In the Summer of 2016, we made the decision to add a new species to the farm. After weeks of dropping hints via Facebook and asking pretty please, Dan caved and we started construction on the “Pig Haus”. It took us only a couple of days to build. It is an insulated building, with sloped tin roof and even a front porch. We pulled the completed building into the bush and using hog panels, blocked off a generous portion of the woods diving the lawn from the back field. We found an old kids sand box and used this for the waterer and black rubber dishes for feeding.
Now we were ready for pigs!
We visited a local resuce that I had come across on Facebook. They had been advertising for a couple of weeks about being too full with pigs and needing homes. We hooked up the stock traile to Ruby and headed out “just to look”.
That day we came home with our three little pigs. They were all three brothers who had been at the rescue for three years already. As soon as she told us their story, I knew that day was the last these boys would have to spend at that rescue.
They were shy when we first got them home, as they had been competing for food and attention with twenty other pigs for a better portion of their lives. Now, a year later, they are such different pigs! They each have their own little personalities and greet us morning and night for dinner. They let you know when we are taking too long and have also given in to my attempts at loving them with snout pets and ear scratches.
I can’t imagine how empty the back yard would seem without these boys there. They have captured a big part of my heart.
The Three Little Pigs:
Tui is the boss hog on the farm. He may be little, but he sure is a grumpy gus who has claimed the boss! He loves scratches behind the ears, stealing everybodys treats and yelling at me when I’m late with dinner.
Pudge (formerly known as Fudge) has come leaps and bounds since his time with us. He will take hand fed treats, tolerates the odd head scratch and doesn’t much put up with his brothers bossiness.
And last, but certainly not least, is Oscar. He is our gentle giant. He is still quite shy but if you can distract him with feed he will let you pet him for a short time. He is the biggest of our boys but also the quietest.