JUNE!

The May homestead challenge turned toward things that I wouldn't be interested in blogging about so I just abandoned the whole thing. There were a couple of days that I thought I might write something, but decided not to.

So, the remainder of May was busy, but at the same time not very. I got started with getting the garden planted which was halted after several days of 90+ degree days. Not my kind of weather. I can tolerate the mid-80s, but anything more and I'm no longer interested in spending time outdoors. 

Then at the end of the month our young sow, Bridgette (aka Little Momma) had a litter of 5 piglets. I have to be honest, I wasn't expecting her to have another litter. However, looking back I should have known. She hadn't had a heat cycle in several months. Duuuuh. All of her babies are doing quite well and this is her second litter of 5 and she hasn't lost any, this litter or the last one. They are quite skittish and even after a couple of days of sitting with them they are not interested in letting us even pick them up without sounding the alarm to momma.

Two days later Fiona (aka Big Momma) farrowed 9 piglets - her biggest litter so far. The difference with this litter is that she stayed outside and away from the other pigs for a few days. So Tom didn't do anything to move her. A good decision since she probably wouldn't move anyway. When Tom discovered that she had her piglets underneath the pear tree he found that there were 8, but later found that one had been squished. Friday morning, even though the remaining 8 made it through the night, one more had been stepped on and died.

We have been spending a lot of time with Fiona and babies - due to her size we try to keep a watch (as much as possible) on her litters so to keep the losses to a minimum. In a few more days once the piglets are a little bigger we won't have to keep an eye on them as much. The first week is pretty critical. At least where Fiona is concerned. She doesn't move fast and we aren't sure that she knows that she has landed on one of her babies once she goes down. Even so, she wouldn't be able to get up quick enough to set the baby free.

The other thing that we have with her litter are two very runty piglets. One of them, a female, didn't seem to be putting any weight on as she should within the first 24 hours and continued to look listless and weak. On Thursday I had the sense that maybe we should get the powdered colostrum out and start bottle feeding her. The itty-bitty piggy took to the bottle and kept coming back for more. A barista friend of ours from Starbucks had come for a visit to meet the babies and helped with getting the colostrum to the runty baby. Alicia was so taken by her that we decided to name her Alice. Alice might be a keeper, maybe. 

Even after all of our visitors had gone for the day little Alice continued to come to suckle on the bottle. Quite a bit actually. By the evening she had so much in her that she actually started to pee after she ate - a good sign!

Alice

We were able to go to bed without worrying so much about her. As of Friday she had zero interest in the colostrum and actually looked like she filled out a little bit, overnight! Kinda crazy that they can change so much in 24 hours.  I spent a lot of Friday and some of Saturday observing her. Alice was feeding right along side her siblings and seemed to be much more feisty. A VERY good sign. She was so feisty that when one of her littermates started to play with her she would start playing too! Oh, my heart...

We LOVE her!!

With each litter that is born here on our farm we learn more and more. Even just the day before Fiona actually farrowed I noticed some different behavior in her. She had been spending a lot of time over by the pear trees and in the back yard in general. The day before she had her piglets was a very warm, so I spent a lot of the day under the tree with her and reading and playing Pokemon GO. During that time I witnessed Fiona chasing off one of the junior swine. She was not happy with Edith hanging around, not even a little! That was a very out of character thing to see in her. Later in the evening I spent more time in the yard and watching her - it appeared that she was breathing very heavily. In retrospect I should have investigated before heading in for the night. She probably was laboring while I was sitting there watching her because the next morning were piglets.

Because she had decided to farrow al fresco we "had" to create a safe space for Fiona and her babies. Tom slapped together a pallet house next to the pig house, mainly for Rex. However, it wasn't used much so Tom relocated most of the pallets and built a wall around Fiona's area.

This is phase 1 of Fiona's special accommodations

It isn't totally predator proof, but at least there is a little bit of a barrier to ward off something becoming interested in Fiona and kids. Also, this offers a little bit of a wind block. Not as much as I would like, but enough that the babies have a safe space to goof around. There were showers in the weather forecast for Saturday and just to be safe we decided to put up the old canopy that was hardly used over this space...

Welcome to Pigopolis 2.0

I thought we would really look more "hillbilly" like, but it's not too bad, I suppose a tarp would have really topped off the look ;) This mostly keeps the area dry, although I think because she is under a tree that is all leafed out, she would have been just fine. So the canopy is mostly for our own peace of mind. 

