Bye to the pigs

So the big new thing since my last update is clearly the pigs. They have gone to piggy heaven. It all started on Friday when I picked up a pig trailer from a fellow smallholder.  A visit to a coopers with the Northern craft brewers association eclipsed most of Saturday. It did mean however that I got to try “Castleford Cavier” in a pub we visited. This local delicacy turned out to be bread and dripping. Not a dish one gets served everyday. Zoe and I spent some time Sunday trying to get the pig trailer up to the pigs before we realised that the field was far too muddy and the trailer far to heavy for this to work. Our plan had been to back the trailer up to the pig run and adjust the fencing so that it becomes part of the pig run so they could get used to it. With that plan scuppered our only option was to hope we could guide the pigs down to the trailer on Monday morning with a bucket of food. The pig run is at the far end of the field to the entrance.  As I didn't need to leave until about 11:30 we reckoned if we didn't give the pigs breakfast then they should be hungry enough for the plan to work.

 Monday morning came and we had our first issue with the pigs. I believe our pigs had been “classically conditioned” to live in their area. So they were used to staying in their run. This meant that when we opened their gate and offered food they wouldn't come out. I think they thought that the electric fence would get them and so refused to come out of their run. We soon solved this by taking down a section of their fence. This seemed to persuade them that leaving their run was safe and so they headed out into the field. Luckily they followed the bucket pretty well. We took them along the side of the fence down the field so they couldn't go to far wrong. At the end of the field they had to go through a small gate into the sheep area and then through a large gate and into an area we had penned off leading to the trailer. This was another area of potential problem as once through the small gate the pigs had a huge field they could run off in. So Zoe lead them through the small gate with food and I tried to get in their way if they tried to make a dash for it into the large field. They did try but luckily I  managed to get in the way and we both guided them into an enclosed area by the trailer. Without too much more persuasion we got them into the trailer and the gate shut. I tagged their ears. This was remarkably easy and clearly did not hurt the pigs at all. The only thing they did was to shake their ears afterwards as if to remove a fly or piece of dirt. That was it, they were in.

All that was left then was me to drive them to the abattoir and drop them off. Not the easiest of jobs but I did it. I kept the radio going both ways to keep me cheerful and managed to do it. There was a small queue at the abattoir so I got to chat to a few other pig farmers there. The only problem I had then was getting the pigs out of the trailer. They seemed pretty happy in there and quite reluctant to move. Stupidly I had left the food bucket at home. But with a bit of persuasion, pushing and help from other farmers and abattoir staff we got the girls out. It was then time to leave them to their fate and take the long journey home.

I felt happy in that I had visited the abattoir already and seen how they slaughter the pigs and seen the way they looked after the animals there.
It's a little bit odd at home not having the pigs to feed and not having them rooting around. I think the other animals have suddenly started getting a bit more attention as the pigs don't dominate my time so much now.
You may have noticed that I have also been busy online getting all sorts of things set up. So I now have a shop on Etsy selling felted goods. I have a facebook page and a website. We are trying to sell some of the pork we get back from the pigs. Through the facebook page.  We want to make sure we have a good amount to last us for a long time, but we also decided we would sell some of it. If that goes well then we may get more pigs next time.
We need to start looking for new pigs already because if we want them in March or April then they are going to be born soon so we need to start looking.