Mud = Happy Pigs

Last week we introduced you to the mud our pigs love and showed how their havens grew through the summer.  It only seemed right to follow that post with some better pictures to show you what maintenance (from a pig perspective) each group has done.

These peewees bask in their mud

Bacon and his ladies opted for a double mud hole 

Lots of pigs live inside for their entire lives.  The difference on Fork Right Farm is they get to be pigs the humane way.  Here they can wander the pasture, eat grass and other greens, root in the dirt with their snouts and wallow in the mud.  We provide fresh water to them daily and while filling their trough or pan they enjoy a spray down with the hose if they are standing nearby.

One of several mud holes the breeders made

The girls are still trying to get their mud hole started

For farrowing we pen the sows in the barn to keep them safe.  A week after the piglets were born, our sow Margaret made sure we knew when it was time to let her and the babies into the paddock.  Destruction of the stall walls was her communication method.  As soon as we let her out, she settled down and immediately found some dirt to lay in and root.  It only took a few days for that spot to become the start of the mud hole Missy and her babies currently enjoy.

Missy and her babies

Little boys seem to have the same allure to the mud and puddles.