Category: Pigs

Yesterday we continued the saga of our bad momma pigs. We have one mom who has one surviving baby. She is in with the rat pack you see here and we had to get her out even though momma and baby we’re doing fine. We needed the good momma in the barn to try and nurse a failing piglet, and we needed her away from all the pigs you see above because they had all decided to enjoy the free nursing. Our bad mom had to go back to the finished hog paddock because she refused to nurse her baby so she is going the way of the processor.

We moved the bad momma out first and through a comedy of errors the bad mom escaped (it’s us, go figure a pig escaped) and Miguel and I chased her about 6 laps around the pasture. We finally walked her all the way from the pig paddock to the barn which is about half away across the farm. Once we had her in the barn, we loaded her again onto the pig trailer and took her back over. The second time, we got her right in. One down!

The funny part of trying to off load her the first time was that while she was darting off for her escape, four of the hogs in the pig paddock bum rushed the paddock gate and dove into the trailer. They got on and made themselves at home like they were ready to go to market. We locked them on just to keep some sanity while we chased momma back. I guess it was a practice run because Monday we will be loading 3 pigs to go to the processor. Hopefully they will be just as enthused on Monday.

After playing with pigs and doing our daily feeding. We headed over to our neighbors to set up his pasture to receive some cows. We have worked out a deal with two of our neighbors to use their pastures giving us another 13 acres of grazing land to add to our existing 32 acres. We added a hot wire, daily paddock setup, and new paddocks for  some horses that were already there. We didn’t get everything finished as some unexpected errands came up but our neighbor is going to finish the job and we’ll have everything ready for Tuesday of this week when the entire herd will be moving over there.

Come Tuesday afternoon, we will be cowless on the farm for the first time in any history I am aware of, even going back to the people who owned the farm before us. Don’t worry though, they will be back in about a week.

Oh, and the bad momma pig escaped the new paddock and went back to the barn. I’d say she wanted to be with the baby she refused to nurse, but I’m pretty sure she wants the pampering the pigs get in the barn vs. working for her food out in the paddock.

I shared that our momma pigs had gone outside. We had one good momma with four pretty piglets and one bad mom with one piglet left. It didn’t take long for the bad mom to loose her last piglet. Then it seemed she started working on the other moms piglets. We couldn’t get her into the trailer to leave and things were getting worse with her in there. I was considering just shooting her but we finally were able to get her into the trailer and into the paddock with the finishing pigs. Once she regains some body condition, she will make the ride to the processor and come back as bacon. I won’t be feeling bad about that. Good riddance to that one. 

So our good mom with three piglets then suddenly had a piglet that wasn’t doing well. We gave her a day to see if she could get the piglet feeling better and and there was no progress. So we pulled the piglet and brought her into the house to bottle feed.  

 

We bottle fed and quickly learned we had to push the fluids in with a syringe as she just wouldn’t nurse from the plastic bottle. We also fed a bunch of pedialite via the same method. We fed every hour or so during the day, and every few hours at night.  

 

We kept the piglet under a heat lamp and on fresh hay. We did everything we could but yesterday the little piglet, the biggest and prettiest of the litter, died. 

I always hesitate to bring an animal inside to get this kind of care. Because we select for hardiness and we want the ones that don’t do well to get culled anyway. Also because it’s messy and stinky in the house with a barn animal inside. I don’t even like inside dogs. Also because the mom can usually do a better job than we can. But most importantly because when they come inside with you, it’s a lot harder to say goodbye whether they live or die. 

Today the two moms went outside from the hospital barn maternity ward into a paddock with their babies. We also put the three other babies from the immaculate conception momma from a few months ago along with a few older pigs who were not growing as well as their peers. These will all be combined with 22 pigs we have coming from a friend (Hi Chuck!) in a few weeks to make the next group of pigs (called a drove or a sounder) that will stay together till finish. Miguel had to do a bunch of fence repairs to tighten up all the holes and broken hot wires from this winter. Once everything was tight, we could put the pigs where they needed to be.

