The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Mrs Snoodles on November 20, 2012, 07:23:10 pm
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I've always kept fattening pigs in the past so made a point of not getting overly friendly with them. Now I have my breeding pigs it's another story and I am just enjoying them so much. :love:
I can't get over how different each pig is. We have a super sweet Mrs Pink Nose a Hampshire who justs wants to talk and talk and talk. Not necessarily cuddle, just chat. Mrs Black Nose Hampshire is so pushy, she mounts a tin barrier every feed time, to shove her nose in the bucket. She couldn't give a hoot about anything else but food.
Today I got to properly meet Mrs Large Black Bess 1 who is basically a Labrador disguised as a pig. I say, 'I got to meet' because when they were in the herd and I was near them, I was always super aware of getting sandwiched when I scratched them. Now Mrs LBB1 is on her own, in the farrowing quarters, I'm getting to know her better ......and.... what she likes! :-* I gave her a good scratch on the head this afternoon and within a nano second, she was flat out, belly up snorting her little head off :love: I massaged it really gently
and she was grunting away. It was lovely, really really lovely. I just can't wait to see her again tomorrow morning. Treats galore :excited:
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Oooooooow, bless!!! :love: :pig: :love:
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Mrs Snoodles, it's great isn't it? :excited: :excited: :excited: I now have 2 keeping pigs and it is good to know that you can allow yourself to properly get to know them and not have to eat them in a few months :love:
Matilda my tammy is such a softie, but I was informed by her previous owner that she never lay down for tummy tickles, but she would sit instead. Well the other day I proved him wrong. She collapsed in a heap at my feet and even once I had stopped she lay there for ages. My OH thought that she had had a heart attack and was about to die :D
I spent a self indulgent hour with my pigs today, talking to them, scratching and stroking them and boy did it make ME feel good :sunshine: mind you I did all that with the last two who went for meat, but I don't think I am the type who will ever be emotionally detatched from any animal I keep
Pauline
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If I'm having a bad day (and there seem to be a lot of them lately :() I get ordered to go and sit with the pigs - you're right Pauline, it does help the person as much as the pig :thumbsup:
Yes, it's maybe easier emotionally for us not to get attached - but the pigs enjoy it and the point of raising your own is to know the animals have had a good life, what better life is there than one that includes regular belly rubs ;) ;D
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I hold my hands up too, mine all get lots of mammy love time, it was :raining: down this morning and i was sat in the doorway of the fatteners ark as took them breakfast in bed coz it was horrid outside and big belly came and flung himself down next to me for a head scratch which then turned in to a 3 pig heap around me as they all wanted the same mammy attention. It really makes pig keeping worthwhile moments like that even in the horridest weather and makes you remember why you do it. :love:
Mandy :pig:
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..... glad I am not the only softie then :thumbsup:
It is the gilts and sows pre farrowing that really seem to have pulled at my heart strings. I just remember so clearly all that uncomfortableness and feeling all out of sorts. In an ideal world I 'd like to give them a nice cuppa and pop the telly on. I tried to give Mrs LBB1 some squashes today but she just wasn't interested, poor love.
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Pigs are fantastic! I have two KK's, Rosie and Poppy from the Quantock herd ( my wedding present as i married a farmer) and I LOVE them to bits! They have just come in from their swamp of a paddock into a large straw filled barn and are so happy and content. They have a horse ball which they adore and a cosy straw bale house to snuggle in. I have 'quality pig time' which involves them both rolling over for tummy rubs and Rosie will sit down for a cuddle when told to sit! I have to remind myself that they are pigs not dogs! They are very much pets but they still know that they are pigs!
My plan was to learn with the KK's and then move onto OSB's or Berkshires. Which breed do people prefer?? I have Ryelands and Mules as well and even though the Ryelands are very tame and love a scratch for me the pigs win every time!!
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The bigger pigs are great too, but none quite as friendly as the KK (only in my humble opinion mind you :innocent:)
My OSB's are very vocal and love a scratch, the Berkshires we had were much more skittish and not so keen on human contact (but, that's not to say they're all like that ;)) The big pigs we have are always happy to see you, but as soon as they realise you don't have food they're off, whereas the KK will hang around for ages just for belly rubs ::)
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Totally agree can't beat a good belly rubbing session! they certainly are great time wasters in the best possible way
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With all this tummy tickle and emotion involved with pig keeping, once I find somewhere to live that enables pig keeping for meat I'm relying on you guys to point me where to purchase the most unruly, pain- in -a...$ boars you have so I WILL go through with the final journey. :innocent:
Until then please keep me updated with your human to piggy relations :love: I love hearing it.
