Yesterday morning, after I fed the baby and got her down for her nap, I headed out to feed the animals.  We got our first snow of the year and it was beautiful outside. Rocky was moved into the double horse stall in the barn a few days ago in anticipation of the delivery of her first litter of piglets, so I checked on her first. She met me at the door as usual and appeared perfectly normal, but what I saw next was heartbreaking. In her stall, there were the bodies of tiny piglets strewn about.  The night before, she showed no sign of going into labor and I was horrified at the sight.
 
Only two tiny piglets were alive, huddled against the wall in the straw. I went over and picked them up, they were cold and weak. From watching Rocky, she appeared to have no interest in them. I ran into the house to get Nick so we could get the two remaining piglets out and try to warm and feed them.  We grabbed towels and the formula supplement and bagels to lured Rocky away from them. Once I got into the stall again, she suddenly decided that she was not going to let me get near the two living piglets. After several attempts, it became clear that her mothering instinct had finally kicked in.
 
We checked on her and the piglets every few hours throughout the day and each time she was laying down with them, allowing them to nurse and keeping them warm. We were pleased, but had our doubts that they would make it through the cold night, even with extra straw and the heat lamps.  To my delight this morning they were both still alive and Rocky was still caring for them. It’s still too soon to say if they will make it, but we are hopeful.
 
 As for the six piglets that did not make it, much remains a mystery. Two appeared to have been laid on by the mother,  possibly stillborn, but the other four we are unsure what happen. It could be they wandered too far from Rocky and froze or that she flung them or accidentally dragged them off while they were nursing, or they had something wrong with them and were never going to live anyway. We will never know. The question now is if Rocky can learn to become a good mother and continue to be one of our breeding sows, or if we must find another purpose for her. Days like this really make me question if I have the strength to deal with the inevitable ups and downs of raising animals.

A couple weeks late, but the piglets are weaned. There was more fussing from momma than from them, but she was also the one we tricked to go into the barn. She has been held captive there for the last three days until Nick got the extension put on the big pig house today, so there is enough room for all three big pigs to fit comfortably.

All six piglets are eating well and growing like weeds. They have become more curious about us and will now eagerly approach us, probably since we are now their only food source. A few let us pet them while they eat, but as soon as they notice it's us touching them, they scamper off and circle back around to the food. I noticed this week that the littlest gilt, with the most white markings has blue eyes! Her picture is below.

In other news, Rocky is now believed to be pregnant and will probably be having her litter in the next month or so judging from her size. We are fencing another pasture tomorrow and Nick will build another pig house. We will separate her in the next week or two, so she can prepare for her new arrivals and not have to compete for food.

I have added another page to our site with information on reserving your half or whole hog of pastured pork. We also finally got our honey bottled from our very small harvest this year and have a few bottles left for sale. Call or email me at 559-347-7646 or pipsmagic@hotmail.com if you are interested.

We have had an exciting last month and a half. Our little bundle arrived on schedule and everyone is healthy and happy. We are settling in to our new routine, which as you can guess, revolve around a certain little girl's every wish and demand. This has left little time for farm chores, but we hope to take advantage of our maternity/paternity leave to get some fencing and other projects done.

We need to get another pasture and pig house ready because the piglets are past ready to be weaned and poor Natasha is ready for a break and some recovery time. Every time I start to feel sorry for myself with my demanding little one, I see her six very demanding and quite large piglets who practically overtake her to nurse! They are eating grain well and are large enough to keep each other warm through the winter. Now we just have to trick Natasha into going into the next pasture without any of them following her. That will be a feat! We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic start to the New Year!