Cameo the pig is going to the Zoo

Photo:  Cameo with her first litter, a year ago

Here is why it's a good thing that Cameo and Lawnmower did NOT go to Indiana as planned.  

The Lincoln Park Farm-in-the-Zoo (Chicago) is going to use Cameo as the first American Guinea Hog from our farm to give birth to piglets at their facility.  

We had been waiting for this process to get started since about last June.  There had been nothing, so I offered my sow Rose to a friend, who wanted to raise the litter and get into breeding these great little hogs.  

After we sold Rose last fall (of course, AFTER!), the zoo got in contact with us and started the conversation about our hogs (thanks to our vet, who LOVES our hogs!)  :)  Rose would have been my first choice, but the zoo had not gotten in touch yet, and I needed to sell one adult sow before winter.  

That left Cameo and Bea, and Bea is not going anywhere as a trial run, because she is my favorite.  The talks stalled during the winter months, and I put Cameo up for sale.  The guy from Indiana would have bought her, Lawnmower the boar, and one of Bea's younger gilts (female offspring).

And that fell through.

Fast forward a month or so, and the zoo started talking about this again with us.  When they came out for the farm tour, I pointed out Raspberry (pregnant with her first litter, due in April), Cameo (who Lawnmower was in the act of mating with as we looked on in mild amusement), and a few of the other younger gilts.

They were looking for up to 3 female Guinea Hogs to give birth at the zoo, over the course of 5 months or so.    The pregnant gilt Raspberry was in the running, but that made me nervous for a couple of reasons:

-She had no track record of successful pregnancies and deliveries

--I had not seen her being bred, so had no actual due date to tell the zoo

I had said from the beginning that the pick-up of a pregnant sow needs to be 3 weeks before her due date.  They had offered 2 weeks, but were willing to do 3.  I don't think I can budge on this, because that sow needs time to get situated in her new set-up before the piglets come.  This is even more important to me, if it's a first timer gilt who has never given birth before.  Three weeks is the minimum, four weeks would be even better.  

The contract still needs to be finalized, the pick-up date *could* be March 30, they asked for details about the pregnant gilt and I said "The gilt is due the following week, so that is not enough time to let her get settled before delivery".  

I think everyone breathed a sigh of relief, because this takes away the stress of getting things finalized in just a few short weeks, and we can approach it with a bit more organization and planning.  

That means Cameo, the experienced mother, is now the first choice.  She is due June 1st.  Still plenty of time for getting her there, letting her acclimate to the nicer, cleaner digs, and the Chicago public will see baby piglets at the very beginning of summer if they visit the zoo.  

Cameo is also the hog who doesn't mind being alone, so this makes for a good sow to send by herself to a new place.

Cameo's history:  Her first litter was 6 piglets.  The first large male was being delivered back feet first, with someone else's umbilical cord around his back leg, stopping everything up.  Cameo was straining, but there was no way for that piglet to be delivered.  He was firmly anchored from way back inside of his mother, past all of the other piglets ready to pop out of the birth canal if he was only out of the way.  When I saw the cord around his leg (a tremendous push by Cameo made that visible), I was ready for the next contraction and hooked one finger under that cord, easing it down and around the little hoof.  Baby was delivered immediately, but had died from the stress.  This was not a genetic thing, but it could have cost the lives of the entire litter and the mother.  It is the delivery where I realized the importance of not just leaving the animals to have babies without someone keeping an eye on things...

Back to the piglets:  Five healthy little ones were delivered quite soon after the first dead one.  And Cameo raised them all, with the exception of one male who spiked a fever at about 5 weeks of age and didn't recover.

Second litter:  7 babies, delivered with ease.  One died within the first 24 hours (not unusual).  All the others thrived.

This is a good sow to send to the zoo, a good representative of the breed, and also (bonus!) my prettiest American Guinea Hog.

They are happy with Cameo as the first hog to be transported, I am happy that it will be an experienced mama who is also a very good mother, and Raspberry will have her first litter here.  It all works out.

