Transporting a pig

[Jamie]

Hello, I am new here. We are getting a 3 month old hampshire/yorkshire gilt. We are picking her up tomorrow and are unsure if we should take our pickup that has rails on it to get her or if we should put a tarp in the back of the suv. She is about 75 lbs, so we aren't sure how to secure her. Can someone give me advice on this?

thanks so much!
Jamie

[Deberosa]

We just got three pigs - three and four months old. We brought them home in dog carriers - two large ones and one medium one. From the struggle we had, I would think you need some good tall rails if it's open. Now just two weeks later it would have been even more of a challenge - they are growing like crazy!

[Jamie]

our pickup has tall rails to the top of the cab. The rails have openings though, do you think the pig could jump out? Can you tie it up?

Thanks!
Jamie

[Deberosa]

That may be high enough and there is only one. You might think about putting alot of straw in the bed of the truck - it seemed to calm ours when they hit the straw.

Not sure about tying them, there isn't much to grab onto. They had to be caught by the hind legs and stuffed in the crates. ;-) They bite so that's why the hind legs. There was alot of squealing and struggling until they got in the crates and then they were pretty quiet.

Maybe someone else has more experience than me in pigs - wouldn't take much!

[sbemt456]

Those tall rails on the truck are called "cattle racks" here in kentucky, so yeh you can haul the pig in them as long as the holes on the sides are small enough she cant get through. I have seen me dad hobble(tie) larger hogs by one back leg to prevent them from jumping out of the moving vehicle. It wont hurt the pig to be tied by the leg till ya get her home. A lot safer than having here jump from a moving vehicle, causes road rash.

As for the SUV, dont want to put pigs in mine, you could have a mess to clean up after. And the odor from pig poo stinks a long time.

Good luck!

stella

[Jamie]

Well, we got her home. We took her in the SUV, put a tarp down and had a wire cage we put her in. She fussed a while but then quieted down. She seems to love her new pen, we fed her some good table slop first thing. She seemed to appreciate that. She hasn't whined at all, so I am happy for that.
Thanks for the help.

Jamie

[Nicole]

When we brought our pig home, my husband didn't want to put him in our SUV. We have an old volkswagon beetle and he removed the rear seats. He put the pig in the back, alls you could see was a pigs head in the drivers side rear window and the other side a big pig butt....LOL....He rode very well and in fact didn't want to get out...LOL