Third litter of Berkshires

Jan 10, 2010:  Our 3rd litter of Berkshire pigs were born during the Winter Storm Warning on Wed, January 10th.  She had a total 15 piglets.  As of Thursday night (the 11th) She still had 13 alive.  She is a very content mom and very good to work around.  She loves to come out of the box to get her back scratched.  She is so funny, she stretches like a dog when we scratch her.  If we ignore her, she starts rubbing her head up and down our leg to get our attention! 

Our Second litter still is a 6 alive piglets.  Momma seems to have calmed down and is now doing a good job.

Berkshires usually have smaller litters.  8-10 pigs per litter are considered large litters.  Our Gilts had huge litters!

Our Christmas babies are doing wonderful.  We moved them outside with Little Pig.  They love being out and running around.  Yes, it has been cold, but not one of them has a cough or sniffle.  When they get cold, they dig down in the deep bedding we have out in their pen and snuggle up to mom.  Everyone is very content and happy.  

Second Litter of Berkshire Pigs are born Feb 7, 2010

Feb 7, 2010:  Mama Pig had her litter on Feb 7th at about 2am.  Cindee went out to check her at 2:30 and she had 10 piglets by then.  At that point 6 were dead and as nervous as she was, Cindee just left her alone.   Mike got home at 8:30 am and started to get her under control.  Mike put up 2 horizontal bars to keep her from crushing the piglets, and cleaned up her box. 

Feb 9, 2010:  This morning we went out to find only 6 piglets still alive.  Mama Pig had a total 15 piglets.  Hopefully, these will survive.  Sometimes, things like this happen on the farm.  Sad, but a fact of life.

We will reevaluate if we should rebreed Mama Pig or not.   

Christmas Baby Pigs!

    Our First litter of Berkshire Piglets arrived on Christmas night at 8 pm.  The Mom "Little Pig" gave birth to 11 piglets.  Little Pig is a gilt so this is her first litter and she is doing wonderful and is being a great mom. 

     Little Pig farrowed (gave birth) in a box Mike made just for that purpose.  There are lights at rear of the box that the piglets can get to but Momma can't.  A Farmer's worst nightmare is a fire caused by a heat lamp!

    We will be giving each piglet an iron shot in the next day or 2 and then we will know how many girls (gilts) and boys (barrows) we have.

Dec 27, 2009  Our Breeder brought back our 3 Hereford (a heritage breed) gilts back home.  None on the 3 got pregnant.  This is a disapointment because Mike really likes his red pigs.  All 3 will be sent away soon because on the farm, you can't afford to feed animals that aren't producing. It is a hard and disappointing fact of farm life.

January 10, 2010:  We caught all the baby pigs and gave them an iron shot and the boys became "barrows".  We have 5 gilts and 6 barrows.  All are doing great.  They are now out of the box and running around and eating Little Pig's feed.  Since they are Berkshire Pigs, they are built like little boxes and look very square!  These pigs will be moved soon so our other Gilts can come in.

Both of the new farrowing boxes are done and ready for the next 2 litters of pigs due February 5th.  We really hope that they are as nice and are as good of mother as Little Pig.

January 15th:  The baby goats have started to arrive!  They are earlier than expected but it only takes a few minutes to set up the boxes for them.  They have a 4ft by 4ft box to start with so they can stay nice a warm with the heat light. 

January 19th:  We just picked up the smallest baby goat I have ever seen!  He is so small, he looks like a chihuahua (He is brown)!  We are going to call him "Chewy".  He is living on the porch in front of the heat and has been given extra attention.  He is doing great! Most of the other babies are eating 12-15 oz at a feeding...."Chewy is lucky to do 6 oz because his tummy is so small!

January 21st:  We are now up to 13 baby goats.  We are offering them free to 4-Hers who want to show them at any County Fair.