My Sheep Are Prejudiced

Few days ago I got myself some live bacon, 2 berkshire gilts, about 25lb. Of course they dug out of the pen I had prepared for them and seem to have lots of fun taunting the sheep. the sheep, as soon as they get near let go their alarm call, havent heard that so many times in a year already. I see they are excellent at rototilling so I put them into an unused side of my cattle shelter, the sheep use the other side, normally. Now the sheep wont go into the cattle shelter at all, they will come for some grain but the pigs are there and so they wont bed down there anymore. Will this pass, is it just they are temporarily frightened or will it be a permanent cold war situation and I have to move the piggers to another location???

I was amazed to find almost every animal is horrified and repulsed by pigs. Even the horses were spooked. Someone told me that pigs may smell like bear to other animals. I found they all calm down after a while (the pigs teasing doesn't help) but only the dogs ever seem to actually tolerate being around the pigs.

My pigs free range once the ground freezes and all animals will eat out of the same haypile as a pig but that's about it.

On sunny winter days when the cows are all lying down basking in the sun the pigs will go around goosing the cows. It upsets the cows but the pigs obviously think it is hilarious.

Sheep are so predator aware and so... fastidious - I'm not sure they ever will bed down that close to pigs.

Wild and feral pigs will go for sheep (quite a problem in Australia apparently)so they may have a reason for feeling spooked.

Fowler wrote:Wild and feral pigs will go for sheep (quite a problem in Australia apparently)so they may have a reason for feeling spooked.

U have gotta be kidding!! They eat sheep, now that has just got to be wrong!! What a thought, beautiful days, CynthiaM.

CynthiaM wrote:

Fowler wrote:Wild and feral pigs will go for sheep (quite a problem in Australia apparently)so they may have a reason for feeling spooked.

U have gotta be kidding!! They eat sheep, now that has just got to be wrong!! What a thought, beautiful days, CynthiaM.

Oh they can easily kill dogs if they want. Predation is probably more on the young animals. I guess they will also predate on young deer. Might be why cows and horses don't like them too.

Even the tamest one can be vicious - they've taken free range pullets of mine, eaten all but the wings...

Pigs!! What pigs!! I never in a million years would have dreamed that. But then, I remember hearing stories, somewhere in the cobwebs of my mind (or maybe it was a fable) of farmers falling into a pig pen...and then you know what happens from there, eeeeeeks, getting a little freaked out. Probably never will keep pigs. Well, never really wanted to keep pigs, but now absolutely will never keep pigs. Eating chickens and leaving only the wings. Now that is just wrong. Why eat the feet. Oh brother, my mind is just too rambly this morning. Think I'll go and hug a chicken. Have a beautiful day, CynthiaM.

oh boy!..I think there will be 2 piggers goiong up for sale very very soon if I cant keep them in their intended place, not that I havent a few candidates for falling into their pen but oh well... (heavy sigh).

It makes sense that farm animals dislike pigs. Look at the teeth. Look at cow, horse, sheep, goat and mule teeth. Look in a bird's mouth for teeth. Then look at the pearly whites residing in a pig's mouth and you will know why the rest of the critters give them the cold shoulder. A pig is a meat eater. I have always under stood that a pig is a member of the bear family. I could be wrong. Would you put a bear in the barnyard? I, for one, do NOT recommend bears in the barnyard!

Hmm. Intersting thoughts here Reneggaide. How many other meat eaters do we Americans also commonly eat? Is the pig our only commonly consumed barnyard omnivore? Some hunters go after bear, which is an omnivore (both meat and plants) which I think a pig is also. However we keep pigs in captivity and choose their diets for them, leaning more to the plant based diet than tossing left over meat to them (although most pigs do get table scraps). Yup, if I were a sheep I'd be wondering what was going through my owner's mind that he'd throw some predatory pigs in the mix!

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Higgins, the Cadillac has been underated, in my humble opinion, as the multi use farm vehicle that it truly was. Note the 'was', modern Caddies do not hold a candle to their 70s and earlier counterparts.

My mom always drove a Cadillac and out on the ranch would head out to load up a distressed calf then back home across the fields with the calf and a wrangler both riding in the trunk. During haying, the Caddy was loaded with food supplies and out she went to where the crew was. Whether there was a road or not.

In our mid teens, my brother and I discovered the solid, tank-like ability of the Cadillac when it came to navigating rocky mountain roads for bush parties, often off roading was also quite possible as the bumper of the average Cadillac can push over most small trees. As long as you stayed out of mud and didn't get high-centred, we went everywhere we were not supposed to be! Had to do some fast thinking when mom said, "uh, why is there a birch sapling stuck under the car?" Uh..don't know! Perhaps it grew there.

Cadillacs and farming. A natural mix.

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Wow. Talk about Hijack!

