Piglets Galore! Part 2

Okay...so Abbie was not in the shelter with the others so I knew what that meant. I started walking further into the woods with the flashlight to look for her. Our woods goes into a steep slope and has lots of fallen trees, all shapes and sizes. I find her towards the bottom, milling around between two very large fallen trees that are about four feet apart. She's just standing there with a dazed look. I actually thought she looked extra pretty. I walked back up the hill, back to the house and told Scott what I found.

"I know it's dark, but we have to try to move her."

So that is exactly what we did. We tried to move her to her own small paddock. Scott started the tractor and hooked up the farrowing hut and I got some feed and a sorting panel. Off we went down below. We thought best for the hut to be at the bottom, close to where Abbie was located. Scott could cut the line and we wouldn't have to move her that far. I guess she was disturbed by the commotion because I found her back up the hill. Now it would be a pain because we didn't want the other hogs to wake up. Which of course they did...a bunch of Nosy Neds. We were able to lead Abbie back down the hill but it soon became impossible to try and coax her through the area where Scott cut the wire. We could actually make the situation worse if the Nosy Neds got out. We tried again. It's difficult to maneuver your way through trees and thorn bushes with just the tractor lights. At some point I banged my forehead against a big tree limb.

Knowing it was going to start raining the next day and through the weekend, we really tried to get Abbie to her hut. But it wasn't going to happen. Scott had the idea of putting a big piece of plywood over the fallen trees. Maybe she would know enough to farrow under it. That was all we could do.

That's one of the hard realities of farming. You can do your very best and things may or may not turn out the way you had hoped for.

I knew that Friday was going to be a very hard day for me. Scott had to go into Northern Virginia for work and was going to be gone all day. To be honest, I have had a few times where I would wake up and dread the day. Dread what I am greeted with and dread that I will not feasibly be able to handle certain situations. Luckily, those days are very few. But Friday was a day that I was going to dread......

Piglets Galore! Part 1

Since last week, I have been meaning to post. But I've been too busy during the day and too tired at night! Pig farrowing has begun and of course things didn't go according to how we planned. Don't the pigs know our itinerary?

Where do I begin?.....

Well, I had mentioned before that we had separated two sows(#2 and Darla) into their own paddocks, since they were going to be first to farrow. Due date March 12th for both of them. Next two to separate would be Mary Lou and Abbie. I wasn't sure of the exact due date but by the looks of their milk rows(as of March 10th) I was thinking two-three weeks. Okay...so the plan was to separate Mary Lou and Abbie on March 13th. They are in with the Berkshire pork group in the woods and of course needed to come out of there into their own paddocks near #2 and Darla.

During the usual feeding Thursday morning, I noticed Mary Lou's milk rows. They still were not that full but when I squeezed, there was a lot of milk. With my experience, that means the sow will usually farrow within three days. A quick glance at Abbie...no, her milk rows are still pretty small. There's time with her.

"Scott, I think we should go ahead and build out paddocks for Mary Lou and Abbie."

"Sure, no problem...I'll get the huts up there later this afternoon."

"Perfect...I'll quickly build paddocks after I pick Sam up from school."

Around 1:00 pm I was getting the woods hogs some water. Being a warm day, they enjoyed rolling around in the extra water I poured on the ground. Mary Lou came over, got a big drink and laid on the ground. After a few minutes she got back up and carried on with her pig business and I carried on with mine. Sam and I got home around 3:00pm and I grabbed the needed supplies and headed up to where I would build the paddocks. It was such a good feeling being ahead of the game and having a good control of the day. As I reached the top of the hill, I noticed Mary Lou on the ground. Odd that she would be sleeping in that location, I thought. Getting closer and closer, I realized she wasn't sleeping. She had her litter! A bunch of nursing piglets. In two hours she went from not showing any labor signs to having all of her piglets...nine of them(really ten but she may have laid on one). Completely shocked, I ran down to tell Scott. I was also worried about the nine other hogs and what they might do if they got too curious. Scott had to stop what he was doing and focus on how we were going to handle this situation.

Mary Lou was in the woods with no shelter. Heavy rains were coming for the weekend so that was the first item to deal with. So now what would be best? Maneuver the farrowing hut through the trees to her? Or build the paddock as planned and try to move her and the piglets up to the hut. Scott thought it was best to bring the hut down to her. It wasn't the simplest of tasks getting the hut through the trees, but Scott was able to do it. I brought plenty of straw down while he built the electric wire fence around Mary Lou. We were able to get the piglets into the shelter but Mary Lou wasn't so sure. It took a while for all of them to get settled. Thankfully they did.

