We brought home our new pigs on the 5th.  They immediately escaped.  Yeah.

We use Premier One Pig QuikFence for our pigs but I have never owned 18 pound pigs before.  These little guys just squirt right through the fence.  No big deal though, they ran back into the fenced area and we grabbed a spare length of PermaNet.  That has them contained.  They now have a firm grasp on the concept that white wires are their boundary, though, like velociraptors, they will test the boundary from time to time.

These little guys are complete.  The whole hog is there.  Well, the boars I bought are now barrows but otherwise from head to tail the whole pig is there.  It’s the tail that is most unusual.  We have always gotten our pigs from a confinement floor.  In confinement the pigs can choose to play with the metal bars holding them in, the drinker nipples, the feeder or that other pig over there.  They dock pig tails to keep them from being bitten off, leading to infection.  Check the video to see the pigs wag their tails.

Also, we don’t ring our pigs.  I want them to dig.  They do make holes to wallow in, I just fill those with wood chips, manure, compost…anything handy.

The pigs bat clean-up behind the other animals and do a good job finding kernels of corn that the chickens missed.  They also dig up the multi-flora roses that the goats gobbled up.  Finally, I sometimes use the pigs to just plow up the pasture, one section at a time, allowing me to renovate that area.

They are still pretty shy.  They haven’t figured out that we bring them food every day.  It won’t be long and they’ll be under foot.  While pigs are cute, hogs are a dangerous nuisance but boy, do they taste good.  Enjoy your pigs while they are little.