…they don’t move easily.

Ted built that ramp, backed the tractor and trailer down to the chicken gate, and set up a corridor with electric wire to get the pigs to move to the trailer.  I saved the scraps for two days in hopes that they’d follow that scrap bucket right to the trailer.

My inlaws came down to help, and the fun started with the pigs. They. Would. Not. Cross. The. Gate. Line.

Ted goosed them on the butt, and they ran away. Tom tugged on them, and they backed up. The guys poured slop into a feed bowl and tried to coax them to cross the gate line, and they just wouldn’t do it. I tossed them eggs, and they ate them but never crossed the line. Ted ran electric wire behind them, and they ran through it.  Ted carried a small gate and tried to block them from backing up, and Dixie screamed and kicked the gate and almost knocked him down. 

I made them give up after about an hour.  I figure they just need time,  and I’m going to keep setting their scraps in a feed pan just outside their open gate daily to hopefully entice them through the gate and toward the trailer.  The pigs are curious, so I know once they realize there is no electric line on their gate, they’ll cross it. We missed butchering time for this week as the local guy only does it on Tuesdays, so I have seven days to get them to move.  I’m just not willing to stress them out and then take them to the butcher; it’s important to us that they have a wonderful life right up to the end.

Keep your fingers crossed!