The new pig trailer we built has come to be invaluable in moving all these pigs around. What used to be pretty exciting is now becoming relatively routine and easy, as long as the pigs stay in the paddock where we put them, which is not always the case.

We have some new mother pigs on the farm. They are the source of the cute piglet pictures you’ve been seeing. Girl pigs that have not had their first litter yet are called gilts. Once they have had piglets, they are called sows. Being a sow isn’t an easy job and not everyone makes the transition. We have two pigs on the farm who have had litters in the past month. One had six pigs, one had four. The one who had six is a nice pig, isn’t aggressive, lets you rub her behind her ear, and had the most piglets in her first litter. She seemed to be watching out for her piglets, didn’t lay on any of them (always a concern) and also farrowed first. All in all she seemed to be a good mother. The second pig farrowed later, only had four piglets, and was more aggressive. Not terrible, just more. She didn’t like being scratched behind the ear but she was keeping her babies alive so good enough for us.

However the first pig is now down to two piglets, the latest loss the one pictured above. Her piglets are not performing well. She apparently isn’t nursing properly, and worst of all the first two piglets lost were because she ate them. We think possibly another one was eaten but there is no evidence of it. This last piglet lost is not her fault but is even more heart breaking.

The piglets have a small hole that they’ve discovered where they go outside and play. It gives mom a break and the piglets have a chance to root and forage. This one piglet had taken to wandering too far and then not coming back with his brothers and sisters. Miguel had already found him once hiding under a pallet in the barn and had put him back. He also always takes a head count of all the animals, especially the piglets each morning and evening. On our last cold day this week all the pigs were burrowed into the straw and we couldn’t get a good headcount but everyone, including mom, was happy and content. Turns out this piglet had decided to stay outside and mom was making no fuss.

Miguel found him the next day but by then he was already in bad shape from exposure. Miguel put him in our barn bathroom where we keep a heater, cranked the heat up to boiling, made some milk from formula we keep on hand, fed the piglet, then put some high calorie food in the tray you see in case he got up, and checked on him regularly. I checked him when I got home last night, and then came over first thing this morning to check him. He was gone.

We try to give the animals the best environment we can, but beyond that we don’t stop them from being who they are. Our management is based on culling and selection. This gilt has not made the transition to sow and will instead make the transition to freezer. We have good mothers on the farm who take care of their kids with no input from us and with no losses. They will be the ones we breed back. It’s hard and sad to see losses like this, but unfortunately it’s part of farming.

I will bury this little piglet once the sun comes up and then proceed about my normal day, part of which is checking on the two remaining pigs. Hopefully those two can make it to weaning.

Every day we take boxes and boxes of produce and feed our animals. A by product of this process is boxes and boxes. We do what we’ve always done on the farm with cardboard, we burn it in the burn barrel. It just so happens that our burn barrel is right beside the little pig paddock where we keep all of our youngest pigs. During the summer they pay us no mind, but when he days are cold, the pigs do what everyone else you know does when there is a fire, they back right up to it and warm up. You can watch the pigs and they will stand facing one side for a few minutes, then they will switch sides to warm the other side. It’s just like watching people getting around a camp fire or a wood stove. Once they are toasty warm, they’ll wander back off and start rooting for food again but for a while we all enjoy the fire.

Of course, the fire doesn’t replace the warm bedding we give them but who can resist a fire.

Starting tomorrow we should be out of our cold days and the pig will do what we do in the summer with this roaring fire. Stand back as far as possible.

Oh, I guess I shouldn’t mention bacon to the piggies. Oops.

Just a quick picture of breakfast for one of the groups of pigs. We use no commercial feeds for our cows and pigs. They get what they forage and what you see here.



I bought the Princess a hog killing shirt from Piggly Wiggly last year when we were in Charleston. She wears it routinely and I always try to comment on it when she does. There nothing cuter than a cute little Princess who is is merrily dressed in her killing attire. 

However last week SWMBO one upped me on shirts and the above picture is the result. A pink pig, wearing a tu-tu and a crown. That’s about as Princessy of a hog killing shirt as a girl can get. 

It looks like I better find a hog that needs killin’ so she can properly christen this new shirt. 



