We did it!
2600 miles in 6 days.
Shew....what a whirlwind!
We left Sunday, 4/24/22 to ultimately bring Gods Blessing Kate home.
And we did. 2 other hogs that lived with her, Gods Blessing John & Gods Blessing Juliet came home with us too.
We had some curve balls along the way that were new for me. But, we overcame and offloaded all 3 here last Friday evening.
One of the challenges we faced was that the hogs had been barn kept which left them with low muscle tone for the trip. The cold wasn't ideal either. We seemed to hover around 34 degrees. Add the highway wind to that and we had to adjust our timeline to reduce stress on the hogs.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to barn raised hogs. And, in a harsh Wisconsin winter, it's the best plan. But, I immediately noticed a difference in body condition & skin color from my pasture raised hogs.
Because of this, we wanted to make sure the hogs were hydrated as best as possible. That meant Powerade for them all!
Pictured below is my Farm Manager & copilot, Madison Wilson, syringe feeding Powerade to them to be sure they were hydrated.
Once home, Gods Blessing John instantly made friends with our ace farm hand, Jacob. John's an easy going boar.
Below, Gods Blessing John ready to offload.
Below, Jacob petting John.
Once we got them off the trailer, they all were excited about Georgia's green grass. It did my heart good to see them devouring it.
Now that Gods Blessing Kate is here, our work begins. Unable to catch, or get pregnant, our farm is the expert on that with the registered Meishan in the US.
She needs time to settle in and get used to her new environment. Once they are eating, drinking, sleeping and wallowing easily, we'll vaccinate them like all of our breeding stock.
Our vet has already been out and completed ultrasounds on both sows, neither are pregnant.
So for now, we wait and let them settle in here.
Once Kate is at full health and comfort, we will begin a fertility treatment with our vets supervision.
Fingers crossed, we can produce some 100% USDA piglets from our journey!
Below, Gods Blessing Kate on our pasture.
