Farmer Thoughts: Expect the Unexpected

Contributed by Farmer Becca, Bottomland Farm —

Some days don’t go as planned, like this past Monday when I walked out to do chores and saw 14 of our pigs roaming around the field. Our pigs are (supposed to be) trained to the electric fence, which we’ve learned is the most effective at keeping them in their paddock (when it’s working). 

But some pigs seem to have a sixth sense and can seemingly sniff out whether or not the fencer is sending a jolt through the line; they stick their snouts in the air about six inches from the fence and smell for the electric particulars before they decide if they should make a break for it or not. 

Unfortunately, we have some of those magical pigs in this particular group, and they quickly figured out there was no power running through the fence as soon as our fence energizer stopped working.

Anyone who has had pigs (or any livestock, really) understands the reality of trying to keep them contained. Before we had the opportunity to install perimeter fencing around our pig pasture, we were always on high alert, ready to corral pigs at the earliest sign that they had escaped. 

One night, at about 4:45 a.m., I woke up to Farmer Bill shaking me gently and saying, “I think there’s a bear outside. Becca, wake up; I think there’s a bear.”

I blearily opened my eyes, and as soon as I registered what he had said, I sprang out of bed and threw on my chore clothes. The two of us grabbed the spotlight and slowly poked our heads out the door to find not a bear, but our breeding boar and one of our sows who had taken a romantic, very early morning stroll out of their paddock, down our driveway, and then stopped under one of our apple trees to really get to know each other. 

After taking a minute or two to devise a plan, we began to herd them back towards their paddock, to find that they had tipped over the large, round hay bale we had just put in for bedding and rolled it right over the fence. The hay had insulated the electric shock, and they had strolled over it just as if they were walking down the red carpet. 

Luckily, it didn’t take much convincing to get them to stroll back the way they had come, and they were where they were supposed to be (with their “red carpet” removed), by daybreak. All in all, I think I would have rather seen a bear under our apple tree that morning.

It’s been years since the “it’s a bear” incident, and I’ve learned a lot about trying to plan for a day of farming. Most days, you have to plan for the unexpected because there is always something. 

So this past Monday, when I spotted our roaming herd of pigs, I stayed calm, grabbed the tools I needed, and fixed our fence energizer. Luckily, these particular pigs were easily persuaded by a little bit of grain in a bucket, and all 14 of them were back where they should have been pretty quickly. 

After that, I picked up where I left off, but with a little reminder in the back of my head: always expect the unexpected, especially in farming.

(Bottomland Farm, located in Berkshire, N.Y., can be contacted via email at farmer@bottomlandfarm.com.)