Ninja Cow Farm LLC

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.