itsmecindi
Gold Member
I tried so hard to ignore it. I knew Fred couldn't hear it, he was way in the front of the house. It was about seven thirty, dark already, and the pasture dogs were going nuts. Dang.
I stepped out on the back porch and listened. It sounded like armageddon. Big hogs squealing and raging, sheet metal banging, it sounded like all hello was breaking loose so I went back inside and broke the news to Fred.
I had just congratulated myself on managing to get through the whole afternoon clean. No dust, no mud.
I could tell by the sounds as we walked out there that it was not going to be an easy fix. I was right. I had slipped on Fred's Georgia mud boots, which are only aboutthree sizes too big for my feet, and he was in boxers and shirtless, wearing a pair of hastily donned sneakers. Yeah we were prepared.
We had left a gilt in with Bear so he could breed her and somehow Hercules broke in with them. The sow was all cut up, and Bear and Herc looked like they'd been through a blender. Clearly Bear had just had his butt thoroughly kicked as he had his head in a corner and was not making eye contact.
We got the gilt out pretty quick, she was ready to be out. But seperating the big boys was another matter. Every time one of them moved, the other reacted, and they tied up again. What an awesome sight. They went up on their hind legs like dogs, locking forelegs, heads thrashing back and forth, cutters flashing. Due to their height, easily six feet on their back feet like that, they couldn't stay up long, but even a few seconds did major damage. They both have armor on their shoulders but their necks were streaked with gashes and smeared with blood.
"They're gonna kill each other and there's nothing we can do but stand here and watch!" I yelled over the squealing.
"The heck we will!" Fred yelled back. "We gotta do something."
I held the gate to Bear's pen open and Fred walked the perimeter, trying to prod Hercules through the gate. It took me about ten seconds to realize I was standing in an ant bed, but there was nowhere for me to go. I had to hold that gate or Fred was wasting his time. During the struggle a waterline was broken so Bear's pen was flooded and every time Herc ran past he drenched me. So much for my staying clean record.
Operating in the light from the tractor headlights we finally got Herc out of Bear's pen and back into his own. We spent the next thirty minutes making repairs and getting the gilt back into the hog pasture with the other sows. Her mere presence in the boar pasture was enough to keep Herc pacing back and forth in his pen foaming and growling.
We left them, both secure in their own pens for the moment, nursing separate wounds on their own turf. Only with daylight will I be able to tell how badly they are hurt. Bear has a gash on his left side about three inches long and a half inch deep. It's looks pretty superficial, and he took the worst of it. I gave him a good drench of iodine with a squirt bottle but will have to watch for infection.
We have been gradually putting together the materials for sturdier pens. We now have steel posts which will be set in concrete and steel crossbeams. All we need to figure out is how to make gates and we will be in business. I can't wait. I have about had my fill of these break-outs. The one thing I am grateful for is that Fred was home this time. Had he not been, he probably would have come home to at least one dead boar as I would not have attempted this seperation without him.
I stepped out on the back porch and listened. It sounded like armageddon. Big hogs squealing and raging, sheet metal banging, it sounded like all hello was breaking loose so I went back inside and broke the news to Fred.
I had just congratulated myself on managing to get through the whole afternoon clean. No dust, no mud.
I could tell by the sounds as we walked out there that it was not going to be an easy fix. I was right. I had slipped on Fred's Georgia mud boots, which are only aboutthree sizes too big for my feet, and he was in boxers and shirtless, wearing a pair of hastily donned sneakers. Yeah we were prepared.
We had left a gilt in with Bear so he could breed her and somehow Hercules broke in with them. The sow was all cut up, and Bear and Herc looked like they'd been through a blender. Clearly Bear had just had his butt thoroughly kicked as he had his head in a corner and was not making eye contact.
We got the gilt out pretty quick, she was ready to be out. But seperating the big boys was another matter. Every time one of them moved, the other reacted, and they tied up again. What an awesome sight. They went up on their hind legs like dogs, locking forelegs, heads thrashing back and forth, cutters flashing. Due to their height, easily six feet on their back feet like that, they couldn't stay up long, but even a few seconds did major damage. They both have armor on their shoulders but their necks were streaked with gashes and smeared with blood.
"They're gonna kill each other and there's nothing we can do but stand here and watch!" I yelled over the squealing.
"The heck we will!" Fred yelled back. "We gotta do something."
I held the gate to Bear's pen open and Fred walked the perimeter, trying to prod Hercules through the gate. It took me about ten seconds to realize I was standing in an ant bed, but there was nowhere for me to go. I had to hold that gate or Fred was wasting his time. During the struggle a waterline was broken so Bear's pen was flooded and every time Herc ran past he drenched me. So much for my staying clean record.
Operating in the light from the tractor headlights we finally got Herc out of Bear's pen and back into his own. We spent the next thirty minutes making repairs and getting the gilt back into the hog pasture with the other sows. Her mere presence in the boar pasture was enough to keep Herc pacing back and forth in his pen foaming and growling.
We left them, both secure in their own pens for the moment, nursing separate wounds on their own turf. Only with daylight will I be able to tell how badly they are hurt. Bear has a gash on his left side about three inches long and a half inch deep. It's looks pretty superficial, and he took the worst of it. I gave him a good drench of iodine with a squirt bottle but will have to watch for infection.
We have been gradually putting together the materials for sturdier pens. We now have steel posts which will be set in concrete and steel crossbeams. All we need to figure out is how to make gates and we will be in business. I can't wait. I have about had my fill of these break-outs. The one thing I am grateful for is that Fred was home this time. Had he not been, he probably would have come home to at least one dead boar as I would not have attempted this seperation without him.