Bridgette's Babies

November 24, 2020

Our Miss Bridgette (aka Lil Momma) gave us five brand fresh new piglets a week ago! Three girls and two boys. They are thriving and getting more active with each day! Pretty soon they will be out and running around the farm just like their momma did a few months ago. 

It's been a while since she was a newly born piglet - like 8 months - she's a "teen mom." At first I was concerned that she wasn't really interested in them and that they had to go to her and grunt for food. Only then it seemed she would oblige and plop down on here side. Over the past few days she has been  doing much better and the babies nurse regularly. They have changed quite a bit. 

They are a bit more chubby now and not so many wrinkles. 

Man it was nice being home for the Thanksgiving holiday! I spent so much time watching them. 

I could watch them all day long!

Soon her momma, Fiona, will farrow and we'll have even MORE piglets! Fiona had 8 piglets to begin with, but in the end we ended up with 6 babies. So, we could be looking at another 8 piglets, possibly more. Fiona's first unsuccessful litter was 5. She could give us a few more, but goodness, I hope not. I kinda like thinking that 8 would be her magic number for litter size! We'll see soon. I calculated her potential due date and it could be this coming Saturday at the earliest. 

What will we do with so many piglets? Well, a few months ago I saw a timeline on butchering piglets at regular intervals from 12 weeks to 14 months. Since it has been a while that I've seen it on Facebook I had to put a question out on the AGH Group on Facebook. A response was posted quickly.

Here's how it goes...

From Cascade Meadows Farm:

Let's say you have a litter of 8 piglets:

Piglet 1 - Slaughter an uncastrated boar at 12 weeks and roast whole in the oven.

Piglet 2 - Slaughter an uncastrated boar at 13 weeks and roast whole in the oven

Piglet 3 - Slaughter an uncastrated boar at 14 weeks and roast whole or half at a time outside or inside.

Piglet 4 - Slaughter the last uncastrated boar at 16 weeks, quarter and cook 1/4 at a time over the next couple of weeks

Piglet 5 - slaughter the first female at 5 months and use it up over the next month or two

Piglet 6 - Slaughter female at 7 months and use it up over the next few months

Piglet 7 - Slaughter female at 10 months and use it up over the next few months

Piglet 8 - Slaughter female at 14 months

This is a very cool schedule and I am interested in trying this out BECAUSE this slaughter schedule is from the farm that we got our Rex & Fiona. So I trust them and how to do this food growing thing. 

Until Fiona farrows, we are going to enjoy Bridgette and her little brood.