Photos: Mama Red with one very tiny and determined white baby. You can see it's front leg and the tiny ears tucked against it's head as it roots for a sip of milk.
And the litter of day-old babies, after we put them back in a makeshift nest.
The elusive but bold stray black cat that wants to take up residence. Not a great photo, but it captures the stealth and boldness which come with the presence of this particular cat.
And--the annoying young-un's which Bea the guinea hog deigns not to associate with just yet.
Buddy is gone. There was a bit of chasing after a failed attempt to shut him in the trailer. He actually DID walk right in to get his food, but we somehow fumbled getting the double-doors closed in time and he barged right through. There was quite the earsplitting squealing as Jeff, Michael and friend Damon tackled the hog and hoisted him in into the trailer. This turned out to be quite the impressive task, especially when we found out what that hog really weighed (read the end of the story!) Then there was the "Hey, here's food!" peace-and-quiet, as Buddy noticed his dinner pan again and dug right in (yes inside the trailer).
I thought I'd be in tears today, but there is so much else going on.
A young black male cat with slightly crossed-eyes has been establishing residence at our farm. We already have one black indoor-outdoor neutered male cat, 4 neutered orange tabby male barn cats, and 2 young unneutered tabby male kittens. This black kitty seems to be fearless. He was first seen two days ago, after we heard numerous cat fights during the night. Yesterday, he came right up on the front step with 3 of the other cats.
Last night, when we went out to load Buddy into the trailer, a sleek black shape ran from the fenced area behind the barn. Today, he faced off with Sly, and he sat in the garden with Milo, the short-haired orange tabby. None of our cats is pleased about the intruder, but this little cat is determined. Spartan (the oldest barn cat) has had two injured paws in the last 2 weeks, and came in with a few bite marks on his ears a few nights ago. A brave male cat who tries to move in but is injuring our own cats will be run off (by us!) at every opportunity. Waiting to see how it plays out.
Miss Bea, who was Buddy's constant guinea hog companion, was treated to a spa today (as in: the mud-wallow, freshly filled with hose water, and the unthinkable luxury of having it all to herself). She trotted after me as I went about my barnyard chores and manure shoveling. She oinked loudly as she followed me out to the rabbit barn. She laid down in the pasture and munched quietly for a while. She barged her way into the barn when I went in to get something.
In short, she simply wanted company.
Pig meeting pigs (Bea meeting Twitchy and Boss) was uneventful, at least as far as humans would be concerned. Bea pushed and shoved, Bea ate the most food, Bea slurped up water while fending off impatient younger piggies, Bea squealed in indignation when Boss tried to nose his way in for a bit of grain that she hadn't gotten to yet.....
Yeah, the pigs will be fine.
Red the rabbit had all of her babies out of the nest this morning. They are only 2 days old. We made a small nest in the straw for them to snuggle back in. There are 3 white ones, one red-brown one, a few blackish ones, and a dark brown one. 8 total. A healthy litter, from a rabbit who has already had two healthy litters that died before they reached 24 hours old. So hooray for Red, because her babies are alive. Not so much because she's doing an excellent job of mothering them, but because it's not so cold that they chilled immediately on being out of the nest too soon....
The boys finished shoveling the last of the sheep bedding and manure out of the south end of the barn. Whew, what a stinky and back-breaking job. Tomorrow, a movie will be the reward. They really didn't have a choice in doing the work, but.....it made the deal a little sweeter to know there would be a fun outing at the end of a disgusting shoveling job.
I shoveled out 6 wheelbarrow loads of the ankle-deep muck that the cows have been plodding through. With a break in the daily rainstorms, things are drying out just enough for me to make some progress there.
Future piggy plans: I've heard from two guinea hog breeders that they either have a litter of potential breeding-quality hogs or that their sows are expecting a litter. A little male for Bea is in the future.....but wouldn't be old enough to bring home until September sometime. Bea is already showing signs of "cycling" at 8 months (sorry, but that's the reality I have to keep an eye open for!) Still too young to be bred, so it's a good thing that we don't have an intact breeding boar with her yet.
Having a new companion won't happen soon enough for little Bea. During the day, she started moping around. This afternoon, we have a seriously depressed little piggy on our hands. She burrowed under the straw in the newly cleaned sheep area and tried to "talk" to me from under it all. I'd clear my throat or move around, she'd grunt back at me. I made a few pig noises, she perked up and looked around. I peeked in after she decided to stay right where she was, and the sheep and lambs were all peering anxiously at her while she half-heartedly snorted from under her straw. Hopefully the sheep won't panic and break a leg as they stampede when she decides to get up.
Oh well, I'll have to make sure Bea gets a few extra ear-scratches and belly rubs in the next few days..... Maybe she'll get a special helping of the royal only-for-the-cows mowed clover, to perk her up. Poor girl.
And here's the pork update, not to be insensitive or anything while the absence of Buddy is fresh in our minds, but this was pretty surprising..... Buddy weighed in at 240 pounds. For a guinea hog, that's at the heavy end of the expected mature weight. We expected him to be more like 140. He was long, lean, and solid. There will be plenty of bacon, ham, roasts, ribs, sausage.....
I guess that's the bottom line, isn't it? We purchased him for a reason, he grew and thrived here to fulfill that reason.
I expected to be depressed today, too, like little Bea is. But the busy-ness of caring for all of the other animals goes on, and it's been good to keep my mind focused on that, rather than missing a big happy hog. He was a great part of our farm for the 7 months that he was here.
Maybe the best thing to do is REMEMBER him for the part he played, be THANKFUL for what his life will mean to our future farm meals, and not bursting into tears when I think about how he's fulfilled his purpose......
Laura
No comments:
Post a Comment