Past Experiences

I often talk to the different people that I meet at work, plus various co-workers and tell them about my experiences owning a small hobby farm.

Apparently the stories are funny, amusing, entertaining or all three. Its been mentioned that I should write a book. Until that time comes I thought I'd start putting some remembrances down here. I have always regretted not getting every story I could from my parents before I lost them both.

So here goes:

My best friends lived in the house next door, same side of the road about 1/8 of a mile away. We both bred and showed rough collies which is actually how we met in the first place. (another story)

Anyway, one day they called me up to show me their new 'puppy'. I go running over to find its a baby pig. I WAS IN LOVE. I helped them raise theirs up to butchering weight and we all enjoyed the experience.

Nothing would do that I didn't get my own piglet a few years later. Well live and learn. Pigs are very smart. Plus they are social. So here we are with one little pig in his own little stall in the chicken house. All nice and secure. A few days later my parents came over to see the little guy and after looking they came into the house. I went downstairs to get some laundry out of the machine and look up at the basement window in time to see this little animal go running by.

I realized it was the pig and called to my parents as I run up two stairs at a time. We end up chasing this little thing all over the country side. Up the road, around the yard, through the trees, down the road until I am actually starting to gain on him. Suddenly out the corner of my eye this shape flies by me and throws a rolling body check at the little pig. It was my Dad!!! He was 50 years old at the time but he caught the lovely little pork chop.

We put him back in and closed the door. Five minutes later the pig is standing in the yard. This time it didn't take as long to catch him. He was still quite frisky, like the previous experience was just a warm up, but we managed to corner him in the other barn. As we put him back in the pen, my Dad made every thing so secure Houdini wouldn't have gotten out. We stood and watched this little pig and my Dad said you could actually see him figuring out how he was going to get out this time. He said it was a good thing the pig didn't have a slide rule.

He never escaped again and turned into some lovely meat. I learned several things by owning that pig. I had always been interested in animals and such but this little pig sparked such an interest in farming etc, that I read everything I could find. Turned out my pig was lonely and missing his litter mates. All the fun could have been avoided by getting him a friend. I only ever owned a single pig once after that.