So... I bought a boar. He's a sort of rangy looking fellow, hence the name, Ranger. His first day in the pasture he currently inhabits he ambled about the entire perimeter several times, scoping out the new digs. After a 24 hour walkabout I caught him in the same 1/3 acre electric paddock the sheep and cows are in for this time of year and he hasn't tested the wire a single time. It is hard to emphasize how nice it is to purchase a pig that is truly trained to electric fence. It's really nice. I've had to do the training on all the other pigs I've owned...
I drove up to Vermont last week to pick him up from Walter Jeffries of Sugar Mountain Farm. Walter does not coddle his pigs at all and he pushes them to perform on a pasture based diet. Now that I'm gearing up to farrow here I wanted to bring genes into my herd that have been pushed farther down the forage lane than I've managed thus far, and it's clear after one week of watching this pig that he has several traits I very much want in my swine.
I just finished writing several long paragraphs about the new boar and WordPress swallowed it whole. I can't seem to restore that version, so I guess this post is just going to go up as it is now. Maybe I'll put some of my observations into the comment section once I feel less dejected.
-Edmund