Not long after we bought the calves we bought pigs. Once again we didn't have any experience. But armed with only a couple library books, the internet (and it's varying degrees of accurate, useful information) and our worn out check book we purchased three piglets (we also temporarily housed two other piglets).
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| On the ride home. That is Bertha on the far right. |
Piglets have the cutest little faces and pretty eyes. They are simply adorable. Until you have to pick one up. The bone chilling sound that comes out of that cute little animal will leave your ears ringing for days.
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| All the little piggies a couple weeks after we brought them home. |
There was varying information about whether or not to keep pigs and cows housed together. I couldn't find enough good reasons not to so we kept ours together and it worked out really well for us. Plus, it was adorable to see them together.
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| About six weeks after the pigs arrived everybody was friends. |
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| L to R - Cremy, Bertha, Ginger, Bernice in October of 2010 |
We decided to keep one of the females to breed for a new set of piglets. Her exceptionally uncreative name Brownie was then changed to Bertha.
I was not present at the time of insemination but I hear it was a very easy process. However, Bertha didn't seem to get pregnant. Jeremy was certain she came into heat again and she didn't seem to get "pregnant big", as opposed to just "pig big" (by the way our pigs are considerably smaller then most because they are mainly grass and left over veggie fed). She certainly seemed bigger and a bit lazier but our pea size pig-farmer brains didn't think she was pregnant.
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| Just a couple days before the piglets were born. |
July 25th her due date (the gestation period for pigs is 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days - oddly specific right?) came and went...still no piglets. On July 29th at approximately 12:30pm I send Jeremy the following text message: "I spy Bertha...no piglets." Then around 5:30pm I call completely frantic practically screaming: "There are like 300 piglets outside!! What do I do!?!? When are you going to be home? WHAT DO I DO?" (if you are familiar with Oh Brother Where Art Thou, and you should be, that reenactment was inspired by the frog scene)
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| We've got piglets. | | |
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So we are not real sure when the piglets were born. All we knew was we now had 10 little piglets in need of shelter and attention. And an exhausted momma pig, ahem sow, in need of tons of extra attention to make up for our carelessness. After a somewhat busy couple of days of work we had them comfortably situated.
Bertha is an extraordinary momma. She is attentive and protective, which can be a bit scary if she sees you as a threat. And she does occasionally step on a baby. It makes
me squeal every time I see it happen. But how can she help it with all that girth? Out of her litter of ten just one little piggy didn't survive. The rest are happy little piglets.
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| That's a lot mouths to feed. |
Like always I'm a bit worried and nervous about the next steps...but for now they sure are fun to watch.
So we are not real sure when the piglets were born. All we knew was we now had 10 little piglets in need of shelter and attention. And an exhausted momma pig, ahem sow, in need of tons of extra attention to make up for our carelessness. After a somewhat busy couple of days of work we had them comfortably situated.
Bertha is an extraordinary momma. She is attentive and protective, which can be a bit scary if she sees you as a threat. And she does occasionally step on a baby. It makes me squeal every time I see it happen. But how can she help it with all that girth? Out of her litter of ten just one little piggy didn't survive. The rest are happy little piglets. 