Today before I even made it out to the barn Emily texted me and said we had piglets being born. I was still making breakfast for my clan so I finished up and headed over. When I arrived the last of the piglets was being born and momma was tuckered out from all the effort.

There are six piglets in this picture. You can just barely make out the other pink piglet’s head between the left most piglet’s rear legs. Most of the piglets were already nursing and were very active however a couple were having trouble getting going and seemed like they might lay down and give up. Fortunately Spork was on the scene.

He made sure each piglet was able to nurse and get some colostrum in them. He then held the heat lamp on the pigs that were having the most trouble to try and get them warmed up a bit. I know he got each of them to nurse. It was great Spork was there because for one thing, he’ll never forget it. Also Miguel and I were trying to reposition our radiant heaters to give the pigs some heat. We couldn’t take care of the pigs and work on the heaters at the same time.

We had a couple of tours today, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I made sure to take both families into the barn to see the new piglets. It’s not every day you get to see piglets that are only hours old. I also took them to see the baby chicks we have in the chick barn.

And of course we checked in on our newest calf, who is a week old today.

It’s not often you get to have so much cuteness during the winter, and despite the horribly cold weather we have coming tonight and the next few days, with all the babies running around I feel like spring is just around the corner.

After all my running around today, I brought SWMBO over to the barn to see the piglets. I had to check her pockets before she left the barn to get the piglets out she was trying to steal.

After getting all my piglets out of her pockets and sending her to the house, I checked one last time on mom and the piglets.

Mom was piglets were snoozing dreamily. They seemed quite content under a heat lamp and two radiant heaters. I was able to scratch mom on the head and neck and she barely moved. The babies were toasty warm when I checked their temperature. With all the cold coming tonight, I’m glad everyone is snuggled in. Tomorrow we may have another batch of piglets. We have another mom who was bred at the same time so she should be imminent as well. Tomorrow could be another day of cuteness!

I attended a pastured pig conference all day yesterday in Greensboro. The conference was very well attended and very well produced. It was really worth my time and I learned a lot. It will take me hours to document everything I learned in a post but hopefully I’ll have some hours shortly to get it done.

There were people there from NC State, NC A&T, and a few other universities in Texas and Colorado. Everything on the agenda was about raising pigs outdoors, marketing outdoor pigs, managing outdoor pigs, etc so this was all about producing healthy, sustainable pork that we can market with confidence to our customers. However there was one comment that day that stuck with me because it demonstrated the disconnect between what consumers want and what the people advising and training producers perceive.

One of the presenters, a man with a PhD who has spent his life in Ag science, made the comment that consumers wanted anti-biotic free pork. Yep, that’s true. I hear it all the time. Then he made the comment that what consumers didn’t know was that they were getting anti-biotic pork already from every producer including Smithfield and any other mega producer. But he cautioned us not to bring it up because it was a marketing advantage for us small producers. Basically wink wink, keep lying to your customers. Now I’m sitting there confused, because all I know is that big producers use anti-biotics routinely. Luckily he continued on to say that before any of the producers process their hogs, they have followed the withdrawal period ( a short window of non use before slaughter, can be as little as one day) for anti-biotic use so the hogs “don’t have anti-biotics.”

I didn’t challenge this gentleman, because when you are there to learn you use the one mouth, two ears philosophy. I also appreciated overall what he was teaching us, but this comment stuck with me. Effectively the opinion of the university staff was that if we follow the withdrawal period guidelines then the pig has ZERO anti-biotics and is the same as a pig I raised that has NEVER had anti-biotics. It wasn’t viewed that that was somehow tricking the consumer. It was more that the consumer was too ignorant or misinformed to know the difference but don’t worry, we can use that ignorance to our advantage. Hmm, not real pleased with this.

