Yard Hogs? Acorn Eaters? Baby Hoglets? SURE Why not??
9-30-18
What a fun day this has been. I just decided to take a jump off the deep end and increase the size of my small little homestead farm.
Yesterday I purchased 3 American Guinea Hogs. They have yet to be named, there are 2 gilts and 1 boar. There are 10 weeks old and oh boy are they big already!
I decided last week that I want to add the American Guinea Hogs. They are supposed to be a grazing hog rather than a rooting hog. After all the research on the American Guinea hog I fell in love with the breed especially knowing that they were almost extinct 10 years ago. So that's when I jumped off the deep end (or in the mud, I cant decide which yet!).
I picked them up in the truck, I only had a medium sized dog kennel to bring. It worked well, they all fit!! The owner had to grab them out of her cage by the back legs. Screaming, poop flying, even some slobber was flying through the air, they were not happy campers!! We went home but I did not think about was how the heck I was going to get them out of there and into their new paddock. I had set all the fence post last night, making a nice 30 by 10 paddock but ran out of daylight before I can put up the physical barrier. So here I have with these 3 piglets and no place to put them, time to work really hard to get these babies in their new home.
I sat with them for a while, just trying to get them use to my voice and my touch. I noticed they all had massive amounts of ticks and lice behind their ears. So, they got a permethin spray wash and spent most of the afternoon in the kennel. It totally did the trick.
I used life stock fencing and completely fence and created a gate to their new paddock. Not so shabby for this girl, not knowing a thing about fencing! Then I had to think smart , how do I get them over there from the other side of the property. I loaded each one up in a small dog kennel, you know the plastic ones with the handles that you use for chickens? Brought them all away over to their new paddock by way of the side by side. The gilts are so heavy I would say they're about 15 to 20 pounds apiece. The little wee man was probably 6 or 7 pounds, he was so easy to carry around in that kennel.
So here I am loading him up take him over there with the side-by-side put him in their new home making sure that they're comfortable stand there watching them and the little boy getS spooked.
His little tiny hinie fit through the farmers hog panels on one side of the paddock and he ran into the farmer's field. I had to jump the fence and try to get him! I was able to chase him back onto my property, through my garden, where my beautiful neighbor was able to catch his little chunky ass and pick him up. He was squealing and doing the wiggle, you know where the top goes one way the bottom goes another way as well as making this evil squeal, kind of like when you put an 18 month old in a car seat, yeah, he didn't love it.
All right back to the drawing board, Little Man is too small to go in there now, what am I gonna do. I decided to put him in the chicken pen in a small brooder cage until I figured this one out. I found some more rolled fencing that my beautiful neighbor gave to me last week after they redid their whole back yard fencing and I used that up against the farmers hog panel wall and completely fence the back side of the paddock. I added a small Farrow Box / shelter to keep them dry and out of the sun, now off to buy some hay bales to push up against the weakest points of the fence line. Back in Little Wee Man went.
All is well with the 3 little hoggies. They like to root and graze on the nice Bermuda grass all day long. I have offered them fresh pumpkin and they are not interested at all. They do however like leftover peppers, onions, and tomatoes with HP sauce on them. Their favorite food so far as fresh red tomatoes from our garden. They are so smart too!! They follow me when I go into the garden next to their paddock and wait until I throw them any cracked or pecked fruit. Hey, they say pigs are smarter then dogs! We will see!!
What a fun day this has been. I just decided to take a jump off the deep end and increase the size of my small little homestead farm.
Yesterday I purchased 3 American Guinea Hogs. They have yet to be named, there are 2 gilts and 1 boar. There are 10 weeks old and oh boy are they big already!
I decided last week that I want to add the American Guinea Hogs. They are supposed to be a grazing hog rather than a rooting hog. After all the research on the American Guinea hog I fell in love with the breed especially knowing that they were almost extinct 10 years ago. So that's when I jumped off the deep end (or in the mud, I cant decide which yet!).
I picked them up in the truck, I only had a medium sized dog kennel to bring. It worked well, they all fit!! The owner had to grab them out of her cage by the back legs. Screaming, poop flying, even some slobber was flying through the air, they were not happy campers!! We went home but I did not think about was how the heck I was going to get them out of there and into their new paddock. I had set all the fence post last night, making a nice 30 by 10 paddock but ran out of daylight before I can put up the physical barrier. So here I have with these 3 piglets and no place to put them, time to work really hard to get these babies in their new home.
I sat with them for a while, just trying to get them use to my voice and my touch. I noticed they all had massive amounts of ticks and lice behind their ears. So, they got a permethin spray wash and spent most of the afternoon in the kennel. It totally did the trick.
I used life stock fencing and completely fence and created a gate to their new paddock. Not so shabby for this girl, not knowing a thing about fencing! Then I had to think smart , how do I get them over there from the other side of the property. I loaded each one up in a small dog kennel, you know the plastic ones with the handles that you use for chickens? Brought them all away over to their new paddock by way of the side by side. The gilts are so heavy I would say they're about 15 to 20 pounds apiece. The little wee man was probably 6 or 7 pounds, he was so easy to carry around in that kennel.
All right back to the drawing board, Little Man is too small to go in there now, what am I gonna do. I decided to put him in the chicken pen in a small brooder cage until I figured this one out. I found some more rolled fencing that my beautiful neighbor gave to me last week after they redid their whole back yard fencing and I used that up against the farmers hog panel wall and completely fence the back side of the paddock. I added a small Farrow Box / shelter to keep them dry and out of the sun, now off to buy some hay bales to push up against the weakest points of the fence line. Back in Little Wee Man went.
All is well with the 3 little hoggies. They like to root and graze on the nice Bermuda grass all day long. I have offered them fresh pumpkin and they are not interested at all. They do however like leftover peppers, onions, and tomatoes with HP sauce on them. Their favorite food so far as fresh red tomatoes from our garden. They are so smart too!! They follow me when I go into the garden next to their paddock and wait until I throw them any cracked or pecked fruit. Hey, they say pigs are smarter then dogs! We will see!!
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