Sorting hogs
Today I worked for Chuck for 3 1/2 hours and got paid at Taco Tico. Well, my dinner only cost $4.00, but it was my decision to go out. Still, I think I might still have a little bit coming to me besides Taco Tico.
We were sorting hogs for hauling tomorrow. I've sorted hogs with Chuck many times before, but never this big of a sort. Usually Ben has helped with these larger numbers, so when I went outside to work I thought I'd be back in within an hour.
Still, it was fun.
Chuck's finish set up has 8 pens (I think) and we needed pigs from every one of those pens. Chuck had them marked with green and orange marks. The pigs with green marks were going to end up together and the pigs with orange marks were going to end up together. All the pigs with green marks came from 4 of the pens. The pigs with no marks from those four pens also had to end up together. The pigs with orange marks came from the other four pens, which also had unmarked pigs. None of the unmarked pigs from the first four pens could end up with any of the unmarked pigs from the second four pens. There were no empty pens to put pigs into during the sorting process. If the wrong pigs would happen to end up together, they would fight. Pigs have a social structure and they can live peacefully with pigs they are used to, but fight with newcomers. The pigs in the first four pens have always been separate from the pigs in the second four pens, and have to stay separate.
I hope I have adequately described the difficulty of the task we undertook. Chuck has to plan out each step so that the wrong pigs don't get mixed together, and so that there is always a logical place for the pigs to go. In some pens we removed the unmarked pigs, leaving the marked ones behind. In others we let out marked pigs leaving unmarked ones behind.
Even though I'm not out there helping that often, we have developed a good sense for working together. We don't have to do much talking, which is helpful because talking at the wrong moment can turn a hog away from the direction you want him to go.
There is an art to working with pigs. You have to know when to push a little harder, when to back off, how to watch their eyes to know what they are thinking. Pigs like to explore so they like to go through an open gate, unless they think you want them to go through that open gate. You want the pigs who are leaving the pen to notice the open gate and think it is their own idea to go through---while simultaneously keeping the pigs who are staying away from the gate. If you are too energetic in convincing one pig to stay behind, the pig next to him will get upset and be unwilling to leave. So you watch their eyes. You try to block the pig who is staying when the leaving pig isn't looking.
I think nearly every pig was moved at least twice from one pen to another by the time we were done, in order to get the green ones in the two closest pens to the loading ramp, the orange ones in the next two pens, and the unmarked ones in their pens farther down. None of it was unnecessary, but it did take a while.
Tomorrow the semi will come and we will load them on the truck. This afternoon all the green ones had access to the ramp so that they won't be afraid tomorrow when it is time to load.
We were sorting hogs for hauling tomorrow. I've sorted hogs with Chuck many times before, but never this big of a sort. Usually Ben has helped with these larger numbers, so when I went outside to work I thought I'd be back in within an hour.
Still, it was fun.
Chuck's finish set up has 8 pens (I think) and we needed pigs from every one of those pens. Chuck had them marked with green and orange marks. The pigs with green marks were going to end up together and the pigs with orange marks were going to end up together. All the pigs with green marks came from 4 of the pens. The pigs with no marks from those four pens also had to end up together. The pigs with orange marks came from the other four pens, which also had unmarked pigs. None of the unmarked pigs from the first four pens could end up with any of the unmarked pigs from the second four pens. There were no empty pens to put pigs into during the sorting process. If the wrong pigs would happen to end up together, they would fight. Pigs have a social structure and they can live peacefully with pigs they are used to, but fight with newcomers. The pigs in the first four pens have always been separate from the pigs in the second four pens, and have to stay separate.
I hope I have adequately described the difficulty of the task we undertook. Chuck has to plan out each step so that the wrong pigs don't get mixed together, and so that there is always a logical place for the pigs to go. In some pens we removed the unmarked pigs, leaving the marked ones behind. In others we let out marked pigs leaving unmarked ones behind.
Even though I'm not out there helping that often, we have developed a good sense for working together. We don't have to do much talking, which is helpful because talking at the wrong moment can turn a hog away from the direction you want him to go.
There is an art to working with pigs. You have to know when to push a little harder, when to back off, how to watch their eyes to know what they are thinking. Pigs like to explore so they like to go through an open gate, unless they think you want them to go through that open gate. You want the pigs who are leaving the pen to notice the open gate and think it is their own idea to go through---while simultaneously keeping the pigs who are staying away from the gate. If you are too energetic in convincing one pig to stay behind, the pig next to him will get upset and be unwilling to leave. So you watch their eyes. You try to block the pig who is staying when the leaving pig isn't looking.
I think nearly every pig was moved at least twice from one pen to another by the time we were done, in order to get the green ones in the two closest pens to the loading ramp, the orange ones in the next two pens, and the unmarked ones in their pens farther down. None of it was unnecessary, but it did take a while.
Tomorrow the semi will come and we will load them on the truck. This afternoon all the green ones had access to the ramp so that they won't be afraid tomorrow when it is time to load.
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