North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Jim Fruth <jfruth@uslink.net>]

Bruce Hansen asked:
    Did you have any trouble with the pigs getting through the fence? How
big
(weight) were they when you removed them from the plot. I plan on doing what
you did to three acres (although for a different reason).

    Local farmers advised me to use a weed-burner electric fence partly
because the pigs quickly develop a disdain for anything less.  The
weed-burner electric fence is also necessary because, as the name implies,
it burns off weeds as they grow up and touch the wire - this is important
because the pigs test the wire everyday to determine if it is still working.
They'd put their nose to it, get zapped, let out a youlp, then do it again
the next day.  My pigs only got out once but a neighbor had an old sow that
got out everyday; after she tested to see if it was on, she'd back up about
50', start squealing (in advance of getting zapped a few times), then run
straight through the wires.  Then she was out for the day and refused to
come back until feeding time.
    Pigs are notorious for doing the opposite of what you want them to do.
The only way I could lead them with a rope was to tie it to both their back
legs.  To get them to move, I'd yank their legs out from under her and hold
backward pressure as she got up, then yank them out from under again, ad
infinitum, each time gaining 8" in the direction we were going.  I waited
until they were a good butchering size (+/_ 100 lbs.) before terminating the
project.

-- 

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN
www.bberryfarm.com