The Hardships of Raising Pigs
Posted: Thursday, February 05, 2009
by Cher King
Our first set of pigs I wanted to make sure the kids understood, yes they are cute now but they are going in the freezer for meat. We had a long discussion about what kinds of meat we will be getting and so forth. But they still ended up with the names of Patty & Petunia. Our first few days we had them Patty died. It was a lack of vitamin K which they usually get when they are born. Apparently Patty eluded the farmer during the course of immunizations. A sad morning when Philip came in very upset about finding Patty dead. I let him take a day off from school to pick up her replacement. The farmer was nice enough and gave us a replacement and all was well with the world. They loved being squirted with the hose and seeing you with the grain bucket. Each of the kids were responsible for the food from the school. The school would give us the food waste from the day to feed to the pigs. The pigs were happy.
Well after we returned from the butcher after taking the wethered sheep, we sat by the fire to warm up from the cold. All we had to do now was put the pigs into a box and take them down to the butcher and we would be done for the day. Well the pigs were hungry as usual but really jittery. Usually you have to withhold food for 24 hours before butchering. That way loading them up will be a bit easier since they are hungry. We dragged a big wooden box into the pen. I threw some grain down so we could hog tie them and put them into the box. My husband had tied the rope around one leg and then the other front leg and Petunia let out a squeal, sharp and loud. She was running in circles. Who ever thought up hog tying never had done it on a pig.
My husband was trying to catch her; the ropes on her front legs didn't slow her down. Now my husband is cold, tired and has had enough, especially since he had his nose smashed by the sheep earlier. He called the butcher to see if he could shoot them now and then take them down. He said "No, the water isn't ready yet". With a heavy heart we went back out.
My husband was not going to run around all day; he grabbed Petunia by the middle and heaved half her body into the box and then the other half. Well now it was Patty's turn and she was coughing and was just sitting on her rump. My husband put a grain bag on her head and put half her body in and then the other half. Now we put a big piece of plywood on the box and we both sat on it while my husband nailed down the edges. Our weight together would be 350 lbs. The pigs kept arching there backs and bumping us off. Both of our fingers are numb, the tips of our noses are red and your lungs hurt from inhaling the cold air. My husband hurriedly nailed the rest down.
The box was altered; it had bright new shiny handles, two on each side. So all we had to do is both pick up our ends at the same time. Well the handles just bent right over our hands and the box never came off the floor. Now what, we have to pigs nailed into a box and have no way to get them into the van and down to the butcher.
So we tied a rope through the handles and my husband pulled while I pushed. We had a ramp at the back end of the van and once a quarter of the box was in the van, we both lifted the box at the other end and pushed it in.
Now we could go without worry of the pigs getting loose. We arrived at the butchers and slid the box down the ramp. We had to unnail the box and let them loose. The butcher laughed at the story and said someone up the road from us would have picked them up with his trailer and delivered all the animals for $20.00. We thanked him for his information. Why would we want someone to do the work for us and miss out on a day like that??
The next year we decided to do pigs again and everything went well with Red & Black pepper since that was there coloring. So now we think this is going well let's try three pigs next year.
We did get three pigs; the guy that delivers my grain also breeds pigs as well. On the next hay delivery I received my pigs, two girls and a neutered male.
We had made a bigger pen out of pallets and it was on a downward slope so it would drain easily. And since in the past we had so many problems with the doors getting stuck in the mud we had no door at all. We figured we could just use the chainsaw to make a door when we were ready to load them on butchering day. Two months before butchering day the male pig was acting funny. He wasn't interested in food or water. He kept sitting on his rump like a dog would do, which isn't normal at all. I looked it up in my pig book and it suggested that he had some sort of ulcer or intestine problem, most likely caused by genetics. The first clue was when I gave him a shot of antibiotics, he didn't make a sound. Not even the slightest noise. Ok this isn't good at all. I called our traveling vet and he said the next day give him another shot and see if there was a difference. I did as he suggested and he had a little more energy than before and made a little noise when I had administered his next shot. I thought well maybe he will make it. It would be such a waste if he dies now at 300 pounds.
In the middle of the night I heard a terrible squealing by two of the pigs. It was a scary sound. By this time everyone heard this at 11pm at night. We grab a flashlight and go to investigate. The big male pig had died and the other two are going nuts. Pigs for whatever their reasoning is, don't like blood and death, it really freaks them out.
So there wasn't much we could do that late at night. They had eventually calmed down and went back to bed. I called my husband at work and asked him what should I do. There wasn't a door for us to use to pull him out. My husband was in New Jersey and his only answer was put a tarp over him and wait for me to get home at the end of the week. Well that will never do. The carcass is going to bloat up and the smell would have been horrible, never mind the other two pigs jumping on him.
I close up the farm stand for the day and drive my truck out back to the pen. We place some straps around the pig so we can lift him up over the pen and at least get him out of there. That sounds easy enough trying to get 300 pounds of dead weight over a four foot fence. What were we thinking?
So Philip and Sydney are inside with the pigs struggling to get his front feet over the top of the fence while I stand in the bed of the truck and pull. We did this for close to an hour and he was now leaning on the fence but still on the wrong side. The day in question was at least 85 degrees and here in Maine it is never a dry 85 degrees. No it is humid and muggy and w/ the pig poop everywhere and tugging on dead weight is no fun at all. So we decide to knock out a few of the slats and hook the straps to the end of the truck and we could pull him out that way. Ok we can do this. Which we actually had some success with it. We took a panel of metal fencing and tied it over the hole we made so the others couldn't escape.
Now we should be able to at least lift the pig into the bed of the truck so we can take it out back. Well we had the same results when he was still inside the fencing. One person up in the bed of the truck while two of us pulled. We tried this for another half an hour and all the time people kept stopping at the farm stand. Then they would pull out of the driveway really slow since they could see us in the back of the field doing something. Ok we really don't need a crowd here. So I ask everyone if they have any better idea on how to transport this pig outback without loading him into the truck.
Well Philip did, can't we load him on the toboggan and hook that to the truck and pull it out back? Well that is a good idea. How long have you been thinking about it, I asked. Oh I thought of it right away but I didn't think you wanted us to use the sled. This the point where I tell all my children in the future if you have an idea share it because it would have saved us some time.
So Philip gets the toboggan and we strap the pig down and hook it to the truck and we drive him out back. We dragged the sled far out into the woods until we found a rather deep skidder rut and dumped him there.
We checked the site a few times in the fall and early winter and nothing had touched it. Well December has rolled around and I haven't really thought about the pig for some time. I was at the sink washing some dishes and I can see the two fields out back clearly since the leave have fallen. The people that camp out back usually let friends cut a tree down for Christmas and bury dead animals in our case. I was watching the couple walk the same trail we took with the pig. I didn't think they were going too far down the trail until I heard this bloodcurdling scream. Crap, they must have found the pig. Sure enough they did.
The woman stopped by and said she thought she saw a flat rock and went over to investigate and found out it was no rock but our dead pig. She was all concerned that it had escaped, no he didn't escape but died and the owner said it was ok to leave it there. Well needless to say she was mad and didn't want to get a tree now.
She had over forty acres to look for a tree but my dumb luck she took that one particular path. Well the next spring the entire carcass was completely gone. We looked around a few hundred feet and found his bone strip to bare bone. I guess my flat rock pig won't be scaring anyone else in the woods.
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