Porky the Pig
This year I’ve really been lamenting over the fact that we didn’t have a hog around. Hogs are one of the most important animals to have on a real homestead. They turn waste milk, table scraps, and garden scraps into fine tasting meat. Every time I saw waste I would say, “We really need a pig!” Well, the neighbor had another batch of piglets ready to go for $50 a piglet. Not wanting to miss out, the boys and I grabbed some corner posts and threw up a 2 strand electric pig fence and hooked up a charger. The whole family jumped in the minivan with a little dog carrier and $50 with hopes of finding a plump little piglet. I picked out a real nice one and stuffed it in the dog box and paid my money. We got home and turned him out into his nice little paddock. Porky looked around, ate some clover and then shot through the fence like a rocket ship. For the next 2 hours we worked at catching that little $50 dollar bill with 4 legs and a snout. We crossed cow pastures, went through brambles and golden rod, he covered some ground that night! Leah and I finally got him down in some tall golden rod and bed straw. He ducked down in there thinking I couldn’t see him, so I crawled on my belly and got within arms reach of his leg and snatched that little piggy right out of his hiding spot. He went back in the dog crate and we all went work building a better pig pen. My brother in law called on the phone and wondered what we were doing. I said, “The whole family is panting and sweating and sitting on a log right here in the yard among the orchard grass heads. We’re all staring at a pig in a crate and wondering whether or not to have a one really good dinner tonight or try build a new fence” Well, we threw up some woven wire and wrapped that with chicken wire and then added a third strand of electric wire. Then I went to the cow pasture and swapped fencers so I had the “BullDozer….Weed Burner” model that can knock a grown cow to her knees. I put in an extra ground stake and she lit up 4 lights on the tester! We turned Porky back out and he soon learned to stay away from the fence! He now is enjoying his new home eating all the things that would have been wasted. I can’t wait till butcher time.
July 24th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
We have been there and done that. You can read all about Houdini the pig in “Tails” from the farm part 12.
http://amazinggrazefarm.blogspot.com/2008/06/tails-from-farm-part-12.html
July 26th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Hi Marci
I just read your adventure, sounds so familiar! We always kept hogs when I was a boy, but we always kept them in the back of the cow barn in a box stall. This was my first attempt at pasturing them and I learned a few things. But, thats how you learn.