Self-loading Pigs!
Self-Loading Pigs by Jerry Genesio Teaching pigs to enter the truck directly from the pen.
July/August 1983
By Jerry Genesio
Quick, before market day rolls around, start training your . .
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That's right, "self-loading pigs" . . . you read it correctly! Believe it or not, swine that waltz right into a pickup truck really do exist. I should know: I've been raising self-loaders for several years now on my farm in Maine. Of course, I have to admit that it took me a while to realize that it's possible to rear such a well-mannered strain of porkers. Like many pig-raising homesteaders, I used to spend at least one entire day every fall running through-and wallowing in-deep, dark, rich ("eau de pig") mud . . . all because I was attempting to force my wild, stubborn, cantankerous, and infuriating squealers into the back of my truck, so that I could get them to market!
In those unenlightened years, I tried backing (using the "bushel-basket over the head" routine) . . . pulling (grabbing an animal by its tail or even its ears) . . . lifting (futilely) ... waiting (endlessly) ... and pleading (desperately). In short, I tried every method I could think of to make those exasperating critters obey me! Then, finally, at the end of one particularly harrowing loading day during my third year as a pig farmer, I suddenly remembered what my wise of pork-lovin' father used to do.
"TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL"
Dad owned and operated a large hog farm (over 500 head) in Milford, Massachusetts back in the 40's. And-although most of his spread now lies under Interstate 495-I can still visualize what it used to look like. I can see the way those animal yards were laid out, and how my father would just back up his truck to one of them . . . load up 25 to 50 pigs . . . and be off to Brighton Stockyards in a matter of minutes. His secret, as I recall, was Pavlovian conditioning. He simply trained his stock (as he reared them) to do exactly what he wanted them to do . . . which was to climb a loading ramp and "hop" into his truck!
You see, as soon as the piglets were weaned, they were put in a fenced acre lot. Their food was placed on a raised, railing-enclosed platform. In order to reach their slop, then, the youngsters were required to scale the created ramp that led up from the mud lot ;u the "mess hall". (Needless to say, the upper level was constructed to resemble-and fit snugly against-the back of my father's truck.) The rest is obvious. Dad's porkers learned at a very early age that at mealtime they had to ascend a plank to a simulated truck bed . . . or they didn't eat. Market day was just like any other day to the pigs, except that this time supper was placed on the back of a real vehicle, so the full-grown hogs had to take five or ten more steps than usual to get to their feed.
