cantankerous pig

Soundguy · Dec 27, 2006

A while back i got a new male pig for one of my adult sows. He was kinda young.. but showed promis.. pretty good pig in all. Was reasonable trained to obey a stick or cane....Lately he has uh.. hit puberty i guess... and been taking tot he sow real good. I notice dthis yesterday when i went to fill the drop feeder, as he was slightly agressive. I tapped him on the shoulder with the cane.. and instead of moving off he snapped at it... not feeling like 'arguing', i grabbed my long cattle prod and kept it with me while filling feeders. He made one more pas at me, and then went to the edge of the pin after tasting the cattle prod... Later today I noticed he or one of the other pigs had uprooted a water fountain in his pin today.. flooding it.

Had to fix it... decided to carry the prod and the cane.. and for safety.. tucked my pistol in my belt... Never came close to using it.. but.. I think a may take it with me when dealing with the pigs from now on.. especially some of the larger ones.

No real point except to point out farm animal safety...

Any one else carry a firearm with them on their farm? ( I ocassionally have a .22 rifle with me during rat and snake season.. ).

Soundguy

AB4D · Dec 27, 2006

Soundguy said:
Any one else carry a firearm with them on their farm? ( I ocassionally have a .22 rifle with me during rat and snake season.. ).Soundguy

I don't have a farm, but I do live in the country. I usually carry a .357 during the spring/summer/fall. We have quite a bit of wildlife ranging from skunks and snakes, to coyote/wild dogs and black bears. Had an encounter with a juvenile black bear last year, but he kept on passing through my property without a problem. I think I saw a post a while back on TBN from a guy in Culpper, VA (35 miles away) talking about feral hogs somewhere in VA, but I haven't seen any around here.

Jim

Birdhunter1 · Dec 27, 2006

I carry a 5" barrel Ruger Vacquero .45 Colt, never know what needs shot.

VT_Hokie · Dec 27, 2006

I run a reseach facility for swine where we have had some pretty big pigs both sows and boars. The biggest one weighted out at 710 lb. We do all our husbandry with the stick, but I would like to have a prod for the stubborn ones on occasion. The best form of safety is socializing the animals at an early age and making "attitude" adjustments when misbehavior is first evident. I use my .40 to euthanize but would not carry it for protection as it would be worthless. As in, by the time I assess the agression towards me in the pen, draw the pistol, aim and discharge, the pig will have already done what it wanted to do to you. Which is most likely shove you into the wall and move on to talking to that sow. You are way better off with the prod and the staff.

Soundguy · Dec 27, 2006

He seems to be a smart rascal, and remembers the cattle prod.. He stayed away from me all day today when i was in and out of the pin putting some fodder down.

I prefer to use as little force as necescary for my animals.. Some peopl ethink a cattle prod is inhumane.. but I feel that it keeps you and the animal safe... As.. if the animal were agressive and I didn't have a prod. the next step would be the firearm..

Thanks for the tips.

Soundguy

3RRL · Dec 27, 2006

Those pigs are real smart, smarter than most animals. They'll remember stuff forever. Sometimes when you look at them, you can see them figuring it out. As far as carrying on the farm, I don't know about that. Most TV shows I've seen never show the farmer armed. On the other hand, ranchers are always armed.

Myself, I have rural property so I always carry. Never know what you're gonna run into?

IslandTractor · Dec 28, 2006

If you are going to rely on a handgun as protection from a full grown pig, make sure it can drop him. I watched someone try to slaughter a pig with a .22 magnum fire point blank at a pig right between the eyes and the pig snorted and walked away. Pig did eventually end up as the main attraction at a luau however.

California · Dec 28, 2006

3RRL said:
Most TV shows I've seen never show the farmer armed. On the other hand, ranchers are always armed. Myself, I have rural property so I always carry. Never know what you're gonna run into?

Don't think I ever saw an orchard on TV. Maybe I should carry - You never know what might be out there.

LBrown59 · Dec 28, 2006

Soundguy said:
A while back i got a new male pig for one of my adult sows. He was kinda young.. but showed promis.. pretty good pig in all. Was reasonable trained to obey a stick or cane....Lately he has uh.. hit puberty i guess... and been taking tot he sow real good. I notice dthis yesterday when i went to fill the drop feeder, as he was slightly agressive. I tapped him on the shoulder with the cane.. and instead of moving off he snapped at it... not feeling like 'arguing', i grabbed my long cattle prod and kept it with me while filling feeders. He made one more pas at me, and then went to the edge of the pin after tasting the cattle prod... Later today I noticed he or one of the other pigs had uprooted a water fountain in his pin today.. flooding it.

Had to fix it... decided to carry the prod and the cane.. and for safety.. tucked my pistol in my belt... Never came close to using it.. but.. I think a may take it with me when dealing with the pigs from now on.. especially some of the larger ones.

No real point except to point out farm animal safety...

Any one else carry a firearm with them on their farm? ( I ocassionally have a .22 rifle with me during rat and snake season.. ).

Soundguy

I thought it was snake season the year round in Fla.due to it being warm all year.

DieselPower · Dec 28, 2006

California said:
Don't think I ever saw an orchard on TV. Maybe I should carry - You never know what might be out there.

He wasn't a release turkey was he. They raise and release turkey's around here and during turkey season the dumb bunny's just walk up to you expecting you to feed them. I have had them walk up to me on my tractor before.