Friday, June 3, 2011

DAY 4: Fence training and clever pigs

Weather: Cold front! High around 56 and cloudy.

I let all the pigs out into the fence training paddock, and all was fine and dandy as they pranced around, rooted, and tore up chunks of grass and shook them back and forth. Occasionally, they ventured over to the fence to test it out, and promptly would squeal in pain as their wet little noses got a serious shock.

Things were so good, and the pigs were contained so well by the fence that I decided to go to the library and do a bit of work.

When I returned, the pigs were all back in their pen with the gate fastened shut. Confused, I went to talk to some of the folks who were on the farm while I was gone, where I learned that the pigs had escaped! They had been allowed free range of a paddock and the barn where they normally are kept, and busted through a gate in the barn and the front door, which wasn't latched, in order to proudly sashay over to the compost windrows.

What clever animals!! The sheep never attempted such shenanigans when they were in the same setup. As the draft horse manager reminded me, they're going to have to be deprived of all temptation if they're to be kept contained. He likened it to a piggy 12 step program :)

Oh, and today I built a trough with the help of a farm hand. It's designed to be pig-proof (can't be tipped or "hogged" (ie. one pig can't lie in it like they're prone to do, and monopolize all the food)

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