There is nothing like being thrown into a situation that you have no idea how to deal with, but I think we did a pretty good job of taking care of the pigs that came wandering into my yard. Today was the 9th day...after I had a conversation with a neighbor down the street who works at a local feed store I found out who they might belong to...today was the first time my husband saw that someone was home and he went over to talk to the neighbor. They were hers, she described them to a T, they had been missing since the day before they came wandering into my yard. My neighbor thought they were in someone's freezer by now, she heard several shots and figured since they escaped someone probably shot them. We told her we took good care of them but went through the Sheriff's Office and she would have to call them because we needed to be reimbursed for feed and care...she agreed to pay me back for the feed, she was just happy to get them back safe and sound. My neighbor and her daughter came over with a small bucket of food...dog food. I showed her the pigs and she was so happy to see them alive and well. We talked a bit, she moved here from Dallas too! She too is new to raising farm animals but has three pigs and a few chickens.
She had to repair her pen before she got her pigs and I told her that was fine, they had already been fed and it would probably be easier if she came and got them when they were hungry, that we had been feeding them around five or so. I was not ready when she came by to get them. All of my poultry was out and after she put a rope on one and it went crazy and started bucking like a bronco to get the rope off...I figured I should put up my birds. I really didn't want them getting hurt while she was trying to retrieve her pigs. The pigs were not huge but an 80 pound pig could do so major damage to a five pound chicken or a 15 pound goose or turkey. My husband tried to help her while I was doing a mass poultry roundup. It did not go well. I was busy rounding up chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys and I would look over and she would be getting dragged around the pen. At one point she was on the ground rubbed down the male...my husband said it was having a panic attack or something.
We tried different tactics, she left and came back with a heavy duty cage, one of her friends showed up and they tried getting one pig in the cage, they got the big one in the cage but the side door was not latched well and it popped open and she escaped. She tried to get one to follow her home with food...but it came running back to my house. I went and got the bucket of food I had ready and we both tried to get her to follow us to her house, we got almost to the driveway and a car drove by and the pig hi-tailed it back to my yard. It ran up and down the fence driving my dogs nuts. Then it took off down the side of my fenced area and around the back of my poultry area trying to get back to the pen with it's buddy. I figured it would be better to be inside the fenced area and I was able to coax it back into the larger area, but then it started flopping down in the mud and running up and down the backyard fence driving the dogs crazy again...and then I found out pigs like to eat rose bushes. The guys finally got the male pig into the cage and loaded onto the cart, up the hill and I was able to get the big gate opened and they moved the cage next to the SUV...all four of us lifted the cage into the back of the SUV but the little pigs foot went through the bottom of the cage and the weight of it hurt him and he squealed something awful...I noticed his foot and our neighbor was able to work the foot back into the cage while we held it up. Boy was I glad when they drove away with him...one down, one to go!
I went and put the dogs into the house since the pig was running the fence and driving them nuts. It was easier to get it to come to me and I kept scratching it's back and it really enjoyed that so it stayed close...lol, it stretched way out like a dog does when you scratch them on the back almost to the tail...it was pretty funny, but it sure made it easier to keep it from running the yard. It found a wet spot and enjoyed rubbing in the mud...so it was pretty much covered and her owner ended up pretty much covered in mud too. Miss Piggy decided to run once again when she saw the cage, my husband suggested marshmallows to coax her into the cage so I ran and got some...my neighbor tried to get her into the cage using them, but that pig knew not to go into it...that it was a trap. Our neighbor said she wished she had beef jerky...because the pig loved it. I just happened to have some beef jerky...between it and the giant marshmallows Miss Piggy finally went into the cage, ok, it took more than one piece of jerky...the pig and the owner had a bit of a tug of war with the first one. We repeated the loading process using the piano dolly...she was heavier and at least she didn't have any parts going through the bars on the cage...the only one that got hurt was my husband getting his hand somewhat smashed during loading. He is fine, nothing too bad..but I will tell you this, it will be awhile before we are ready for pigs.
When we were out feeding the poultry I noticed the rope and the leash were left behind...so I imagine I will see the neighbor lady again before too long...especially if she didn't get her pen fixed good enough, I think the pigs were very happy here on their mini-vacation...they had about a 36'x65' garden area to root around in...ate well and got a lot of attention..they may be back, but at least I know where they belong now.
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