Early in the morning as the dawn is dawning I take the tractor out into the sweetcorn field and pick two big bucket loads for the animals.
I cut the stalk at the base with my sharp spade and throw the sweetcorn, with its stalk still attached, over the fences. They eat the whole thing. This is a good portion of everyone’s diets at the moment. Cows, pigs, chickens and sheep.
The protein level in heirloom sweetcorn stalks and leaves is not bad.
Both Big Dog and Boo spend time in the fields tearing out ears to eat. Ton has no interest in them thankfully.
Sheila and I have encountered a sobering problem. Charlotte still won’t let us into her field. I let Sheila in there yesterday afternoon. I do not have the room to keep them in separate fields and just thought they would be able to go back together after the weaning. Charlotte attacked again. For some time they were slammed together, jostling. Chomping their frothing jaws together making a clacking sound. Their whole bodies joined at the side, whirling round and round, backs arched, heads twisting, high stepping, trying to knock the other off balance so they could get their heads in to bite. It was another very nasty fight with Sheila’s ears bleeding again and torn skin on her shoulder.
At one point while jostling for position they both slammed as a 1000 pound unit into the fence and did some damage there too. If they fight like this in the barn they will take a wall out.
I stood at the gate, calling to Sheila and the moment Charlotte began to lag she bolted away, Charlotte biting at her tail, and ran for the gate, she panted through and I slammed the gate shut on Charlotte who then tried to take it off its hinges to try again.
I put iodine on Sheila’s cuts, while she cried and whimpered (she really does cry it is such a sad little sound) and drunk water, then she went into the barn to hide and sleep. After a while I was able to lead a barking agitated Charlotte across the field into the summer pig run so we can regroup.
This is not something I had anticipated. My friends who raise hogs are mystified at her turning mean as well. They have recommended the pigs stay apart in case Charlotte turns Sheila mean with repeated attacks. No worries there. Sheila is terrified of her.
The piglets on the other hand are very laid back now that their nervous mother is gone.
They are thrilled to be able to run from trough to trough scoffing happily and jostling for food with someone their own size.
Good morning. This was the pig’s dinner last night. When the local store clears out their vege fridges the pigs do very well.
It is misty and warmer this morning. Absolutely still with only the sounds of a rooster calling down the back. But there is a thick pall of skunk smell coming in through the windows. I wonder where it is. So far Ton has managed to avoid them which is a bonus. You remember him last summer!!
Have a lovely day.
your friend, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
62 responses to “An Angry Sow is not to be trifled with”
Must be quite a frightening sight two pigs fighting.
So sorry to hear that Charlotte is being a bully! Poor Sheila! Sorry have no pearls of wisdom on this, but I know it can be worrisome when animals don’t get along.
Take care not to get in there with them. Hopefully once the piglets have left they return to being friends again.
Have a good day my friend
Two of the piglets have been sold and will go in a couple of weeks and the rest people have bought and are raising here as pasture raised pork, which will be lots of work but i am comforted that so many people want good home grown meat .. c
Strange behaviour for the pig… would have though she’d be over the young by now… but such aggression is not normal…
yes, this is what i am hearing. I will keep her over the other side for the meantime, but we will have to see.. c
Oh sugar: that surely is the worst case of post-partum depression I have heard of: who is to say all 500 lbs of Char won’t decide to have a runin with you also – can you ask the lady vet for an opinion? Carry a tranquillizer gun in your pocket? [Only partially joking!!!]. Tell Madam you are on the lookout for a freezer large enough to accommodate x lbs or pork!!!! . . . but must say the pigs do eat awfully well at your place . . . if those are ‘leftovers’ . . .
At least twice a week we get a bag like this from the store.. at this time of year they do very well! c
Is it not possible to divide a field so that you are stillusing one field but Chaflotte and Sheila havetheir own space. Poor Sheila I feel so sad forher…also maybe put a chain tether on Charlotte
Love znd kisses to Sheila and a kick in the rear fof Charlotte
Sorry for errors.this is my ipad…..another idea….write a letter to Charlotte…Dear pork chops….
The summer is not as much of a problem as the winter will be, there is only one pig pen and to divide that would be inhumane. We will have to think hard.
Poor Sheila. Sounds like Charlotte should watch the movie Babe.
I agree about asking the vet and about staying out of Charlotte’s pen.
Those pears look delicious.
Charlotte’s behavior is so weird Celi! So different from our two who grew up together. It may be time for Charlotte to leave the farmy. So sorry to suggest this, but peaceful relations among the animals is very important. xo
Poor Charlotte and Sheila. I wonder what is causing my Charlotte to go all psycho? Bless her little piggy heart. I’m sending her extra hogs and snout kisses in hopes that she repents quickly. 🙂 XOXO – Bacon
Oh dear you could not have possibly have predicted such a thing when they used to be so good together, it must be really upsetting both to you and to the balance of the farm. I have a friend who had to get rid of a sow when it started to attack the other sows who were her mother and sisters so it does happen. On the other hand perhaps it is hormones and it may settle down. I totally understand about the space issue, you really need them to be able to get along if Charlotte is to stay through the winter. Poor Sheila, so sad about the crying, is it a sad litle whimper, Baby whimpers if I even speak harshly to her!
oh no…i am so sad to hear this! i wonder if she will eventually calm down. are you able to put them side by side in separate pens so they can slowly start to get along?
