Update: Fanny the sow is now in the freezer, after a disappointing litter of piglets at Christmastime. She had 15 piglets, but by the time we got out to the barn, 7 were already dead. Two were too cold to eat and we brought them into the house to heat up. I had to milk colostrum from Fanny and let me tell you, pigs are not good dairy animals! It was really hard to get some, but I tried. Anyways, by the next day she had squashed three more, and by the end of the second day we were down to the two cold piglets and one strong one that had gotten 24 hours of nursing in. I decided they were all going to be bottle pigs and spend the next week giving hourly feedings and playing nursemaid to the babies. The weakest guy lasted three days, and a few days later the other cold one died. We ended up with Rosie, the single surviving piglet. It was a crazy amount of work to bottle feed the piglets, plus the cost of goat milk from the store, which was not cheap, but it was a learning experience and we have got one super friendly, fat red piglet out in the barn now!
We still have the two gilts and the boar from Fanny's first litter, and because we butchered Fanny after Christmas we didn't have room in the freezer for the boar and gilt that were supposed to get processed. And now, because of the delay, the boar has bred his two sisters and I guess we will be having some inbred piglets for spring. Not what I wanted, but I am not going to butcher a pregnant pig. A friend of our was quite impressed with the boar and wants to use him on his sows, so he also gets a pardon. For now.
Annie and Ivy, the two goats, currently have free run of the farm. They are just too cute! We needed the stall they were in for turkeys and they do a great job of taking care of themselves. We do have a hard time keeping them out of the grain buckets, but happily, they don't overheat, just make mess. But we have a stall in the works for them because I know that once the gardens get going, I will want them gone! I also have to try to come up with a fenced area for them that will hold them in. Just have to figure out where.
So not much else is going on, I just want to get into the garden and start planting!
