Matt came in the house about 6:00 last night and said Sarah was definitely acting “piggy”. He took the girls back out with him to get Winston moved and then they set up shop with Sarah, right inside her little hut with her. I’ll bet a pig never had such good labor coaches. Except for coming in to quickly wolf down some supper they hung in there with her, rubbing her back and cheering her on. They even played cards for awhile. It was quite a sight, all of them hanging out in this little 10′ by 12′ pig house that’s only about 4 feet tall.
Shortly after 10:30 the girls came in to tell me the first pig had been born. I went out to check her out, and then made the girls come in (against their will) and go to bed. Hopefully their teachers will forgive us for keeping them up so late on a school night. Sometimes there’s a real life lesson that’s just too good to pass up.
It was almost 1:00 a.m. when Matt finally came in. 9 piglets born live, 2 dead. Not bad at all. They’re absolutely adorable. Each of them is solid black with the floppy ears – just like their dad, Winston, who is a purebred Large Black.
Before all of this excitement began, Olivia took the camera out and brought back a couple of good shots of the other 2 new babies:
This is our pretty red heifer calf, Petey, named for the Little Rascals dog because of the circle around one eye.
This is our cow, Carmel, and her black baldy bull calf. No name yet – any suggestions?
what about winston for the black calf? he looks so stately! congratulations on all of your new little ones. 🙂
This is totally unfair. You are making me want lots more animals and we don’t have enough fences, shelter, etc.!Those little calves and piglets are so cute.Sorry you lost the other one.
Since the arrival of 4 bantam hens last week (first ever hens) I have done a fair bit of research on the net..invariably as you stumble apon all the hen sites there are also some links to sites which I have witnessed the upmost in animal cruelty (vast majority for profit)..I’m not naive..having been brought up in the countryside in Scotland all my life..but some of the stuff I’ve seen has truly shocked and saddened me. Can I say that farms like yours really restore a little bit of faith in humanity…a pleasure to look at your beautiful photos with your great animal husbandry and gorgeous children..THANKYOU..it’s so nice to know there are still people in the world treating their animals so wellClairexx