Life in the PIT--Pigs In Training

Over Christmas break it became obvious that we were behind the curve on getting our pigs to behave the way they were supposed to outside of the pen.  These are supposed to be domestic pigs, but somehow they were quickly on their way to turning feral after being with us for just a few short week.  Likely the fastest known case ever.  


These pigs were supposed walk into the ring, without J touching them with his bare hands, and then keep them relatively in one spot while they are judged.  Yeah. Right. Not these pigs.  

We needed help.  We needed private pig lessons.  

How does one go about finding a trainer for pigs? We knew a guy.  S knew a guy.  A whole family really.  The M family has two boys who raised pigs for 4H and while they are all graduated from high school and one from college, the whole family was quite experienced in all things pig.  This would prove to be quite beneficial to us over the next month.  

The M boys were home on Christmas break and agreed to come over every day for 5 days and work with J and show him what he should be having the pigs do and how to do it.  Who knew!  We are so grateful to N & J for spending time helping J learn what to do.  

Can you believe that those pigs now can load themselves into the trailer with a short tap on their butt?  It's true.  

And they walk around wherever J wants them to go.  I'm not sure how the standing still portion is going, but he still has 26 days to figure that out.  

Maybe we need another lesson.