Free's piggie thread...new pics p 19

modern_pioneer

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Back in April, while on my cell, having a three way conversation with family members. I was below the pool in the yard, a large black bear was running just in the wood line, crashing through the brush like an elephant. I am guessing it was a male looking/running to/from a lover.

Anyway I shouted bear, the kids being downs stairs, ran out to see it, and they did as it ran across the way up towards the ridge.

The bears do still come to the pond, I think at night when peanut is in the house and humans aren't around. I haven't seen a bear since year before last around/on my property. I often look for bear tracks around the pond, but only find them once in awhile.

The bear I saw in April was pretty, and fluffy. Its coat was neat and a dark black, looked to be in good health.

LOL Salatin glow!!!!!
 

freemotion

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Henrietta23 said:
Oh yikes!! I had the first thought as Gina. I have no bear experience here in Eastern CT. We've only had one sighting recorded in years. But that was enough to have me bring in my bird feeders for the summer. Of course now have animals there's food out there anyway.
Um......the animals ARE the food, to the bear....birdseed is just an appetizer....

Hi, MP! :frow
 

freemotion

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Well, the pigs have been here almost a month now and they are healthy, happy, and growing nicely. They have plowed up their little pen many times over, and have taken to dumping their water tub. I added another, larger tub and they dumped that. I filled both tubs and they dumped them both. It got really hot, and no water all day was a big concern for babies.

I have a series of hoses that go all the way to the pig pen. It took five hoses, most of them are 100 footers. I run the water in the "clean" half of their pen to make a nice wallow, then rinse and fill the tubs. One day, Bacon came over and dumped the big tub as soon as I filled it! So I filled it again, and sprayed her with the hose each time she put her mouth on the edge of the tub. It worked, she didn't dump it for a week. Then the dumping began again. The pen is just too small and the pigs are bored.

One day when I was hosing the wallow area, Bacon came up curiously and started running through the stream of water coming from the hose like a kid joyfully running through a sprinkler. (You were right, OFG! :frow ) She would get up her courage, rev her engines with a little hopping in place, then run through the hose, hunching her back and hopping a bit when the cold water hit her. It was so cute! Happy piggy.

We had a terrible time with our electric fence, trying to figure out why there was no power in the pig pasture fence. Maybe a tiny bit, but even Plum would put her nose on it when I was inside and she would barely jump when she got zapped. More like tingled. It was only the memory of a zap that kept everyone out of the fence.

Finally, when every possiblity was fixed, re-wired, re-wrapped, etc, we had a little more power in the fence. Not much, but a bit. So my plan was to have dh mow every blade of grass down and I would wet the ground well and see what happened when we let the pigs out. We also added another grounding rod, as the sandy soil here drains so well that we rarely have puddles. Not the best situation for a good, strong zap.

Today dh mowed while I was at school, and it was raining when I got home. When I went to feed the pigs, on an impulse, I opened the gate and let them out. I didn't feed them right away so I would have something to catch them with if needed.

They came right out of their pen and immediately started eating greens. They shovelled a bit with their noses, and I fed them a bit of their whey and pellets and bread mix to get them near the fence. They each got zapped 2-3 times and ran into the pasture rather than through the fence, so I felt I could chance leaving them for an hour while I had supper and finished milking.

When I went back out to fill their water tubs and check on them, they were having so much fun! They were both running around like a pair of colts, racing around their house, into and out of it and their round pen, and running up and down the mowed path along the fence line. This would be interspersed with intense plowing sessions, and both had dirt well past their ears. Deliriously happy pigs!

I went in with them and walked around the field, and they followed and explored. They did some shoveling under the huge oak tree, and I found the skeleton of my Easter Egger that the eagle killed this spring. I could tell it was her because the legs were green. She was one of several killed. Thankfully the eagle is no longer interested in chickens. Must be getting better at fishing.

I left the pigs out in the pasture, with free access to their house and the field.
 

Henrietta23

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Wow, between goats and pigs, you have been busy as usual!
Anymore sign of the bear? I would guess not if the porkers are being let out and about. :fl
 

Farmfresh

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My sister is having a problem right now with one of her horses. He is either trying to GET IN a Rubbermaid water trough or dumping the thing over constantly. He is in a pasture with several other horses and no other water source, but it is a BIG grassy pasture so boredom should not be the problem. I think the stupid thing is just hot and wants a cold bath! :smack
 

TanksHill

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Those pigs sound great!!! How big would you say they are now??

My dog does that with his water almost every day. He puts his foot in the bowl while drinking. I have no idea why just started the habit very young. It inevitably leads to spilling. Silly animals.

g
 

freemotion

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Both pigs go for swims in the water tub several times a day, and the bottom always has a layer of mud. But the girl, Bacon, will actually grab the edge of the rubber tub with her teeth and just flip it in one move! The water must weigh more than she does...she is strong!

I haven't checked on them this morning. I always make my hot (warm) chocolate as soon as I filter milk, and when possible, I like to sit and enjoy it. Then I get back out there and do water tubs and trek to the back of the pasture to feed the pigs. With everyone on pasture free choice, I can be as lazy as I want. They always have food and water available.

It's those tight udders on the goats that gets me up in the morning! Poor girls!
 

freemotion

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The pigs are doing great on pasture, and are finally demanding more food. I shouldn't be happy about that....or should I? It means they are growing! I upped their food to about 4-5 lbs a day....for two pigs that are 3.5 months old. Seems light to me, but that is all they will clean up.

I was in their pen last night, on the mound of dirt and stumps, and saw that they have been all over it, digging and exploring. I was cutting some black cherry saplings to make tomato stakes with, and I also cut a big sumac to feed to the goats. My pasture is drying up in this drought.

When the sumac hit the ground, the pigs when to town on it, devouring the leaves. Interesting. Who knew. Turning trash trees into bacon....what a super deal! And milk and cheese, after I hauled a bunch of it to the goats.

Question for you pig growers....How much sausage should I expect? What did you get for ground pork? I know I can request what I want at processing time, but need an idea, a ballpark figure. I am growing and drying my sausage herbs now, and need to know how much I may need.
 

~gd

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To a certain extent the amount of sausage meat Yield is something to talk over with the one doing the processing. Just about all the meat on a pig can be eaten 'as is' with just a few pounds of scraps left to be ground for sausage. The question is which parts would you never eat as is, those can be used for sausage instead. Sorry but I come from the eat as is school and get very little for sausage making. Remember good sausage should not contain more than 30% fat with 70% meat which often means that even the scraps need carefull triming with the fat being used for Lard. Maybe a sausage person can list what parts are better used in sausage than eaten as is.
 

freemotion

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Shoulda bought three piggies!!!! :lol: We love our sausage, and buy pork loins on sale to grind for sausage, adding fat purchases separately to it.
 

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