We Got Piggies Today!

The pigs’ fence barrier up around their ¼ acre turnout

Wednesday we went to get our pigs up in Vermont. These pigs are a Berkshire x Hampshire cross, about 8 weeks old.

It was a lovely drive up, on back roads. We had plenty of time to go slow and enjoy the ride up. It was to be hot, 80’s and we wanted the pigs home in the cool barn before it was too hot for them. So the ride home was on the highway.

My husband had set-up their area in the barn and closed the outside door securely. They would stay in the barn until Thursday, exploring, so they would know it was a safe place to go.

We got to select our pigs. The first one we picked was the spotted one, a gilt. My husband got a hold of her easily and took her out to the cage. So that left selecting a barrow. There were 2 white with spots that looked like good pigs. I grabbed the barrow by one leg but he got away and went into the pig pile behind the farmer. She reached down and grabbed a leg on a white spotted one. But she couldn’t grab the other leg due to an injured shoulder. So I grabbed both legs and she called over a helper and he took the pig to the car.

When we got home, we realized she’d grabbed the gilt and not the barrow. Oh, well. That gilt was good size and maybe she’d be dominate and put on plenty of weight.

The mess these 2 made of the car!

We get a barrow because they tend to grow much bigger and we sell them. We get 2 pigs because they are a herd animal and much happier with another pig. We only need 1 pig a year. So we send the barrows off the slaughterhouse and sell them to the local market.

We carried the cage in and gently encouraged them to leave it. They found lots of interesting smells in their area.

A pig’s happiness and health has a quick indicator. How tightly their tail curls gives you an idea of how well they are doing. The white spot pig’s tail stays curled tightly. The spotted pig’s, not so much, often hanging limply.

Hopefully she will settle in and we’ll see a tightly curled tail from now on.