October 2, 2008
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Updates
First of all, the second sow finally had her piglets. This morning she gave birth to 12 piglets. One of them died at birth.
This is Carolina Ruby, Ian’s sow. She had 8 piglets and I am happy to say that she still has 8. She is a good mom. I think that we are going to keep her.
This is Sugar. She had 12 this morning. She isn’t the greatest mom but she is doing pretty well. She is very content to let Carolina Ruby take care of her piglets.
This is Sweety. She has yet to farrow. She is mostly interested in sniffing the piglets and eating. It will be a few days before she has hers. You can tell when they are ready when their bags become very pendulous.
What a great looking batch of piglets. I love to watch them playing with each other. Already they are confident enough on their feet to chase each other around the pen. The sows take turns nursing them and bossing them around. They really seem to take this motherhood thing a lot more seriously then some humans that I know.
These boots leak!!!! I was outraged when I put them on and then walked across the road to clean out the pigpen. Why would anyone keep a pair of leaky boots around? Why did I put them on in the first place you may ask? On this farm we just buy rubber boots when they are on sale in large sizes and keep them around for anyone who needs them to slip on when we need to go out to the barn. I try to get everyone to throw away any boots that get leaks in them. Apparantly this pair got neglected and I am the person who paid the price. Not only did they leak water but they also leaked mud. I guess I needed to wash my feet more than once this year.
Comments (9)
Sorry about the one that died but Yeah they are arriving and that they have some good mothering instincts. I never knew that one would take care of anothers (at the local educational farm they separate them all so I just assumed that they wouldn’t get along or take care of each others babies). Sorry about the boots. Wet feet are the pits.And since winter is coming you were due for a foot washing any way so……
(And prehaps those boots might make a good white elephant gift)
@standingonthepromises - Sure they will take care of each other’s babys. Especially when the moms were raised together. Our plan all along has been to let them all farrow then butcher the one that is either the worst mom or who looks the best for meat after they had farrowed. Sounds cruel but is the most economical when it comes to having to feed them all winter long. The rest will take over the task of feeding the others.
I’ve gotten over the “I can’t eat anything I’ve known” phase that I went through at grandpas (although it hasn’t been put to the test in a couple of decades).
@standingonthepromises - My kids have a philosophy about eating something that they have known. Shovel out behind them for awhile and you won’t mind eating it when it is time for butchering. We had someone take us to task about that when we raised chicks for meat the first time. That’s when Matthew and Mary-Kate developed their philosophy about butchering their “friends”.
Friends taste better.
Yep –pooper scooper duty would make butchering time sweet.
LOL @ Obrien!!! Hysterical!
Hooray for the piglets! I’d love to see that.
nice piglets what mix are they though
lupus
@lupus030104 - They are a mixture of many different breeds including yorkshire, hampshire, duroc, bentheim black pied, and tamworth. They are beautiful to look at aren’t they.
How are you? When do you leave the country? Lupus misses you. She had a bath Monday night so she can start sleeping with me. It is awfully cold now and she likes to sleep with me when it is cold. Ian and Matthew are in for supper now.