There are still some minor details to talk through, and an official version of the contract to sign.  The zoo typically castrates males as newborns, to which I said....that's pretty stressful for them, and they will be very small.  After the zoo vet talked with our vet (who does the castrating here for our pigs), they have agreed not to stress the newborn piglet and wait a few weeks.  Some other minor details, like...they will give iron shots to the piglets, even though we don't do it here.  The iron shots are a non-issue, just different than what we do here.

And they will order feed from the mill where we order, so that the mama and babies are eating the same diet that they will get when they are returned to us.  Same diet, same ration, plus the hay that ours get, so that they fill up on something other than corn-based meal.

It will be exciting, and a bit nerve-wracking, to have one of my animals under someone else's care, while still belonging to me.  

I foresee a few visits to the zoo in our future to check on mama and babies!  

On, to the new adventure!  :)

Laura

Zaney's kidlets

So, baby goats.  Yikes, what a potentially dangerous delivery for Zaney!!!

First photo:  What I saw on the computer screen in the house, which sent me dashing out to the barn immediately.  Zaney had obviously started labor a bit earlier, so I was watching closely on the barn cam.  

One back hoof and the entire leg was "delivered" and hanging limply with the rest of the baby's body still firmly inside of my goat.  Zaney was acting as if she expected to see a baby on the straw, in the middle of all the amniotic fluid.  No contractions happening.  She was fully involved in "clean-up".  I checked to see if I could push the leg back in to rearrange the presentation of the baby.  No, didn't seem possible.  Called the vet.  He was going to head right over.

It seemed like an eternity, but she started pushing again in about 5 minutes.  I cringed with every contraction, right along with Zaney.  And miracle of miracles, one tremendous push and that little doeling slid right out!  I think the vet was a bit disappointed, as he was just getting into his truck to head over when he got my update...  I had been mentally thinking through what he would do, how I would learn from his example, so in the middle of my relief was a tinge of regret as well.  But...on to more important things.

The baby was sneezing and coughing, with fluid in her airways.  I had one of those icky blue bulb syringes for just such a reason, but the little fighter did just fine without my help.  

That is photo #2, the doeling being loved on and cleaned by her mother.

Photo #3.  The cousins in the adjacent pen, watching in amusement and playful glee, as Zaney encourages her new daughter to stand for the first time and simultaneously/painfully pushes out her son.  You can see little white hooves in the sac of fluid, just waiting to enter the world with a literal splash.  

Zaney is a truly amazing mother.  She alternated cleaning her new buckling with reassuring and encouraging her doeling.  She warned off any curious dogs with a stamp of her front hoof, despite being in the middle of contractions and delivery.  She ignored the curious cousins in favor of much more important things...  She cleaned up the bedding with stomach-turning zeal, leaving everything fresh and not a trace of what had just taken place...

And photo #4:  Baby doeling and buckling, wearing matching home-made sweaters, the gifts from my friend Merry when she visited last July.  

Babies are doing fine today, still enjoying the heat under the lamp but getting some spunk to their attitudes and looking adorable.  

Zaney is understandably perturbed, because new farm dog Remy is housed in the stall right next door to her precious newborns, and there is a lot of foot stamping and glaring going on from the goat pen towards poor Remy.  Thankfully, the over-the-top reaction on Zaney's part has eased up a bit since last night and is now mostly loud snorts (from Zaney), when she catches sight of Remy...

The new doeling seems to be polled (naturally no horns), while buckling should have horns (there are little nubs where the horns will grow).  This is perfect.  For any goats that stay, I think we will keep females with no horns but bucklings or wethers with horns.  :)

This year, despite customers who will want goats with no horns, I think we will opt not to call the vet for disbudding.  It involves scorching the horn buds with a very hot round iron to kill the root.  

Some people won't buy a goat with horns.  But after holding the little doeling who "needed" to be dis-budded in July last year (for a customer), I just don't want to subject any of the babies to such a procedure again.  It is bad enough with the bull-calves, who are much larger.  Burning round holes into the top of a baby goat's noggin just seems like a hideous thing to do every spring.  

So we won't.

Whew!  Glad that particular birth is over with and the babies are safely delivered.  

I have no clue who will deliver next...  Best guess?  April, the sheep.

The miracles of spring keep rolling right along.  I love it!

