SC - Wild Boar REC ?OOP

[Mordonna22 at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/20/1999 5:45:20 AM US Mountain Standard Time, 
phlip at morganco.net writes:

> <<  it
>  just tells anyone who knows anything that the owner is an idiot, and 
doesn't
>  know how to handle animals. >>

Then she says:
<< I don't recall that expressing an opinion on improper husbandry practices 
is
 flaming. >>

It is when you use buzz words like idiot.

And who are you to shout that a method used almost universally for centuries 
in this country are "improper" husbandry?
We were small holders.  We had around 100 head of milking cattle, for our 
cash crop, and raised our own meat animals.  We also raised all our own feed, 
and household vegetables.  Believe me when I tell you, if you are a small 
farmer, there are no idle moments to sit around trying to train every animal 
like a pet.  
As for nose rings in swine, ALL our swine had nose rings, castrati and 
females as well as males.  Why?  To keep them from rooting out of the pens. 
While I agree that a breeding male is treated differently, I can also tell 
you a nose ring is NECESSARY on a 3/4 ton bull.  We had several that were as 
tame as dogs.  They'd come when called, and follow you around.  But, a 3/4 
ton animal with a hard mouth and a neck like a .....well, like a bull, goes 
pretty much where he wants to if you don't have some way to control him.  
Fences are merely a challenge to them,  and I've even seen one old guy go 
right through a solid oak barn door.  And the neighbors often don't take 
kindly to your big baby coming visiting and eating their prize rose bushes, 
leaving nice little souvenirs every few feet, and breeding their heifers 
wayyyyyy too young.  It just is not possible to teach such an animal, "Yes I 
want you covering the ladies, but only at the right time of year, and only 
the ones that belong to me.  Leave the neighbor's girls alone unless I take 
you to them." 
And the nose ring is no more inhumane than the current practice of ear 
tagging.
For those of you who don't know, nose rings for swine and for cattle are 
vastly different.  Both heal about as well and as quickly as human ear 
piercings.  
For swine we used small clamps, clamped through the nose and upper lip that 
bite into the tender nose flesh if and only if the animals try to root. 
 For Bulls and Oxen, we used large sturdy rings, about as thick as your 
forefinger and anywhere from 3 to 6 inches in diameter.   Placed trough the 
septum, they were sturdy enough to tie to a heavy hempen rope.  With a nose 
ring and a good rope it is barely possible for a 120 pound human female to 
keep a full size Holstein bull from going over to see what that fresh green 
garden corn tastes like. 
Our biggest pet was called More, because there was about a ton of him.  I was 
just out of my teens, and weighed about 120.  He was hand raised, and tame as 
any housepet.  BUT, he knew he out massed me by quite a bit.  He wouldn't 
hurt me, he'd just shoulder me aside and keep going if I got in his way, 
unless I grabbed his nose ring.

Mordonna



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