We have moved the trailer into the pig plot and are now actively encouraging the pigs to go into it. The reason is simple but harsh: on Friday they head off to the abattoir and it is important that we can get them in the trailer easily and with as little stress as possible. If we simply drove into their paddock on Friday and tried to get them loaded up we would almost definitely end up with two pigs that wanted to run a mile and with us flat on our faces in the mud! Acclimatizing them to the trailer and, as the photo shows, getting them to feed inside it, is hopefully the route to a successful loading first thing on Friday morning. Often pigs won’t go beyond the line of electric, even when the fencing is no longer there because the risk of a shock is deeply imprinted. Therefore, covering over where the line was is important. In our case the trailer ramp does this admirably as the photo shows. Pigs also aren’t animals that cope with walking on noisy surfaces, hence us covering the metal ramp of the trailer with sods of earth! It didn’t take us long to get them inside – food works, almost every time. We also put loads of straw inside the trailer giving the pigs another reason to venture in.
We will continue to feed them in or just outside the trailer tomorrow and fingers crossed it all then goes to plan on Friday.