We moved the pigs to the turkey pen. It was much easier than I expected. We stretched a piece of wire fencing between the pig pen and the turkey pen gate. Then we stood on the other side of the pig pen gate holding crazy carpets. The pigs took more convincing to leave their pen than they did to go into the turkey pen once out.
We had shooed all of the birds out of the turkey pen, opening the greenhouses to them for shelter, but they fly over the fence to get back in when we feed the pigs.
These two pigs are so friendly, good natured and happy I finally understand how people could attached to them. Nothing at all like the mean pigs we've had before.
They're slowly working up the raspberry bushes in the turkey pen now. They've made no attempts to escape, although they did push the fence back a bit in a couple of spots. If they get the turkey pen dug up well before butchering time, I'm a little tempted to move them into the garden next... That might be tempting fate though.
Friendly pigs? Working pigs? And, they were not anxious to get out of their pen? That sounds like the porcine jackpot. Maybe their bacon will be exquisite tasting.
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping!
DeleteI vote for putting them in the garden plot, if you can fence it well enough to keep them in it for a few days. They really are the most amazing plows, are they not?
ReplyDeleteThe garden is fenced the same way as the turkey pen, except we added logs around the bottom of the turkey pen to help keep out predators. It adds a little bit of weight, so the pigs push on the fence when they're digging along the edge, but so far haven't tried going under.
DeleteThere is a gate between the turkey pen and the garden, so I am considering leaving it open through the day, and then shooing them back into the turkey pen at night. That way I'll be a little more relaxed about them staying in when no one is watching.
They are amazing plows, which was more than half the reason we got pigs originally- no tiller at the time. In the past we just set up a wire pen around the pigs (same wire as the fence), but after they got to a certain size they would just lift it up and go under. Then we'd be chasing them home through the woods... I wonder though, if these pigs were started with electric fencing and are afraid to test their limits? They are very different- sharing their feed with the birds- than the previous pigs- who tried to kill the dogs. Even if they got out I don't think it would be too hard to put them back in.