Happy New Year's Eve!

Bea and Chips would like me to share with you how I am spending my New Year's Eve... I am the midwife in a cold barn for a litter that was not supposed to happen. All because two obstinate and determined pigs worked a gate loose and fell in...lust. 
Bea delivered two live piglets (and a few that had died at different points in gestation), in 3 hours...not her usual large living litter in record time. And she is shivering and having a difficult time of it. 
One baby is smaller than I expect them to be in order to survive. He's the little one snuggled under her chin. I am making sure that he does not drift off there and miss out on the milk that he so desperately needs.
Truly the litter that was not meant to be. The gilt (female piglet) is vigorous and nurses enough to get Bea's contractions started up again. 
We'll see if the rest of the litter arrives with the fireworks before midnight. Healthy and vigorous would make me happy. Then we'll deal with the cold and how to keep the winter litter warm enough.

Laura

Playing 'Possum

Someone said to me the other day "You should put your stories in a blog".  And I realized...I have a blog.  And I have been neglecting it.  And stories on our Facebook farm page(s) are easy to copy and paste here.  

So, if you're on Facebook, I keep up with the page "Dykstra's Farm".  Also "Evening Song English Shepherds" has so many dog and puppy photos from the past year or so.  "Evening Song Fainters" is for our fainting goats, because customers like to check there to see what baby goats are new, and what the adults are like.  If you're on Facebook, any of those will have the stories that I will try to keep up with sharing here.

And now, today's unexpected story, also found on "Dykstra's Farm" Facebook page:  

It isn't dead, just playing "possum" at the bottom of a handy feed sack... But it would have been very, very dead.
Found by Remy, by the chicken coop. I came home after dark and he was barking. He met me in the barn and then left to bark some more. Feeling annoyed, I went out to see why he was barking without reason. There was something in a brush pile and he was making little dashes at it and then retreating. 
Lightbulb moment for me. Remy has "arrived", as a valuable and worthy farm dog. No longer letting Taffy decide what is worth going after, he cornered this one all by himself and held it there.
Inside the house briefly for a flashlight, I debated about letting Taffy and Star out, and decided they needed to investigate and back him up. 
Remy led them to the brush pile, and Star barged in impulsively to pull out this white opposum. Taffy was lightning fast in taking control to claim it. She has a hatred of possums, ever since the first one in the old willow tree that she could not get 
It would have been dead, but they all paid attention when I told them to leave it, and I carefully scooped it into an empty feed bag to move to safety. The three dogs were praised highly and wriggled with glee.
It has a second chance tonight, but...if they find the same one again, I won't be choose to be so lenient. Opossums hanging around by the barn or the chicken coop are not welcome.
I set it free at the other end of the (small) property. 

Hopefully...it will not choose the same brush pile for shelter in the future.

 

Laura

Puppies!

Well, there's been a long enough silence.  

Taffy and Remy went about their business and made 9 beautiful little pups.  They were due this Thursday, but made their appearance on Labor Day instead.  

Three males, six females.  None will be Remy's color.  But there are several that will be Taffy's mini-me's, like in other litters.  

This is Remy's first litter.   Way to go, proud Papa!  They make beautiful babies together, as we had hoped.

Now if only proud Mama would let Papa anywhere near the pups, to deliver kisses to his offspring.  

 

Laura

Another "Canine Good Citizen" prospect

So, the beautiful Miss Star... We've been in Canine Good Citizen class for the past 4 or 5 weeks. She is still not fond of the car ride, and prefers not to be on a leash. She is nervous and drooling (nerves), with a certain breed puppy in the class that is being handled by a young boy. 
Star performs admirably but without spunk or enthusiasm. She is easily shut down when this other puppy is boisterous, or when there are new things in the room, or when the big noisy fan is somewhere that it isn't supposed to be... :) Rules, and English Shepherds.
So today... Remy was on the back step pining away for Taffy. Taffy was tired and snappy and wanting the extra attention from the resident male to stop. 
Star engaged me in some crazy puppy play as she threw herself against the hay bale I was feeding to the pigs, then dashed around in a frenzy, then threw herself at my feet before crashing into the hay bale again.... 
And then I had an "Aha!" moment. I called her to me. She ran to me with her usual joy and sat without being told, looking back at me with her sparkling eyes, ready for more. 
I told her "down" and she plunked down with a big smile and stayed while I walked away from her. With the next "Come!", she joyfully dashed back to me and wiggled with glee. 
For Star, in class, being in the "down" position and then being left behind is when that little puppy broke free from his young owner and leaped on Star. No wonder that command makes her nervous. But just her and I...in the pasture while the other dogs were distracted. Perfection. 
I knew she could do it. And leash-free, a bonus! 
Now to just work on tolerating the distractions at class. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

