With the two Saddlebacks going to the abattoir early tomorrow morning, it makes sense to get everything set up ready to load them in the dark.
This is also when layout of our pens and race comes into play.
The second of the two gate posts at the end of the race is stepped back as this allows me to reverse the trailer in at a shallow angle.
If the two posts were in line, then I’d need an access track wider than 12 feet because of the wider angle needed to get the trailer and gate opening to meet up. (Note the Super-duper Sumo to the left!)
The gates to the individual pens open into the race, hinging so that they block access to the pens further up.
When I load the pigs at 4.30am tomorrow, I’ll open the gate behind the OH and wire it to the fence on the other side of the race, wire the gate in the foreground (which normally closes off the race) to the gate on the trailer, and then encourage the pigs to come out.
Well, that’s the theory.
Well mate, from a “PIG” of the 7th I feel that the four legged kind will do as you want …… if you are lucky and cunning!
Maybe the “Sumo” will have to put on a demonstration and that could do the trick.
I applaud the progress you and your tribe have made on your croft.
Luck and cunning? No need, we just put some tasty food in the trailer, put a light in the trailer so the pigs could see it was safe, and then opened the gates. The pigs then trotted into the trailer without any urging at all. A bit like “old grunts” really - nothing like a free feed to get the troops moving!