Since Mary Lou had her litter, I was concerned about Abbie. I checked on her again and she still appeared to have more time. Good! It's almost dark at this point and there are many other things to do.

So later on, when it was completely dark, I felt I needed to check on all hogs. Still no piglets for #2 and Darla. Mary Lou and her piglets are doing great and snug inside the hut. The other woods hogs are in their shelter. They don't seem to mind what's going on nearby with the new mom. Hmmm...where's Abbie?

(sorry to do this, but there is so much to tell and I need to go to sleep!)

To Phil!

Every now and then you get that one special chicken or rooster that is very special. He or she will stand out with its zany or different personality. There is a particular hatchery that will send a surprise, rare chicken if you order fifty or more birds. Of course we agreed to the surprise. When the chicks arrived, the kids got out the catalog and started researching what breed was picked for us. It was pretty easy...a Buff Laced Polish, a very docile and easy-going breed...so they say. As our new bird started to grow feathers on top of the head, we named her Phyllis. She looked like she was wearing a Phyllis Diller wig. Feeding the birds one morning, I happened to hear a crow coming from the "new chick" coop. Our dear Phyllis was now a Phil.

Now Phil wasn't exactly the docile, easy-going bird that the Buff Laced Polish are known for. We affectionately called him Schizo Phil. The poor guy was definitely on the bottom of the pecking order. He didn't have many hens that hung out with him. Maybe one or two at most. Phil was a very jumpy bird that startled very easily. He wouldn't dare let you touch him. Sometimes at night when the birds would be roosting, I would quickly grab him and hold him just to see what he felt like. Oh the shrieks!

One beautiful, sunny day as I was on my front porch, I noticed a large shadowing from above. Only a buzzard, I thought. I glanced over to the chicken area and saw the chickens scattering everywhere. The "buzzard" I saw was really a hawk. A big one, too! I ran over there just in time to see the hawk dive down towards Phil. He got close but it must not have had a good angle. Phil escaped him and ran over to the tree line. I still remember seeing him perched on a fallen limb all hunkered down.

One dreary, drizzly day I was walking past some side windows and just happened to glance outside to see chickens scurrying from the back treeline to their home. Definitely a sign that means "go check it out"! I ran out with the dogs and noticed Phil's feathers at the treeline and the trail leading downhill and into the adjacent field. I also noticed the dogs taking off toward that field. They disappeared over the hilltop. I felt so sad. Not Phil! All I could do was to try to follow his feathers and maybe I could find him. I walked down the hill one last time. Two of my dogs came back while one was still out there. When I finally realized I lost Phil I heard a loud squawk way on the other side of the trees and hill. When I got over there, the third dog was standing near Phil. He was definitely wounded. It was hard to see to what extent, but after being in the mouth of a fox of course there would be some injuries. I picked him up and carried him over to the house. He just laid there, almost lifeless, in my arms. But when I reached the side door, his head perked up, gave a loud shriek and jumped out of my arms to the ground. There he goes, running across the yard.

One dark night, the kids and I were closing up the chicken and turkey shed. At that time, we didn't have many turkeys so they were able to roost in their own shed in a nearby field. I used to count all of the chickens before I closed their door. Phil wasn't there! Oh no. I let the kids know and we searched with flashlights to see if we could find feathers. We must have been looking for an hour, all of us sad. I told the kids we can't do anything about it and we should just go in. Jonah went over to close the turkey shed door. "Phil's in here with the turkeys!" Goofy boy, putting us through such a scare.

Yet again...while out scoping the grounds, I noticed a pile of Phil's feathers by the trees. Here we go again. Luckily, I saw him right away by the coop...without a tail. Phil looked silly for the longest time. But the tail feathers eventually grew back and he was beautiful once again.

It was never a big surprise that Phil didn't wander too far away from the coop. He was happy being crazy close to his home. Strangely, after a couple of years he started venturing across the yard to the other side of the house. It was like he discovered a whole new world. Finally Phil was coming out of his shell!

