How to catch piglets

[haecklers]

It took me a sadly long time to get smart about catching piglets for customers. I think my new system works pretty well, as long as the piglets don't get wise to it too quickly! I put a dog crate in their pen and put food treats in it, leave the door open and just leave. They pretty quickly decide to go in for the treats. Then I start feeding them daily in their crate, still leaving the door open. They start liking that crate (and less food gets wasted when the ground is muddy). When a customer is scheduled to come pick some up, I go out and put food in the crate, then shut them in, maybe 30 minutes before they arrive. Usually the piglets are pretty calm, just looking under each other for bits they missed and it's easy to open the side door and grab out the ones the customer wants. I give them more food in the crate before letting them out so they don't associate it with getting caught, if I haven't had to let some out to get to the ones I'm trying to grab. Usually a few more days of feeding them in the crate and they forgive it for shutting them in.



It works best after they've been weaned and the mother isn't there to shove them out of the way trying to get all the food.

I also go in with them to hand feed - by putting the food on the ground - I don't want them biting at my hands! This batch got super friendly super fast, I think because of the Guinea Hog in them (father). They charge over and mill around my legs.




That one just because it's so cute, LOL!

[eljay]

Smart! And yes, that last one is a 10 on the cuteness scale.

[goatlady]

Well...catch one for me! They are adorable!

[bhfmomma]

I LOVE that curious expression on that last photo. I can't wait to get little piggies. <3>

[MameeT]

They are so cute! I am loving my little gos piglets!

[boondocks]

Awww! That is a cute pic! Wish I lived closer.

[nodakjersey]

So cute

[christybell]

They are adorable! Great plan too, making them happy (and less stressed) about the whole catch process!

[haecklers]

Well, I had two people come back-to-back (second group after I had just let them out) and then another customer come unexpectedly (they *had* told me they were coming late-morning, but didn't call first) so I did wind up chasing them around anyways. But - this is a first - I could sell out if I didn't want to keep some! And 3 of the 4 people who said they were coming actually showed up, and 2 of them were early! (beats showing up several hours late!)

If the person who was going to come but her brakes are acting strange does actually come next week then we'll only have 3 total to grow out for next fall (out of the last 3 litters), which I'm not complaining about at all! The first pig in the fall is exciting - ham again! new sausage recipes to try! etc. but by the 4th it's just work.

It looks like we could do a decent side-line by doing on-farm butchering classes. I have no idea what to charge, tho. Up in Philly's suburbs where people had $$ you could probably charge a lot and fill the class, but here it would feel like taking advantage of people who are just scraping by. Making sausage is *so* easy, tho - the basic sausage isn't any harder than fancy hamburgers or meatloaf, and fresh breakfast sausage is all normal ingredients, I do think that would be a good class too. And maybe curing bacon/ham as well, because it doesn't have to be smoked to be cured, and it can be done right in the refrigerator if you have smaller cuts, so there's almost no risk of food poisoning if they somehow mess with the "recipe".

[eljay]

I would take that class if it were up here.

[jean]

Yeah, so would I. I'd really like to take a class in on-farm butchering well before I need to do it myself. It seems disrespectful to the animal to fumble around with the butchering. Too bad I'm hundreds of miles away.