Lord Wilbur, Lady Olivia Dumpling

First photo:  Lord Wilbur

Second photo:  Lady Olivia Dumpling

Meet OWH Lady Olivia Dumpling, bred by Erica Solis (Emancipation Acres), owned by Josh and Mandy Whitlock (Wandering Peacock Farm) owned next by the Bradley family, now owned by....Dykstra's Farm.

There is a bit of sentimentality involved, for sure. 
Lord Wilbur, who came to live here in December, is also a sentimental addition, and he will be reunited with Lady Olivia at some point in the future. 

The breeders (and most of the previous owners) of these great Guinea Hogs became friends who answered so many of my questions as we were starting out.   Most of them have stopped breeding hogs at all, for various reasons.  It feels odd to me, to have looked for the wisdom of many breeders for the "formative" years when I first started out, full of questions, and to find myself in that position now with new breeders (as the "old" breeders seem to be fading out of the pigture)  

Yes, the incorrect spelling was intentional....!

I admired Nancy Gaedke's breeding program (Wilbur was originally from her, Olivia's parents at Emancipation Acres were from Nancy, my own Big Bea was from two of Nancy's hogs which were owned by Roundabout Farm at that time). At the time that we bought our first guinea hogs, Nancy's breeding program near Madison was the most local, and we saw quality hogs after quality hogs at the places where we inquired for piglets for sale.

Erica (breeder of Olivia) was someone I purchased Kune-AGH piglets from multiple times, and...she had American Chinchilla rabbits, a breed that I had been trying to find. Olivia was born on Erica's farm near Madison.

I came to know Josh and Mandy (owners of both Wilbur and Olivia) through the AGH Facebook page and then later through purchases of hogs from them. My girl Cameo was a "Wandering Peacock Farm" guinea hog.
When the Whitlock's were moving off of their farm, I saw Wilbur and Olivia and knew they were for sale, but I had arrived to buy other guinea hogs. 

I never really expected to see those two hogs again, as the fate of hogs doesn't usually involve longevity...  

But here they are, several years later, well-taken care of by the Bradley family, and remembered with fondness by the Whitlocks.

They are, true to their "heritage" hog status, still able to breed and thrive for many years to come.  Their litters have shown to be just what we have been breeding for all along.

I am probably too sentimental, but somehow, these two hogs being here on our little farm seems like just the right thing.  

The quality that went into their breeding and their care for the past 6 years...shows. :)

When it rains, it pours!

There is an old saying... Something like "A watched sow never farrows"...
Or..."A watched doe never kids". That's not quite right, is it? :)
Well, I was gone for 4 hours instead of three. Dazzle was due Friday with her kids. Madonna and Camille were due yesterday with their piglets.  Three of the sheep are due any day now.  (So far we have four lambs and 9 fainting goat kids!!!)

I came home to two freshly delivered fainting goat kids, and a hog in the beginning of labor with a piglet born already, with the other hog ready to start popping them out at any moment. 

What was unsettling was...the hog who wasn't in ACTIVE labor at the moment was really interested in the little goats that still smelled yummy and fresh.  And she was trying to work the hog panel divider free.  Another panel anchored in place, some feed bags shoved between, and the heat lamp moved away from the hog (who was literally salivating and watching every move of the red and white goat kid!!!), and all seems well.  I fastened that second panel even better before heading inside for the night.

Madonna the sow went on to have 7 piglets, all doing well when I closed things up for the night.  Camille the salivating sow decided to hold out on me some more, since I thwarted her plans to have a mid-day snack.

"A watched pot never boils"... Sheesh!  These animals have no respect for the many, many times I've checked on them, expecting labor to be in the end stages.  I've been in the barn a lot this past week or so.  We have bottle lambs for the first time, still with their mothers, but needing supplementing with formula every 4 hours.  Plenty of time to obsess about which pig or goat or sheep will be pushing out babies at any given time.  

Happy spring....!

Laura

New kids on the block

There is a children's book that my sister and I loved. "Millions of Cats". The old man went in search of the most beautiful cat to bring home to his old wife. He found this one, and that one, and then hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats. And he brought them all home to show his wife, because each was more beautiful than the last. 
That is how I feel about the goat kids this year. I will keep ONE. And the choices keep getting more difficult with each kidding!
Wendy and her twins (bucklings). 
Zaney and her triplets (buckling, doeling, doeling)
Savvy and her twins (buckling and doeling)
Fern and her twin doelings. 
Now Pixie seems to be in labor, and I am in love with one of Fern's daughters... I don't know how they can get any better than Fern's girls...or the ones before them. 

Laura

Bessie

This beautiful girl. My first real farming adventure and one that can never be duplicated. 
I learned so much from owning Bessie, my Dutch Belted cow. Other milk will be forever ruined for me, because of the pure white, absolutely refreshing milk. Pale yellow butter was a favorite from what she provided, rich garden soil...a calf almost every year. I hated to rehome her, but it was necessary. She was here for 4 years. I never in my life would have expected to love a COW as much as I loved that obstinate girl.
Today I received word from her new owners that she died peacefully in the pasture on Monday. She was a lucky girl to have those extra years at Hoffman's Little Acres. 
Rest easy, sweet Bessie, and thanks for all that your presence meant to me as a new "farmer", when you first came here to join our little hobby farm.

