Best way to load hogs

As others have said, get them used to the trailer by feeding them in it. Do not feed them 24 hrs before you want to haul them. When they are hungry, they'll go just about anywhere you want them to.

A pallet or two as a step works well, as does a pile of old hay.

The more stressed out you get trying to load them, the more stressed and uncooperative the pigs will get. If they are not cooperating, walk away so everyone can calm down.

Patience works great. Leaving the trailer where they can self load is a good way to do it. Put in bedding and food. Come back and close the door.

We load pigs every week to take to market. What we have is a setup where there is an outer area we call them too, then a sorting pen we sort the ones in we might want. Then we sort out those we don't want and move the ones we do want up the chute and into the van to go. Sooth and easy.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

My pigs will follow me anywhere I go if I have a bucket in my hands......
They believe it is feed time.
I also spend time with my animals each morning, thus they also trust me.
Greg Zeigler
Alger, Ohio

Just a follow up...

We planned to leave the stock trailer in the pen for a few days prior to loading and feed the hogs in there. When we unhitched, the hogs were estatic about their new "toy". They starting mouthing it and rocking it about. A couple jumped in to get the feed. A couple more started eating the wood ramp. Then the taillights. The DH, afraid of the destruction they might render unto the trailer, quickly hitched it back up and parked it adjacent to the pen. Come loading day and after a 24 hour fast, we put some yummy food int he trays and waited for them to jump in. The smallest jumped in immediately, but the others couldn't (or wouldn't). The DH went back to the barn for the wood step. Once in place, two others came in for the feast, leaving only one unloaded. This big piggy wanted the food but wouldn't take the leap. So the DH had a plan. As soon as the hog placed two front feet on the trailer platform, he would heft the back-end up while I quickly shut the door. It worked but he strained his wrist badly, as he underestimated the weight of the hog vs. his strength. All in all, it took us a half hour to load the hogs; not so bad, loading the lambs went worse, even with the use of a dog. I can't wait to get the weights on them.

[QUOTE=deaconjim;4723976]I recommend having someone with a video camera standing by while conducting this procedure. It's always helpful to have an after action review of the process. We'll be glad to help with that. [/QUOTE

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.............Ahem, thanks, I needed a morning laugh!
Greg Zeigler
Alger, Ohio

They're also rather fond of Plantains, but I recommend steel-fingered gloves if you're planning to hold onto it. :1pig:

I almost lost a few when we had an escapee and a plantain was the quickest thing to grab to entice him back to the pen. He loved it alright. He almost loved himself some of my fingers, too.

Not too long ago I posted here about a gilt that kept getting out. It came to a head one day with an over-exertion of my strength in much the same way when she went through the electric and met me at the front door when I went out to do morning chores. I learned that day that just because adrenaline and anger allow you to be able to do something doesn't mean you should. I'm 5'6'', female. Not a lightweight, but not extremely strong for a woman, either. I grabbed her by the back legs and carried/wheel-barrowed her across the yard, shoved her in the stock trailer and told her "you get out of this, you're dinner!" Felt great at the time. That little *&^%$! Unfortunately, for the next two days I could barely move my back.

Never tried to load a pig but according to one of the HT members, this is how you don't want to do it.

How Not to Load a Pig

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I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, with your help I KNOW I can.

Average hanging weight (head skin feet on) was 190 lbs. at 6 1/2 months of age, raised on pasture.

Easiest time I ever had loading pigs was by using my "Judas goat"

She went in to see what goodies might be there, and the pig followed. Put her out and slammed the door on him. Less than 5 minutes!

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http://mmsmiracle.com/EnjoyBetterHealth

I made a chute out of cattle panels up to the trailer. Then I bolted a 4' piece of plywood to the front of my atv.
Didn't feed them much the night before and they went right in to the chute with a bribe. Fairly easy except for one hog and he eventually gave up and went right in.

You have to wire the panels down real well because a spooked hog will go right through it.

hahahahahaha...here is a reposting of my moms comment from one of my post on my blog, which is why I laughed at the camera idea!

"...pigs...they are B-A-C-O-N. Having said that, I will confess to having rocked one to sleep, having watched the stars in a midnight sky, head resting on the velvet belly of Herman, my boar named after a neighbor who had eight kids.

Mike almost was trampled to death by wild pigs at the age of maybe nine or ten. The 'Wild pigs" were ten piglets and their mother. Understand that we raised these pigs in a dirt-floor barn. It was our first experience at selling piglets and gee, nobody told us to sell them at an early age. These 'babies' probably weighed 50 pounds each and their mother? Well, she was FAT and MAD. Mike's job was to hold up a cattle gate to force the piggies to run by his dad who would then scoop them up and plop them in the back of the truck. My job was to lower the truck gate as needed.All was going as well as such an endeavor can go with one big hog and about eight 'babies' running around the mud/pig poop floor. Suddenly, Mama Pig had enough and charged Mike. All I could see was my ten year old, falling over backwards holding the gate, slowly sinking into ...well you know....and the mother hog plus babies running over him! Now, is it any wonder that he is not sympathetic to pigs becoming bacon?

Oh, to give you an idea of our family values, I had wanted to name our three pigs after my aunts: Aunt Maude, Aunt Lorraine, and Aunt Dorris. My mother informed me that NONE of my aunts had that type of sense of humor and that I had better find new names ---- quick. I did. I named them after 'favorite' teachers.

Michael survived the hogs which is more than I can say for the hogs."

Photo of me and the sows (can't get the image to work in the post!)!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/onblond...7604702708325/

After reading some of these posts I was a bit worried as I just sold my two hogs each approx. 440-450 lbs. It was a little past their regular feeding time. We had a bowl of feed and lead them right up the plywood make-shift ladder onto the trailer. No problems, no panels, had a thick rope collar around their neck to help lead like a horse which they didn't like when we first started to put in on but quickly lost concern when the big bowl of feed was stuck under their snouts. Just sold and loaded them today