I certainly don’t agree with this philosophy but if was an interesting bit of insight into the disconnect between the ag universities, big ag producers, and you the consumer. Even at a conference that was all about open production and sustainable farming, this kind of thinking was still evident. It was also said from the beginning to the end that pigs cannot make it on anything less than a grain based diet. Sure, put them on pasture but you have to give them corn or some type of purchased ration every day. Again, I held my tongue. Who I am to challenge somebody with a PhD and a lifetime in this field. Maybe when I’ve been doing this 10 years I’ll have a stronger opinion but for now I’m still learning. Either way, it pays to know your farmer and what you are getting.

We’d already made tentative arrangements with a farmer near Rocky Mount to come by and see his pigs. He had Tamworth and Duroc cross pigs, which is a cross of something I like. He also said he had plenty of pigs on the ground which was great because I needed someone who was serious about the business and didn’t have a few piglets here or there. This is mainly because I don’t want a repeat of the medical crisis we’ve just emerged from that was caused by our last pig purchase.

I talked to Frankie and his wife Tracy and as promised they were available to meet us on our way home from Little Washington. We drove to Bethel, which was almost exactly on our way home and thanks to the Waze app on my phone we found it quickly. Have I mentioned how much I love Waze?  If you don’t have it yet, stop what you are doing and get it now. Free and awesome.

Anyway, we pulled into the farm and were met with dogs coming from every direction to say hello. However we didn’t see any two legged critters to meet us so Spork and I wandered over to a barn where I heard a bandsaw mill running. Well, I walked over. Spork was immediately enamored with all the dogs and was making friends quickly.

After getting the sawmill operators attention, I was fortunate to meet Frankie and then shortly his wife Tracy. They were absolutely lovely people and people after my own heart. They were homesteading about 250 acres and had:

Pigs
Draft horses
Jersey milk cows
Peacocks
All varieties of dogs
Turkeys
Donkeys

And I know at least 10 other things I’ve forgotten. Frankie was apologizing for the shape of his farm, complaining that the rain had made everything a mess. Heck, my place looked like Brunswick Stew, I certainly wasn’t going to say a word. After a tour and some conversation on pigs, we decided to take 8 gilts that had “gone to the prom” with a boar who got loose accidentally. Some are bred, some are not. We’ll figure it out shortly which is which.

Frankie said if I’d back up my trailer into this tight little space, he’d load the pigs. The space was tight because his backhoe had run out of fuel, then out of battery and couldn’t be started. We worked around some sweet potatoes and tried to maneuver the trailer into the right spot. Unfortunately the ground was soupy and I got stuck, a recurring theme.

After getting pulled out, we set up barriers and an awesome mechanical portable pig scale (I was most jealous). Frankie said the pigs would hop on the trailer, we’d weigh them on the trailer, then move them into the locked portion of the trailer. Having already dealt recently with Houdini, I thought, “Yeah right!” However to my amazement the first pig that Frankie let out of the pen hopped right into the trailer and right onto the scales. Folks, Frankie loaded 8 pigs onto my trailer, the smallest of which weighed 175 pounds and the largest was 305. Only one balked at hopping in with no ramp. The rest jumped in like we were going to go get ice cream. I see what pig wrangling is supposed to look like!

After more pleasantries, and a large check written off the farm account, Spork and I headed home. We arrived about 5:15 and went through the process of unloading the pigs. Miguel looked like he was ready for anything as I told him the story of how these pigs just hopped onto the trailer and how laid back they were. He looked on, thinking “Gringos don’t know pigs!” I could just tell. I opened the door and the first pig hopped down daintily, took one look around, and walked straight into the stall we had waiting for her. The rest shortly followed and we had all the pigs in the hospital barn for quarantine. We are going to give them a couple of days and then turn them into their own paddock. A couple are already showing signs of dropping a litter so we are hopeful for piglets shortly here at the farm. Of course we’ll have pics of the little cuties once they are born.

After unloading the pigs, Cotton came over to see me. It’s not unusual that Cotton comes to see me, however this time I was surprised to find she was practically wearing the same pants as me. I couldn’t get away from her. It was then that I remembered all the other dogs we’d seen. Cotton looked at me like I’d been cheating on her. I tried to explain that I’d barely petted those other dogs, and besides they weren’t nearly the dog that Cotton was. I received the cold shoulder from her the rest of the night. Women!