The last thing that was added was a heat lamp. Fiona farrowed on the evening of the hottest day last week and the temps have just been going down from there. The piglets don't have any fat on their little bodies to keep them warm so the heat lamp seemed to be a necessary item. Well, we thought so anyway. The babies had no interest in the tank or the lamp all day yesterday so we just unplugged the lamp until evening and we were heading in for the night. This morning, all seven were in the livestock tank (creep) enjoying the heat of the red bulb. Perhaps they will embrace the creep for it's intended purpose instead of using it as their bathroom facility as one of them did yesterday. The biggest one went into the creep after feeding and proceeded to pee. Fortunately they are small and are not producing a ton of pee or poo. We'll see how they progress with their pooing and peeing as they grow older.

We have decided to keep the sows separated from Rex so they can have a break. They both had a two litters in the last 6 months. Poor Fiona never had a chance to get her bikini-body back. Once these litters have been weaned we'll work on making sure that Fiona gets her physical condition back in check. Once she is back to a more reasonable size/weight we'll go ahead and let her breed again, but not before and certainly not two litters so close together. I love the piglets and all, but they take a lot of our attention when we have so many other things that need to be done here on the farm.

No matter what I wouldn't trade this life for anything else - we have a blessed life here at Windswept Farm!

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. 

I'm So Tired

 I really tried to keep up with this blog. The closer I get to retirement the more hopeful I get that I will be able to update here more often than I have this past year. So much has happened in the past few weeks!

We are officially done raising meat chickens for the year. We thought that the chickens would be ready the week before Halloween, but as it turns out, they were still too small and just not great going through the process of processing them. After processing 8 of them, we called off the rest of the day and had our helpers go home. We were disappointed that we had to do that, but honestly, how long would we have to grow these guys out? Nearly a month later and so many days of listening to the meaties crowing at all times of the day - we finally went through the whole flock and graduated them to Freezer Camp. As it turns out, the extra month really didn't make that huge of a difference. They were still on the smallish side and they did not do well tumbling in the plucker. Smallest chicken was 3 lbs and the biggest just over 4 lbs. I guess we got spoiled with the Freedom Rangers as we had many 4 pounders and an occasional 5 pound bird. Definitely going back to them next year!

These terrible birds all bagged up and nestled into the freezer.

The last bird that we processed this past weekend was one of our turkeys that we acquired in June. At 5 months old he was still a little on the smaller side, but since it's just Tom and I it's actually perfect. Not much difference processing our big ol' turkey (big compared to the chickens). We were ready and not ready to take care of the deed. The plucker seemed to be an inadequate size when we thought about it, but turns out it would have worked just fine. Anyway, We don't have restraining cones big enough to accommodate a turkey so we had to hang him by his feet. HOWEVER, we didn't have any kind of rope or twine to wrap around his legs. So zip ties would have to do, BUT we didn't have any large sized zip ties so Tom connected to small ones together and we tried to make that work out. THEN how would we hang him? We didn't have a hook so after some thinking Tom came up with a tie down strap that has a hook. SCORE! After he got that situated and got Carlos on the hook he slit his neck. As soon as he started flailing a little he fell down. UGH. So Tom ended up holding him while he bled out. 

The rest of the process went okay. We ended up hand plucking him since we weren't sure we could run him in the Yard Bird. He is now aging in the fridge after swimming around in a salt brine for a couple of days. We'll see how he roasts up for Thanksgiving dinner! 

The other day I got a couple of photos from Tom while I was at work - 

The only girl from Fiona's litter in March farrowed late on Monday. Sneaky little Bridgette getting knocked up at four and a half-ish months old! Little Missy is doing great! The piglets are doing great!

 The funny thing about this - I had the thought that she might be pregnant since she didn't have a heat cycle since the end of July. Tom hadn't mentioned anything since the summer and I wasn't going to say "You know, I think Bridgette is preggo." He was kind of dismissing my concern over her and her litter mate "gettin' busy." Last week as I was observing Bridgette's body, it seemed to have changed a bit. For starters, her teats were looking a little more pronounced and I'm sure that Fiona wasn't like that at all. So, I decided to keep all of the information to myself. Then, late last week I arrived home from work and Tom was getting dinner prepped and he looked at me and said "You know, I think Bridgette is pregnant." My response, "I know." 

HAHAHAHAHA....I had a moment. 