 

Laura

Remy

We got the word yesterday morning that Remy was on his way north from Arkansas, where he had been staying with a trainer for a few weeks.  By 5 pm last night, Jeremy and I were in Rockford, meeting Elaine Reynolds to bring him home to the farm.  Remy was very shy, but soon was licking Jeremy's hand and leaning into him for the hour long ride home.

It's been a long and emotional wait, but he is here, getting used to barn noises, wanting so badly to be with his new people but also needing time to get accustomed to everything that will be his domain.

Carrie's dog Waldo is here for a week, too, so we are doing doggie introductions slowly.  Taffy got to sniff Remy through the crate bars, and Rem was shivering with excitement and wanting to play (Taffy growled...)  

Rocky (husky, and quite the bully) and Remy will not meet each other face to face for quite a while, and Remy will have the pasture as "his" territory when he is off-leash, eventually.

Today Remy will get walked in the pasture, to get used to the sound of squealing pigs and the bellowing steer, and will be walked close to but not too close to the electric fence, to establish safe boundaries for when he's off leash.  

Rembrandt (Remy) is a purebred English Shepherd male, bred by the same breeders who brought Taffy into our lives, and he already has great potential as the farm dog "presence" that was hoped for.

Also yesterday...  Two more goat babies were born.  I'll post pics of them tomorrow.  One was "born" with only her back leg delivered, and the rest stuck.  The vet was on his way when Zaney gave a tremendous push that had me cringing, and a little doeling was born, sneezing violently to clear her airways...  More on that next time.  

The Remster is waiting to be let out for his morning break, and I'm itching to greet him and see his shining eyes this morning.  (Itching...might be literal.  He came with fleas!)

And it doesn't need to be said, but I will anyway.  I love him already!

 

Laura

Waiting....(not) so patiently.

Still waiting on three mama goats. Zaney (in photo) should deliver soon...  Savvy and Dazzle have a few weeks yet.   

And then there are the "babydoll" Southdown sheep.  

April was our first Southdown sheep in 2013, and we kept her 2014 daughter "May" and her 2015 daughter "Sunny".  Last spring, my favorite ewe lamb was May's daughter Merry, so we kept her as well.  All are related on the mother's side but not on the ram's side.

April and Sunny (first photo) were bred to Luther (3rd), May and Merry (second photo) were bred to Boy Blue (4th pic).  

April appeared to be bred on the very first day with Luther.  

We're not sure that Boy Blue really knew what he was doing back in October, so....after 3 weeks, I moved May and Merry into the flock with Luther just in case.  

As you can see, the females are looking quite large and round, and the males are looking debonnaire and handsome.  

No lambs yet.

And since Big Bea the Guinea Hog did not have piglets a few weeks back, her one-night "I INSIST that you allow me to join you in your pen" with Chips was not as successful as she may have liked.  He was a little young for her, after all...  She should be having Lawnmower piggies in about a week, as planned.

And I am NOT successful in remaining patient through the waiting.  Even with the barn-cam, I am just a bit distracted with watching for any sign of imminent deliveries.  Sigh.

Laura

Kidding time!

Mama Mocha had her babies!  Twin bucklings, born this afternoon.  

This was her calendar due-date, so it was almost text-book perfect.

A great way to retire, after the few years she has been here.

Little Buckling "A", born first, larger by probably half a pound...  Needed a dose of selenium and then perked up right away.  He is sporting the Chihuahua sweater in blue and green.  Looking rather dashing.

Little Buckling "B", born second, more delicate but definitely caught up with the spunkiness.  Also needed Bo-Se (selenium supplement).  "B" is sporting a hand-knit sweater in soft yarns of yellow and green and blue, made by my friend Merry.  Looking a bit debonnaire and suave in a shy new-born sort of way...  

And so begins the kidding/lambing/piglet season here at Dykstra's Farm.  

Stay tuned! 

Laura

Bragging rights

So...

Jeremy comes upstairs to say there's a mouse in his basement bedroom.

And can they shoot it  (he has a friend here for the night)

Um....no...!

But then it went into a box and was too good to pass up.  And the gun was a pellet gun.

