Unforeseen tragedy struck yesterday when our boar and sow broke out of their paddock and pushed through a gate. They then wandered through my sister’s yard and onto the neighbor’s property. Long story short, the neighbor claimed to have felt threatened and shot them. I’ll not disclose any major details yet, well except for this one: another neighbor came forward and stated that the pigs had returned my sister’s yard when they shot them.
This is one of the more devastating incidences we’ve experienced since embarking on this farming adventure. Seamus and Agnes were the names we bestowed upon them due to the fact that the Tamworth is known as the “Irish Grazer” and they seem fine Irish names. They were very tame, gentle and full of character. Seamus was especially gentle and personable. The only thing he loved more than food was to be scratched and petted.
Their loss is painful on multiple levels. As you might see, we were rather fond of these two hogs who were to be the foundation of our pastured pig operation. This hurts because now we are back at square one after buying them and caring for them until mature and raising just one litter of piglets. Because I was at my other full time job, we had to pay someone to come pick the hogs up and take them to a processor so that meat could be salvaged. These are expenses we did not have plans for at all. This puts us in the hole and having to invest in new breeding stock takes us down even further and it will be that much longer before we will turn any amount of profit. The only reason I am not giving up on raising pigs is because I despise the idea of giving up, and I REALLY love bacon.
