two branches homestead

Spring farrowing (when piglets are born) is always a challenging time. Getting the houses ready, making sure the heat lamps are working, and preparing creep areas are just some of things that need to be done. We then need to separate the sows so they can be alone when they farrow. We always have had a love hate relationship with this season. On one hand you have the miracle of new life, and on the other you have the inevitable heartbreaking losses. It’s something we mentally prepare ourselves for. This year was no exception, our first sow to farrow was Sox, she is Marge’s daughter.

Sox is one beautifully made sow. She is wide with lots of muscle. Unfortunately, she is a bit excitable and tends to lay on/step on many of her piglets. We are always so nervous when she farrows. This year sox did well and she birthed 12 piglets. After the first night we checked on her piglets. We found one injured and one that we thought was not alive. We were able to lift them out of the pen with a garden hoe. We immediately brought the injured one inside, and upon further inspection we realized the tiny one we thought was dead was actually barely alive. We had colostrum and milk replacer on hand so we began to feed them with bottles. The injured piglet took to the bottle the runt would just drink out of a small bowl.

We tried our best and when the injured piglet succumbed to his injuries we felt like we had failed. We kept feeding the runt and he finally started putting on weight. He was half the size of his brothers and sisters out in the farrowing hut.

He began to play with toys in his little pen. He even went on a field trip to a local preschool, of course the kids loved him.

He even started helping in the kitchen.

He was drinking a lot of milk. So we taught him to drink out of a measuring cup while we held it. This kept the mess down to a minimum. He loved to play. The sound of his little hooves running on the floor became something that brought a smile to our faces.

He was getting bigger and so were his messes. Once his brothers and sisters were weaned and he was on solid food we tried to put him back outside. Sadly he was too small and the bigger pigs roughed him up.

We had to bring him back inside. He sure did love his belly rubs and would go “Pigatonic” whenever we did it.

He was “some pig”! We did have a big dilemma. What were we going to do with him? We had no room to keep him separate from the other pigs. Then something wonderful happened.

Our son decided to take him to his home to be a family pet. We were over joyed! We built him a big run and he ran in the grass for the first time in his life. He would never go more than a few feet from us in the run and it was clear he loved us as much as we loved him. We do miss the sound of his little hooves on the floor and his little grunts coming from the kitchen. However we know he not only will he be happy where he is. He will also make our grandson happy as well. Plus, we can always go visit. We gained so much from this experience, and so many people would think we were crazy for having a pig in the house, but we know there is nothing else like living our little “vida loca”. And, knowing that we saved a little life is a feeling that no words can describe!