I hear cheering and whooping, and my son brings a half-grown mouse upstairs on a crumpled pink math test.  

One shot, directly behind the ear.  Mouse is dead.  Had to be instantaneous.  There's really not even any blood to be sick about.  

I brought it out to the barn.  (Telling my son that the barn cats should eat it, when what I really want to say is....No WAY are you just dumping it in the kitchen trash can!)  :)

Despite having said "no", the shot was admirable.  I made sure to say so.  

No holes were made in the drywall or ceiling.  No-one lost an eye...  The teens will have a story to tell.

The word will spread at school on Monday.  

Fellow students will imagine a farmhouse basement crawling with all sorts of vermin.  

Disgust will reign supreme in some circles while Jeremy's friends will imagine the growing piles of rodent bodies as they exterminate the rats and mice and other rodent-like intruders with an arsenal of BB guns and whatever else is "allowed". 

Mothers will hear the tale as it grows to extraordinary proportions and imagine all sorts of guns and weapons at the ready.  

I'll start to get concerned phone calls...  Well, that's taking it a little far, I admit.

That mouse was just past baby-size.  Which means there are more.  Parents and siblings and a whole clan are probably down there in the old walls and crawlspace.  Time to set some traps where the dogs can't lick them clean.

The calico barn cat is happy with the fresh catch.  The boys are downstairs congratulating themselves and feeling like conquering warriors.  

(For the record, NO coyote-worthy guns are even within knowledge of teen boys, either the one who lives here or the ones who visit.)

It's just another uneventful night on the farm....  The boys are still chuckling.

 

Laura

Daring to hope...

Well...this isn't about the goats, because they are bright-eyed and looking at me curiously, no babies yet.  

This is about little Rembrandt, the English Shepherd.  

A little background:  

Since we got Taffy, I've been talking with her breeders about having a male English Shepherd here on the farm.  

The original idea was an older male, one who was used to being the outside farm dog, one who needed a retirement home.  Maybe one that is a great match for breeding to Taffy, and his last litter could be with Taffy, but an older male who needed a home after his breeding years were done, and would retire here.

Then the sire of Taffy's 2016 litter was mentioned.  I was smitten.  He sounded perfect.  The breeders and I talked about him for almost a year.  Nope, it was decided that Rocky (the husky) was too much of a threat.  But they still wanted pups between Smoke and Taffy...  Smoke was placed at the farm just 2 properties south of here, and it is with great joy that I see him there, and also an indescribable bittersweet feeling.  I allowed myself to love that dog long before he went to live at my neighbor's place.

Then we talked about a different male.  We had met this one.  Jeremy and "Billy" (short for William Wallace) had loved each other at first sight, and I can still remember Jeremy sitting on the gravel driveway with a 6 month old Billy so happy to meet this boy.  All details were talked through.  Everything seemed in order.  This was November 2016, so not too long ago...

But this one was not meant to come here, either.  He will stay with the breeder, who adores him and decided to keep him.  I had been careful not to love him until it seemed like a sure thing, and then my emotions took over and he was part of the family.  And then he wasn't.

Now...the newest possibility, Rembrandt.  A friend of Taffy's breeders is working with him, so that as an older pup, he is ready for farm life and a family to love.  He was socialized at the breeders' place, but one of them has been very sick, and they want to give him some more one-on-one time with a farmer before he is moved here.  He is no longer in Oklahoma, but in Kansas.  I guess that's about halfway.  

Talking to one of the breeders on Facebook today, she *thinks* that she might make the trip north through our area in mid-March.  Can I dare to hope....?

Here is his photo from his first day in the friend/trainer's house.  

Remy was raised outside, for the most part.  He very quickly caught on to inside living and was a very responsible and respectful young pup, from what she tells me.  He loves bacon.  I have photos of him scratching his ears, and descriptions of what a "punkinhead" he is and how he carefully loved on a 5 year old boy that was visiting.  It will be difficult to bring him here and not open the door and invite him inside.  

Dare I hope that he'll be here in less than 2 weeks?  

My heart is already involved, for the third time.  Anyone who knows me will not be surprised...  :)

 

Laura