Piglets!

The piglets arrived last night! They are so cute! I just love babies. We put them in the section of garden that Brad and I fenced off. They discovered the electric fence almost immediately. I felt so bad for them as they zapped themselves and then ran to the other side of the garden, where there was another fence to zap them again. They soon started rooting around in the center of their area. All was good until I tried to toss them an egg. First, let me explain that I learned last year that all you need to do to control a pig is feed them eggs. They will do anything you want them to after that point as long as they know that you

have eggs. Well... rather than get excited about having an egg they got spooked and took off. Right through the fence and off into the field. Brad chased after them and I ran and got Keegan, and a bunch more eggs. Brad likes the slow approach. He had us basically just stand in an area and if they walked toward the garden we took a few steps that direction so they wouldn't come back our way. They had a good time rooting around and eating and paying us no attention at all. Eventually I got frustrated and chased them down. Once they got near the garden I tossed eggs at them. Finally one of the piglets tasted an egg that landed near
them. Done and done. After that I just tossed an egg a few feet closer to the garden, gave them a minute to eat it, and then tossed another until they walked right back into their area. While I was doing this Brad and Keegan got the hog panels and constructed a ring around myself and the two piglets. I was over chasing pigs at that point, and was not willing to take the chance that they take off into the woods. If that happened we would never see them again. My property ends where the national forest begins, and there are many acres, and many many predators that would make sure of that. We tied insulators at intervals around the bottom of the hog ring and ran electric wire inside the ring. Not only will it keep them from rooting under and getting loose, but hopefully it will train them to the electric fence so we can let them out soon. It took them a while last night to get the idea that they shouldn't touch it, but they finally settled down. Once they get it in their minds that they need to stay away from the fence they will have a much larger section of the garden to root around in. After they get used to that they will have nearly an acre of pasture of wooded area to enjoy. We had no problems at all with the pigs last year. These don't seem quite as bright so far. They have yet to even figure out their waterer. I finally made them a wallow hole under it so they could have access of water to cool off in until they master sticking their little piggy noses against the button to fill the waterer up. Good thing they are so cute! Hopefully that will be the end of the excitement that they bring. If nothing else, chasing them down and getting them situated last night seems to have made my body realize that it needed to prepare for having a baby. No real contractions yet, but there is definitely something happening. I think that my having to crawl and scoot on my belly into the bottom level of the chicken coop to get a stubborn hen dislodged from under the ramp and into the coop this evening helped too. Maybe really soon. Brad and I got the car cleaned out and the car seat base installed this evening, just in case. I feel better knowing that is done, anyway. Now to get the 5 gallon bucket of beans, peppers, tomatoes, and butternut squash I picked this evening dealt with.