Pig’s and other animals

Mama got a little surprise yesterday afternoon as she was working with the feeder pig. Big Mama jumped over a hog panel I have over the opening to the chute we use to load pigs from the enclosure. Mama was in the pig sty scraping the feed down into the part of the feeder the pig accesses when she heard a noise like a muffled crash; nothing too frightening. When she turned around, Big Mama was right in her face – literally. Big Mama, by far our biggest cow at nearly 1800#, wasn’t going to be left out of whatever the pig was getting. Such is her greedy nature. The ruckus Mama raised in response to her being in the pig sty with her was almost enough to send the porky heifer back out the way she came in…almost. Mama said she had to work with the cow to get her back over the now crumpled hog panel, but she did get her out. When I got home I put us a pallet where the opening had been damaged, so, hopefully that will be the end of that. It is hard to tell. Big Mama is not going to miss any chance to eat – regardless of who the feed was intended for.

Later that evening, before we had to go to FBI, we were sitting at the table eating a quick dinner when Mama suddenly blurted out, “We have hogs in our yard!” Of course, I looked out to see what she was looking at and saw no movement. Since we have the big dogs on guard day and night it was hard to imagine any hogs getting into the yard without setting off an alarm of some sort and there no activity at all. After I looked for a moment, Mama explained a little further. What she was seeing that alarmed her so was the ground that had been torn up by hogs. The damage was not extensive but it was noticeable and it was very close to the front sidewalk. In fact, the hogs had gotten to the little flowerbed we have around a tree at the edge of the front walkway. It is difficult to imagine that the hogs got to stay long but they had definitely been there. This morning, when I left, both dogs were at the entrance of the property on the grass just inside the pillars that front the drive. Maybe that will be sufficient to keep them out of our front yard.

At this moment, Mama’s greatest concern is for the chickens. She has been concerned for some time that they are not laying as well as they once were. That, she believes, stems from some lack in their diet, their environment or their overall happiness being her chickens. Now, what chicken would not be happy being one of Mama’s chickens? It is hard for me to imagine them not being happy but the lack of eggs being produced is an indication of something. We are not sure what that something is and Mama is not one to search the internet for answers. That will fall to me. I did read that dogs are happier when they listen to Reggae music but chickens were not mentioned as far as music preference. I am pretty certain that Mama will not play Bob Marley throughout the day. We are liable to get funky eggs if we do that, but the problem still persists and I am certain there is a solution. Maybe John Denver or Neil Diamond. Or since we live on the farm, Randy Travis or Curt Black. I will even pipe in Willie Nelson if we have to.

I will have to look that one up.