Every Time.....

Moving a couple of pregnant sows shouldn't have been too difficult this time. They weren't traveling very far. There are seven hogs keeping residence up in the woods. The two girls are due pretty soon and we wanted to move them to the "maternity" area so they could get comfortable in their new home. Mary Lou and Abby are actually the two sows who started the whole Piglets Galore story, farrowing on the same day. I'm curious to see if they will do the same this time around.

Scott built a couple of small paddocks for them just across maybe a hundred feet of grass. Not a far walk at all. We waited until they were all good and hungry so they will be focused on following the orange bucket instead of focusing on where the electric wire should be. Some will go right through. Some will need a bit of coaxing.

We found them all lined up at the wire at feeding time. This should be easy! The thought was, we would allow all seven to come out, let them follow the feed as a group up to the new paddocks and then guide the hogs back down to the woods after Mary Lou and Abby were tucked in.

The handles were released from the wire fence allowing freedom for the group. "Okay...let's go!". Nobody budged. Either they were very content or extremely obedient. I can't say they weren't hungry. All pigs are hungry.

I poured a little feed on the ground so they could actually see what temptation lies in the bucket. Max, my Tamworth boar, ventured out first. Frances was a close second. Then Lulu. Dolly soon wanted to see what the fuss was all about. This is going well so far! Scott and I looked back at the fence line. The only two pigs we really needed were right there. Mary Lou and Abby were not budging. The five month old Tam boar, Meriweather, was waiting with them as well. What an obedient little boy!

Every time! The hogs that you need won't cross the line. Something that should take fifteen minutes winds up becoming a major job. We have to rethink the whole process. This happened recently when we were loading five hogs into the trailer for processing. The only hogs that had no problem getting into the catch pen and the trailer were ten of my breeders. None of them destined to be pork. It took forever just to get four of the hogs we needed.

Eventually, Mary Lou decided to join her friends in the fresh grass. Abby still would not budge. So the plan changed.....

Little by little Mary Lou moved in the direction of her new home. Where were Max, Frances and Dolly? Already up there!! They didn't need any coaxing whatsoever. Figures. So for the time being, we'll keep Max and Frances in one paddock and Mary Lou and Dolly in the other one. Scott rearranged one of the huts in the woods for Abby. She still didn't want to have anything to do with the outside world.