We've had an eventful week here at the ranch, with lots of pig activity to report. 

 

Sunday I moved the baby pigs that were born on May 7th out to a larger pasture.  The best lesson in patience is trying to move 11 skittish piggies across an open field.  It’s only about 30 yards from the farrowing pen where they were born, but it feels like eternity.  They get easily spooked, and they keep running back to their comfort zone. Fortunately, pigs are motivated by their stomachs and they have an exceptional sense of smell, so the trick is to put a bit of feed a few yards ahead of them and try to keep them moving from the rear.  They’ll dart and dash about, but once they find the feed, they continue to move towards it.  I have to strategically move the feed ahead of them so that they make continual process towards their new home.  Of course, they snack on a few plants along the way, so it’s not always linear progress. It’s more like an exercise in 2 steps forward, one step back – sometimes 10 steps back. 

After about 20 minutes I got them to their new home and was able to get the hot wire up while they were feasting on the main course.  They’re enjoying their new home with plenty of grass and lots of shade.  They even have a cooling tent – an old chicken tractor with a mister set up.  This allows them to wallow in the cool, wet mud when it’s 107 degrees outside. They’ll stay in this pasture for another 6-8 weeks until I trust them to stay in the electric fence and train them to come when I call. 

Their first home is a round holding pen where are were born.  It has a wire “pig tight” fence around it so they cannot escape.  For the last few weeks, I ran a hot wire down the edge of it so they’d learn to respect the electric fence.  This is critical to raising pigs on pasture.  We use the fence to subdivide the pastures and keep them moving across the property.  If they don’t respect the fence, they may end up running off.  Texas has a huge population of feral hogs, causing multi-millions of dollars of damage each year.  I don’t want to add any more to the several million hogs running wild across the state. 

I also loaded up 3 pigs that were born at the end of November to take to the butcher.  It’s much easier to deal with full-grown pigs than the little squirts.  They’re far more comfortable interacting with me and much more motivated by their stomachs. To load up full size hogs, I feed them directly in a large cattle trailer for a few days prior to graduation day. That way they’re comfortable with jumping up into the trailer.  On graduation day all I have to do is shut the trailer door when they’re all inside. Because the trailer has 2 dividing gates (three 8 ft. areas) I’m able to sort out the ones I want to keep and release the others.  I’ll be taking in 3 pigs every month for the next 4 months, so we’ll be fully stocked up on pork till the end of the year at which time we’ll do it all again. 

Because we have an abundance of pork, we’re offering a 10% discount on Bulk Pork.  Now’s your chance to stock your freezer with a half-hog at a great price.  Through the end of July, we’re offering half hogs for $5.00 per pound hanging weight. That’s about 80# of pork for less than $8 per pound.  Visit our website and select BULK BUYING to take advantage of this amazing deal.

We appreciate your continued support, and we hope you enjoy these exciting updates from the ranch. We'll be sure to keep you informed of any further developments.