Good morning. I have just come back inside from shifting Sheila by torchlight back to her new field, why you ask, because yesterday my whole plan fell into piggie chaos.
It all started with Sheila coming into heat, which she does on occassion and she was chasing her calves round and round the field, so I locked the kunekune outside (it was a nice day) and put Sheila into the sunroom, which she immediately wrecked then lay down to sleep it off. 
I had been in the middle of shifting the middle sized pigs into their new outdoor quarters when I went to save the calves -the tin hut was in place and I had decided to shift them permanently into the new vegetable garden area they are in and out of here all the time so I felt confident. 
Hearing the noise of Sheila smashing stuff as she chased her calves around. I quickly shut their gate and went to her aid. Five minutes later I looked up and there were two middle sized pigs in the wrong place, two were dashing between the trucks in the drive, two dogs in hot pursuit.
I shut Sheila’s door, called them in (which took a while) and then saw the other middle sized pigs had got out the other side and were communing through the back fence with the little pigs and to my horror the little pigs were going under their fence like a running stream. The two pigs I had brought back joined them and off they ran into the big fields. Merciful heaven.
Before I knew it I had middle sized pigs and little pigs all mixed up in a marauding pack bleeding through more of the cows fences and taking over the concrete pad, splitting into packs, running in all directions and having the time of their lives dashing in and out from between the hooves of the aghast cows.
Herding pigs is like herding cats. It does not work. And of course it was morning and everyone was well fed. First I shifted the cows then tried to work out what to do with eleven excited pigs in full gallop.
No-one was taking any notice of me.
It took a long long time and a lot of opportunist drafting to get the little pigs sorted out from the middle sized pigs and back into the barn. To get them through the barn I had to move Sheila back out of the front pen and into the abandoned vegetable garden field out of the way.
Once through, the little ones took over the whole barn as I shut the big door to their now compromised back yard.
The middle size pigs had been left to roam the farm while I gathered the little ones and by early afternoon I had got all four middle sized pigs into the back field where the root cellar is but they would not go through the last gate so we stopped there. The fence was not set up yet so it was not turned on but they did not know that yet and would not go through the gate behind it. By evening I just had to leave them to it and hope they would remember where their bed was, find the gate open and settle down in there.
I was just glad to have them all in one place with a big gate shut.
The moment you change things on a farm there is a time of chaos while you hold your breath hoping they will not push the smoke and mirrors boundaries. This chaos was more chaotic than normal!
In the middle of all this Alex had been shifted from the West barn as arranged. So once I got the little pigs back into the barn she was released from the trailer.
It did not take her long to find the food.
Late last night I went out to check that everyone was still where they should be and discovered that Sheila (who had been in the vegetable garden field) had found the hole that the middle sized ones had made (and that I had completely forgotton about). She had escaped (very slowly I am sure) and had gone back up to the barn, made herself a nice big bed by the little pigs and was fast asleep in the corner of the barn.
So I just shut the big doors and left her there for the night. And this is why an hour ago I was out in the early dawn with my jacket over my nightie and bringing her down the drive and back into the field, with the hole blocked up once again. She was reluctant to move, having planned a big breakfast for herself from the feed bins, I imagine. But that was not going to happen.
So now I will get my coat back on and get going and check to see how the others are. Alex is being very vocal – I am not even sure where they all ended up.
Now, I need to buy another solar panel for the Rat House Paddock. They take three days to charge up so who knows what will happen in the meantime. But I am not going to try and shift the middle sized pigs back, it took them the entire day to get where they are now!
Merciful heavens.
I hope you have lovely day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
89 responses to “Chaotic pig day”
Oh my! I’m sure you had a few moments where you wished you were back in Milan! Interesting that you use solar panels. I was under the impression that they didn’t produce enough of a pop to get a cow or pig’s attention.
We use solar electric fencing, and ZAP! OUCH! You bet they pack a wallop!
REAALY? That’s really good to know. I’ve been stringing extension cords ALL OVER our property!
The solar panels do quite a good job and the pigs only hit them once then never again. Same for me actually! c
Hahah! My boys used to dare each other to touch the hot wire. That whole “who’s the toughest” game. They didn’t play too often~ it just hurt too bad!
My father would test the fence by grabbing on to it – he was convinced his 8 children were less than brave for not checking fence the same way. He has been gone for years but I will always remember that.
We had a sow move out to the grape arbor and have her piglets. We took the piglets and put them in a box with a heat lamp and then attempted to bring her in but she refused to cross the small ditch at the edge of the garden. We had to cover her head with a bushel basket and back her over that ditch to reunite her with her little ones..
oh man!! I tried to move five pigs once. they had to go from their paddock to the next one which was a simple lift of the wire. literally had to step foot into new grass. took us an hour. I loves me some herding animals.
Yes I remember that move! I SO thought they would follow the bucket! c
I love this story. I LOVE the old car. That last image is priceless!
That is the cows favourite feeder.. c
that image deserves a t-shirt
WOW! I am exhausted just reading about it!!! Piggies on the rampage!!!! Poor Sheila! PMS is horrible. 😉
Oh Alex in the car – at first I thought “When did she get a BUFFALO?”
