More Piggies!!

Edit...wrong pig name. Fixed
Olivia farrowed this AM. At first we had 5, then at lunch there were 6. Not sure if this one was hiding all morning or was a late arrival. The boar (Sir Francis) was spooning Olivia while she was farrowing. Hanging out with his lady like a good poppy.

Some new stuff

I picked up our two bucks from White House Goats. Really sweet little boys. Sure they'll grow up to be big, stinky bucks, but for now they're cute little guys. Redbeard is sweet as they come. He runs right up to you when you get in the pen and wants to be petted. Very social. Hershey is a bit more stand offish, but has bonded well with the two older weathers (St. Nicholas or "Nick" and Tooth Gnasher or just "Nash") we put in with the little guys .

Buried main line (irrigation) was put in last week and has already made sprinkling water easier. I can finally rehab the goofy fescue patch as a proper alfalfa/grass hay field.

I cannot wait for fair season, the end of watering/hay season. Been a long summer of driving, fixing, building and it will be nice to breath the cool fall air, chase a few Steelhead and relax a little. Soon, but not quite yet.

Why buy heritage pork

Embarrassingly enough, I have to admit I have yet to munch on one of my hogs. Or any Large Black Hog for that matter. Soon. We'll 5-7 months anyway. BUT be that as it may...another LBH fan posted this link to the association blog. It summarizes the general value of heritage pork raised on an outdoor system. A friend of mine once called it "pork like grandma used to make."

I think there is a future in "Pork: the other Red Meat."

Dave,

More to come

My other three ladies (Swinehelda, Daphne and Olivia) are getting ready to pop. Looks like we're on track for a late August early Sept farrowing.

Mattilda's litter is 2 boars and 4 gilts. The original litter was 5 boars and 5 gilts. I'm not sure how common a 50/50 split is, but I thought it was kind of cool.

Looks like (depending on Big momma's farrowing) we should have at least 6 breeding pairs available. Once Big Momma does her thing we'll know the final count and I know how many "singles" we can deliver. Should be able to get folks the second hog in the spring.

Fed everyone this morning, a little extra feed (grains) for everyone, as feeding one hog and not the others is a sure way to breed hate and discontent. I like to keep 'em smiling. Large Marge and Maggie Rose were out in the furthest reaches of the pasture and when I yelled "c'mon pigs!" heads came up, and hogs cam a trottin'.

They are so neat.

And then there were 6

So we had the still born piggy and then two we took up for some TLC. Both of those (including little Todd) are gone. Sigh. Another of the litter (who didn't look to good yesterday) was gone this AM.

BUT there is good news. The other 6 were out of the hut at lunch exploring the farrow pen. I think the whole litter is early (notably so) so I am tickled pink (or black in this case) that so many are doing so well. I imagine that the stress of travel and our recent heatwave was just too much for Matilda's body to take and it did what it thought it needed to do to preserve Matty.

So am I bummed to lose so many? You bet, I'll be bummed with every one. The babies are just cute as they come.

But it is so exciting after almost a year to finally come "full circle" and see new, little, black faces running around the pen.

Eh...what's making that noise?

So the Mrs reports that one of my pig helpers is having trouble getting the hay in the pens. So I trot on down and give her a hand. As we toss clumps of green goodness over the pen wall...I hear squeaking. What's that??

PIGLETS!!

Matilda dropper he litter sometime early this AM. Dalan Farm Nobel Sam 1/x and Dalan Farm Matilda 1/x are here!!!. 10 in total, 7 running around like crazy pigs, two got cold/too small and one on the bottle at the house (Dalan Farm Nobel Sam 1/1 "Todd"). Not sure if Todd will make it, but he's drinking goats milk, pooping and is warm. His litter mates are already terrorizing the pen. Full of sass.

For those who are on the list for piglets, I'll be hassling for $150 deposits in a few days. Just want to make sure we don't lose any more. And I need to get them notched/birth notified.

We're in this thing together...

It's been a tad hot this week, 102-103. But there's still work to do, and the kids have been really getting into "helping" lately. I have kids helping pick up bales, move irrigation pipe, feed the critters in addition to their regular critter duties. Heather and Nat and I combined to move pipe last night. The Mrs was piloting the tractor and Nat and I lumped pipe. Maybe not a bunch faster, but having company makes the time go faster and it was a lot more fun and the pipes look way better than when I do it on my own!

Other farm updates...

Pigs continue to enjoy the mister hoses. And full wallows. I saw them relaxing in them as I was mowing pasture and bailing hay this weekend. I decided that, when the temperature is over 100, the pigs are decidedly smarter than I am. I spent Sunday evening (before I moved pipe anyway) imitating them with a lawn chair and a kiddie pool. Smart piggies.

We freed the larger group of mutant chickens (Cornish X). They are now happily waddling about the orchard eating bugs, grass and the rather abundant apricots. It's kind of funny, they act just like the pigs. Any time someone comes in to feed or water, 80 awkward chickens come a lumbering :) They've proven to be quite personable and are doing better on the outdoor system than I thought they would.

Soon the smaller class of mutant chickens, the midget white turkeys and our fuzzy headed hens will be released in a similar manner. We just need everyone big enough so that no bullying happens.

Well this week we'll (i.e. I) will be bailing some straw and getting the rest of they hay up. And then I need to finish those farrow pens...I can see it now. I will have a zillion little piggies and no fences to keep them locked up.

LOL.