 

The engagement period! :)

I'm watching a rather beautiful courtship. (Hopefully this isn't too crude or personal to share.) We've taken Taffy to her suitor both times in the past, so seeing this play out in front of me is quite intriguing. 
Taffy is right on schedule. Remy knows that her perfume is becoming more intoxicating, but is being quite the gentleman. He will check in, but when she is done letting him be close, he is fine with that. He is playful without being pushy, and eager without being rude. I was surprised.
Taffy is more private than usual, sitting down or lying under the table. She seems rather shy compared to her usual "I'm in charge" attitude. She is just starting to respond to Remy's invitations to come and play, after several days of wanting to be left in her quiet spot and not playing with the others.
Somehow, both dogs seem to have become more beautiful during the past week. Remy trots with more confidence, Taffy's eyes and coat seem more radiant. 
Maybe silly on my part, but I don't think it's my imagination that they are courting each other.
I've watched pigs (seedy bar-room scene!) and goats (silly blubbering) and rabbits (bam, and it's done), and this is quite different. 
Hope no-one is offended. I will be careful not to post success in a way that is crude.  If all goes well, Taffy and Remy's litter of English Shepherd pups should arrive at the end of August.  There are quite a few friends and acquaintances that have been waiting a while for this particular litter.  So exciting!

Laura

McHenry County Farm Stroll, photography session

Our little farm has been invited to be included on the McHenry County Farm Stroll. Like the connection to Lincoln Park Zoo, this invite came about in the normal course of the conversations we've had with friends, and moved along quickly from there.

The Farm Stroll is held at the end of September... 11 or 12 farms in McHenry county will be featured and will be open to the public for tours. We've tried to set things up so that it is easy to take friends or groups of people through to see the animals here, so...there is work to be done, but the basic planning is already under way!

The photography session was delightful, and photographer Judy Thornton graciously shared a few of her favorite pictures with me.

JT Originals owns these photos, and has given me permission to share, but please do not download or forward the photos. Thanks so much.

This is a little glimpse of what our happy animals looked like as they interacted with their photographer.

 

Laura

A late-comer!

Just when it seemed that our lambing days were over for the year, a quick check of the barn this afternoon revealed...yearling ewe "Easter" in the middle of delivery.

This delivery unfolded much like Easter's own, just over a year ago.  The lamb's head was out, but there was no breath, no movement, and labor was seeming to go on forever.  

And then I saw an eyelid twitch.  Another long wait.  

The lamb's tiny jaw moved.  And more waiting.

Easter did a fine job, but I suspect that her birth canal is built a bit like her mother's.  Last year, when May gave birth to one very large lamb (Easter) after a rather difficult and drawn out delivery, I had the vet come out to check her.  He announced that there was a sharper curve or angle that the ewe needed to push the lamb through, rather than a straighter birth canal that would be typical.  

This year May had twins, and there was no problem at all.  The "problem" is only when the Southdown ewe from this line is having her first or second baby, and it is larger than twins would be.  It is something to watch in the daughters of these two girls.

And then, Easter gave that tremendous shove, difficult to watch, obviously more difficult to endure on her part, and the little lamb was lying, apparently lifeless, on the straw.  

Easter was not too pleased with me, but I quickly stepped over the low fencing and vigorously rubbed the little one.  Made sure her nose and mouth were clear.  And...she gave a tiny breath.  I realized that I had been praying to God and begging the lamb to breathe, for about as long as I had been out there watching.

Another miracle birth!

I had to leave, to pick up our son from high school, and when I returned, it was obvious that the little one had not been nursing yet.  Easter snorted and tried to even growl at me (which is funny, from a sheep).  

