I did help Jersey Girl and her husband, best pork they ever tasted so they said. I just helped, I think they hated the pigs and didn't understand raising the buggers...
BBH, your thread gave me a chuckle! Your pen looked fantastic and the pic of your daughter reading to the animals is priceless...you really should be entering that one in the county fair!
As for the question of how they contained them in the old days? Nose rings were applied to discourage rooting and some very tough fencing~boards and barbed wire.
Our first pig got out frequently but the second batch had nose rings and didn't dig out as well.
I think the nose rings are frowned upon now....I think electric is the way to go and pasturing is great if one has the room. I've heard they do not root and dig along fence lines when they have a whole pasture in which to roam.