Beki
|
They're gone!Our two saddleback piggies, who are 6 months and 1 week old today, have gone 
We thought it was time, seeing as they're over 90kg each now  It was sad to see them go, but not as upsetting as i imagined it would be  Maybe i'm just heartless though?! 
And O....M....G you should have seen us at 6.30 this morning trying to herd them into the trailer 
Why we didn't do any practice runs is beyond me. I honestly thought that because they're pretty tame and very food-orientated, that they'd just follow us the 5-metre distance accross the patio  Errr...... NO! Just getting them out of their pen was hard enough! They just didn't want to come out!
It took 5 of us with boards to 'usher' garry out and into the trailer, which took about 15 mins. Minty on the other hand... well, lets just say i don't feel so guilty about him going now He was a total 'mare to get out of the pen, and once we go him out and closed the gate, he uprooted the fence and went under it and back inside, barbed wire included
He then decided he was going to have a lie down behind all the trees, where no human could ever fit so with a LOT of ushering, and much swearing, we managed to get him out of there with the aid of a lead-rope round his shoulders.
Once he was out though... well, put it this way... i never knew how strong just one pig could be!!! He took my brother-in-law for a nice run (drag) round the pen... TWICE... with us four running behind him shouting "LET GO!!! IT'S NOT WORTH IT!!!!" So he let go, and garry decided he was going to go between BIL's legs and take him for a piggy-back ride
This happened 3 times Then when we fiiiinally managed to persuade him to come out of the pen he took another 40 mins to actually decide to get into the trailer and join his brother
Next time, please remind me to either build a race or train them beforehand!!! Especially when it's a 1 hr journey, we had to be at the abbatoir by 8.30am and didn't get the pigs in the trailer til 7.35am
Wow! What an adventure the last 4 months have been though - wouldn't have changed it for the world  We get them back thursday/friday. We have one empty large chest freezer... hopefully it'll be big enough for our two fatties
So.... farewell Garry and Minty! I'm actually going to really miss them, but not enough to stop me doing it again sometime after we've moved! 
|
Effie
|
It sounds very entertaining written down!
Now you can look forward to lots of porky goodness!
|
pookie
|
superb!
|
Lorrainelovesplants
|
You should have filmed it for youve been framed!
|
Rob R
|
I should really get Ixy to write an account of us loading Nelson, the cull boar, into the trailer last Wednesday morning- he weighed in at something like 262kg and almost sat on her.
|
Beki
|
| Rob R wrote: | | I should really get Ixy to write an account of us loading Nelson, the cull boar, into the trailer last Wednesday morning- he weighed in at something like 262kg and almost sat on her. |
it sounds like we got off pretty lightly then!!!
|
Beki
|
we just phoned the abbatoir and we're picking the pork up tomorrow at 11am
we were also told their dead-weights
79.3kg and 81.4kg
i'm sure i read somewhere that the average dead-weight was around 55kg-60kg... or am i dreaming that?!
|
bring me sunshine
|
I know I shouldn't, but I was almost crying with laughter, reading that!
The importance of pre-training pigs to walk up the trailer ramp cannot be underestimated. I cheat and use mine as a spare pig ark so they're all used to going in and out ...
At least you'll doubly appreciate the pork when it comes back - you deserve it!!!!
|
colour it green
|
oh gawd.. you mean we should have been training them... oh dear... makes note - allow lots of extra time to load pigs...
|
bring me sunshine
|
Either that, or make sure someone's standing by with a camcorder!
|
Bebo
|
| Beki wrote: | we just phoned the abbatoir and we're picking the pork up tomorrow at 11am
we were also told their dead-weights
79.3kg and 81.4kg
i'm sure i read somewhere that the average dead-weight was around 55kg-60kg... or am i dreaming that?! |
I try to aim for around 70kg dead wieght, but the first pigs we did were a bit bigger (one of them was 108kg dead weight).
|
Beki
|
| Bebo wrote: | | Beki wrote: | we just phoned the abbatoir and we're picking the pork up tomorrow at 11am
we were also told their dead-weights
79.3kg and 81.4kg
i'm sure i read somewhere that the average dead-weight was around 55kg-60kg... or am i dreaming that?! |
I try to aim for around 70kg dead wieght, but the first pigs we did were a bit bigger (one of them was 108kg dead weight). |
I take it you were eating a LOT of pork that year
|
