Our Journey: The piglets have arrived!

   In the mist of Friday morning, we awoke to the squealing of piglets. Instantly, we jumped out of bed, and saw that Vickey had walked inside holding two piglets, who were about to get a warm bath to raise their temperatures. Vickey had been checking every couple of hours throughout the night on the sow to see the progress of the birth, because we could tell the night before she was getting ready to go into labor. Around 6 am, Vickey went outside to find that five piglets had been born and the placenta already passed. On average, labor lasts up to 6 hours and each piglet will come every 20 minutes. Deep mud puddles, built by mama to cool off during the hot days, became a dealth trap for the newborns. Three had traveled into the mud and their temperatures dropped significantly. One piglet died before we could save them. The rest of the piglets ended up inside with warm baths and bottles, until we could try to feed them on mama again when they regained their strength.
   The first litter of tamworth pigs is adorable, with fuzzy, orange peel colored fur. Since the soil in Washington tends to be low in selenium, which is important for bone and cartilage growth, the mama and the piglets tend to be deficient. We gave them each the tiniest shot of selenium, and after a day, saw a dramatic improvement in the strength in their legs. In this litter, there is Princess Black Ear, Nosey, Two spot, and Blondie. Each have unique personalities, and after a few days now, are doing well, all nursing on mom. The piglets and mom will remain in the barn for about a week to 10 days. Then we will take them out to a paddock that was planted with austrian peas and oats for their grazing delight! By that time, the piglets will have already quadroupled in size. The piglets will nurse for up to 8 weeks, while experimenting with eating soil, grass, and grain. Dirt is a necessary source of iron for the pigs.
   As the morning went on, and we were bathing and bottle feeding babies, the four piglets had started to settle down. When we went out to the barn to check on the two mama pigs, their was a baby piglet walking around in the second stall. The second sow started giving birth that afternoon, starting at about two. There is no real way to tell if a sow is in labor - their grunting still sounds the same, and perhaps there is heavier breathing. We spent the rest of the afternoon in and out of the barn, helping birth the four piglets, and we watched them all come out, instantly start walking around and climbing on mom to nurse. Piglets' instinct is to crawl and lead their nose around while nibbling until they find a teat to nurse on, and that is all they want to do when you hold them! In this litter there is #1, Peanut, and the other two never really got named. Everyone got to be nursing on mom, instead of in the house for long, and remained healthy and happy the next few days.
   Each sow has the potential to have fifteen piglets, because each sow has fifteen teats. Both litters were small, which can be unfortunate for the farmer, depending on how many they are hoping to get. Vickey primarily raises pigs to be breeders first, and pork second. The pigs live for years out in the oak grove, if they weren't already sold to be bred.
   Peanut, which was the smallest piglet ever, had been struggling since day one. He was the third piglet from the second litter, and couldn't ever compete with his brothers and sisters for milk on mama pig. We brought him into the house on the second day and had been bottle feeding him and nursing him every hour. He has been up and down, and near death several times. To be honest, we were astonished how long he struggled the stay alive. When an animal is sick, they won't eat, which is unfortunate because that is what will aid them in getting better. Peanut was a struggle to feed, but we did everything we could, and finally he passed today in the evening. His body couldn't hold on anymore. Bless his little heart. He was a fighter.
   Taking care of a dying piglet was really hard on me, and I know it was hard on everyone, feeding after feeding, hour after hour, and hoping that such a frail, weak baby could keep on going. So goes life on a farm. I have a hard time with death, particularly natural death, but that is part of life. There are still seven thriving piglets that will live happily, able to graze on grass and acorns.
   Princess black ear is another story, but the ending is that she is a healthy house piglet! Since she was a little smaller and slower than her brothers and sisters, she had a harder time nursing on mom, and staying out of her way. This sow is a fantastic mom, and a huge way to tell is that she is cautious of all of her babies around her - when she gets up, lays down, and just plain moves around. However, every now and then a piglet gets in the way of those actions, and the result can be tragic when the mom weighs 600 pounds and the piglet weighs 2 pounds. Accidentally, Princess got squished somehow by mom, and we found her weak and limping in the barn. We brought her in and nursed her back to health. She is strong and very lively. Unfortunately, once a week goes by several things change between mom and piglet. Eventually, each piglet returns to the same teat every feeding to nurse, and when this happens, all the other teats dry-off and stop producing milk. The sad news is Princess will never be able to be reintroduced back in with the piglets and mama. Both the mama and the piglets wouldn't think she belonged, and this could even lead to the mama killing the piglet, in defense for protecting her babies. In a larger-scale farming, Princess would have been killed because she was not good enough. Vickey does not think or act in this mindset, therefore Princess is living and beautiful, and will remain in the house until she is old enough to graze on pasture at the grove in a couple months. Having a bottle-fed pig is a lot of work and commitment, but here, it is another pet in the house along we the rest! Our house sounds like bark, sneeze, meow, snort, squeal :) And in the morning the roosters add wonders!