The plugs in her teats were still in place, so there had been no colostrum to warm up the baby, so far.  It is cold, windy, and damp out there on this particular April day.

I held Easter still and positioned the little lamb's head to where she could taste the milk (squeezed out right onto her tiny nose) and then guided that nose to the nipple, where she finally got the idea.

Mama Easter is doing great.  She may snort at me or stamp her front hoof, but I will be over-vigilant with this one.  It might be because the 2 week old lambs are so much larger and already very boisterous, but this little one somehow seems more fragile than usual.  

She is tiny, but such a sweet surprise.  

Laura

New life

This is the miracle that I was privileged to witness late last night. Hugely pregnant, Zaney started acting like it was time shortly after we got home from dinner. We knew it was close, because her official due date was on the calendar for Saturday, and her udder was showing us that she would deliver those kids sooner than that.
In the sequence, you'll see the bubble of fluid containing the first kid...  She was having a bit of trouble with the first one, although it is not the largest of the three she would deliver. 
One kid was born outside the barn, I scooped it up and brought it to the prepared small pen inside, out of the wind. Zaney followed the newborn's noises, and before she could lick the first one clean, the second and then the third were born. 
She is a great mother and has not had triplets before. There was so much milk in her udder that it was nearly touching the straw beneath her. The babies needed a bit of nudging and "suggesting" where the milk supply was, and then latched on eagerly as they figured out how to be on their knees with their little noses far underneath their mama, to get belly fulls of colostrum and warmth. 
All three had a good amount colostrum and all three were snuggling down for their first nap when I went inside around midnight. 
Mama Zaney was quietly munching her hay and slurping fresh water, as if the monumental delivery had not just happened. And this morning...all three doelings opened their sleepy eyes and stretched when I checked on them, then settled in to take turns nursing. 
I can't even put into words how much the birth of these babies is a blessing, and the high-point of the year on our farm. 
God is so good, and the blessing of new life at Easter is so exciting! 

 

Laura

Baby season!!!

The first ones.  Born early this morning.  I had been out to check on all the pregnant mamas, and no babies were born as of 1:30 am. 

 

This morning by 9, April had had twins.  One boy and one girl.  Daddy is Luther, who was a dark faced lamb himself when I bought him two summers ago.

So cute, and mama April is experienced, sure did a good job having them up and nursing before I even knew they had been born.  

April is the first babydoll Southdown lamb that I bought from my friend Michele, back in 2013, and all of our ewes are her daughters or granddaughters.

Pictures:  The "Before" photo that I sure am glad I took just yesterday afternoon.  Luther, the daddy.  Mama April and her babies, and a close-up of the ewe lamb.

Happy Spring! 

Laura

The first days of spring

The fainting goats are due to have their kids any day now.  They are enjoying some beautiful, sunny days, blissfully unaware of the flurry of activity that awaits them when their little ones arrive.  

Mother "Zaney" and daughter "Fern" (Zaney is hugely, enormously pregnant!)

Mama "Savvy" with daughter "Pearl"

"Dazzle" 

And one buck who was so beautiful in the sunshine that I'll include him too.  Teegan.

 

Laura

Crazy cat

Here, she looks calm....  

But she is really a crazy kitten, ambushing us and the dogs, batting at fur from behind the slats of chairs, dashing and leaping with...yeah...craziness.  

She is in complete control, as she certainly set out to be.  :)

The dogs are co-existing peacefully with her, and her life is no longer in danger with a certain dog in a new home.  

This little orphan kitten seems to have settled in quite nicely.

 

