Out with the old, in with the new…
First the new: Last week we had some new arrivals. 30 new Mangalitsa weaner pigs arrived. They have been active and playful–the damp weather lately hasn’t discouraged them at all. Their pasture was rather overgrown, but they’ve made a healthy dent in the foliage. Pigs don’t benefit fully from grass until they’re about 100 lb., 
but they have fun in it and it doesn’t hurt them any. What they really love, though, is when Mark chops up fallen apples into a mash with their grain. They’re well into “electric fence training” and the mash helps “white bucket train” them.
Then the old: Kylan Hoover, from Shasta Valley Farm in Oregon, was able to deliver the new pigs because he was here to pick out 12 older ones. 
Today his picks were loaded onto the truck and headed out to Oregon. Jim Lambert, a local hauler, helped get the pigs weighed and loaded them onto the semi at his place, which he has set up for the big trucks. Mark used his board to move the pigs in the small pen into a “sqeeze chute,” where they have no option but to go onto the trailer. If a pig can see an alternative to where you want them, their 
powerful noses and tank like bodies will take that route–one pig got his nose through the sqeeze gate and took Joe for a ride! But experience (does that lead to good campfire stories!) and a good set-up made the job relatively easy despite the mud. It was nice to see some of the big acorn eaters head down the road!