I was woken this morning by the sound of “little pigs grunting”. They make a particular noise when they are out and about exploring things. It’s like they have to keep a running commentary going on (kinda like echo location). “uh, un… unk…. ung… unk.. unk.. unk.. UUNK!! (that is when they see  something alarming)… ungh.. un. un.. unk, ung, unk… ” and so on and on it goes..

Now the only real reason these particular morning sounds woke me up is that there are not supposed to be any little pigs anywhere near the house; only little chickens are near the house.. “peep peep peep” is the usual morning wake up noise..   So the Unks and Ungs caught my attention immediately.  I got up, put on some grungy clothes (cause there was no way I wasn’t going to get wet and dirty, even in the front yard. It is WET out there) and went out to see what was up.   Well, the presence of the little chickens had brought the little pigs to the yard. The chickens have FOOD and the little pigs wanted it (go figure.. pigs wanting more food.. how piggy of them!)   and the reason the little pigs were out of their pasture in the first place  is that spring has sprung (so the calender says!) and the grass  has started growing; growing so much in fact that it has covered the lower electric fence wire around the little pigs’ yard and has let them OUT!  (Yes, they have been out for several days now. we know it, we just haven’t gotten around to fixing it because they were staying in their aisle way and in their neighbor’s yard). Now they know where the house is and the chickens are and where the spare food is kept. We are in for it now. They will never leave us alone, even when we fix the fence (today, I promise it will get done today.. after the feed grinding, hog feeding, mixer fixing, meat organizing, rabbit moving, stall cleaning and other stuff gets done, then I will weed whack the fence line, put it back up and make it HOT. Perhaps that will keep em in.

The  thing about little pigs on the loose is that they are SO FUNNY! They are the perfect size and cuteness. Needless to say, it is hard to be mad at them for being out. and it is hard to put fixing their fence at the top of the to do list because there are so many other tings that simply MUST get done.  And did I mention that they are funny and cute? Romping around where they are not supposed to be. Making muddy pig nose prints all over the side of the chicken tent (pictures to follow later today) and when they see a human, they run.. and I mean RUN back to their house as fast as they can possibly go. unk-ing and oinking as they go. They know they are not supposed to be in the yard and they make haste back to their rightful location.. until they next go out on a walk about…

I will fix the fence today.. I will fix the fence today..

Update (just a few hours after I first wrote this)

~ It is worse then I thought. Not only are the 6 week old piglets out and about (those I found in the yard this morning), but ALL of the piglets are out and about. I went up the aisle to find all three litters running amuck. Intermingled, sneaking milk from the other sows, pulling down fences (cause they aren’t hot) and so forth.. Basic Piglet Mayhem, the kind of which we usually don’t see until August when the fences stop working due to dry ground.    AND to add insult to injury (both against ME) one of the sows has decided to join the little ones on the free for all. “Nine” (aka “Nina”) doesn’t like her yard anymore and instead is out and all over the place. Evidently she was in the back yard because there are several very large “pig digs” under the walnut tree (places where a hog/pig digs up all the grass looking for “yummies”) and a couple of large pig piles (you know.. the poop kind of pile) in various places between the yard and the sow aisle. And then of course the other obvious clue as to the fact that she is out, is the large sow walking about loose up in the sow aisle. She has no intention of going back to her house until she is ready..

SO. I weed whacked the fence line (Jim ground feed for me!) and then I put all the fences back up where they belonged.. I lowered the lowest wire so it would catch the little beasties when they try to wiggle under, but alas. I can not electrify the fence. Not just yet. You see, all three litters are intermingled which means if I turn the fences on they will be “stuck” where they are.. or they will have to endure getting shocked several times in an effort to get back to their proper houses and families.  And then there is that sow that won’t go home. I have to either leave her gate open or trust that she will go “back under” to get to her house. But if the fence is hot, she won’t go back. So I have to wait till nap time or whenever they go back to their rightful places before I power up the fences. I only hope they don’t tear it all down before that happens.

Never bored here on the farm. The animals make sure of that. There is always something they have torn apart or broken.