Well last weekend we moved our pigs into their new area where they could get fresh grass and more shade from the surrounding trees.  We dug down into the ground where there was already a bit of a ledge to make them a cave-like shelter.  Using only a couple piers, 2x4s, and more of our salvaged metal roofing we attached a roof and called it good.  It was pretty awesome if you ask me.  It took the pigs some time to get used to it but you could tell they loved all the fresh, tall grass in their new enclosure.  We had been using the new electronetting that we got from Premier 1 Supplies that was originally intended to move the goats around our land.  It was looking like it was going to work pretty well, but we all get delusional at times, right?

The electronetting is not a good idea for pigs that can root into the ground.  Pretty much our boys would root away right next to the fence so much that it would get buried enough to short out the energizer.  So multiple times we found Boris or Freddy loose in the yard.  Luckily they never would go far and were easy to get back into their enclosure but it was starting to make me nervous.  We have neighbors and the last thing I want is for one of our animals to do damage to someone's property.

So last night was the last straw.  After eating dinner we went out to check on the goats and the chickens and saw Freddy down by our garden eating away at the clover.  I unplugged the energizer for the fence and we pulled up some of the stakes and corralled them back into their original pasture.  I'm wicked disappointed because we wanted them to tear up the land under those trees and get rid of the pricker bushes.  Also, we had wanted to plant some root vegetables in their old enclosure to feed the pigs later this summer.

We'll stop at Johnson Farm and Garden tonight to pick up some fiberglass posts, insulators, and more electrical fence tape to divide up their pasture so we can hopefully get something planted and growing out there soon.

I can only imagine how long Freddy had been out, though.  On our way back in from the barn we saw some hoofprints on our driveway and they certainly didn't belong to either of the goats!  So it looks like he had a nice little after-dinner stroll.