Pig Wrangling 101 !!!! OMG! LOL

[Pumpkinpup]

Being the old fashioned "Farm Girl" type at heart I recently made the decision to get a sow hog with the intention raising some babies. Some I would sell to pay the feed bill and one or two I planned to keep and raise out for slaughter. This seemed like a sound and practical plan at the time.
I scraped together my building material and went to work with a vengence on the small hog lot I intended to house "Piggy" in on a temporary basis until my DH returned home at the end of the week so we could relocate her to more perminant and appropriate quarters. I recruted some friends and we drove to Canton and aquired a 250 pound yorkshire cross sow that was exactly what I had decided I wanted. No problems loading her or unloading her and I was quite pleased.
Things rocked along just fine for 3 days and then it happened! I went out to feed and saw the horses standing at attention with their ears pricked, snorting and stamping and all looking toward the end of the pasture near the tree line. THE PIG WAS OUT!
No boards knocked down and she had not gone underneath so I am thinking, Hmmmm, maybe she squeezed between? I get her lured with corn back into the pen at a gap I created by taking down a plank and I promptly board her back up.
What a relief! Whew.... that was close! Everything is fine, right?.... WRONG!
She jumps, flat footed!!!!! over the 3 feet high fence with me watching her!!! I was stunned!
She makes a break for the woods again and I start screaming for my boys to come help!
I scramble to get a water bucket as it has been so cold everything is frozen and I reason that she is most likely thirsty and will come for water, which she does. One son gets a rope around her neck and holds on for dear life while the sow thrashes and squeals bloody murder and throws him from one side to the next. The other son and I get a butt rope on her and the fight is on! She drug us all over the yard for over half an hour before we finally made it to the barn and deposited her in a secure stall. What a battle!
We were all bruised, battered and exhausted by then and just glad it was all over.
Moral of the story, NEVER UNDERESTIMATE a hog!
I can laugh about it now but when it happening, OH MY GOODNESS!

 

[NGT ANGL]

Cute story and glad your sense of humor is still in tact! Years ago, we had a hog that the neighbors came to know well - thank goodness for kindhearted country folk! Whoever thinks that pigs are stupid truly underestimates them!

 

[halo]

That is funny. And useful. Ive thought it would be interesting to get a pig, but Im not sure I need a jumping pig.

 

[Pumpkinpup]

Quote:
I had no idea I had bought a champion hurdler!

 

[Goose and Fig]

Oh man- you should set up an agility track and make a video

 

[lockedhearts]

SO SO Sorry I was not there with Video camera so we could have won that money on AFV!!!!!!!

 

[Livinzoo]

I knew yorks were high strung but 3 foot!!! WOW!!!

I learned a while ago piggies don't like being roped. We lure with cottage cheese. Give them a bite every time they start lagging behind and they follow us. But I get lots of it for free.

I've heard a cheap plastic rake wit the tines broke off works good. Hold it in their view where you don't want them to go. You can also use boards to prevent them going in directions you don't want them to go.

Good luck with your venture. I myself will have 2-3 litters of pigs in april. My first litters.

 

[Countrywife]

this is one reason I am skipping the pig mommy thing- wrangling pigs, not my idea of something I should do.

But I surely enjoyed your story!

 

[cmjust0]

Yeah, right. I'll believe that story when pigs fly.

Oh...wait.

Once when I was a kid, me and my brother were outside playing with water pistols.. We were having just an epic battle across a picnic table when all of a sudden, his expression changed.. He sorta peered behind me all wide-eyed, then just turned and ran for the door of the house.

I gently turned to see what was behind me, and there stood the neighbor's sow. And I mean, a big sow. She'd gotten loose somehow and made her way around into our backyard -- but not before rooting up all my mom's flower beds.

My stepdad walked across the street to the neighbor's house, and he came and got her back up.

That wasn't the last we saw of her, though.. She trashed the flower beds several more times that summer.

 

[Pumpkinpup]

I have seriously had to rethink my grand plans for the hog lots

I had not anticipated needing to overkill the "escape proofing" of the facility!