm or drift or hive or erst of bees
- a clowder or glaring of cats
- a flock or herd or trip of goats
Look Up Range Cubes....for gentling treats they are perfect, despite being for cattle one or two of these to get the piglets to come to you happily is perfect and they are easy to carry in your jacket or pocket. Pigs love to be scratched and are very social so even just talking to them and visiting them helps. Mine used to love belly rubs although it is like scratching canvas!
A glaring of cats? It sounds like something they would do, not how you would describe a group of them, Fiona. That's funny.
DeleteWe've heard a lot about scratching and pigs, they apparently love it, so that will be one way to tame them to us. Sounds like what we do with baby goats. I hope my gentling treats will be a little grain, garden scraps and goat milk. They didn't have any problem eating the grain and milk last night. This morning I will begin the pig bucket routine with some cabbage leaves, turnip greens, comfrey, grass, weeds and milk. In a day or two their milk will turn to whey, but I guess I consider the initial milk a kind of comfort food since they were all still nursing when their mom's would let them. Great advice, Fiona. Thank you.
Fern
A congress of baboons. Makes sense :)
ReplyDeleteNothing cuter than miniature bacon!
OP, thank you for reading and thank you for the comment. It is odd how different groups of animals have different names for their groups structure, like a murder of crows. I've had to eat crow a few times, not literally of course, but here in Oklahoma we actually have a crow hunting season. When you go in the sporting goods store and pick up the annual fish and game rules and regulations, it's got crow. I've heard that in days gone by, crow was a common source of nutrition for humans. But then so was racoon and opossum. No pun intended, but, food for thought. I wonder how barbequed crow would taste dressed up in all my gear? Thank you for the comment.
DeleteFrank
hi. never knew my daddy had eaten possum til one day someone mentioned them and he suddenly said, 'possum! greasiest meat i ever eat.'.
Deletesurprise, surprise.
also heard a lady say groundhog had to be boiled in three waters to get rid of the worst of the taste.
deb h.
oh now isn't that typical, a glaring of cats! haha!
ReplyDeletethey are the sweetest looking little babies though, I'm looking forward to watching their adventures :)
I know lots of people that think baby pigs are really cute, U.D. I guess they are going to have to grow on me before I share that sentiment. There was a little 3 week old pig in one of the places we went to, and it was a little cuter than these. Maybe by the time our gilt has her first litter I will have grown to appreciate their looks a little more. Now off to the barn and the chores. Thank you for sharing.
DeleteFern
They will be cute on the plate! Our neighbor has a couple of acres of wooded area I would love to buy for pigs. Acorns dropping, blackberries, etc. but I doubt he will ever sell. We also have a couple of stalls in the barn if we wanted to keep them confined, but I am not sure about the cost effectiveness of raising them on bought feed. Will be learning with you, good luck!
ReplyDeleteHi, Beth. "Cute on the plate", you bet, with a couple of eggs sunny side up. See if your neighbor will lease the property to you. Where we live people lease property all the time. Talk to them. Thank you for the comment.
DeleteFrank
Fern and Frank,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your drift of pigs!!! They're adorable!! Your girl is a tad smaller than they males. Are the males getting along fine with her?
Sending prayers and thoughts for your family members in the hospital.
Be safe today, weather is brewing.
Hello, Sandy. So far the news today about our family members has been positive, thank you.
DeleteAs far as the pigs go, I don't know if the boys and girls know if they're boys and girls. But as a general rule, the females are a little smaller than the males. Our observations so far would indicate that the little girl has no difficulty standing her ground. She's friendly, likes to be scratched and dominates the feed pan, all good qualities. Thank you for the comment.
Frank
Good for you in trying something new. I'm with Beth Stinson - I bet their cuteness grows on you once you've enjoyed your very own homegrown bacon and pork chops. Yum. Years ago, a co-worker's sister raised a pig. My friend and I paid for the butchering costs and each ended up with 1/4 of a pig and his sister got 1/2 the pig. She raised the pig for very little money for food, mostly a slop bucket and pasture. She was very pleased to have us pay the upfront butchering cost. Win-win for everyone. And, boy was that pork good! SJ in Vancouver BC Canada
ReplyDeleteI remember helping the Father-in-law taking young pigs to market an the standard size Sow made the boards in the fence bow as we carried off her of-spring. An older Sow was boss of the bunch, able to push the Boer around to get her choice of food.
ReplyDeleteRosco