Hey Eddie, look what I got!

[2LaneCruzer]

He's still kind of a butt head to me but, the last few days I've been putting the dog in with him. It seems to be calming him down, hopefully she'll teach him to be friendly. He's coming up to the fence to see if I have treats now instead of charging it like he wants to eat me. That's progress.View attachment 534719

Noticing the heat lamp reminded me of a story. Back in the late 40's, we lived in SW Missouri, in a rented farm house. The farmer raised hogs, and one cold winter, he came up to the house with a couple of piglets, both were runts and only a few days old, that he said wouldn't make in the cold. One was red, one was white...the red one...the one that was designated mine, had its tail frozen off. So, we kept them in a cardboard box in the kitchen and bottle fed them. I don't recall exactly how the folks handled the biological functions, I just know they had some sort of routine.

One afternoon we went to town and left them in their box under the kitchen stove. When we got home, they had made an absolute mess of the kitchen. Mom had opened a can of pork and beans for dinner, and threw the can in the trash. Apparently there were a few beans in the bottom of the can, because these little varmints had gotten into the trash and retrieved these beans. Now the floor in the kitchen was linoleum, and they couldn't pick the beans up, so they rooted them all over the floor, leaving a mess of slimy trails all over the kitchen... not to mention the trash and other unmentionables. Mom hit the ceiling, and the pigs hit the fenced in back yard, where they remained. The weather was getting warmer by this time, and they survived quite well. They grew into a couple of nice pets, which Dad eventually traded to the farmer for one butchered hog.

And now you know the rest of the story.

 

[STx]

Update on the little pig, he's about 15 pounds now and starting to come around. I'm 50/50 on him making it so, his odds are improving.

The dog doesn't like playing with him. If I put her in his pen, she hops up on something that he can't get on and whines at me. It's a shame because I really think her spending time with him was having a positive effect. I know he's a little lonely also, even though we spend a couple of hours a day with him 5-10 minutes at a time.

 

[goeduck]

I know he's a little lonely also, even though we spend a couple of hours a day with him 5-10 minutes at a time.

Maybe he needs a brother

 

[STx]

I told my wife we either need another piglet or a puppy. She vetoed both.

 

[STx]

My wife has gotten attached to him and decided he's lonely so we're going to pick up this little Duroc gilt next week. She was born 12/13 and is pedigreed, I'm going to AI her from champion boars and sell 4H piglets.

Kernel is starting to tame up some, he's not biting anymore and comes up to see you but, he won't let you touch him unless he's eating. I think with time and a tamer pig as an example he might come around to Oscar tameness.

 

[goeduck]

Good to hear.

 

[STx]

His new buddy arrived last night, they were fast friends. She's a sweet dispositioned little girl, hopefully she calms him down more.

 

[EddieWalker]

I never thought of getting another pig to keep Oscar company. Goats and chickens work great!!!!

 

[STx]

His new girlfriend calmed him down so much, he's like a different pig. Flopped right over for belly rubs today, before I could only touch if he was preoccupied with food and he definitely wasn't going to allow belly rubs.

 

[goeduck]

His new girlfriend calmed him down so much, he's like a different pig.

Like two peas in a pod.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

His new girlfriend calmed him down so much, he's like a different pig. Flopped right over for belly rubs today, before I could only touch if he was preoccupied with food and he definitely wasn't going to allow belly rubs.View attachment 541170View attachment 541171

They make quite a pair...kinda like the society girl and the hippy.

 

[MossRoad]

In all seriousness, they say that in almost every country that is having internal strife, there's a bad ratio of too many guys and not enough girls, so you have a bunch of angry young men looking forward to a future with no mate. Think about it. Makes sense.

 

[goeduck]

In all seriousness, they say that in almost every country that is having internal strife, there's a bad ratio of too many guys and not enough girls, so you have a bunch of angry young men looking forward to a future with no mate. Think about it. Makes sense.

