A Gift For Ian’s Name Day

A Gift For Ian’s Name Day

This morning, after Mass, Mary-Kate went out to the barn to check the pigs. We knew that they were going to farrow any day now. What a surprise awaited her when she got there. Next to Ian’s pig, Carolina Ruby, were eight little newborn piglets, only hours old. She has quite an assortment of colors too. She is a mix of Yorkshire, Tamworth, Hampshire, and Duroc. The boar the bred her was a mixture of Bentheim Black Pied and Tamworth so the piglets are a strange mixture of all those breeds. They are pink and black and red and spotted and the cutest things that we have ever had here on this farm. I am glad that Ian’s pig was the first one to farrow.
This is a little video that I took of Carolina Ruby rooting in the hay and “talking” to her babies. Yes pigs actually do talk to each other. If you listen closely you can hear the piglets making their little noises back to her.