That's impressive.....

Well, I dont have Cadillac anymore but I do have 30+ metal hog panels I can wire together. Maybe make a pen where I want my new garden, they can rototill for me till I decide how big they will get. If the sheep dont stay near the shelter at night they are bringing far more risk of predation on themselves. Hmm, some outdoor plywood for a roof and a bale o straw, move them every day or two...might work for a while, dont want to winter them now. I dont see anything cutesy about piggers, I see food...and automatic rototillers(YEA). Sheep though, EVIL! just evil, dont think I could do it, they all treat me like the pope, kissing my hands and such...how could I look them in the eye and say yummy?? EVIL I say EEVVVIIILLLL!!

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Very smooth!

HigginsRAT wrote:

Cash's One Piece at a Time does help also on why I thought this car was only street worthy...

But she opened the door and said "Honey, take me for a spin."

So we drove up town just to get the tags
And I headed her right on down main drag

Johnny's messed up three beamed machine would maybe not have handled rougher conditions, being a 1953 to 1973 combo...I still wanna know just how big his lunchbox was to fit an engine and a trunk in...said he did that the second day.

I think there's a line where he snuck out the bigger things in his friends RV.

To stay on course, here is a brief account of someone who relocated their sheep using a cadillac. No word on what the sheep thought about pigs.

http://collincountyrealestatenews.com/channels/activerain/topics/friday_funnies_humor

I should point out that chickens are more than happy to eat meat - insects, eggs (curses!), bits of bacon, beef fat etc. Now they have yet to attack a cow looking to eat it but I wouldn't trust them on a side of beef..

Heck. Last year I made the mistake of entering the chicken coop with a partly healed cut on my finger. I had chickens leaping up to snatch a bite of my finger, drawing blood. I was lucky to escape with my life.

Our neighbors had European Wild Boars. Those were some scary pigs. Not to be trusted at all. They would throw dead goats or left overs from butchering into the pen for the pigs to eat. Totally grossed me out. Then on occasion when their pigs would escape, they would call me to warn me and tell me to keep my kids inside because the pigs were loose.

Our cat enjoyed the company of our pigs. He would go and sit on the fence and watch them all the time. I never trusted them though.

Hijacked!

Can't help it...can't hold it back....if your sheep are in a Cadillac, they can out run the pigs! My 500 cubic inches trumps whatever you got under your hood, Officer, EAT MY DUST! Baaaaaabye!

Oh la, la. I love the way topics take on such odd and strange things. Always thought cadillacs were the nicest make of car ever invented. Loved the lyrics from songs, and most of all, loved the feeding pig cadillac and Uno, you and your Brother's search for woodland parties!! Yea!! What was this topic about anyways, oh right....sweet little piggies, got a whole new way to look at that now, smiling. Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

Heda, you make a point, chickens are also omnivores and as such, could be considered meat eaters in the barnyard. Yet sheep do not shun chickens. Why? I think the reason is dental. While a chicken is happy to eat meat, small bits of it that she can peck at, a chicken is not equipped to attack anything very big and a chicken has no teeth! It is an opportunistic omnivore, mostly eating meat that has been killed by someone else (other than bugs and small things). Pigs have the ability and means to be intentional carnivores, as in they are equipped to kill. And this would naturally make a sheep nervous.

So the difference, in my mind, between a meat eating chicken and a meat eating pig is the ability to KILL the meat being eaten. Chickens can't, pigs can! Sheep know this.

Well since a lot of this post is off topic... Cynthia...pigs aren't all bad and scary I believe it's the same as any animal the more time you spend with them the more you can trust them. We have pigs and they are wonderful! Smart and playful. Our first male was an escape artist and we could not keep him in his last pen. He free ranged the yard and now believes he is one of the dogs He slept in the dog house until he outgrew it. Our female is well mannered too. They love belly rubs and our kids spend a lot of time in the pen with them. It is very amusing to watch the kids try and hop on their backs for a ride... usually ending in a face full of mud! Ha ha! Our chickens spend a very good portion of their day in the pig pen and have NEVER been attacked. They love dust bathing in all the freshly dug dirt and eating all the juicy bugs that are being dug out of the ground. The male got one of our rabbit cages open and the doe was let free, we could not catch her! Two days later we found her residing in the pig pen across the yard from her cage. Could not figure out why she decided to live with the pigs They did NOT eat her or even take much notice she was in there. So far we have had great experience and fun! Now we have a new weaner who is quite small and will be a permanent pet. He wears a collar, walks on a leash and comes when you call his name! Yup! Lots of enjoyment with these guys!

Away to me pig. That'll do pig, that'll do.
~Babe~

KlassyChic, well wasn't that just nice to hear, what a sway on a very formidable impression of a animal, coooool. Have that wonderful day, CynthiaM.