a probably 3 month old pig walked into my yard..now what?

[Baymule]

Set up hog panels and hot wire. We are in the process of building a hog pen out of 2"x4" horse wire. Going to run hot wire around it to keep the piggies from rooting under the fence. We are getting 3 feeder pigs. We are getting horse manure from a horse event center and dumping it in the pen area, to let the pigs root it in all winter. Come spring, pigs go to slaughter and the "pig" pen becomes the garden!

 

[heckerdy]

Baymule thanks …we hare fortifying and refortifying now the fence is in since that photos …I have to let my husband go though his paces ..I wanted "hog fencing from day one ..but I married an engineer who lives his life inventing things ..so he wanted to reinvent the wheel IE fence ..and now he is sorry he did not listen … last night he looked at me and said "I am defeated by a pig" he was defeated and bought better fencing instead of whatever it was he was doing out there…wow this pig has completely occupied our days! we can not leave the house for more than a few hours together someone has to be here! Can I give him a valium??? I actually caught myself googling "can pigs have valium" I was ready to give him one of my coveted dental valium yesterday while we were fixing the fence ! I had NO idea what the heck I was in for when this guy walked into the yard….now I wonder what kind of karmic debt I am paying off here …if I believed such a thing I would believe this was some kind of weird cosmic pay back !!!
d
Bacon is a tyrant …I am afraid he will eat my ducks next week when they are no longer his buddies and he figures out they are food…! he is so big alread… I am terrified of my neighbors pristine gardens and him getting loose and destroying decades of valuable plantings …we fortified the fence yesterday
OY!!!!!! I am saying a lot of bad words right now ..admittedly I am laughing a lot too but this "free pig" is expensive! fortunately we needed this fencing and when he is gone it will be repurposed …but I am in the midst of a kitchen remodel I wanted finished before the end to eh month and running out the door while trying to do paint and tile is just making this retirement a little challenging …I can send him to my friends but at this point you guys don't you think I should keep trying ? In the end ..we do love bacon and ..yes he is already looking more like food to me and less like a cute little smart pig ..pigs can be A$$H#L%s!!!
so now since the photo above we have fortified fencing and it is hot as hell and he has figured out how to get out of that so today we are refortifying the hot wires and putting another fence outside the fence ..we had him contained for 4 hours ..a record now since we took him off the deck.
he is just so BAD!!! but kind of hysterical at the same time! if he just stays "bad" where he is and doesnt get out of our yard ..or eat a duck ..or kill either one of us and bury us in the yard …look at that amazing soil! guess where I will be having a garden next year! I wish I could put him on a leash and plow several places ..


I have a question has anyone tried a dog pinch collar on a pig? can I put him on some kind of leash during the day? We can get him to pass out and lie down for a bit now and I picked him up yesterday (he is about 40lbs now I think he felt like a giant bag of flour_ they do not have much of a neck and all I can imagine is he is going to squeal scream and flip around? My husband is convinced he can get control of this demon with a pinch collar …smart as he is I do not think my husband thinks this thing out in a larger picture but whatever Bacon is still small enough not to do too much damage to him…. is this the terrible teens for pigs? does he need ritalin ? ..I was serious about the valium ..but not sure I could medicate a pig I was going for organic free range LOLOL! a valium is not organic free range

Will this pig calm down or will he always be a tyrant?
is there a pig leash thing I can put on him to contain him or walk him in our yard…

OH and yesterday we made him a kong ball out of bowling ball and put peanut butter in the finger holes it pissed him off but he did play with it for a while ..do you have any ideas for toys ..we have been putting root veg in like someone recommended for him to dig up but he really does have ADHD right now and he wants "out" bad so those two things distract him from play …so if anyone knows what keeps a pig busy besides digging up the garden and eating eggs?

sorry for the long rant but I am pretty isolated in this adventure ..since I live in town and pigs just do not walk around here… not something I can really talk about with the neighbors ..in fact i would rather they do not know and since all of them have hearing issues so far they don't …

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I hate to even suggest this - but maybe he needs a friend???

