Stupid Pigs

Yesterday was Weigh-In day. We had to weigh our 4-H pigs and goats to get a starting weight. In August, we will get a final weight at fair time. But, before you can weigh the pigs, you have to get them to the scales.

Not an easy task.

I had it planned. Kev had nicely pulled the trailer up to their pen. Short trip to the trailer from the pen. The kids (my 2 and the neighbor 3), would be blockers and form a wall. The pigs would be herded by me into the trailer. We'd use a simple bribe of some grain. Simple, well thought out, easily executed plan. Except I forgot to add the pigs to the equation.

Pigs don't herd well. Pigs can run. Pigs are fast. Pigs can get through small holes between children's legs. Pigs can move in tight circles and leave me in the dust. Pigs can also poop while running. Pigs can place poop in strategic spots where I step and slide. Pigs poop a lot. Pigs do not cooperate.

Phases 2 and 3 and 4 involved moving the trailer closer, getting old shower doors from Chicken pen to form walls to block in loading area, and stock panels from top of dog pen to form moveable walls to block potential escape routes.

I needed 10 more people. Two of my helpers would rather jump on the trampoline than help. They kept disappearing between phases. One of my helpers is becomming a young lady who doesn't want to get dirty. That left me with a 15 year old and a 10 year old. Both boys were troopers, but we couldn't do it alone. My neighbor and savior arrived after an hour of unsuccessful pig wrangling.

Together, with all the kids, we finally got those pigs loaded. One pig, we drug into the trailerby its hind legs. 100 lb pigs can kick and wiggle. Each of us had a leg. I'm sure it was quite comical to see two women struggling to drag a pig into the trailer. Pig was of course, squeeling and wiggling. We felt like we were wearing one of those old vibrating exercise belts. It was quite the workout. The other three must have been scared, because they herded better (this time) and we finally got them loaded. Only took another 20 minutes!

The goats were a breeze. We simply walked into their pen, picked up 3, shoved them into the dog kennel in the back of the pickup, and we were off to town.

Now the 4-H scales are made for large animals--cattle, sheep, pigs. Not goats. So we had a challenge keeping the goats in the scale--they could crawl out between the bars. But, they got weighed, tagged, and put back into their kennel. The pigs cooperated. They unloaded, got weighed, and loaded again. After all, they are professionals now. No big deal.

Unloading at home was just as simple. Kevin backed the trailer up for me, we again used the shower door walls, and the stupid pigs simply walked into their pen. Stupid pigs.


And if anyone is curious--

Goats: Monkey, female, (the bottle baby) weighs 26 lbs. Fireheart, male, weighs 24 lbs. Chaps, male, weighs 36 lbs.

Pigs: Not named, but weights range from 100 lbs to 106 lbs. When we got them 6 weeks ago, they all weighed 50 lbs. (and I could pick them all up and carry them too!)

Stupid pigs.