So now that we were on the same page we were looking at her over the weekend and her lady part was looking rather swollen. I thought maybe another week. Tom concurred. NOPE let's say Monday evening. Then Tom figuring it out Tuesday morning after all of the piggies were set free from their house. Even Bridgette went sauntering out as if nothing happened. 

We are very excited that she has a healthy litter of 3 girls and 2 boys. They seem small, but then I think Fiona's March litter were just as little, I just don't remember. They grow so fast! 

This weekend I'll be spending a lot of time with the piglets and lil momma. I just love those wrinkly little bodies!

On top of going to work and doing the farm thing, last week was National Collection Week. So, each day I left work an hour early to go home and eat dinner and then go and sit at the church waiting for people to come and drop off their filled shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. My role each year is being a host and interacting with the donors whether they are groups or individuals. This year was different due to COVID and everything had to be done outside. No non-volunteer people were allowed into the building. We were running a curbside drop-off. for the rare occasion that there was more than one donor there was another host who would take care of the ones that I couldn't get to. Numbers were definitely down, but that just made each box received even more special. In the end we received over 15,000 filled shoeboxes. It has been said that each box reaches 3-5 people with the gospel message. You do the math! That's a lot of God's love working through the hands of the people who packed each and every box this year. 

So I might be tired, but I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season. Our farm, my upcoming retirement, and my friends and family.

Be blessed during this holiday season!

The Time Just Flew By!

March 30, 2020

The little AGH's are TWO months old! It's crazy to think that the past two months went by in a FLASH! They were just born...We watched them grow right before our eyes! Fiona did such a good job raising them up!! We were concerned since litter number 1 was not successful. In so many ways. We are better informed now and have a very suitable space for her to farrow in the future. In fact, the whole structure is still in the early stages of becoming a pig palace of sorts.

So what has been happening in the last two months?

Well, until last Tuesday (day after Memorial Day) I was working remotely. There were a handful of days that I was asked to come in to the station for specific projects. Otherwise I was home working and taking breaks to check out the kids. 

After a couple of weeks they started to explore outside of the stall that we had them set up in. THEN  they were exploring a lot of the farm with momma supervising (sort of). They explored a lot of the field next to the area where they spent the first few weeks. Then as time went on they explored further and further. This included the big garden space all covered with a silage tarp the back yard, Big Daddy's area. Their most favorite area was the Mushroom Compost pile. They would spend a lot of time playing in the mound and pushing around the dirt and stuff. They even work on a depleted pile that was next to a pile of sand. They worked it so much that I was able to shovel up a wheelbarrow load of soil for planting. 

Good Piggies!

Last week when we had a couple of days in the 80s and low 90s Tom put out a small pool for them to cool themselves in. It was a slow process of figuring out that there was water in the pool, then they slurped up some water and then figured out that they could step into it with not too much trouble. 

May 28, 2020

One of the boys decided to try out the duck's pool...

A lot has happened from the time that they were born until now. I'm back to working in the office full time - no more of that working remotely nonsense. For now at least. Who knows how things will shake out this fall. In the past nine weeks we have spent so much time learning about the piggies and momma and trying to determine which we will sell and WHEN. 

Last week it became pretty clear that it's time for the jr. swine to move on. They are getting bigger, duh. But they are also becoming harder to handle at meal time. They know the routine, but they don't allow for their human parents to get things laid out for them. It's craziness!

So, by Thursday I had drafted up an ad for Craigslist. Tom approved of the ad and then I decided to post it on Friday. Since selling livestock is a new thing for me, I wasn't sure what to expect as far as interest. On Saturday it occurred to me that maybe I should add some key words and phrases to make our ad more findable. THEN by the evening, I thought that maybe we should pray about selling the pigs and asking for the Lord to prompt a suitable buyer for the piggies.

Things happen when you pray - sometimes it takes a while. Other times - less than an hour! Yep, within an hour I had an email waiting for me to read. 

After a few email exchanges we have ourselves a buyer! AND she said she would buy all FOUR of the boys! So out of the six we are keeping the female, also know as Bridgette for breeding purposes. As well as the male who had some problems with his front legs we call him Victor. He will be our feeder pig.

The fact that they are all going together makes me so happy and thankful. They will be together at their new home together so that will be something familiar and they will get to know their new place and new routine together. Let's just hope that they the transition doesn't freak them out too much. 

This is pretty much forced weaning. We had hoped to try to separate Fiona from the brood the weekend before we listed them, but the instinct was pretty strong at that point. The babies cried and she made her way from her old paddock with Rex over to them. She didn't leave any evidence as to where she escaped. That is still a mystery. The babies also busted out and were wandering around. 