Laura

A good start to the day

5:00 this morning, still dark outside, Taffy and I wake up simultaneously to the loud sound of a chicken clucking/screeching outside of the bedroom window. The sound is traveling towards the road... I figure a fox got in somehow, but there are other birds to check on.
Boots and jacket on, flashlight in hand, we dash outside. I remember that the Bielefelder roo and several hens had not seemed willing to go into their coop the night before, and I hadn't followed up...
Taffy is off like a shot, pinpointing where the chicken left our fence and (likely) crossed the road...as we could still hear it cackling but the sound is getting fainter. It seems to be a lost cause (except that Taffy is still intent on the now-distant location). 
We start looking for the others, and my heart sinks when I can't find any of them. Taffy has found them, though. They are huddled next to the fence in a corner, far away from where they should be. She is whining and wanting to make them move (they need to be herded back to where they belong, don't you know...), but she waits for me to pick up the roo, carry him to safety inside the barn, go back for the others, carry them inside as well. Taffy is usually quite beside herself with concern when I have a squawking chicken in my arms, but I think she knew this was different.
She dashes back to the fence, and I have a small hope that the other one simply flew over in the darkness and will be back, but...I call her in and we try to get a few more minutes of sleep.
Once the sun is up, Taffy gives one insistent bark and fixes her eyes on me until I get out of bed (she is good at this)... :) Outside the window, I can see the stray chicken frantically searching for a way back inside of our fence. Right next to the busy road. 
Taffy does not get to join me in retrieving the stupid hen. I won't risk her life next to the traffic... But Taff is the hero of the day, for sure. 
No chickens were lost, and who knows what may have actually spooked their tiny bird brains before day. Taffy may have scared something off that put them on the run in the darkness. 
First thing after the lost bird was back to safety and away from the road, I let Taffy out, and she dashed along the entire inside of the fence-line, making sure all was well. 
It's a good way to start the day. Proud of our girl! 

A fond Bon Voyage (to a pet who never should have been part of our farm life)

Not really a farm-post, although it affects the whole farm in one stressfilled way or another. 
Our husky, Rocky, has been here with us for almost 7 years. He is a....husky... Prey drive, wander-lust, incredible intelligence, everything. And I have micromanaged his existence so that he can stay alive, and safe, and not be a threat to any of the fainting goats (horrors, to think of them keeling over in front of him chasing them!) or barn cats, or any of the other creatures that also rely on us for their safety. 
He will be on his way to a better placement by the time this posts, being accepted into a foster home selected by the shelter where we adopted him from back in 2011. 
A foster family is excited to have him with them for a while, and...a potential adopting family is already asking about him, having looked for quite a while for a husky that fits his description. No husky rescues would take him, unless he was already in a high-kill shelter. And I refused to subject him to that by relinquishing him with no certainty that he would be sprung in time to live.

Thanks, everyone, who kept this concern in your prayers, everyone who sent suggestions of rescues to check with. Rocky has been part of our farm experience and family, but...he is not suited to this life, or to life on a dog cable (what his "freedom" has been reduced to.)
If he had stayed, there are so many bad scenarios that would have ended his life prematurely. And they were all in the back of my mind every time I opened the back door of the house, every time he got loose off of his dog cable, every time he clashed with Remy through the sliding glass door, every time the family of ducklings waddled too close to his cable...every time he side-stepped as the puppies excitedly scampered over to meet him.
Bon Voyage, Safe Travels, you loving, crazy, true-to-your breed husky boy. You have our hearts, and we wish a much better life for you in a home where you can live as the majestic and beautiful Siberian that you are.
May you find your perfect family, one where you can be cherished and loved without reservation, and where your rather wild beauty and strange shows of affection will be part of a select few pets, or maybe, dare we hope, the only one for your new family to adore. 
Thank-you, shelter folks, and foster family, for making it possible for our Rocky-boy to get a second chance in life.

 

A few more pup-dates

The beautiful Smokey, known for a short while as Vader, is loving life as a city dog in Chicago.  He has passed the Canine Good Citizen class with flying colors, and may (?) have started on the next level with his owner.  He has matured to be a beautiful, well-mannered dog who is very much loved.  

I just received the second photo from Morty's owner in Tennessee.  Morty's puppy pic was nearly identical to Smokey's at the same age, but look at these two now.  Still similar, but Morty is taking after his sire, Smoke, in different ways.  Morty is on a farm down south, and his owner is so pleased with him.  She had worked with English Shepherd rescues before, and finally came to the decision to buy a pup, since what she wanted an ES for was more than she was finding in the rescues.  He has acreage, American Guinea Hogs, a Great Pyrenees to learn guardianship from, and is just a natural at keeping his owner in sight.  A nice bond between the two of them, that makes me happy to hear about!