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I can't imagine life without them now tbh..... Just the same with our dogs and chickens. They are part of the ever extending family. We are only meant to keep them for 4 years then replace, to keep keep litter sizes up etc etc ..... I'm already wavering :love:
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Mrs Snoodles
Matilda is 6 and she may never give me a litter ( I got her free and took her as a favour for someone) but she will be with me as long as she is fit and healthy and happy. And, yes, I know that financially that doesn't make sense, but hey ho that's just me ::)
Now the meat weaners will be going in the freezer, and I will probably cry (again!), but in the meantime they get as much attention as Matilda ;D
Pauline
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Mammyshaz
Hope you do find somewhere with ground and get to keep some pigs. And you won't want grumpy boars ::) , you'll want to be a tummy tickler, like the rest of us :roflanim:
But to be honest if I could see 'it' through then so can you (I am such a wimp when it comes to animals) and after doing the deed I just wanted to get more. As Karen said the aim is to give them a good life and when I eat my pork I am just so proud that I did that :thumbsup:
Oh and if I had a pound for every blinkin person who said to me 'Oh, she won't be able to do it and she won't kill the poor piggies' I could have got the next batch free :rant:
Pauline
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Oh and if I had a pound for every blinkin person who said to me 'Oh, she won't be able to do it and she won't kill the poor piggies' I could have got the next batch free :rant:
Pauline
:roflanim: that's sort of the outlook people are giving me too.
I should find somewhere to keep a few, by the time I do the deed I'll have made enough to buy a smallholding. :roflanim:
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Mammyshaz, be bold and just ask for the pound ;D
Hopefully have attatched photo which says it all really - pigs get tummy tickles and little girl (like her mummy) gets a big smile on her face ;D ;D ;D ;D
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:love: what a lovely piccie. That's what I would love my boys to go through :love: the three of them look soooo content, your daughter is a natural with them :love:
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I'm dreading Monday when mine go :( but like you have all said they have had a great life, will hopefully have a good death and I won't be supporting the suffering of some of the commerically produced stuff. It's gonna be hard though.
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Try to be brave. You are the reason they have lived in the first place. They have had the best life ever! And now they go where they are intended.
:hug: hope it all goes smoothly for you. Let us know. :hug:
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Bumblebear :hug: :hug:
Good luck and it won't be as bad as you think.
Just keep one thing in your mind, and that is, if you eat meat then you know how it was produced and cared for and we are sad and upset because we cared and nurtured these animals and they had a GREAT life with us :thumbsup:
and have a good cry if you need to on the way home (OH and I stopped for takeaway coffe as I had the driest mouth ever )
And be proud :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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Excellent photo Pauline :thumbsup:
That's what it's all about ;)
I too, had folk (especially my folks, who talked me out of becoming a vet for fear that I'd end up overrun with waifs and strays) saying I'd never be able to go through with it when we kept our first two weaners - but I did ;) It's not nice, but it's part and parcel with keeping pigs (you just can't keep them all !) and for us, it's important to see them right to the 'end' to make sure the death they have is as good as it can be.
Karen :wave:
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It really doesn't matter to a pig when it dies, it's the life it's had, albeit short, that matters and a well loved pig goes more happily to slaughter, without fear or hesitation, than one who hasn't had human contact and belly rubs etc. and that is so important to me.
I have a sleepness night and can't manage as much as a glass of water when the day comes but feel a great wave of relief when I know they've been done. AND every time I take animals to slaughter I swear I'll become a vegan ::) ::) . I always aim to get my animals to the abattoir really early, usually before they open so that they will be the first ones through.
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We took our 3 boys off last Monday and have just enjoyed a joint tonight. I feel quite sad not having any piggies now but not sure I have enough ground to do this regularly. What do most people here have set aside for pigs? Unfortunately I will not have the field we used this time and only have 2 acres of my own which I use for the goats and ponies.
Is it possible to do them without being in a constant quagmire? I would love to have a sow eventually so I can fuss it without knowing I have to kill it.
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Lovely picture :).