Oh Mildred …. you naughty girl!
Yesterday was quite the BUSY day. Richard had just come home from his last 24 hr “training” on the ambulance & had had very little sleep. Normally we don’t head out to do the animals until 10am when Caleb goes down for a nap but yesterday was different. For the last few weeks, Mildred’s piglets from May have been gradually wearing our patience very thin. I love all our pigs BUT do expect them to respect fences & us etc. Well these little monkeys respected NO fence – they were digging up the yard, making a right mess & starting to terrorize the dogs & stealing their food. PLUS one day earlier this week they came up to the garage when I was milking the cow. Once they smell milk there is no stopping them. I had had ENOUGH!
So it was time to put them in the freezer. I had managed to shut them in a “cubicle” in the barn the night before & no one was allowed down to the barn yesterday morning so all would stay calm. Normally when we head to the barn they start hollering, causing a real ruckus & setting everyone else off. SO with all that work to be done we had to start early & creep to the barn. Yep, the kids actually stayed quiet 🙂 After Richard had done the deed I went in to start helping him do the butchering part.
As I walked into the barn I turned around & saw three little Large Black piglets huddled in the corner. I was completely taken aback as they were in the walkway away from all the other pigs. I was like, “Where did you come from?” Looking around we found 3 more. Who was the mama? (Not a strange question as we have three LB’s due here this week) There was not a pig in the barn so out I headed to solve the mystery & lo & behold it was Mildred. She was actually due today so no real surprise but the surprise was that she had abandoned her babies. We finally got her into the barn but she was not interested in her babies at all! What to do? We gave her food – the poor babies were squealing & going as they were cold & hungry but if they got too close she just threw them out the way. To say I was threatening her with being made into sausage was an understatement.
Realizing that shutting her in was not going to work I let her out again. Thankfully it was a warm sunny day so we put the babies in the sun. Yes the threat of hawks were very much in my mind but we had to risk it. Cold piglets die very quickly. They were close to the barn so I figured they were relatively safe. Once we had finished butchering the older piglets, we had a quick lunch & then we had to go pick up hay. After loading 50 square bales into the trailer we went into West Plains to the chiropractor etc so by the time we got home it was dark. Richard went down to check on the piglets not really expecting to see any still alive. Well those little pigs were savvy & despite being very hungry had cuddled into other pigs to keep warm. Richard found 3 & gave them to Mildred. They immediately started suckling. Then he found a dead one & his heart sank BUT it was one we had not seen before – had obviously died before we got out there yesterday morning. SO where were the other 3? He finally found them cuddled up between the GOS all lovely & warm. They got given to mama & starting eating.
Kind of went down to the barn this morning with some trepidation. Now the sun was up would Mildred reject them again? Surprise! Mildred spent all day with her 6 babies today – they are doing really well & here is a pic of them tonight snuggled between her & Rachel.
Aren’t they tiny compared to the “big” pigs 🙂
What caused yesterday’s “weird” behavior? NO clue! BUT we are thankful that Mildred has turned around & is doing her job.
Up next with some more “pics at night!”
Liz
November 14, 2010 @ 5:43 am
I have a question on ear markings. If a piglet dies, do you not consider his number when marking the ears? From what I understand, the number of birth for each pig is what determines the ear mark. If one dies, is it like he never existed when it comes time to notch the ears? Is this question clear as mud??? Do you sell the meat or keep it all for your family. Here’s hoping this litter from Mildred is a little calmer than the previous ones.
Lee
November 19, 2010 @ 9:38 pm
Here on the farm we aim to ear notch within the first 24 hours. IF a piglet has died before that we do make a record of that but obviously do not waste time ear notching its ear. SO in the case with Mildred’s litter, the piglets were ear notched 1 thru 6. When we found the 7th dead pig we put that info in our records. Since then Piglet #6 has died so that is recorded also. When notching pigs, both ears have to be notched. The right ear shows the litter number (in this case #7 for the Large Blacks) & the left ear is the number of the pig. This way we can easily tell who is who & there is never any confusion.
November 14, 2010 @ 9:29 am
Ha! Maybe you change your name to Cornish Heritage AD-ventures!
November 16, 2010 @ 5:07 pm
I was wondering how Richard dispatches the hogs. Does he shoot them square between the eyes or behind the ear? Also what type of rifle does he use?
Thanks.
November 19, 2010 @ 8:41 pm
Richard uses a 22 – you don’t need a big bullet to do the job. The target should be between the ears, above the eyes. One shot should do the job. Make sure you have the muzzle of the gun close to the head but NOT touching. This kills them & then you have to stick them – i.e. cutting the jugular so that they bleed out. Make sure you have the pig contained – they will thrash around even though they are dead.