Laura

Sully the Shaggy LGD

Meet our temporary resident, "Sully". 
He is a Komondor cross, livestock guardian dog, about 9 months old. 
Neutered yesterday, picked up by me after the baby goats were born yesterday afternoon... He settled into his temporary kennel with a few mournful howls. 
Sully should not have been running in the snow the day after surgery, but as I walked him around the perimeter of the small "pasture", he seemed to need something more than a little stroll. 
He is still a puppy, but...when he saw the goats and sheep, he immediately went over to investigate and make friends.
I think he has real potential to live up to the guardian nature of his parents!
He will be available to the right farm home, after he recovers from surgery and is able to show us his true potential.

Seeing daylight

Very slowly, we are fulfilling the prediction of this farm's previous owner. He was a woodwork and cabinetmaker, and the barn was his workshop. It probably saved the building, because it had a use.

When he visited, he remarked "It looks like the barn is reverting to it's original purpose".

We have taken out soggy drywall, rat infested insulation, put in stalls and areas for better livestock care.

Yesterday, Jeff worked on this. From the foundation, we can see that there was once a door here, where there has been cedar siding for decades to cover up that opening. One one side...the goat pen with the pregnant mamas. On the inside, the double wide stall that will be perfect for when these goats start having their babies.

The only thing between an easy walk-through was...the siding.

In the third photo, you can see daylight peeking through the edges and corner of what will become a working door. In a doorway that has been boarded up for several decades, or more. Another step towards making things "user-friendly" :)

A photo of pregnant Zaney and her tiny 2018 daughter, just because...that's what this project is about. The next generation of Dykstra's Farm animals and how best to care for them.

And currently, in the dirty bedding of the double-stall, which will become the goat nursery...our barn kitty and her son (son on left). Nice and cozy.

Laura

The end of the story

The end of the New Year's Eve story...  As told on the Dykstra's Farm page on Facebook.  

"The outpouring of concern for Bea and her little ones has been a great way to start the New Year. Thank-you, everyone...
A difficult farrowing from Bea was unexpected (although an unplanned litter in the middle of winter would have had it's own challenges even if it had been her normal healthy litter).
The little survivor did not last the night. I was starting to let myself feel hopeful, as he learned where the heat lamp was and chose to go there, and as he and Bea worked out their piggie communication. 
I should probably have remembered my first thought when he was born, that this piglet was not going to survive for long. 
Hope is always a good thing, and it was worth giving him that chance."

And you know...we have NINE fainting goats due to kid in early to mid March.  SEVEN babydoll Southdown sheep pregnant and also due in March.  

One sow who is pregnant and will be bought before she delivers (you guessed it...due in March).  Two hogs who are staying, also due in March...  One sow bred for April piglets who should be leaving for Lincoln Park Farm-In-The-Zoo in...leaving in March.  

The barn will be alive and hopping with little ones, and preparations for more little ones, and then preparations for visitors and customers to come and see those babies...  

A winter litter would have been cared for with extra attention.  The danger of a heat lamp in a barn filled with straw would have been risked.  It does seem empty out there with no babies to check on.  

The timing wasn't right.  The cause of a poor litter needs to be discovered and treated.  

We will be overrun and hopefully not overwhelmed with babies in a few short months, and there is plenty to get ready before then.

Laura

"Small Fry" update

This is from late afternoon on New Year's Day...

So, update on the little guy. He is almost 24 hours old. If he makes it through the night, I will feel better about things. 
Today, he was stepped on, followed his mother away from the nest and got chilled, stepped on again (as she tried to maneuver him back to where he belonged). He was sassy with his mother, buried himself under the straw in the nest, nearly got stepped on again.
And...he and Bea have developed the baby-and-sow communication, which is all sorts of quiet and loud grunts, growls, and snorts. He talks to her when he is ready to nurse, or when he is nosing his way through the loose straw behind her back. She does a grizzly bear growl if he tries to trundle around her nose and behind her head. 
All of this is normal, but it's endearing to hear, all the same.
This is the first time I've rigged up a heat lamp behind a piece of cattle panel, and he knows where that source of warmth is when Bea walks away for water or food or potty break. 
But what I've also seen today is an adventurous little guy who does not always listen to Bea's urgent mama noises, and that may be his undoing. 
Here is the family... Sire "CC Bag of Chips", mom "RAF Anna Suey" who I affectionately call Big Bea, and the one little guy who almost fades into the nest material next to his mother. I hate to think it, but...if he doesn't make it, the pairing of Chips and Bea will be one that we try again, on timing that is better for the little ones and when Bea is not fighting any sort of infection.
When I peeked in on Bea and baby, just a few minutes ago, he had the whole milk bar to himself and was sampling every spot. Fingers crossed that he'll be doing well in the morning.

Laura

One left after just 12 hours

Mama is doing well and is up and eating like normal. My heart sank when I went out to check on the babies. 
They would normally be quite visible, nursing or lined up sleeping along her belly after a night of binge-drinking. 
Twelve hours after farrowing, this little guy is the sole survivor. His more vigorous sister must have burrowed farther under her mother's enormous jowl for warmth, and was crushed. :( 
It is not unusual to lose one in the first 24 hours, before they learn what their mother's noises mean. She is always keenly aware of where her babies are, even during the difficult delivery last night, I could see her finding them and working around them in her own discomfort.
Because the birth was unusual, we will send out some samples to our vet, who will send them on to a lab, so that we can treat our sweet Bea in case of infection or anything else, and be sure that her next litter is the usual success. 
Not to put a damper on anyone's New Year's Day. This isn't the usual outcome, but...it is part of the process here on the farm. With three pregnant pigs out there behind the barn, there will be many more productive litters born here in 2019.

Laura