We always raised hogs in pairs...just sayin'!

 

[heckerdy]

OH NOOOO no no no ..no …no no no

(I am screaming and running down the street now LOLOLOLOL but thanks for suggesting something )

 

[Bossroo]

How about a nice bottle of wine with breakfast , lunch, and dinner ? Should tenderise the Bacon as well as mellow Bacon. If that doesn't help, then sip the wine yourself.

 

[Latestarter]

I've never owned a pig... having said that, no, I don't believe a pinch collar will do what you (your DH) wants/anticipates, but will indeed have exactly the opposite effect. You think you have an a-whole pig now, pinch his neck a few times and watch the sparks fly! I think you'd be much better with one of those dog harness things that strap in front of and behind the front legs and around the chest. That way your attach point will be between the (future smoked) shoulders and you'll be able to lift the front (pickled pigs) feet off the ground, essentially controlling him. To the best of my knowledge, limited though it may be, I've never heard of a pig doing a 2 step.

As for the hot wire, as you've discovered, pigs are very smart! they are the supreme escape artists! Part of the reason the country has such a feral hog problem. Perhaps you could look into some of the hot netting instead? If you placed that around the inside along with the hot wires, he'd have virtually no chance of escape without getting zapped.

Another fence possibility would be old pallets stood on end with 4x4's down through them into the ground for support. A full grown pig might be able to break through them, but I doubt your little (for now) squealer would. Don't know if you have access to free pallets in good shape.

That is gonna be one heckuva garden plot next year! That soil looks awesome! Hope you're throwing in your chicken coop materials as well, to be mixed in. Not knowing if you have chickens... though you did mention ducks... and eggs....

Edit to add: maybe you're not feeding him enough? He wants out to dig up more to eat? I was/am under the impression that a well fed pig would be more content to stay where the food is...

 

[Ferguson K]

If your fence is hot, it may not be hot enough. MOST pigs respect electricity. He may be the exception, not the rule. Pigs are rooters. Give him plenty to turn over and munch on. I'm sure you've mentioned it. Maybe I've already asked, but, is he free fed? At his age he's a growing machine. A free fed growing pig is a happy pig. Give him a free feeder, he will figure it out.

If you can get your hands on some woven wire, like a roll of field fencing, I highly recommend it. As tight as you can pull it. Then electrify the crap out of it. 1 joule output if possible. Hot isn't hot enough with an in tact lonely pig.

 

[Ferguson K]

Also, no. A pinch collar will not work. Collars in general will not work on pigs.

 

[goatgurl]

I'm sort of feeling sorry for hubby but if he wants to put a pinch collar on that pig you be sure to have your camera on video mode because all heck is gonna break out and i want to see it. i know you have decided not to castrate him but that will help him settle down some as would having a friend. and latestarter may be right about food. how much of what are you feeding him? and i have always used cattle panels instead of hog panels because the cattle panels are taller and they can't jump over them if the electric happens to be off like they can a hog panel. and you do need to keep an eye on the ducks. next to last pig i raised ate every chicken and duck he could catch but the last two didn't bother them at all.

 

[Mini Horses]

I am laughing so hard at this pig thing, I can hardly type. Tears came as I laughed at the suggestion of a 2nd one....but, it MAY help. definitely castration will. Since he has no adults to mimic, he doesn't know to calm down. Looks like you need another acre or two for him to till, RFLOL.

More and constant food would probably help. He'll stop when he's full and start up again later. They are like bottomless garbage disposals. Yes, he can kill a bird faster than you blink.

So, what I really wanted to mention is that they can bite you and it is extremely painful, so be careful! You can tell that they are very smart, very!

Do you have a farmer market or smaller, family owned store or restaurant near? I'm thinking making a deal for old/damaged produce, breads, pastries, etc. Dump it into a pile and watch! They'll eat almost anything.

The pics are great & thanks for the laughs. I'm sure the engineer is working overtime trying to "fix" this project.