Big Pig Moves

The other day we arrived back in excellent spirits from a lovely walk in the countryside when we saw something which we had always dreaded - a fully-grown pig on the loose in the field opposite our house. To make matters worse, this wasn't any old fully grown pig, this was Scarlet, the sow who has ruined Bobby and Betsy's happy relationship. And Scarlet did not look a happy pig.

What followed proves how difficult 'free-range' pig rearing can be.

The reason Scarlet was on the run soon became apparent: her owner had come to collect her - Bobby's job being done - and, while he was concentrating on getting her out of the run without the other two escaping, she had made a bolt for it.  The problem they faced was persuading an errant Scarlet to get in to the trailer.  'Persuading' is the right term, as there is no way of forcing an irritable, 300-pound sow to do anything she doesn't want to do.

So Scarlet was 'encouraged' in the direction of the trailer using a bucket of pig nuts and many sweet words.

But Scarlet didn't want to go home so, having pretended she was interested in getting into the trailer in order to be given some of the pig nuts, she then turned away and hurried down the field to see Bobby.

So the trailer was moved to a point closer to the pig run, and extensive efforts made to persuade Scarlet to enter, but Scarlet was playing difficult to get.  She allowed them to feed her nuts until she was almost in the trailer - all the time being told what a lovely, angel-tempered and obedient pig she was - only to....

 ....turn away at the last moment to go and see Bobby.

With a happy outcome looking unlikely in the near future, The Diary retired to the house to enjoy a bowl of home-made soup when....

.... a large pig walked past our front gate, followed by a much darker pig - and neither of them was Scarlet.  We immediately jumped to the conclusion that the other two pigs had, somehow, managed to escape from their run and, having been joined by Scarlet, were all proceeding down the road in the direction of Kilchoan, Salen, Fort William and, for all we knew, London - which would have suited us very well.

But this wasn't the case.  Bobby and Betsy had been let out on a special mission to lure Scarlet into the trailer.

The plan was wickedly simple.  The three pigs were directed into a conveniently located front garden which had a nice lawn that needed some porcine attention, and, while they were thus distracted, and while The Diary finished his (by now rather cold) pea soup....

....a contraption was built to feed the pigs into the trailer.  By the time The Diary returned Betsy - she is such a nice pig, as pigs go - had already been persuaded into the back of the trailer and, with a little more persuading, Bobby and, finally, a rather sulky and reluctant Scarlet, joined her, at which point the gates of the trailer were hurriedly slammed shut....

....unfortunately with Scarlet's owner still inside.

It was now a relatively simple job to get Bobby, Betsy and Scarlet's owner out of the trailer, leaving a rather unhappy Scarlet to be taken home, alone.