Let me tell you, yesterday was exciting!!!
We drove two hours to Okmulgee, OK to pick up two female American Guinea Hogs. The breeders, Anthea and Wayne were very informative and helpful. They showed us around their place and we met all their pigs (and goats, and dogs, and sheep.....). Once we met everybody Anthea took us to our first pig, #11. #11 was the last pig to come out of the hut. She was very shy. She is unique in that she has two front white socks. Also her tail doesn't curl much. When they grabbed her she hardly made a sound. Then the torture came!!! Anthea needed a blood sample and she had to scrape #11's ear. THEN she had to put a tag in her ear. It was basically a glorified earring. #11 didn't like it and gave some squealing protest but it was over soon and she was put calmly into her crate to come home with us.
Then......#24. #24 is from a different mother. I specifically requested that we not get an escape artist as some of the piglets were out when we got there so Anthea chose #24. Had we only known. She might not be an escape artist but she is a screamer!!!! And spit-fire to boot. She screamed and struggled so much the first time she was caught, Wayne dropped her on her head. Of course she rebounded and went for more corn. He caught her again and she screamed and struggled so much, her very mild tempered mother got riled up and almost bit Wayne!! A little feed though and she ignored the situation completely. OH, #24....had we only known. As calm as #11 had been, #24 was loud and wild. With the help of bananas she got through her blood test and tagging. We put her into her makeshift crate (a Rubbermaid tub with air holes in the lid and bungee cord ties). She did NOT want to stay in. We wound up having to put the bungee cord and two other tie downs on. SPIT-FIRE!
Then we made the two hour drive back. #11 was quiet the whole way. #24.....snorting, squealing and trying to pop the lid off her crate! Once we got home, it was past sunset, but we still had a little light. We let #11 out, but she stayed in her crate. #24? After about a second she jumped out and started running willy-nilly around the pen. She ran into it, and tried to run under it, and at one point I thought she might try to run OVER the fence. Of course a little pig feed calmed her right down....do we see a pattern here? I finally dumped #11 out of her crate and she just stood there frozen like a statue. It was the most curious thing. I touched her, pushed her, called her and she just stood there like she was paralyzed.....until I put feed down for her. Then she was back to being a normal pig. Pigs will be pigs whenever food is available.
After they got finished eating, we wanted to put them into their pig hut for the night. The reason was two fold. First, we didn't want them eaten by the mountain lion. Second, if they escaped in the night, they would have quite a head start on us. I walked over to #11, picked her up with not so much as a squeal (just a couple of grunts), put her into the hut, and there she stayed. #24? It is hard to describe the chaos which ensued. There was much squealing, running, banging into fences, and falling and that was just me. #24 was worse. Finally....with a little food.....Jon was able to pounce on her. At that point, even though we live a good 1/4 mile from our nearest neighbor, I was hoping the police weren't going to be called because of her squealing. Jon tossed her in the hut and Eythan and I put the front door on, at which point I was summoned to a 4 year old on the porch who had had diarrhea in his pants. At least it was on the porch.
Jon figured out an "ingenious" way to keep the door on the hut for the night.
Cute piggy tails!
So here are our choices for names. Of course our partners have the biggest say, but I'd like some opinions. The names also include the name for the male we are getting next week.
Place your vote!
1. #24 - Loise
#11 - Lana
Male - Clark
2. #24 - Eowyn
#11 - Arwen
Male - Aragorn
3. #24 - Leah
#11 - Rachel
Male - Jacob
Any suggestions?
No comments:
Post a Comment