Things were okay at the visit. The farm was a little ramshackle, but the pigs seemed to be in good health. I did a thorough check of the gilt I was interested in, and she looked fine. I agreed to buy her....and then we spent a good deal of time trying to load her into the trailer. Unfortunately, this farmer didn't have a good system for loading pigs--you need a narrow chute that is tall enough and strong enough that you can push a pig from behind. It didn't help that he had to catch up some younger pigs for a different buyer just minutes before I came. After about an an hour and a half, with the gilt exhausted and approaching dangerous heat levels, I said that it wasn't going to work out and I was ready to leave. He said he's deliver her for me for free the next week, and I figured that would be just as good. I agreed, but a part of me thought that perhaps I should have just cut my losses and backed out of the deal.
A week later the farmer arrives with the pig, and we get her easily loaded into a barn stall that I use for loading and unloading. She was understandably stressed, but otherwise looked fine. Money exchanged, deal done. I observed her overnight to make sure there were no emergent signs of disease, and led her out into the main pasture area the next day. She had been getting a diet of bagels, soaked whole barley, and commercial feed, and she didn't seem to have much interest in my feed. She was super excited for some of the barley that I had grown last year, so I used that as my lure to get her into the pasture. I figured I would gradually introduce her to the other pigs (the boar is in a separate area right now) to make sure everyone got adjusted slowly. She was very nervous of the other pigs at first, and I had to use feed as a lure to get her to go close. After a few days, I let them meet each other and was surprised to find the voracity at which the old pigs tried to run off the new pig. Anytime she got close, they would nip at her butt until she ran away. I was a little surprised, but figured this behavior would go away after they worked out their oinking order. Unfortunately, a week later, it hadn't, and to make matters worse, she was limping.
I took a look at one of her front hoofs, and noticed a horizontal crack. She was moving around okay, and I figured I would keep an eye on it and go from there. By yesterday, things had gotten worse. The hoof had broken off below the crack, and I noticed more of her hooves were cracked. This morning, she barely wanted to stand at all. Here's how her feet look at the moment:
Any advice would be appreciated!