Close to the vast deserts and sprawling mountains of Southern California lies Lost Creek Canyon Ranch, a jewel of managed land kept purposefully wild. There are no paved roads here and water comes from the mountains like it has for thousands of years. Life on this ranch is still work, as it harkens back to the the days of the old West. Brought back to life by folks who have worked hard throughout their lives, this ranch runs through Native American Reservation and up into a steep mountain canyon, forever protected by purposeful management and an owner who cares. The ranch is home to a variety of wildlife including bears, mountain lions, cougars, coyotes, cattle and a variety of different birds. On the ranch proper, I saw horses, chickens, dogs, goats and pigs.
Even though I would have loved to visit this sprawling ranch just to see it; on this particular day I had on my work hat, as I was heading up to the ranch to meet the owner and trim the feet on the two special Kune-Kune pigs who live there. These two pigs are not meat pigs and they turned out to be a bit smaller than expected, but still a handful, weighing in at over 80 pounds each. I was there to give them piggy spa day…a chance to evaluate and trim their feet. I was also there just to spend time with the animals, because every minute that I can spend trimming the pig and not hurting it becomes a positive lesson. And for positive reinforcement and to make the session positive, I brought a secret weapon…peanuts in the shell.
For this trimming session, I took my oldest daughter along because she had a day off school and could help me get the pigs rolled and still, which is sometimes more difficult than it sounds. Working on one pig at a time, we were able to successfully catch, stop, roll and trim both pigs. Since this was my first time trimming these pigs I went with very conservative approach with my trim and will evaluate their feet in another three months to see if I need to more aggressively trim in the spring. After trimming the pigs, we took a look at the goat herd and I’ll be trimming them in spring.