We have noticed since then that she is not allowing them to nurse nearly as much and is doing her own protest by not allowing herself to be available to them. Soon they give up and start grazing or playing somewhere together. Once that happens she pops up and wanders out to the field or goes to the front yard where the clover is nice and thick. 

Today is Tuesday so I will be spending as much time with them as I can. Our buyer had a change in her plan for Thursday and will be over much earlier than she first thought. I decided to take the afternoon off so I could meet her and to help with loading up the kids into the kennel that she will be bringing...

To Be Continued...

One Month

Late afternoon on March 28th, Fiona farrowed 8 itty-bitty piglets. Her first litter was only 5, so the prospect of 8 had me a little anxious. Of course, the first litter did not survive (sadness), but this one was successful and all 8 survived the first night. The next night a couple of the piglets were squished by momma and we were left with 6. 

March 28, 2020 - first family foto

Now here we are one month later and those little soda can sized piglets are now the size of a two-liter bottle of some fizzy beverage. Out of the whole bunch we have one female - Little Fiona. She is our keeper along with one of the boys who is a little gimpy.

Over the past month these little dudes have been the best distraction during this COVID19 crisis. The Governor put the two week stay at home order the evening of March 23rd, so to have these littles arrive 5 days later was, and continues to be a welcome distraction. The stay home order until May 4th just extended my stay on the farm with lots of opportunities to play with the piglets.

On the Monday that Tom found that two of the piglets had been squished we had to come up with a new arrangement for the piglets. Fortunately I had been in contact with Farmer Jason at Cascade Meadows Farm and he said that a creep would help to keep the piglets safe at night.

The best thing EVER! It was a quick training period to get them into a routine a day or two. Soon, we would go in and see that they were all sleeping in the creep under the heat lamp.  For the first several days we took turns going out to check on them to make sure they were where they needed to be. Only a couple of times they decided to be with momma.

Actually, there were several mornings after we quit checking on them that a couple of them - and sometimes all of them would be sleeping with Fiona, which is fine, but they needed to stay in the creep while Fiona got out to eat her first breakfast. They would hop over to the creep once I came in and settle down and fall right back to sleep. Perfect!

That routine lasted almost three weeks. Now they are little bruisers and they darn well do what they please. Sleeping while Fiona goes outside - no longer a thing. EVERYONE goes out! It's no use fighting what they want to do. They are getting big enough after all.

Also, over the past couple of weeks they have become very affectionate with us and will come up and rub their little bodies on our ankles and then plop down. Then the belly rubs start and soon they are sleeping. Of course they nap and will hop up as soon as they hear something and then they are all action.

All in all, the piglets have been a blast! Everyday is a new adventure and watching them explore the world around them is priceless. Discovering the ducks and the chickens all the way to a couple of them "meeting" Rex. Earlier today one of them tried to nurse and was nudging Rex in the belly in hopes that there would be milk.

If I knew that piglets would bring so much joy I would have gotten them long ago! Well, maybe not, but still. Maybe we would have had pigs earlier while starting up our farm. The reality is that we got them at just the right time. They make me smile and fill my heart with joy. People are interested in them and we welcome visitors - while still practicing physical distancing. Well, mostly anyway.

What will happen in the next few weeks...we'll see how weaning goes when they are about 8 weeks old. I'll need to contact Farmer Jason to find out how the weaning process is to happen, but that is for another day. Once they are weaned we'll be listing 4 of the boys for sale. I want to enjoy as much time with them as possible which is why being home now has been so good!

Farm Life is the Best Life...

with piglets!

Hump Day

Two more days and it will be weekend time again. I think that the days at home last so much longer doing tedious work projects when I really want to do farm projects. Also, I feel a little forgotten. sigh.

Oh well, at least I have things like this to lift my spirits - even just a little...

This morning was a reminder that the piglets are growing and their needs or their little brains are progressing as well. As per the schedule of the last two weeks I went out before dawn to give Fiona her pre-breakfast ration. Most mornings up until this morning the piglets would go to their creep and settle back into sleep. This morning was quite different! A couple went to the creep and settled down, but within a couple of minutes they went out and joined the others and were clamoring around Fiona for their first meal as well.

Look at these little fatties! Once I took a look at this photo, it was a very cute thing and I decided it was time to let them do what they want to do. They ARE nearly three weeks old afterall!

Tonight I hope to get them out with Fiona behind the structure that has their shelter. They seemed to like to poke around a couple of nights ago. Last night they preferred to run around in the paddock.

They are a perk for me while working at home. I just wish I could spend more time hanging out with them while they are eating, sleeping and just being piglets.

Farm Life...Best Life

Easter Weekend

Happy Easter!

For the first time in forever we are not celebrating Easter with our church family. Thank you COVID-19. Instead we'll be meeting remotely and separately as we tune into Felida's YouTube live session later this morning. It's a good thing really, we can only hope that unchurched people might land on the video during or after. It's not ideal, but it's what we've got right now and at least we'll be able to attend worship, but only separately. Sunday evening is our Small Group night and we have been meeting via Zoom. A handy tool to allow us to meet for a short period of time.

My weekend started on Friday and I feel like I've done enough that I don't feel like the day was wasted. Also, I'm trying not to beat myself up when I don't feel like doing the things that I say that I might want to tackle. Staying home is enough to keep me feeling down, so I don't need to set my expectations high.

Yesterday and Friday I did spend some time in the Hoop House getting things cleaned up and organized. Also decided to transplant some seedlings - even though they were on the small side. The only problem that I ran into was the fact that my seedling trays were mostly trashed and I had to get more. My choices: Amazon or drive to Wilco in Battle Ground. Because I don't like to go to Battle Ground I looked on Amazon first. After searching for a few minutes and kind of being interested in a couple of different offerings, I decided to drive to Battle Ground. This trip will probably be the last trip out there for a while. At least it is an option.

A mix of saved seeds and new seeds from Seed Savers

Both Friday and Yesterday were beautiful sunny days so I was happy to be in the hoop house and not out in the wind. Friday the temp reached 82 degrees out in there! Anyway, transplanted more than is pictured above. Looking forward to more days getting seeds and seedlings planted or transplanted!

The one thing that I wanted to do, which probably will happen today, is to get the tarp out and cover the garden for the next few weeks. The chickens have been moved out and it's time to start the prep with a period of baking for the next month or so.

This was taken March 10th.

My hope is to start planting in about a month. That gives me a few weeks to plan where to put my crops and how close I want to make the beds. The vining crops take too much room, so those will be planted somewhere else. Maybe in the space where I tried to do Three Sisters last year.

Lots to plan!

Late yesterday we went for a walk and as we were getting started we saw this:

These are the neighbors who live across the street from us. They were practicing Social Distancing and playing BINGO. I didn't notice them at first since I getting my Pokemon Go working. Then I heard someone yelling out B-11 or whatever. We are only acquainted with three of the families and it was fun to see them outside. This sheltering in place has caused people to think about relationships and this is awesome! On our way back I heard one of the men yell "The winner of the next round wins eggs from the neighbors!" Hahaha...I would have brought over a goose egg if I were feeling saucy enough. Next time.

And now it is after small group time and I've got a little time to finish this post.

This afternoon we DID get the tarp on the garden, but when I was out a little bit ago, the wind had blew some of the tarp around. We'll need to find some heavier weights for the corners I guess.

The only problem is that the garlic is in the big garden this year. I decided to try planting into the ground instead of into a raised box to see what kind of difference that would make. While I knew that I would be putting a tarp over the garden this year, that didn't stop me from planting the garlic. Note to self - plant garlic elsewhere this fall.

Also moved the fence around Fiona and piglet's area. It's only been two weeks with the piglets, but Fiona has been in the space a week more. Fortunately Fiona is the only one with full size pig poo. The littles still have itty-bitty everything! So, they will be okay for another couple of weeks.

Now my weekend is coming to an end and I'll need to get back into work-mode tomorrow. I'm certainly not looking forward to it as the project that I'm working on is very tedious. I am grateful that I still have work coming my way and that I don't have to worry about being furloughed or laid-off.

The only thing getting into the way of farm life is work :( Oh well, it's not forever and really farm life is still pretty sweet and I can't wait until this is my forever!

Daily Note for April 9, 2020

Okay, so we'll see how long this lasts - my track record here hasn't been very good. However, since I am stuck at home during this COVID-19 crisis, I may as well record some daily happenings.

Probably the cutest thing from the day had to be one of our itty-bitty American Guinea Hog piglets was getting a full-body massage.

From our experience with his big daddy, Rex, it didn't surprise us that this little dude enjoyed a good belly rub. With Rex sometimes all we would do is barely touch his side and he would totally plop down for a full-body massage like his off-spring.

Yep - the CUTEST!

Yesterday, the meaties finally were transferred out of the livestock tank that we used for a brooder and into the new and improved Stress Free Chicken Tractor.

This is definitely a deluxe living space for the meaties! The first build was almost to the specifications in the Stress Free Chicken Tractor book. Almost because the bending of the metal conduit was not going well and Tom ended up using miscellaneous copper joints to make the frame that would be the roof. This one features plastic electrical conduit and instead of a tarp, wavy plastic panels. The other plus about this is that I can stand upright in this one and there is a lot of head space to boot. The meaties were very hesitant at first, but were convinced after I brought them an extra portion of food for the day.

The work that I did today was mind-numbing, but at least I have the piglets and the chickens and ducks to visit throughout the day. I have decided to take a day of vacation tomorrow. Even though I am home, I am supposed to be doing work stuff and not farm stuff. Tomorrow I'm gonna be a farmer!

Farm Life - Best Life!

It Finally Happened!

The moment that we have been waiting for since we brought home Rex & Fiona!

When the first litter didn't make it, it really was a learning experience, and we were better prepared this time around. Also, we spent the past couple of months thinking, "Is she or isn't she?"

January 18 and March 18

For the longest time I was just being hopeful. Then I thought maybe she was getting fat - that was really a thought. It was a thought that was unwarranted because she and Rex had been getting the same exact diet. She would have had to be sick to get THAT big. So, yeah she was definitely great with piglets!

The week before Fiona farrowed I got a message from Farmer Jason of Cascade Meadows Farm. His assessment from a photo that I had posted on Instagram was that Fiona looked to be about a week away from having piglets. He suggest that we separate her from Rex. At first Tom thought he would get Rex over to the other side of the old structure that will one day become the Pig Palace. Then I had the idea that the room that we had already talked about using as Fiona's farrowing room actually be used for that purpose. We have an extra fence that won't be needed for another couple of weeks. Perfect solution!

March 28, 2020

For the week leading up to her actually having the piglets she seemed to be enjoying not having to share food. Plus having a king size room all to herself was just a bonus!

This time around we were ready for her to have piglets and learned even more so this time around. Having her separated meant we didn't have to deal with Rex. Also, we had powdered Colostrum available to give the babies a boost before they were able to nurse properly at the milk bar.

Around dinner time on March 28th, Fiona started to act a little off. Not her regular I want to rub my head on you or push you over because of food type of behavior. Once I figured out what was going on the first piglet came about 5 minutes after I was getting the idea in my head. Oh, hey - that's like confirmation right there!

Tom had been putting a couple of tarps over the part of the shelter where Fiona was housed - good thing too! Anyway...

The whole process was about two and a half hours and at the end of it there were eight piglets. The first five were fairly good sized and the last three were smaller with the last one being the smallest. Fiona did so well and she was so good natured throughout the entire process. She let us "help" her while she was laboring and we didn't feel like we would be in any kind of danger otherwise. Fiona is a very sweet and chill sow. It's almost like she understands that we were there to help her.

Our next learning experience happened not the night of the piglets arrival, but Sunday night. I was feeling fairly confident that they would survive another night that I didn't think anything would happen when I went to bed Sunday night. Monday morning I was up early, but did not go out to check on Fiona and babies. Instead we just went about our routine and then Tom went out after we had our coffee and had discovered that two of the piglets had not survived the night. They had been squished. My sadness was not as acute as Tom's, as I was not the one who found them. That's not to say I wasn't sad. I was hopeful, but thankful that not all of them had died.

Afterwards, I posted on Instagram and then later Farmer Jason had sent a message and suggested that we build a structure called a "creep" for the piglets to go to in-between feedings. Tom pieced something together hung the heat lamps and then we started to train them to go there when they were not nursing. Here we are five days later and they are getting the hang of the routine. Let's face it, when there is heat involved where would you choose to go?

So during this COVID-19 craziness we have been pretty happy at home. Even though I do have to work, at least I can take a break and check on the littles throughout the day. Even being at home I can see how blessed we are. God has been good to us and continues to bless us with things that bring joy to our hearts. A joy that we have been able to share with a couple of friends. Who doesn't love a baby animal? I think piglets are the BEST!

While we continue to practice physical distancing our focus when I am not working will be on making this little piece of happiness the best it can be. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but this is a pretty good gig.

Farm life is the best life...

and PIGLETS!

April 4, 2020