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For
a while Terra and I have been debating if we should get a pig. We
have even taken all of the old food that Dad had out in his shed about
8 months ago in anticipation that we would actually get a pig and then
we would have some food to feed the animal. Well to actually make
this happen, there was some prep work that needed to happen to the
"garden" area that we fenced a year ago. |
| Last
Friday, AJ came down and the two of us started installing some posts
and tin to make a shade area at one end of the pen. The week
prior the boys and me dug a ditch and ran a water line over to the
pen. We put the water and shade on the opposite ends of the pen
so that the animal would have to exercise a little just to
survive. AJ's help was much appreciated in the erection of this
shady structure. I don't know why, but every time I attempt to
complete a small project around the house, I always go over board on
what I build. |
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There
are many people in our area that raise pigs and one of them had some
piglets that were never sold for fair animals, so they continued to
raise them and seek buyers. We ended up getting in on the deal
and acquired one of them. When we got it, it weighed between
50-60 pounds. I had to go and borrow this little piglet carrying
cage to haul it in, as I never retrieved the crate in Oracle built for
that very purpose. |
| We
put the pig in the back of AJ's truck to transport it from the holding
pen to our new caged area. When loading the pig in the cage, it
was caught by the hind legs, and then carried over to the truck.
If you thought rabbits squeal when they are being moved against their
will, you haven't heard anything. The squeal that this pig made
almost made your ears bleed. |
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I
felt sorry for the guy who loaded this pig into the back of the truck,
because once he picked up the animal it started to relieve
itself. It continued all the way to the truck and then didn't
stop until the cage was closed. He didn't smell too good after
loading it, and neither did AJ's truck after we unloaded it. I
don't know if AJ will ever come out to help me deal with pigs again
after this adventure... We took the tail gate off the truck and then turned it 90 degrees and let the pig walk down the tail gate into the pen. As much as the pig didn't want to get into the truck, it also didn't want to get into the new pen either. |
The kids were really excited about the acquiring of the new animal. As usual, Rachel was the first one to get into pet and play with it. |
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Once
into the new pen, the pig seemed quite content. It has since
grown accustomed to the new pen and when you walk out to feed it, the
pig will run the entire length of the pen and back in anticipation for
its food. I think this is a sign of youth and will fade as it
ages. From what we were told, it should be ready to be butchered
come the first of November. This is good timing, as I didn't insulate the water line I ran to the pen. I have intended to go back and insulate it, but even still (1 week later) I have not managed to make it happen. |
| We
have been taking the wheat we retrieved from Oracle, and grinding it up
into a coarse powder and then mixing it with water. Strangely
enough, I remember this smell from when we raised a pig in Oracle, so I
am assuming that I am feeding it correctly. At first we were
mixing its food with some store bought pig feed, and it preferred the
pig feed, now it prefers the wheat. At dad's request, we tried to sprout the wheat seeds (from 1974) to see if they would grow. I took 100 seeds and laid them out in a paper towel in the window. I get the paper towel wet daily and watched them for 10 days. Finally they started to sour and yellow, but none of them sprouted. That means I am not very good at sprouting wheat, or they are beyond sprouting. Maybe I will try it again by planting them in dirt and watering them (the old fashioned way) and see what happens. |
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About a day
or so after the pig was settled, we got some pretty good rains.
When that happens the frogs come out in droves. Terra and I went
for a walk down to the end of our street and found about 15 of
them. We told the kids about it, and off they went in search for
frogs. They caught between 40-50 of them and brought them back
and let them go on our door step. |
| Our neighbors saw them out
and about and they also had to join them. The next morning our
"ditch" next to our house was completely full of water, and they kids
went out and played in the water, and caught little tiny
tadpoles. We now have a jar half way full of water on our porch with 30-40 tadpoles in it. I don't know how many will make it to frog-hood, but stay tuned. |
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