Hog Yard

The guys at The Compound have been busy these past few weekends trying to get a hog yard built.  It had to be cleared, cleaned up and fenced in.  Throw in normal Saturday chores, and time adds up.

The two female hogs the boys caught really needed a larger area, and one that will grow with them, and hopefully the next generations.  Needless to say, this past Saturday was the day!  They were determined to finish this project and get the girls in their new space. 


The guys finished installing the electric fence wire, created a walking path around the entire yard, and set their water nipple system back up.


Now the funny part (I guess funny will depend on where you were when this happened).  Since I had to help, there are no photos, so you'll just have to imagine how it took place.

R, decided he was going to wrangle a hog by himself.  Not sure how he expected to carry it over to the new yard, but wrangle he did.  Then he passed her off to BJ, who carried her by the back leg and an ear!  I don't live in this world, but I was told it's a good way to control their wiggling.  The girls have put on a few pounds in the past few weeks and she was no light weight.  But when BJ picked her up, and another person who will remain nameless, wasn't paying attention the other girl escaped through a small opening in the gate.  It was off to the races at The Compound!

Just imagine, the only one in the room with any experience handling hogs was BJ and his hands were busy.  We tried calling to her calmly, and Patrick actually did a good job of getting her towards the new yard, but when she realized she was going to be cornered she was having no part of it. Back off to the races.  They are quick and wily!

Now, she didn't want to run off and be free. Hogs are one of the quickest animals to domesticate, and she was content to stay near her sister and near her source of food.  She just didn't want any part of what we wanted.  She wanted to rut up the yard.  She decided it was OK to play with our watchdog Hunter.  Now this is a dog that would eat your arm off, but he was OK playing with the hog.  Obviously the name Hunter is not synonymous with his duties.

I bet it took 15-20 minutes to finally get her to a point where they could grab her.  And if you must know, it's because of my quick thinking!  I used an old screen door to block off an area she kept coming into.   She tried to break through the screen, and it was just enough for BJ and Patrick to get ahold of her.

Now both girls are in their new yard, and one of the first things they did, after realizing the fence is electrified (poor girls) is head to the mud bog.  Yes, we even planned their space to have a mud bog!

It only took them an hour or so to realize that life on this side of the fence wouldn't be just too bad.

How long before this yard looks like a rutted up mess?  One final note;  hogs really like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!

Have a great week everyone!