Piglets!

           Annie and Tigger came to our farm late this summer from Landon Farm in Madison County.  Madison County always looks beautiful.  In July when we were burning up in Cumberland and the pasture about crunched under foot, Madison looked as green as April.

          Jennifer took us to her barn where the two sows sat happily munching Alfalfa hay in a stall with Rorsarch.  Jennifer thought that Rorsarch bred both sows about June 10th.

Annie~August 2012

           Jennifer thought right.  At least with Annie.  She had 6 spotty piglets on Tuesday October 2nd.  Three months, three weeks and three days to the day Jennifer saw Annie bred.  Breeding Annie must have exhausted Rorsarch, because Tigger decided to wait another week before she had 5 spotty piglets yesterday.

          Building farrowing huts for the sows proved nerve racking.  Would old hay bale feeders, zip ties, a tarp and lots of hay be enough of a home for piglets?  Doesn't conventional wisdom say a piglet needs 90 temperatures?

        Turns out these piglets are hardy creatures.  Annie and Tigger are both Ossabaw Island/Berkshire crosses.  Ossabaw Island Hogs were turned out by the  Spaniards on one of the barrier islands off the coast of Georgia (Ossabaw Island) when they were exploring the Americas.  The hogs were left to fend for themselves .

        Given their history, I shouldn't have been surprised when the  piglets were running around the day they were born.  By three days old they were venturing outside and running around with mom.  Our 8" logs placed to keep the piglets inside are no match for these piglets.  They have been scampering over top since then.

           They did look thankful to be snuggled up next to (and sometimes on top of) mom when it was rainy and cold on Sunday.
      
          Take a look at the piglets:

Annie's Piglets...notice the escape hatch Annie has created in the back of the hut

Hello

Curious piglets creep closer

Vampire markings and Pumpkin coloring, perfect for Halloween

Mom! Let's get her

Nursing piglets are happy piglets

       As much as we like our adult pigs we knew we'd have to like the the piglets, but until they came we had no idea how much we'd love them.   They are cute, funny and adventurous...a little like all the other baby animals rolled into one.  Well, maybe not quite since they aren't fuzzy, but they're cute enough they don't need fuzzy.