Next up is the photo sent around Christmas, of Maggie (now known as "Abbie).  She is in the New England area, with a retired couple who adores her.  When I had typed out her info on Facebook, this is exactly the type of life I envisioned for sweet Maggie.  She could have gone to almost any type of family, but when she so quickly formed an affection for my parents during a visit when she was just a pup, that was a good look at how she could be for a couple with a little bit of land and retirement time for a pup.  

Ellie is in obedience class with us.  I have Taffy in the class (she is a stubborn thing when she is off leash on the farm...sure that she knows better than me when to herd, when to come, we both needed a refresher course!), Jeff has Rocky the husky in class, and we walked in the first week and there was Ellie with her master.  Ellie proves to be just what I hoped for her.  She is a natural at obedience training, and is likely going to be the star of the class.  Scott has worked with her so much, takes her into stores, takes her for walks.  There is a beautiful bond there between owner and pup.

An older pup with the same look:  Shiloh is from the 2016 litter, on a small farm south of us by about an hour.  I haven't heard from his owner for a while, but he was smart, smart, smart.  When Allison would be gardening, Shiloh would find a spot in the perimeter fence where he could wriggle through...go the long way around...and pop up near the gardening site.  I think I remembered that little story correctly.  He was best buds with a cat, and they came to our farm last summer to adopt another barn kitten.  Shiloh was such a sweet boy, and I am glad he is in a home where he has room to run and learn about farm things.

Well, I think that's all the time we have, folks.  At least....that's the extent of photos I have to share.  

There was Molly/Zelda who went to Madison Wisconsin, Nutmeg who went to northwestern Illinois, Dewey who is somewhere near our area but who we've not seen since he left in 2016.  Misty is in New England with an owner who is thrilled with her, Gage/Teddy is in North Carolina, there are more who I'll write about when I get photos of them.  

In other news:  A goat in the barn is ready to have kids.  I wasn't sure until yesterday...At one point, I was going to take a trip to Cambodia in March, and toyed with the idea of breeding all of the sheep and goats for January babies.  After just a few hours, the decision was made to NOT have babies in January, but it looks like Zaney was the buck's favorite for a few hours in August.  

The sheep and goats should have babies in late March/early April.  

No baby bunnies this year.  Even though a few American Chinchilla rabbits have been given back to me, I don't want to raise litters of them just to lose half of each litter to sickness.  We are likely done with breeding them, but will set up an outside pen for the ones that get along together in the spring.

Baby chicks...I am going to cut WAY back.  I've only offered hatching eggs to one teacher.  I won't hatch incubators full of eggs.  We have a freezer full of heritage breed chickens, and I have started cutting up a chicken every couple of days to feed to the dogs.  This is expensive dog food, so...we will allow the hens to hatch their own babies, but only as many chicks as we want for ourselves and any customers who speak up during hatching season

Ducks...we may allow one duck hen to hatch a clutch of eggs, but we are feeding a dozen Cayuga ducks through the winter and do not want to keep raising them without a market.  I will likely house the extra drakes in my garden this year, once it's established, to keep down the slugs and crickets.  But we don't need dozens and dozens of ducks parading all over.

Geese...no more geese.  I traded all of my geese to a friend.  She loves them, I was tired of hearing the complaining of my family about them.  And the dogs are happier, and able to run free without a hissing gander hot on their heels.

Remy had his expensive hip-testing x-ray yesterday.  Results may take a couple of weeks to get back.  

We haven't decided if there will be puppies again this year or if we'll wait.  The dogs may have other ideas...  No, correction.  The dogs WILL have other ideas.  It's up to us to decide if we will allow free access between Taffy and Remy in about 5 months. 

Two years in a row...we love the pups, but it is exhausting.  :)  We'll see.

 

Laura

Pup-dates!

Just a few pics of puppies who are doing so well in their new homes. 

 

First is Wilma with some of her family and a neighbor's farm dog.  Her Mennonite owner borrowed a grandmother's computer to e-mail me this pic of her.  Wilma is now "Katie", an 18 month old beauty.  If they stay with their original plan, Katie may have puppies around her 2 year birthday.  She is on a small farm in Illinois.  It was amazing to hear the family talk about why mother and other sisters were not able to come to get Wilma with the others....the corn harvest was ready and ripe for canning, and they were putting up enough for their family and several others.  Hard work for sure.  We almost kept this one, she was so special.  

