Animal shelter

The animal shelter I'm referring to is not "the pound".  I'm referring to like a cover for animals.  We had been wanting to build some shelter/shades for the pigs but just haven't had time to do it.  So finally today we did it.  We got it done before the severe thunderstorm is supposed to come.  I'm glad I have a handy husband.

Digging holes for the posts.  Thank goodness for the post hole digger we purchased from Harbor Freight it made the job so much easier!

Making progress

Almost done.  The pigs are inspecting it.  I think they like it.

Finished!

Adios, amigos!

The day has finally come.  The moment we have all been waiting for.  Yes, the pigs got sent to the butcher yesterday!  2 little piggies went to the market, and one little piggy stayed home.  We took the 2 castrated pigs to the "chop shop" and it wasn't easy.  It took awhile to get the two pigs to finally get on the trailer.  But finally with the help of food, of course, we were able to get them loaded up and go on our little road trip.  I can't wait to get the meat back in about 3-4 weeks.  Thank you, pigs for your noble sacrifice so me and my family can have bacon, pork chop, ground pork etc for the next year or so.  To you, noble pigs, I salute you!

I've never seen pigs so eager to go to the butcher shop!

Our attempt to get them in the trailer

Getting ready for our road trip

Sleeping in

Our kids had a sleepover at a friend's house last night so this morning we were going to sleep in.  Silly me!  Farmers don't get to sleep in because there are always escaped animals you have to catch!  Hello?!

This morning we were awaken by our dogs' barking.  Most dog owners would agree dogs are kind of like babies they have different cries for different needs.  You can tell most of the time by their cries (or in this case barks) that something is up or not right.  So the dogs were barking like something was up so we got out of bed to see what was going on outside.  Now, I know I already had like a billion posts about our escape artist, "breakfast" the pig.  This time it was not just one pig that escaped, not even 2, it was ALL 3 of them!  Yup they were ALL out of the pig pen!  Breakfast is such a bad influence!  I think he's been teaching the others how to get out!  This time they actually broke the fence and all of them just got out!

Needless to say we spend our morning trying to get all the pigs back in the pig pen.  Luckily two of them were actually rather cooperative.  But one of them ran down the dirt road/driveway and went all the way down by the river!  So I quickly grabbed some pig feed and started running after this darn pig! (Yes, as out of shape as I am I actually RAN after the pig).  While I was doing the dirty work and running after the pig my husband did the easier job of fixing the fence.  I finally was able to lure the last pig back in the pen!  And that concluded our exciting Saturday morning!

They are not supposed to be free range pigs!  But they were free ranging this morning

Just chilling outside of the pig pen

This one ran all the way down by the river.  I ran after him and
I think it was probably about 1/4 mile from where the pig pen is...
so I actually ran a half mile total (round-trip) this morning.
Now I'm exhausted.  

All 3 pigs back in pen!

Stupid, stupid pig!!!

I know I just did a post last night and I'm here at it again this morning!  As you can kind of tell by the title of this post it has to do with one of the pigs.

This morning while walking the kids out to the bus stop my husband glanced over to the front pasture and saw something that appeared to be one of the pigs, where she's not supposed to be in!  She was supposed to be in the pig pen not the front pasture.  Yes, it's the black pig!  It's the same one that escaped last time!  What a trouble maker!  And of course same as last time, it took us awhile to get her back in the pig pen but we did it!  Way to spend your mornings, chasing after and catching animals! That's our favorite thing to do!  Not!  But at least we got her back in the pen...and I'm thinking we will just have to butcher her sooner rather than later.

This is the hole she got out of.  She must have been very determined
to get out.  It must have taken her a lot of effort and strength to get out.
She must have lifted that whole fence panel up, then wiggle around for a
long time to squeeze herself out of that hole in order to get out.

Attempting to catch the pig...only if we knew how to use the lasso

"Keep the change! You filthy animal"

I know, I know this is the 3rd pig post already.  But I just want you guys to see the pigs "in action".  In my earlier post I mentioned how all pigs care about is food, right?  Oh they KNOW when chow time is, they know!  So this video is to prove that I was right about pigs.  I guess I don't blame the pigs for acting that way towards food.  I am kind of the same way when it comes to food (well, minus the drool).  I just get so excited when I see it.  Meal time is my favorite time of the day!  Pigs might be filthy animal but they are actually quite interesting to watch.

We feed the pigs food scraps AND pig feed.  The food 

scraps you see in this video is orange peels, egg shells, 

and onion peels.  They ate every single bit of that food scrap.

When you have pigs, there's no wasted food!

I guess animals in general are pretty interesting to watch.  One of our dogs LOVES chasing our cats.  This dog is on a mission, seriously!  Despite our constant effort to stop him from taunting the cats, he just would not quit!

Does anyone have any idea or advice on how to handle this situation with the dog?

This dog is relentless when it comes to taunting
these cats.  Poor cats!