They're Here....The Pigs That Is

This has been a long day. It started off at 6:00am with a phone call telling us that another relative was in ICU with a heart condition. We would appreciate prayers on behalf of our two relatives that are facing medical challenges at this time.

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.
 

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.

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. 
 

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

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