But, instead, we waited a year and kept....Star!  Second photo...little Miss Star, with her wonky ears that are so expressive.  She is a fabulous pup, very aware of the people and dogs around her.  At the puppy class, she was quite tuned in to the instructor's dog which was making very sad noises in a crate on the other side of the wall.  In the morning, when it's time to let Remy out of the barn, Star is waiting at the back door to eagerly dash out and greet her friend.  If Rocky is whining or howling outside on the dog cable, Star is whining inside the house to go out and sniff noses with him and keep him company.  She is quick to learn, smart as a whip, and will crawl into your lap if you sit on the floor.  Love, love, love this pup.  

Puppy "Captain" is now "Murphy", and is within an hours' drive, closer to Chicago.  He is doing wonderfully, growing like a weed, having a great time with his family and their other two dogs.  At his obedience class, on the first night, he figured out when the instructor would come by with treats and anticipated (and sat nicely to wait) the walk-by and was rewarded with lots of praise and....of course...a treat.  You can see how tall and lanky he is getting.  Such a beautiful boy.  And looks so much like Taffy!

Trace (running dog in photo) is from the first litter.  His owner lives nearby, and she describes him as her "heart-dog".  :)  Trace is in tune with his owner, happy to go on trail rides or cross-country skiing, just a beautiful, all-around wonderful dog.  I saw him in December, and all of his owner's rave reviews were proved to be true.  Makes me so happy that the puppies we loved here are so loved by their families.  

Photo with two dogs...  Pippin from the 2016 litter and Sprocket from the 2017 litter.  This was a photo posted by the owners...Pippin is staying in Illinois with his owner, and Sprocket is moving to Colorado with the rest of that family.  This pic was from their last day in the house that the owners' family grew up in.  I saw these two in December, also...so much alike, and yet...Sprocket has much more energy than laid-back Pippin.  Sprocket and his littermate Murphy had a grand old time that day in December, play-fighting, snarling, showing their teeth, and running around in sheer delight at seeing each other again.

I think there is a limit to how many photos I can share, so I'll continue tomorrow or the next day.  

People thank me for their wonderful pups, but in reality, the thanks needs to be directed to the breeders that the parents came from.  Taffy was from Tish Toren, who has produced so many beautiful English Shepherds that can be found across the country.  Elaine Reynolds and Tish work closely together, and Elaine is the one who recommended Smoke as the match for Taffy.  Elaine's daughter Erin, and another young English Shepherd breeder, Travis Heidtman, produced the dogs whose great pedigree and wonderful personalities were passed on to their son, Smoke.  If not for Elaine and Tish, and my neighbor Katie who is now the owner of Smoke, none of these pups would have happened.  I am proud to say that it is only through extensive mentoring on Elaine and Tish's part that I have learned anything at all about training and breeding these beautiful pups!  

Today looks sunny, and the temps should be around freezing.  Makes for a comfortable day, and I can already see the young pigs milling around outside of their shelter, enjoying the less frigid temperatures.  Enjoy the sunshine, if it is shining by you.  

  

 

Laura

New Year update

I'm just going to type...not even sure where I left off!  But there has been a mental block and I need to get past it.

First picture...Star and Remy.  Star has been a joyful presence in this bleak Midwest winter.  She completed puppy obedience class with flying colors.  The other pups in the litter are doing great, as well.  I think I wrote that Kitty was placed with a family whose son went to high school with Michael.  She is doing great, too.  

Hmmm....something more interesting.  Writers' block...  

There was a genetic question about the brother and sister American Guinea Hogs that I built our breeding program around.  In some litters of piglets birthed or sired by their siblings (and a few piglets here as well), there were some traits that should not show up in purebred guinea hogs.  Mitch sired 3 litters here last summer, his sister Razz had one litter.  In one of Mitch's litters, there was a piglet with white front legs all the way up to the chest, and a white strip across his chest from one leg to the other.  That white coloring turned a bit orange at the end of summer, which caused a bit of commotion when I mentioned it on the facebook group.

