Post by patchofheaven on Mar 31, 2008 10:18:00 GMT -5
Well, after a month of searching we found 2 feeder pigs to raise for our freezer. For awhile, it seemed as though each person that we were trying to buy from kept falling through, but now I think we needed to be patient and the right person would come to us... I had put 4 ads on the internet and a gentleman answered my craigslist ad - he was not the seller, but a very kind man who gave me a whole lot of pig raising information and the numbers to a nice Filipino man in Thompsons, TX. We arranged a meeting and loaded the pen (just in case) and made the 70+ mile trip to see the pigs.
Turned out someone else had bought 4 pigs from the man about an hour before we arrived - Mr. Rommer was out delivering the pigs so we did not get to meet him in person, but we met his wife and business partner (father in law I think)
They really had a nice place with lots and lots of animals (cows, pigs, goat, turkeys, dogs and lots of chickens and ducks) They have a animal paradise, most of the animals were free range and very curious. They have a nice creek that runs through their property where the pigs were sunbathing and floating with the ducks. We almost felt guilty for taking the pigs from their paradise and putting them in the 30' x 50' pen that we built for them. We ended up picking out 2 of the three month olds - one of each breed - a Hampshire boy and a Blue Butt girl. The ride home was rather messy, I think they got the pooped scared out of them riding on the busy freeway all the way home. We released them into the pen and they immediately started rooting up the ground and seem happy just to be out of the truck.
This will be my children's first experience with raising an animal for meat - the boys are 16 and 12. The youngest is already trying to talk us into to keeping the girl pig and having babies. We have contemplated this also, but want to wait and see how everything goes - maybe?
I know we probably shouldn't name them, but we couldn't resist meet Oreo and Babe:
Turned out someone else had bought 4 pigs from the man about an hour before we arrived - Mr. Rommer was out delivering the pigs so we did not get to meet him in person, but we met his wife and business partner (father in law I think)
They really had a nice place with lots and lots of animals (cows, pigs, goat, turkeys, dogs and lots of chickens and ducks) They have a animal paradise, most of the animals were free range and very curious. They have a nice creek that runs through their property where the pigs were sunbathing and floating with the ducks. We almost felt guilty for taking the pigs from their paradise and putting them in the 30' x 50' pen that we built for them. We ended up picking out 2 of the three month olds - one of each breed - a Hampshire boy and a Blue Butt girl. The ride home was rather messy, I think they got the pooped scared out of them riding on the busy freeway all the way home. We released them into the pen and they immediately started rooting up the ground and seem happy just to be out of the truck.
This will be my children's first experience with raising an animal for meat - the boys are 16 and 12. The youngest is already trying to talk us into to keeping the girl pig and having babies. We have contemplated this also, but want to wait and see how everything goes - maybe?
I know we probably shouldn't name them, but we couldn't resist meet Oreo and Babe:
