Matthew went up to the barn to feed pretty early Saturday morning, since we were planning on leaving before lunch. We had an appointment at the meat market to pick up our 161 pounds of cured ham and bacon. The rest of us were still pretty much asleep on this lazy morning when Matthew called over the radio that Nellie and Sally had their piglets!
Needless to say, that announcement got us moving quickly. We had our work clothes on and were up at the pig lots in a flash. We knew they were expecting, but we did not know exactly when they were bred. I really thought they would have another week or so.
Nellie had 10 piglets nursing in one of the sties and they all seemed to be doing fine. Christina brought our camera along. Here is the first picture she took of them when Nellie was up eating:
Sally, on the other hand, delivered her piglets on the cold ground, outside the sty. Our temperatures were at freezing last night, and Sally was not doing well. She was obviously cold and was shaking as the 8 piglets nursed.
Here we are checking on Sally, wondering what to do:
The afterbirth was still all around Sally and underneath her and I was not sure if she could get up. (Nellie’s was all gone and cleaned up, and she was moving around quickly.) Matthew had found 2 piglets a distance away from Sally that were dead and another piglet was almost dead all the way down at the dirt road! They all looked like they would have been healthy, strong piglets so we think they must have wandered away from Sally and ended up too cold. Erica warmed the living piglet by cuddling him up in her sweatshirt. He seemed to be fighting for his life, but he would not nurse. I thought sure he would not last long, but after Lisa cleaned him up with a warm bath down at the house, he started to really perk up. An hour later he was energetic and able to go back to Sally. Now he seems to be as healthy as the rest of them!
Here is the first picture of Sally’s group (without the one that almost died):
Her piglets are adorable. You can see the markings better in this close-up shot (the one that almost died looks like the red/white one):
At this time, I still wasn’t sure about Sally. I thought she needed to get up and move around, and we really needed to get her down to the barn where she could get warm and care for her piglets better. But, how does one move a 600 plus pound sow with a litter of piglets?
This might sound cruel, but it was for her own good. We decided to take all of her piglets away from her and see if she could get up to follow their (pitiful, loud, screeching) squeals. When she heard her babies’ cries, she tried to get up. It took a bit of effort on her part, but I was glad to see her on her feet. She followed the squeals down the path, stopping a couple of times to sniff the ground as if she was trying to pick up the scent of her babies. When she stopped I had to take a couple of piglets back for her to see and smell again, and then she would continue to follow me.
She had to walk about 200 feet to the barn, but I bet she felt it was worth it when she saw her babies there in a big pile of warm straw! She went into the stall, sniffed her babies, made a nice hole in the straw, and laid down in it to nurse.
Here is Christina checking on Sally and the piglets in the barn:
Today, the mamas and piglets were all doing well when Matthew and Christina checked on them before we left for Sunday School. I had a preaching appointment at a church about 45 minutes away, so we couldn’t check back on them until late in the afternoon. We decided to spend quite a bit of time up there after dinner to better winterize their quarters. If it really gets down to 7 degrees tonight like the weatherman predicted, the day-old piglets would be in jeopardy. We stapled up used feed sacks over all the cracks and open places to keep out the wind and help to keep in whatever body heat the pigs produce.
Christina took several more pictures, especially of Nellie’s piglets. I think everyone likes this one because she is marked unlike any of our others before. Christina has been calling her Dalmatian:
I thought this picture was cute with that black one sticking his snout out over the others’ back:
These piglets are content to stay close by when Nellie gets up to eat or drink. Here is a picture of them in another huddled mass:
Erica came up to check on them because they are so cute. She did not hold any of them too much, because Nellie doesn’t like it, but here she is holding one of the red ones inside of the sty:
Here is a face shot of the proud mama:
Nellie has done a great job, once again. She did not have any difficulty either time giving birth. She had 7 piglets her first litter and this time she had 10.
Sally has had a little trouble both times, but she has recovered each time. Her first litter was 8 and this one was 11. It is sad that we lost 2 of this last litter, but I guess that is why God lets them have so many piglets in a litter.
If the rest of the piglets make it, we will have 19 to raise/sell/butcher this time, when we only had 15 last time! We feel very blessed and are looking forward to raising these pigs. They should be around 230 pounds and ready for market the end of August.
If Nellie, Sally and our boar, Rufus, continue the pattern, we could have another batch of piglets again next September! I have read that they have 2 litters a year. Our first litters were born on July 13th, and these were born February 9th. I wonder if having piglets every 7 months would be too hard on them? I guess we will just let nature take its course and see what happens.
I’ll post one more picture that Christina took today. Lisa said she liked this one of me in the pig lot. I’m wearing my new coat since the one I usually wear got covered in yuck from moving those piglets to the barn yesterday:
All of this has again reminded me how awesome of a God we serve. Praise be to Him!
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4 comments
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The Good Life on February 10, 2008 at 10:08 pm
I've always wanted pigs, but read they are soo much like having a dog – not sure if I could raise them for the pot.
Thanks for sharing I enjoyed very much the photos.
Hope its not too cold over there for you.
Love Leanne NZ
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mountainmama on February 11, 2008 at 7:03 am
We are looking into building the lot for our soon-to-be bought piglets. These pictures just make me want to go buy them now.
What type of lot did you build for yours? Of course ours would be raised during the spring-fall months so we would not have to worry about winters.
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Melanie on February 12, 2008 at 9:15 am
The piglets are adorable!! We haven't gotten into pigs yet, but I think one of my boys wants to eventually do it for 4-h so we will have to come back to you for questions. They are really cute, especially dalmation.
Melanie
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Schatzi on February 12, 2008 at 11:31 pm
What I great post….I love little piglets…they are all so cute….
Connie
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