A bittersweet day...

We loaded the pigs in the trailer last night and today, they went off to the processor.  I knew this day was coming and it was the reason we bought and raised them in the first place, but I have to say,  I'm feeling some mixed emotions.  

The loading process was interesting.  There isn't enough space to back up the trailer into our back yard where the pig pen is, so a plan had to be devised to get the pigs from the pen to the trailer.  Below are pictures of the transport.  The guys used wire cattle panels to guide the pigs to the trailer.  Once at the trailer, they convinced the pigs to walk into it by placing some feed at the back of the trailer.  It was a smooth and pretty easy process.  (The guys are talking about adding wheels to the panels to make it easier for future transports.)  

Thankfully the growing process wasn't too long.  Here is a split picture of our grandson with the pigs.  The top part of the picture shows him with the pigs when we first got them in late January.  The bottom part shows him with them on Easter Sunday - just a week and a half ago.  (He was sharing the Easter eggs he found.  The non-chocolate ones.)

When we got the pigs, they were between 30 and 40 lbs.  - and about 12 weeks later, they were between 160 and 175 lbs.

Our first rodeo with raising pigs has been an adventure to remember.