For Want of Gate, the Battle Was Nearly Lost...
Yesterday was the day we were scheduled to take the sow to get bred again. Her pigs were weaned and doing well and it was time for her to ready for the next round.
On Friday night, I back the trailer to the barn door so that we could get an early start the next morning. After doing so, I observed that the hop up into the trailer was 20 inches or so and that is when the worrying started.
If you have ever worked with pigs for even a short while, you learn one thing quite quickly--they only do what they WANT to do. You cannot force a pig. They are not prey animals, they do not scare--so tactics someone might try on a sheep, cow or even a horse (namely having them move away from pressure or something they fear) DO NOT work. Pigs must be asked, they must be coaxed, in short--it must be their idea.
That 20 inches haunted me all night. HOW would she get in? I have not yet build a loading ramp for the pigs and she had to either jump in (not exactly easy for a 600lb sow) or I was stuck with her at home. I couldn't sleep for the thought of what a nightmare it was going to be to load her...if we ever got her loaded at all.
The next morning I was out to the barn and ready to load her by 7am. I had scrounged together some plywood and boards to create a makeshift ramp but once I set them up and stepped on it myself, I saw how hopeless that was. It would snap into the instant she stepped on it.
I had purposely left her a bit hungry overnight so as to make a food offering that much more enticing. I took a deep breath, grabbed a bucked of sweet feed and opened her pen.
Much to my amazement, she trotted down the barn aisle and DIRECTLY INTO THE TRAILER! I was almost (almost!) too stunned to run up and slide the door shut. Success!
The plan for the day was to also bring along one of our pigs to trade the breeder for one of his gilts and thereby increase our herd. I went back into the barn and opened the gate and the one who ran out first was the lucky winner.
I grabbed the barrow (who remember, now weighs about 55lbs and has a mind of its own) and proceeded to the trailer. He was not enthused and immediately set up a squall of protest. I reached the trailer door and it was then I realized my problem--Squalling baby pig meant that Mama Pig was not happy and if I opened the trailer door while holding her screaming child, all hell would break loose. And since the little trailer I was using had no mid-gate (which would have allowed me to lock her on one side while I opened the other), I was in trouble.
And so the dance began.
Perseverance can be an admirable quality when used correctly, but can also be vastly misapplied. Somehow I was convinced that I could shove the pig in my arms into either the back gate or the emergency side gate before angry Mama Pig could get to it.
Of course, that was an insane thought. Not only did she have a shorter circumference to get to each door, she was not bogged down with a clearly upset pig who wanted nothing more than to escape back to its brothers and sister.
But, as it was, I ran back and forth to each door with a screaming, squirming and soon sh*tting 55lb pig body hugged in my arms. He escaped once or twice and ran him down, body hugged (because that is really the only effective way to grab a pig that big) and tried again. Twice I opened the door and Mama Pig shoved her angry face into and nearly escaped.
Finally, exhausted and covered in pig excrement, I gave up. The pig was clearly not going to be transported in the trailer. And that left one alternative.
Yep, that's right, I was totally the person driving around with a feeder pig in a dog kennel in the back of her Suburban yesterday.
On Friday night, I back the trailer to the barn door so that we could get an early start the next morning. After doing so, I observed that the hop up into the trailer was 20 inches or so and that is when the worrying started.
If you have ever worked with pigs for even a short while, you learn one thing quite quickly--they only do what they WANT to do. You cannot force a pig. They are not prey animals, they do not scare--so tactics someone might try on a sheep, cow or even a horse (namely having them move away from pressure or something they fear) DO NOT work. Pigs must be asked, they must be coaxed, in short--it must be their idea.
 |
| One does not "tell" a pig, you "ask". |
That 20 inches haunted me all night. HOW would she get in? I have not yet build a loading ramp for the pigs and she had to either jump in (not exactly easy for a 600lb sow) or I was stuck with her at home. I couldn't sleep for the thought of what a nightmare it was going to be to load her...if we ever got her loaded at all.
The next morning I was out to the barn and ready to load her by 7am. I had scrounged together some plywood and boards to create a makeshift ramp but once I set them up and stepped on it myself, I saw how hopeless that was. It would snap into the instant she stepped on it.
I had purposely left her a bit hungry overnight so as to make a food offering that much more enticing. I took a deep breath, grabbed a bucked of sweet feed and opened her pen.
Much to my amazement, she trotted down the barn aisle and DIRECTLY INTO THE TRAILER! I was almost (almost!) too stunned to run up and slide the door shut. Success!
The plan for the day was to also bring along one of our pigs to trade the breeder for one of his gilts and thereby increase our herd. I went back into the barn and opened the gate and the one who ran out first was the lucky winner.
I grabbed the barrow (who remember, now weighs about 55lbs and has a mind of its own) and proceeded to the trailer. He was not enthused and immediately set up a squall of protest. I reached the trailer door and it was then I realized my problem--Squalling baby pig meant that Mama Pig was not happy and if I opened the trailer door while holding her screaming child, all hell would break loose. And since the little trailer I was using had no mid-gate (which would have allowed me to lock her on one side while I opened the other), I was in trouble.
And so the dance began.
Perseverance can be an admirable quality when used correctly, but can also be vastly misapplied. Somehow I was convinced that I could shove the pig in my arms into either the back gate or the emergency side gate before angry Mama Pig could get to it.
Of course, that was an insane thought. Not only did she have a shorter circumference to get to each door, she was not bogged down with a clearly upset pig who wanted nothing more than to escape back to its brothers and sister.
But, as it was, I ran back and forth to each door with a screaming, squirming and soon sh*tting 55lb pig body hugged in my arms. He escaped once or twice and ran him down, body hugged (because that is really the only effective way to grab a pig that big) and tried again. Twice I opened the door and Mama Pig shoved her angry face into and nearly escaped.
Finally, exhausted and covered in pig excrement, I gave up. The pig was clearly not going to be transported in the trailer. And that left one alternative.
Yep, that's right, I was totally the person driving around with a feeder pig in a dog kennel in the back of her Suburban yesterday.
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