Another piglet from Razz's litter had chest-high white boots on her front legs, and a definite white blaze down her face.  Guinea hogs typically are black or have very minimal white on their front legs or noses...  And her white turned orange about the same time that the white on the other piglet was turning.  (It should be noted...we received buckets and buckets of black walnuts, and the adult hogs crunch them up like candy.  These two piglets with orange front legs were in a pen with the walnut-crunchers...and it could easily have been stain from walnut residue.

And from Mitch again...two of his male piglets are getting white hairs in a pattern...one has a growing white patch on his belly, one has a shoulder that is turning white.  There IS a thing, with black guinea hogs losing pigment and turning white instead.  They are called "blue"...and it is rare.  But it usually doesn't happen in pigs under 6 months old.  I'm a little intrigued to see the white hairs turning up here, but the breed association wanted to find out if it was because they were not pure guinea hogs to start with.

Because, on another farm, in a litter sired by Mitch's brother, piglets with wattles were born, but didn't survive long.  Definitely NOT a guinea hog trait.  But the mother of that litter and Mitch's brother were purchased after that sow was carrying the litter, so the mystery deepened...

We had to send in 30 hairs from both Mitch and Razz, because the breed association wanted to test paternity of their entire litter of siblings.  It isn't TOO hard to pull out hog bristles with pliers, when the hogs are nose-down and eating, but it was a bit strange yanking hairs out of my hogs and sealing those hairs in sterile plastic bags...  

To the tune of $40 per pig, we sent in hair samples to UCDavis, to get the results back that yes, indeed, Mitch and Razz were sired by the father that their pedigree says, and were born to the mother that is on file for them.  Money wasted.

So...where did the excessive white and then orange coloring come in?  The wattles in the other person's litter...that could be explained by a sire other than Mitch's brother, since the previous owner of that pair admitted to having trouble to keeping their hogs contained...

Which brings us to the breeding line-up here on our farm.  What better way to test purity of genetics than to breed brother to sister...and see what comes of it.  I am the only one who owns siblings from that litter.  I have put them together for an inbred, incest litter.  

I'm not setting out to disprove the purity of either of the parents of my Mitch and Razz, but...just curious to see what traits show up in their piglets.  If it's nothing, then it's nothing.  If wattles show up, then it is something to mention to the association.  We may end up with a litter of very nice, pure-black, fat and sassy piglets, which would be fine with me.  

The hogs I have are just a few generations from the ones which were chosen to keep the breed alive...why not test to see if the preceding generation was in fact pure American Guinea Hog as the founding  members of the association hoped they were...  

We'll have some "results" in the form of their piglets, due in April.

(Photo #2, siblings enjoying some hay yesterday)

We had something weird happen with last summer's piglets.  A few of them started wasting away, a few weeks after weaning.  I thought it was worms, or maybe even mites, but the others were robust, fine, eating well.  All were on the same feed, in the same housing, with the same deworming schedule.

These few were eating, but still losing weight.  We set up the old trampoline frame with fencing around it, and made a sick ward, and I called the vet.  He suspected a virus, but I didn't have $200 to send in a little piglet body for testing...  So with an over-the-phone diagnosis, I ordered a bottle of medication and treated all of my hogs.  

By injection.  Not fun, but easier for the large hogs than the little ones.  The big pigs...you dump their feed in front of them, jab the needle in the fleshy part of their neck, inject the medication....hardly any problem except when I hit the bony shoulder plate of one boar as he shifted.  The needle bent.  With fresh needle and re-loaded syringe, he got his dose.  Yes, I'm an amateur.  

The piglets needed to be caught, hoisted, held while squealing...  Not fun.

I couldn't bring myself to cull (kill) the three sickly ones, so I treated them too, just to see if they would recover.  They didn't.  Jeff and Jeremy shot them one day, as humanely as possible, because the vet stressed to me (again) that I needed to get any sick pigs off of the property ASAP.  

The others are happy, healthy, and never developed symptoms.  Supposedly, the medication takes care of the virus for good when you treat all of the pigs on the property, but I will believe it when the next round of piglets is healthy and doesn't come down with it.  The instructions on the bottle are to vaccinate all piglets at 3 weeks of age...which has me wondering how long we will need to keep up with the medication, through how many generations...and will it pass on to other people's breeding stock.  

