PIG: What a month. I am happy to report that momma pig gave birth to 10 piglets (5 girls, 5 boys) the evening of Monday, January 23rd. Cris was out of town for work until Tuesday so he missed the fun. I got home from work around 5pm, did my usual of checking on the cows, feeding of the 4 gilts and then headed over to momma pig in her farrowing hut. I lifted the lid and there was momma, laying down with one piglet next to her face and another one had apparently just been born. I grabbed the cell phone (which was about dead), called Cris, went inside and got the video camera, a towel and flashlight. I stayed outside with momma for about 4 1/2 hours while she went through birthing 9 beautiful piglets. I actually thought she was done after 8 because some of the afterbirth came out....but about 1/2 hr. later, out came number 9. I did nothing but video tape and keep her from laying on the piglets. I did have to climb in the hut one time when she rolled over on a piggie.... Luckily, I was able to move her large body enough to pull baby out...no worse for the wear. The man we purchased baby momma from said she was a good momma and he was right. I went to bed around 10pm, woke back up around 2pm and check on the pigs....to my surprise when I did a head count there were 10 piggies!
Unfortunately, when I came home Wednesday, one of the girl piglets had died. It looked like momma had accidentally laid on the the pig. That is the main cause of death for piglets the first few days after birth.
It is now almost 2 weeks since she gave birth and the piglets are venturing outside, running around the pig hut, starting to dig in the dirt with their noses like momma does and have even started eating pig feed. The girls are larger than the boys and the first piggie born is the smallest but not by much. They are growing nicely and are so funny to watch; especially on the pig camera we have set up in the hut. This mild winter we are having has been good for the piglets too as they get cold easy.
Baby daddy (the boar) has been moved to his own lonely pig area because the 4 gilts are too young to get pregnant and he was getting too friendly with them. He does not like being alone but we now have the cows next to his pen so at least he can visit with them. As soon as some of the boy piglets get older, they will go in the pen with baby daddy.
COWS: last Saturday (Jan. 28th) we had a Guernsey Bull Calf delivered to our farm. He was about one week weaned from his momma. We put him in the paddock with the 4 heifers and they were not one bit happy about that. The girls ran around in a tiffy and two got loose and took off. It was the worse two to get loose.....the youngest and the most shy. We searched for them Saturday and Sunday on our property and our neighbors.... no cows, no hoof prints. We got a call Sunday night that they were spotted on highway 57...about a mile south of us. By the time we got there, they of course had run back into the woods. We were able to search on the land next to highway 57 during the week because the owners of the land we very supportive. Cris saw them once on that land but again, they ran away. We eventually spotted their hoof prints on a property next to our property which meant they had moved closer to home....which was a good thing. Friday evening we were able to coax them with sweet feed so they would not run off...I even got to pet one of the girls. I was so happy. It got too dark though so we left them int the pasture with feed and water. Saturday we went back to the field with our Great Pyrenees Daisy, and located them again. This time Daisy helped to get the girls moving and with the help of a feed bucket full of sweet feed (their special treat), we were able to move the cows 1 1/2 miles back home. We went through the woods, up and down hills, through sticker bushes, a stream, fencing.... it was a long ordeal and I prayed the entire way home. We had to take baby steps at times because they did not want to cross that stream. We would walk 5 feet, put the bucket down, wait for them to come...walk another 5 feet....over and over.
Happy to say they are safe and sound in OUR pasture with the other two girls. They have learned to live with the new bull calf. They better learn to live with him because Mandy (heifer almost 2 yrs old) has taken little Sir Loin (his name) as her own child. She watches over Sir Loin.
We plan to finish the fencing around the perimeter of the farm to keep them from getting off our land again. We have learned from other farmers that it is just a fact of farming...cows will get out. And at least we now know that if they do, we can get them back.....thanks to the feed bucket!
So now that the piggies are here and the cows are found....I hope things can go back to normal...as normal as can be anyway!
VEGGIES: We have starting seedlings in a smaller hoop house. We have started with the cold vegetables....cabbage, broccoli, etc... it's too early to start with the summer veggies.
We are still eating out of our large hoop house..... squash, carrots, romaine lettuce, cabbage and plenty of greens and herbs are still growing nicely. Outside the turnips are doing great too.
We hope to have chickens in the Spring. Our next two major projects are a driveway and a chicken coop. Our things to do list is very long and the top priority items change from time to time and things get shuffled up and down the list. The driveway is a must though...I am tired of sliding up and down the yard from all the rain and mud.
