pigs, Pigs, PIGS!!!!!

I just had the worst weekend I've had in a long time. I'm holding back a long stream of cuss words that would make my great grandmother turn over in her grave.

I had an appointment with the butcher for 4 pigs on Saturday. I rented a truck Saturday morning ($$$) thinking everything would go smoothly with a nice ramp and they would just run up there and be happy. I didn't feed them for a few days before just to make them nice and hungry so that they would jump for any food.

They did not.

There were 5 of us chasing them around in a various manner of coaxing, tying, feeding, and the occasional slap on the pig butt to try to get them up into the truck. Hour after hour, we ran in circles getting one halfway up just to have it run backwards back down with it's mouth full of whatever we put up the ramp to tempt them.The truck was high off the ground and they didn't like seeing how far from the ground they were.

These things are just pure muscle. We tried to corner them, but no luck as they just push us over. We tried a bucket over the head and walked them backwards to no luck. At 4 o'clock on Saturday when the butcher was about ready to close, we called it a day and hoped to get them in the first thing on Monday morning.

Round 2 on Sunday had no more success. Just freezing cold feet and a lot of frustration.
The final round on Monday, we got one in the back of my dad's truck, but it just shredded the bed and barged out screaming.

I'm completely spent. I'm sore and when I went to take a shower this morning after total failure, my legs were bright red from the cold.

Now I'm back to square one. I think the butcher is mad for me standing them up, but not for lack of trying. I'm no better off than I was before all this, only a bit smarter and really beaten down.