Going by the vet's advice on this.  

We lost a 4 month old pig(let) in early January to possible hypothermia.  I brought warm water out long after dark one night, and it seemed that there were fewer piglets eagerly slurping it up.  The next morning, one was cold but still alive on the edge of their "nest" inside the shelter.  I brought it into the barn, set it up under a heat lamp (in a barrel designed to give warmth to new-born goats and lambs), brought it warmed up flannel sheets, tried to raise it's body temp.  It was at least 40 pounds, difficult to even hoist over fences and carry to the barn, but it if was smaller, I would have brought it into the house for a warm water bath and to try to raise his temp even more.  Despite the hot coffee with Karo syrup...and other remedies that we tried throughout the day, he died soon after I left him alone so that I could feed and water all the other critters that afternoon.  Sad to see such a robust little pig fade so quickly.  He had been out and scampering around just 24 hours earlier.

Side note...never try to warm flannel sheets in the microwave.  A scorch mark on one of the sections was an eye-opening reminder of that.  I guess it's like trying to re-heat a bag of microwave popcorn and setting off the smoke detector.

And...now that I'm on a roll with the pig update...  One sow had a miscarriage the other day.  I think that it usually happens (IF it happens) and the evidence is quickly "removed", so to speak...because Cameo was in with the boar, and he was already interested in what I saw.  

I moved Cameo to the adjacent pen, where she slipped a tiny fetus and the sting of tissue that I assume was the placenta.  Just one little piglet, not more than 3 inches long.  I did not see her lose any more, but it's likely.  The boar is very interested in her again through the fence yesterday, so...pregnancy lost, most likely.  She would have been due at the end of March, which is still a bit cold for a litter of piglets, even inside the barn.

I won't put her back in with him until at least 3 weeks from now, and the vet has sent in the little body to the vet at University of Illinois for testing, just to see if we need to be aware of any reasons for that miscarriage/abortion.  

I suspect that the boar, who likes to throw his weight around, was bullying her because of the new and attractive gilts (young females) in the other pen, and he couldn't get to them, so he was shoving her around.  He had given Cameo a cut below her eye a few days before, and one day in December she had a cut on her side...  

But the weird thing is...he bred her in early December, and although that appeared to be wildly successful, there was evidence of breeding again 21 days later (the usual length of time between cycles), and this little miscarriage was 21 days after that.  I'll be curious to see what the vets at the university find, and they are testing for 7 different things.  Cameo was the first of our hogs to go to Lincoln Park Zoo last summer.

(Third photo...tactful photo of Cameo with barely visible miscarriage....as the sun set and that particular day ended)

Well, enough typing about pigs, I'd probably better get outside to care for them.  

This winter, our pens are full.  It's probably good that sales were slow this past year.  We need to find out if there is any health issue brewing here, or if everything is fine.  

As I walk out to feed (and haul water to) almost 3 dozen pigs of various ages, imagine this scenario.  (Most of them are still quite small...but still....it's a lot of pigs.)  I am greeted with squeals, shrieks, back-and-forth pacing and foaming at the mouth...until the feed is in front of them and then it is blissfully quiet.  The second round that I haul out to them is warm water from the house, usually 15 gallons of it twice a day.  The good days are when it is not freezing as they try to drink enough of it.  When the piglet died of hypothermia, it was -20 for days on end.  This week has been a pretty good week, as the water has stayed liquid in the middle of their bowls until the warm water is brought out at about dusk.  It is cold, but not so cold that the pigs don't linger outside their shelters or nose around in the snow.

After feeding, I baby them, if it ins't too cold.  I scratch the boars' shoulders, the sows look up at me for a scratch on the jowl, the piglets still tend to squeal and scamper away in surprise that I would try to touch them...but that will change as they get older.  

They won't all stay here, and once I know that the general health of our herd is not in question, I'll list quite a few of them for sale again.  Or we'll have a lot of pork in the freezer.

I love the pigs, but next winter...we will have less of them as we go into winter!  And even now, putting them together for the piglets to be due in late spring and summer, I am planning for one litter from each sow, not two.  And downsizing from that for the following year.

Dogs are eagerly waiting for me to close the computer and suit up to go out.  Cold weather, here I come!  

 

Laura