Last year we talked about getting pigs but we decided we should wait until we had our own place. Well, this is where we have learned to implement the whole “doing what you can where you are” thing. This year rolled around and my friend, Tonya, at Clover Hill Farm had piglets for sale. We decided to go for it and told her we would take two.
We were so excited! We went out and got our fencing materials and some non-gmo grains for our new piggies. It was a family day of hard work, putting up pig fence and building a pig house. Farmer Derek finished by hooking up the electric fence charger. We were ready to go get our pigs, after, I changed into boots from flip flops that is.
We took a dog crate over to Tonya’s and drove over to her pig field. She and her husband got our two pigs. We loaded them up and took them home. They had their large fenced area ready for them with food and water and their little pig house. It was perfect!
We got home and unloaded the crate into the fenced area and opened up the the door. They came right out and were happy to find a pan of food. All was well, we finally had pigs!
Our excitement didn’t last long. The pigs started checking out their new home. The red pig (now named Pigby) walked towards the fence. We have a pretty hot fence charger so we figured she would bump the fence and leave it alone after that. She put her nose right on the fence and it didn’t do anything.
You know that terrible sinking feeling you get in your stomach when something bad is about to happen. Yeah, that. She walked right through the fence and out into freedom. It only took a few seconds for the black pig (named Gravy) to follow along. Not cool!
Take it from my hard earned experience, NEVER EVER chase a pig! They are so much faster than you. We tried to catch the pigs. At first they were running together and we were trying to surround them. Then, they split up. I went after Gravy and Farmer Derek went after Pigby. I chased Gravy as she ran through the pony field and straight through the meat bird pen.
At this point the neighbors across the road were outside watching us, I’m sure they had a good laugh. Jack and I were after Gravy, hot on her heels. She was running down the fence line between my cousin’s property (which adjoins my parents property) and the neighbor’s. I have never run so hard in my life. At this point sadly, I lost sight of our little Gravy.
Farmer Derek was yelling for us and we met up with him. He and the rest of the farm kids had lost sight of Pigby too. He decided to walk with Jack and see if they could spot Gravy. I was walking back towards our property when Emma spotted Pigby. I took off after her as she ran through the yard and into the woods. I thought I had her cornered but she slipped past me and over to the neighbors yard. Farmer Derek came back having seen no sign of Gravy.
He started helping me with Pigby. We were trying to not chase her at this point but just to get her cornered. Well, she took off again and went down to my cousin’s property. My cousin’s kids were in the barn and shrieked like something was trying to eat them when the “wild pig” unexpectedly ran through the barn.
She then darted back up her driveway towards our place. Are you exhausted yet? I know I was. On the side of my cousin’s driveway she ducked into the thicket of blackberry bushes. Very thorny blackberry bushes. We had her surrounded and were trying to close in on her. She got herself under the thickest part of the thorns and bedded down. We couldn’t see her but we knew she was there. Farmer Derek was determined to catch her. He waded into the thicket and by the grace of God was able to grab her. We were so happy to have caught her! We took her back over and put her in the dog crate.
(This is what a naughty pig looks like)
We figured that since pigs are herd animals and our two were siblings that Gravy would find her way back. We borrowed a couple of hog panels from Tonya and set up a trap. Gravy would be home in no time! Well, a couple of days went by with no sign of her. We all went looking for her on my cousin’s property. We walked up and down her creek but saw no sign of a pig anywhere. We really didn’t think any predator could have gotten her but she was just gone. After about four days we talked to Tonya and decided to get another pig from her if Gravy didn’t return. We hoped having two pigs would lure Gravy back, if not we would just keep the new pig. A whole week came and went and Gravy was still gone. We were still holding out hope and praying she’d return but we really weren’t expecting her to.
Friday rolled around and we got our new pig (biscuit) from Tonya and brought him home. This time Farmer Derek added extra strands of hot wire and realized much to his dismay that he had gotten his wires crossed when he hooked up the fence charger. Both of the wires were white so he didn’t see they weren’t connected to the right places, therefore the fence was not hot. OOPS! You learn a lot of hard lessons in farming and sometimes bad things happen because of your own mistakes. That can be a hard pill to swallow.
Now that the fence was hot Pigby and Biscuit were happy little pigs running around in their area.
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Jenna, that was great. I could picture you guys running after the pig, a comedy of errors. That would make a good television show. I hope the other piggy eventually returns and I hope he’s ok.
I love how you say to do what you can where you are. That’s exactly what we’re doing here, farming in the suburbs. My garden is already filled up in the backyard so I decided to plant some squash in my front flower bed and some in the side yard. My friend, Sue, said she is running out of lawn in her backyard, she does the same thing and tries to grow all her own food.
Thanks Aunt Tina! Stay tuned for part two of the story, it gets even better. 🙂
That’s exciting. It is so nice to sit down at the dinner table and have grown or raised what you are eating. You know exactly what went into it. 🙂
Now that story was entertaining! Can’t wait for part two!
LOL! That is hilarious. I had a great mental image of you guys chasing the pigs 🙂
Yeah, this is one of those stories that is fun to tell but wasn’t so fun while it was happening. Lol 🙂