Uh oh, our Alaskan friends might just mob and storm down here. :laughing:

EDIT. I googled that statistic and I guess it more or less has balanced out. :confused3:

State Men per 100 Women Alaska 108.5 Wyoming 104.1 North Dakota 102.1 Nevada 102.0 Utah 100.9 Montana 100.8 Colorado 100.5 Idaho 100.4 Hawaii 100.3 South Dakota 100.1 Washington 99.3 California 98.8 Arizona 98.7 Wisconsin 98.5 Minnesota 98.5 Nebraska 98.5 Kansas 98.4 Texas 98.4 Iowa 98.1 Oklahoma 98.0 Oregon 98.0 New Mexico 97.7 New Hampshire 97.3 West Virginia 97.3 Vermont 97.1 Kentucky 96.8 Indiana 96.8 Arkansas 96.5 Virginia 96.3 Michigan 96.3 Illinois 96.2 Missouri 96.0 Louisiana 95.9 Maine 95.8 Florida 95.6 Ohio 95.4 Georgia 95.4 Tennessee 95.1 Pennsylvania 95.1 North Carolina 95.0 New Jersey 94.8 Connecticut 94.8 South Carolina 94.7 Mississippi 94.4 Alabama 94.3 Delaware 93.9 New York 93.8 Massachusetts 93.7 Maryland 93.6 Rhode Island 93.4 District of Columbia 89.5 United States 96.7

 

[2LaneCruzer]

From what I read, the birth rate is 100 females to 101 males; apparently the conception rate is the same, but more males make it to birth than females.

 

[STx]

Finished up the Pig Palace over the weekend and moved The Kernel and Delmeza in Saturday night. I still need to connect the water line and put in the pig nipples and we've got to put insulators on the galvanized pipe posts so we can run and energize the hot wire. They're really enjoying all the space, about 1/2 acre.

The Kernel has really tamed up now, he comes running when I call him and generally flops right over to gave his belly rubbed. I guess he's finally figured out this isn't such a bad deal for him after all.

 

[goeduck]

Very nice. Lots of vegetation in there..... for now. They sure have lots of room.

 

[EddieWalker]

Nicely done. Great corners!!!

Why so many rows of hot wire?

 

[STx]

Nicely done. Great corners!!!

Why so many rows of hot wire?

Pigs may not be the only thing that goes in here. If we put goats or a horse or something in there later, I don't want to have to redo anything. Just a little bit more time and money to do it now, a lot of effort to redo it later. The very top and very bottom are more for predators than anything but, the very bottom will also be useful when we breed the Duroc.

Funny you should mention the corners, we had a little trouble with one of the corner posts. Despite 1,000 pounds of concrete, which did set and held the posts, when I started stretching fence, it came right out of the ground. I decided to brace it instead of reset it, it's SOLID now. I included turnbuckles so I can tighten it later if needed.

 

[EddieWalker]

Smart. I'm learning to put electric wire everywhere too. My dogs are fine behind the fence, but other animals try to get in and then it gets all crazy in there. I'm mostly afraid of a skunk getting in there with them, so we are running hot wires on the inside and outside of their fenced in area. Should have done it a long time ago, because now it's taking forever to do!!!

 

[STx]

I've just started building everything for every possiblity. When we first started messing with this place, it was just meant to be a weekend place and I made construction decisions based on that. Now that we're here full time, I've had to redo a lot of stuff at far more expense in money and time than it would have cost to just do it in the beginning.

An easy example of that is having to replace the 100A service to what was only meant to be a 400 sq/ft cabin with a 200A service for the all electric 1500 sq/ft house it's becoming. Had I put in a 200A service to begin with, labor would've been the same and cost would've only been about $200 more. Redoing it now is a 3 day job and an extra $700 in expense. I just don't want to be redoing stuff anymore, it's a waste of time and money plus, as you know, it's a lot easier to do something from scratch than it is to renovate it later.