Ninja Cow Farm LLC

A few months ago I wrote about getting some new pigs from one of our friends who attended our hog killing class. Specifically I wrote about some pigs escaping. Two pigs escaped that day, Spider Pig, who came back home that day, and Flash Gordan because of how fast she ran.

Flash never left the farm, instead taking up residence in our woods by Swift Creek, going Huck Finn and living off of what she found. After months of effort, we managed to get Flash eating from us and sleeping in a little dog cage we had, while of course living her own life as a free, independent woman. Being the male chauvinist that Miguel and I are, we couldn’t abide all that freedom and “girl power” and today we trapped Flash in her dog cage during her breakfast.

This story had a tidy ending with everything being alright, Flash being finally at home and reunited with her family and Miguel and our family settling down to a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. If you’ve been around long enough, you know things don’t quite end up like we plan on Ninja Cow Farm.

After taking Flash back to the maximum security pen she’d originally escaped from, checking the hot wire, and herding her long lost family in for a warm greeting, we opened her cage. Flash jumped out of her cage, made one half-hearted attempt to scurry off, then leaped to the same spot she’d escaped the first time. Aha, but we put chicken wire on it this time. No pig is going to… Arghh!!! The wire was secured against little pigs, not 75 pound wild women! In a flash, Flash was out again and heading off the farm exactly as last time. The first time, I had some bad language. This time, I’m just laughing. Spork takes off around the barn to track where the pig is going and keeps us informed. Once I get there to watch, he warms up the Gator and we tear off after the pig. Miguel takes off running to try and cut Flash off. Silly Miguel, nobody can outrun Flash Gordon. Luckily, Spork and I are a well oiled team by this point and pig wrangling is old hat. We take off at full speed in the Gator and after negotiating cows, holes, and gates, we arrive at the spot where Flash escaped last time, about 15 seconds before Flash was to escape again. We succeed in turning her around and Spork jumps out of the still moving Gator to try and help Miguel catch Flash. What part of “Flash Gordon” don’t you guys get? Flash runs circles around both of them while I pursue and cut off the pig in the Gator. We eventually get Flash headed back to the barn. Miguel is in hot pursuit on foot and Spork dives back into the Gator, Dukes of Hazard style, and we tear off again to the barn. Another 10 minutes of chasing bears a striking resemblance to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9nr27rOrL0

Much like Benny Hill, Flash ended up running right into incarceration, having bowled into the pig paddocks. She was halted by some hog wire and stopped long enough to see that there were pigs around. The three of us spent about 20 minutes watching, waiting, and tossing food in to keep everyone happy. After making old and new acquaintances, It appears that Flash is finally happy to have come back home and all is well on the farm.

All kidding aside, I’m glad to get her back with her family as winter approaches. I don’t want her trying to stay warm by herself.

Today was a sick day for us on the farm. I was under the weather and so was Wildflower. Therefor SWMBO took the other two to church and left us to our own devices. On our limited list of things to do was to go pick up pigs from our friends Chuck and Tommy. We actually purchased the pigs over a month ago, but just couldn’t get together on when to pick them up.

Wildflower and I loaded up and headed off for our 30 minute drive. Chuck and Tommy were expecting us, however their help had not shown up and they were struggling to get the pigs corralled and caught. Wildflower stood outside with their dog and played while the three men chased pigs around a paddock for 1.5 hours, falling, bonking into things, getting run over and under by pigs, etc. Wildflower said it was pretty funny so she was entertained.

The pigs were fat and healthy, and had grown quite a bit since I’d last seen them. We had a quiet ride home and the pigs are currently spending the night in the trailer. Miguel and I will integrate them into the fold tomorrow, after making sure they are all ready to go which will involve a bit of playing vet.

Chuck says he will have a mess of pigs for me next year, which is good because we are going to need them. We’ve been out of pork for too long.

When we got home, we had a greeting at the front door. Cotton was guarding the front door and relaxing. She paid me no mind but as soon as Wildflower got close she jumped up and started sniffing, smelling Chuck’s dog on her. She was determined to come in the house with us and stay with Wildflower. It was an interesting reaction, her finding out one of her brood had been off playing with another dog.