Well, our boys are now in business. They have made their first investment in their future. They purchased 6 pigs. Two will be for the home, and 4 will be for sale. They worked hard making a fence for them. I chose the garden plot for this spring, as I have heard that pigs can uproot, deweed and till under and fertilize an acre of land every few months. Since we will have these pigs until around February or March it is a perfect place. We had already purchased electric fencing so they worked all day last Saturday putting it up. Then we got the pigs.
Now I have never been much of a fan of pigs, but I must say that besides their ferocious smell, I find them quite enjoyable. They are a real investment. Having payed $30 per pig at 50 lb size(which we found out are called feeder pigs). We will raise them on pasture, acorns and slop, mostly. We will have to supplement with some oats and corn, but mostly they will be cheap to feed. Then they will be resold at around 200 lb.s
for about $1.50 per lb. This will be a nice price for farm raised free-range pigs. And the boys can take their money and invest it in a new thing or more pigs.
When we went to pick them up it was so funny. We drove up to this nice little farm and they directed us to the back pasture where they kept their stash of pigs. Upon smelling them I knew why they kept them back there. The gentleman asked which ones we wanted and I stood back and let the boys do the transaction. At first they looked at all the squealing pigs and chose the ones they liked. The man told them to go in the pen and catch them. What ensued looked like a greased pig contest in a muddy pigsty. The boys ran after one, then the other and totally looked lost and slightly panicky until the man came to their aid and just started catching pigs. He would take them by the hind legs and hold them up as if they were not 50 lb pigs squealing and kicking with all their might. Then he would hand it to the boys and they would hand it to me. Now I did not go into this thinking I would be involved in toting nasty pigs over my shoulder, but that is exactly how it ended up. When we were done, we couldn't care less if those were the pigs they picked, we were covered in mud and stunk to high heaven. We then had to load up in Brian's work truck and drive an hour home. I had to stop at the closest gas station and we all half bathed in the sink. Then we had to drive with the windows down regardless of the cold temperature, because no matter how much we scrubbed we still smelled like pigs.
All the attaches that we all hear about pigs like 'happy as a pig in mud' ,'your room looks like a pig stye', 'you live in squaller', 'that looks like slop' all of them true. Wow are pigs disgusting. And yet when they look at you, mud up to their eyes(literally), and their ears are up and they wag their little curly tails I actually think they're cute!
Bandit the 15 yr old border collie is almost as happy as the 'pigs in mud' at her new charges. She is on constant vigils. If one escapes the pen, which they do several times a day, she is always behind them keeping them from harm. Then she will help to get them back in the pen when she sees you want them to. I think she is the happiest she has been in years. It gives us great joy to see her reliving her prime. I think it does everything under the sun good to do what we were created for. And I believe this farm was created for pigs.....
When we went to pick them up it was so funny. We drove up to this nice little farm and they directed us to the back pasture where they kept their stash of pigs. Upon smelling them I knew why they kept them back there. The gentleman asked which ones we wanted and I stood back and let the boys do the transaction. At first they looked at all the squealing pigs and chose the ones they liked. The man told them to go in the pen and catch them. What ensued looked like a greased pig contest in a muddy pigsty. The boys ran after one, then the other and totally looked lost and slightly panicky until the man came to their aid and just started catching pigs. He would take them by the hind legs and hold them up as if they were not 50 lb pigs squealing and kicking with all their might. Then he would hand it to the boys and they would hand it to me. Now I did not go into this thinking I would be involved in toting nasty pigs over my shoulder, but that is exactly how it ended up. When we were done, we couldn't care less if those were the pigs they picked, we were covered in mud and stunk to high heaven. We then had to load up in Brian's work truck and drive an hour home. I had to stop at the closest gas station and we all half bathed in the sink. Then we had to drive with the windows down regardless of the cold temperature, because no matter how much we scrubbed we still smelled like pigs.
All the attaches that we all hear about pigs like 'happy as a pig in mud' ,'your room looks like a pig stye', 'you live in squaller', 'that looks like slop' all of them true. Wow are pigs disgusting. And yet when they look at you, mud up to their eyes(literally), and their ears are up and they wag their little curly tails I actually think they're cute!
Bandit the 15 yr old border collie is almost as happy as the 'pigs in mud' at her new charges. She is on constant vigils. If one escapes the pen, which they do several times a day, she is always behind them keeping them from harm. Then she will help to get them back in the pen when she sees you want them to. I think she is the happiest she has been in years. It gives us great joy to see her reliving her prime. I think it does everything under the sun good to do what we were created for. And I believe this farm was created for pigs.....
No comments:
Post a Comment