The Return of the Pigs

I woke early this morning and thought, “If the pigs DO come back, we should mix honey with the grain we got from the Bessettes, and make little yummy treats for them to entice them.” Then I went back to sleep, full of hope and expectation.

As the hours passed, though, and all my gazing out the window didn’t bring the pigs back, I had to resign myself that the pigs were gone for good. It’s hard to live in the country sometimes. And yet I couldn’t get rid of the hope they would come back. I finally had to give them to God.

And then, 22 hours after we had seen them last, the pigs trotted out of the woods! Unscathed! Unconcerned! While I continued to pick up the trailer after several days of severe neglect (we’ve been busy this week!), Phil went up to entice the pigs.

Now Dennis Bessette assured us that there is no gentle way to corral pigs. He said, “You back them into a corner, then grab the hind leg. Hold on for a bit until the pig stops struggling, then pick up the whole pig, but don’t ever let go of the leg!” I wondered if there was a gentler way, as that sounded pretty stressful (and, having witnessed it, I know that it IS stressful).

Thankfully, in this case, Dennis was wrong. Phil, with no “helpers” and no time constraints gradually enticed the pigs with the honey/grain mixture, and then gradually walked them down below the trailers. He then strung goat netting across the whole clearing, creating a clear path for the pigs to enter their pen.

They entered the pen! And exited through the hot electric fence as if it wasn’t there.

Frustration! He strung poultry net behind the hot wires, as a visual barrier, and, with incredible patience, talked and walked the pigs back down the slope. This time they entered their pen and, for the first time, finally found the water! The feed! The slop I had been strewing around in faith that they would return! The pigs gradually rooted around, used their snouts to dig up little resting places, and grunted happily. They grunt almost continually when happy.

They are so fun to watch! Phil named the striped pig Alice and the pink pig Abby. To have happy pigs, happy sheep, happy goats, happy boys, happy parents, beautiful weather … what a fantastic day.