Saturday, February 25, 2012

Retailing piglets

 Late February to early March is the start of the piglet season.

"Do you sell small pigs?"
 yes, we do.  We've got about 80 to choose from.  Do you have a breed preference? 
"well, I'd like a pink one".
 We've got pink pigs.  When would you be looking to pick it up? 
"Pretty soon.  Maybe Saturday.   Can I ask you a question?"
  Sure.
 "What do you feed a pig to keep it small?" 
umm...  what do you mean by 'keep it small'? 
"Well, my friend has a little dog that she can fit in a purse, and I'd like to keep the pig small like that so that I can use a dog purse for it.  "
  ah.  I'm not sure how to say this.  Do you eat meat? 
"Yes"
  Ok, our pigs are farm pigs.  They are full-sized pigs.  Most of the people who buy them grow them out to be their pork for the fall. 
  "Well, I know, but I've seen your pictures, and they are sooo cute!" 
  Yes, they are  cute.  But there's a problem when they get bigger. 
 "what problem?" 
  Well, when they're mostly grown, they'll weigh about 300 lbs, and they hog the couch. 
  "really?"
  Yes.  And they're very hard to carry. 
  "oh.  so they don't stay small?"
  No, but they are delicious!

(5:30 am saturday morning)
Hello?
"Hi Bruce, this is Jane.  I bought 3 pigs from you last week."
ah, hi.  Jane?  sorry.  What's up?
"I've got a few questions.  When I put the pigs into the pen it seems like they were fighting with one another, and one of them scratched the other one.  What should I do about it? "
do about the scratch?  or piglets fighting?
"Well, both!"
Are they still fighting?
"no, they settled down after that, but I've been wondering about it"
Can you tell me about the scratch? 
"It's just a red line"
So it didn't break the skin and there was no blood or anything?
"no, not really"
Jane, is there any reason that you think that 5:30 am on saturday is a good time to reach me? 
Well, I was up and I...  Oh, I'm sorry.  Did I wake you up? 
Yes, Jane.  

Hello? 
"Hi, yes, am I wonders you homeacres farms?" 
Yes, this is homeacres farms.  What can I do for you? 
"I wish pig"
How big a pig do you want? 
"I want big pig.  200 kilos"
Ok, I think we have four of those.   When were you looking to pick it up? 
"I think today"
Today...  it's 3:30 and it'll be dark at 5:30.   If you have a trailer we can load it for you if you get here in the next 30 minutes, but otherwise we can't do it. 
"My cousin said you have pig!"
Yes, we have the pigs, but we don't load animals after we close, and we close at dark. 
"But I must have pig!  "
How long have known that you'll need this pig? 
"It is wedding!  very important! "
I understand it is important and I'd like to help you.  How long has this wedding been planned? 
"7 months"
Why didn't you call me last week?  it takes me 9 months to come up with a fat hog -- I may not have any to sell you. 
"We had other farmer, but he sold pig he told us he had." 
Did you put down a deposit on a pig? 
"No, we see pig and say we want"
But no deposit -- did he say it was your pig? 
"No, but he had pig.  "
I'm sorry that you have this problem.  If you'd like, I can get you the pig first thing tomorrow morning, but I can't do it in the time we have left tonight. 
"But I must have pig!"
I'm sorry that you have this problem.  If you give me more time I can help you. 

(he picked up his pig at 10am the next morning)

1 comment:

becky3086 said...

Wow, I actually feel smart now and when I talked to my farmer about my pigs I felt like I didn't know anything but I didn't ask him questions like this, lol. I told him that I just wanted a couple pigs that I could butcher and that I didn't care if they were males or females as long as the males were cut. He asked me if I wanted a 400 lb boar and I told him I would rather start with something smaller, lol. Then I went to the feed store and said "what do I feed the pigs?" lol, I had asked people what they fed them but everyone said something different.