Alex is so grateful to be back with cows her own size. Poor girl was having a hard time.. c
Some time, in the middle of cows and pigs running past me in 5 different directions, I might just have sat down and cried or gone back to the house for a cup of coffee 🙂 Hope things calm down and everybody is where they should be. Laura
Yes, we are calmer today – and the sun is out – it is beautiful.. c
I’ exhausted for you. Time lapse photography would have been interesting. I hope peace is restored and no more animals run amok! 11 excited piggies remind me of a kid’s birthday party! Pre Spring riot?
I did not have time to grab the camera for most of it – they were all going in all directions. c
Ah, marauding piggies. They really took advantage! I wonder if Sheila was dreaming lovely dreams of havoc in the fields last night! Probably more so a dream about the feed cans, I expect. We have had our share of pigs on the run. They really are impossible to herd on a full stomach. Hope they are where you need them to be today, and stay that way!
Then this mornng when they were all hungry they came the moment I called – little monkeys! c
Laughing with you this morning over these antics. I suspect ulterior motives by those pigs…sort of a payback to you for going away and then daring to disrupt their fun.
Too much fun I think – lucky this did not happen when I was away.. c
Oh Oh Oh my Giddy Aunt! all caused by Sheila….all I can say its a good thing that you love her so much otherwise wshe would end up as pork chops…..What a day and what a night…Heavens forbid it should happen again!!! ( But the tale did make me laugh ..I can imagine such chaotic mess)
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2017 at 2:55 PM
Yes , she was the beginning of the slide.. and the end of it! c
Good Lawdie, Miss Claudie! And just after Sheila had been such a Miss Goodie 2 Shoes!
It was sweet how she went back to the barn to make her bed though – made me smile.. c
Poor you! You made it sound like such great fun, but I can only imagine the chaos. You must have slept well last night! Where was Ton in all this? I know you’re being careful with Boo…
Ton ws being a nuisance but Boo was helpful moving the cows – nothing helps with pigs though!.. c
Must be like “herding cats!” Ha ha! Glad you got things under control.
Goodness, what a day! I hope everyone behaves so that you can get on with the barn cleaning. At least the weather is cooperating.
The weather is marvellous.. c
o my, I know just the kind of day you had, been there once or twice myself.. I wrote the story of our first piglets here on the farm for the blog years ago.. so here is a story back for you.. lol
Get a cup of coffee and pull up a chair and get ready to laugh at us.. and remember that it never works the way you expect.. no matter how much planning you think you have done.
First year on the farm, I want to raise pigs for the freezer, I start hunting down heritage piglet breeders and finally I find piglets available that are everything I want, natural born momma in big piles of straw, outdoor huts and lots of rooting going on.. so we drive 3 hours (one way) to pick up Fred and Barney. They are young, in the 40 pound range is my guess and we load them in the big old dog crate stuffed with bedding and they grunt and keep each other company.
Now back on the farm, I had a huge indoor piggy area all prepped and a pop out door to a small but sturdy pallet fence outdoor area so they could sleep in the sun and dig up greens. Now remember when we bought my farm, no fences, everything is open and the hundred plus acres around me are in hay, edges by the creek on one side and the river on the other..
So we get home, we carefully carry that crate down and I open it in the pig pen, they bolt out, zoom, zoom around the pen they go and the tiny holes that we had put up a board across that were to be small for them to get out.. WRONG!
Both piglets are threw and out and they run right out of the barn, into the barn yard and then freeze! This not their farm.. we try herding them with boards.. NOPE.. off they go.. now they running around the barn, zooming out into our pasture and hubby tried to cut them off..
Now I will not lie, at this point I have already said to my man, just stop. you can’t catch them and I am just standing there.. but hubby is slow moving up to them and then at times he bolting.. I finally lose my temper a little and pretty much say..
That’s it.. STOP CHASING THEM< I am going to the house.. and he follows me in.. at this point, they are specks and then they are down into the creek and gone..
Fine.. great! just great..
So we go out, and I move a pan of tiny bit of food before the place they came out of and nice big pan of food and goodies in the pen itself but can be seen from the doorway, I put out a second pan of fresh water, and I set a board ready to be nailed up to stop any further we are out of here moves
And I head to the house and it gets dark, and my man worries, ok, I might have worried a bit as well but I was pretty calm.. we only had two ways this can go..
The next morning at 4 amish but barely daylight, I gear up and head as quiet as I can to the barn.. and I look.. at first nothing..
Then I heard them.. grunt, grunt , the straw shakes and little fat snouts and wide floppy ears pop out of the bedding to look at me..
Did you bring us breakfast? I say! go back to sleep silly piglets and we nail up the board..
I know that the fact that they were raised outside, coming back the shelter at night was taught to them but let me tell you, we did the whoop of joy after we left the barn and look at each other.
home again, thankful that they came home!
did I make you smile Miss C, I hope so.. you have a good day..
I remember that story – so glad they came back in the end! c
So funny! Laughed while reading this!
What a day! What a welcome home! It is funny to read about this riot, but I’m sure it was a long day. Hope today is much calmer.
It did seem long but was a good way to get over the Time lag.. c
Oh my word what a day! Ha they are saying that’s for leaving us! 😂
Lets hope they are all too tired to misbehave today