and the count down begins | Animals | Forums

So yesterday started out as a rainy day, great way to start the morning off. We had to get the pigs to the processor by 8:30 a.m. My buddy was suppose to pick up the trailer at a friends and be at my house by 7:00 a.m.

He called at 7:45 and said he was running behind, but he would be right here. About 10 minutes later he pulled up with the trailer

We backed it down to the barn and I went down and called the pigs, they knew something was up.

I turned off the electric fence and cut the tape and tied it off to the downspout on the barn to create a run to take them up to the trailer

pig pig and sue sue came up to check it out

We spent the next hour and a half trying to coax them out of their penned in area but they were having none of it. I tried getting them out with doughnuts, bread etc. Nothing worked. I got behind them with a 8 foot gate and tried herding them up but they just broke and ran round me. By this time I was getting frustrated, it wasn't going quite as easy as last year.

I got on the phone and called the butcher to let him know we were having some issues and asked him what the latest we could drop them of at. He said any time would be fine and asked what was the issue? I told him what was going on, he said well you been training them to stay inside the fence their whole life, good luck getting them out.

My wife came down to try her hand t getting them out, she usually went down every morning and gave them a doughnut or some bread. They came up to her to get their backs scratched and that was as far as they were moving.

I realized I hadn't given them any chicken in a while so I figured I would try that, I ran up to the restaurant and grabbed some diced up chicken we use and ran back down and handed it to my wife. She walked over and started feeding them some and they were slowly coming out of their area. I asked my wife if she wanted some more, yes she replied. So I ran back up and grabbed some more and when I got back down to the barn there was my wife smiling with 2 pigs at her feet behind the trailer.

*note to self, use chicken next year*

my wife hopped up into the trailer and started setting some on the ground

Sue Sue got right in there

My wife put some more down

and Pig Pig climbed up in

we quickly closed the trailer gate and headed off to the butchers

when we got there we unloaded them and got them in their holding pen. We used a different butcher this year, I wasn't happy with the way the animals were treated when we unloaded them last year. This new butcher was very gentle with them and treated them with the respect they deserve.

As a funny side note we were standing there talking to the butcher and he asked who was getting what animal, I said I was getting the male and he was getting the female. He looked at me and asked name?

Pig Pig.

Huh?

Pig Pig.

Pig Pig what?

You asked for his name, his name is Pig Pig.

Uh no, I need your name for the cutting form, not the pigs.

Oh, I thought my friend was going to pee himself.

So I got home and went down to the pen and poured a 40 oz out for my homies, my wife kept asking me if I was alright, yeah I'm fine I replied.

Some people thinks it's amusing I get depressed when I send a animal to slaughter. Personally I try not to get too emotionally attached, but anyone that can take a animal from 8 weeks old and raise them and not feel any emotion has lost a little bit of their humanity.

very much so