Certainly I would ask the vet; I imagine you have asked the chap who bred them and supervised Charlotte’ nuptials? Belladonna springs to mind for bouts of aggressive anger when not feeling well [http://www.herbs2000.com/homeopathy/belladonna.htm]. However, I am not a homoeopath.
Maybe you could consult one… Or perhaps there’s a qualified homoeopath in the farm community…?
Oh dear. I hope there’s a resolution. Maybe some “nice” pills from the vet? The reason I say that is that Morgan sometimes gets into a mean mood, (I’ve never had female cats before her and apparently it’s sometimes a thing with them), and then she is horrible to Milo and to Chloe but a week worth of the mood altering pills from the vet calms her right down and she forgets about being nasty and hissy and everyone is much happier. Maybe there’s something like that to help poor Char, because it can’t be very nice for her either. 😦
We had a cat who needed those pills once!! I am hoping she will settle down after some time out … but an aggressive animal especially a pig is not good on a tiny farm, so i hope she calms down soon.. c
ok, first I am so sorry to read about this, I am sure someone off the net has somehow found the right words to bring this up, once the wee babes are fully weaned, you need to put your sow into freezer camp, I know, I know, some will say move her on, I am not going to say that, if she can’t be made to work in a ideal pig home, and I do consider you and your farm a ideal set up and pig home, its not fair to pass a problem animal on,
I don’t have any answers on why she is doing this, but the bottom line is she is a danger, I have tried this myself once or twice as before breeding the animal was of good temperament and kept thinking,its hormones, but the danger never goes away, and to make matters worse, that is there main job, to have babies once a year.
Its going to be hard, its going to break a little piece of your heart, but at some point she is going to turn in a way, that will scare you enough to understand where I am coming from and know that it will need to be done, I will pray that you find the strength and will before you, or one of the dogs or ? get hurt in a bad way..
I do appreciate and understand exactly what you are saying. And this is a wee farm not a zoo as everyone knows. So i do thank you for your input. I read a blog called sugar mountain farm who riases pork and his mantra is “We eat mean people.” You are right I cannot sell an aggressive animal and I do not want to breed her again the way she is acting now. I will give her time as I have enough orders to breed them both next spring and have already sold the only gilt. But if she does continue to bark and bite she will have to go as you put it “Into freezer camp” . I have read of sows turning mean, such a shame.. And yes, Ton is the one who is always minding the pigs, lets hope he stays on his toes.. c
I can’t add much to what was commented by Another Day – but an aggressive animal is more than a nuisance on a small farm, a danger. That temperament shouldn’t be passed on. Could a vet check for any physical problems ( stun gun available? – that’s a joke, sort of…be very careful…I can hope it’s like the story with the thorn out of the lion’s paw…small hope). You have small quarters and winter to think of.
Poor Sheila. Pigs are social creatures and do think.
The pictures are little jewels.
It appears that Sheila is more than happy to socialise with dogs and cats, rather than pigs like Charlotte. Poor old duck. She is living in the corridor paddock which is the central paddock to the others, so she gets all the foot traffic. Every visitor to the farm gets a visit from Sheila. I do hope that pregnancy does not change her temperament also. c
While it is normal for even a well socialized momma piggy to get all protective after she has her babies, she should settle down quickly, you can laugh if you want but around my area, a lot of folks give their ready to pop girl a bottle or two of beer the day before, the day off and the next couple days after in their feed.. it just helps mellow the girls out. I can’t say if this works or not, I have never done it, but I have friends that swear by it.
Now, if you need to work with the piglets and they are crying, you can expect momma pig to get upset, that is normal as well, even as the piglets get older, this is something to be careful of, when you are catching and loading her piglets.. a pig can come though a fence if they want to, so just keep it in mind ok? try and load the piglets with boards as much as possible to reduce the crying (ok the ear piercing o my god squeals) that they can do when they are picked up into the air, and their feet leave the ground.
So that was a long winding way of saying, Shelia is her own pig, take what you have learned with this litter and use the knowledge in a good way but try and also come at it as a blank slate and give Sheila as much trust as possible, till she proves that you can’t.
Good tip to load the piglets with boards, thank you for that, the first pair go to their new home in a couple of weeks so I shall start training them.. also yes, you are right about Sheila. Live and learn, aye. c
I agree with the comments above, a bad tempered pig is a huge worry, but as you say the solution will present itself, I just pray that is before ……….
It’s like kids sometimes – no matter what the parent does, temperament takes over?
Shelia sounds like a congenial party girl – she’ll probably be fine.
I have to agree with Just Another Day. When my brother-in-law was a toddler, he somehow fell into the pig pen and was attacked by a sow. They got him out, but his nose was never the same (and he was lucky it was just his nose). A sow attack can be fatal, but I guess you know that since you know she is “not to be trifled with.”