Then one sad night, I noticed Phil wasn't in the shed roosting with the others. I had a feeling this time that it wasn't good. I did a quick search around the yard where the sheds are located. But knowing he traveled across other fields, his chances were better to be seen by a fox. "I'll wait to tell the kids in the morning", I thought. We've had our share of chickens taken away by fox, but the news of Phil was pretty hard to take for all of us. He managed to escape so many dangerous situations. We just assumed he was invincible.

Oddly enough, I didn't find his feathers out in the new field Phil discovered. They were in the corner by the fence close to his home. This happened a year ago and a tear actually came to my eye while writing about him. We sure do miss that crazy bird!

Aahhh!!! Vitamin D

I believe all will agree...what a beautiful and much appreciated weekend. It feels so good to finally check items off of the list and see progress. Feels great to walk and run across fields without high stepping to get through the snow. Feels fantastic to have the four-wheeler working again! It makes feeding and watering go much faster.

The Red Dalmatians were weaned and put in a pen next to Max and the Large Black Hogs(Opie, Bea and Biddy). Max and his friends need to be retrained on the electric wire. So right now they are learning boundaries again. Ramona was moved to another area, out of sight from her newly weaned litter. Frances was put in with her to keep her company. We'll keep Ramona there until she is reconditioned and rested. Then she'll go back out with her group and Ollie the Boar.

Darla and #2 were moved into the same field. They are due with litters very soon. We are so pleased that our brother-in-law, Dan, came down and built three more farrowing huts, making it now a total of five. These huts are well built and have a great design. It's roomy enough for mom to farrow and has a hinged entrance in the back so I can assist or handle the piglets if I need to.

Since we moved Darla away from our big Tamworth boar(Big Daddy), I decided to try and put a Berkshire gilt in with him in his field. Daisy hasn't produced for us yet. She's normal with her heat cycles but it just doesn't seem to be working with her and Ollie. I'm stumped with what the problem may be. I really want to try hard to get a litter from her because if she doesn't...well...you know. It took us a while to get Daisy over there, but we succeeded. She's in heat now so I thought for sure Big Daddy would be interested. No...he was more interested in the feed we brought over with us. After some time I noticed Daisy and Ollie pacing the fence line. Our driveway divides the two fields. Up and down they went with Ollie frothing at the mouth. I took it upon myself to get Daisy back over to her field with Ollie. Maybe that short separation will do the trick.

The chicks seem to be doing fine. We lost one egg layer and several broilers. I did notice two more broilers limping. I'm sure it's safe to say that they won't make it.

With all that we were able to do this past weekend we still find ourselves behind with more projects to add to the list. But that's okay...I'm so grateful it's warm!

A New Season Under Way....Already!

I really can't believe it's the start of a new season already! All of the snowstorms made this winter go by so quickly. So here we are...2010 season. We received the egg layers yesterday. This year I decided on Russian Orlorffs and Welsummers, both rare breeds. I like to order different kinds of chickens because there are so many beautiful breeds, each having different personalities. Tomorrow we receive the first batch of broiler chickens. Starting next week, the first group of eleven sows will begin farrowing and won't end until May. Around that time my second group should be ready to breed for fall piglets. The Culpeper's Farmers Market begins April 24th. It'll be great to see everyone again!

I was down with the group of pigs we just moved and noticed one in heat. Of course she is too young so now we need to separate the girls from the boys. That should be an easy task. I also noticed some odd behavior amongst this group. Not bad odd, but good odd. The young Berkshire boars in this group, Duke and Simon, have always been so friendly. They love getting attention and are just my sweet boys. The girls, however, have been slightly stand-offish. They'll come up to me but as soon as I try to pet them they take off. Today they were different. Some of them were actually competing for my attention. They would rub up against me and let me touch them. I noticed them frolicking more as they discovered wallowing for the first time. I didn't think it was that warm, but for them a nice sunny day was warm enough. I'm sure it felt good on their skin. Surely, these animals felt the stress of this past winter just like their owners did!

The older pictures above show some pretty White Rock hens, Scott and a young Ollie, and the last one(I think that was 3-4 years ago) shows some major clearing and excavating of the front. It was very much over grown. Sam is the little guy with the orange shirt.

A Productive Day

Leading Max, Opie, Bea and Biddy back up to the house

This is what hogs will do to the ground...I think I'll do a garden!
For the first time in what seems like such a long time, it was a very productive day with the pigs. We finally were able to move the older piglet group from behind the shop to a nice area with green grass(believe it or not), lots of trees and great places to explore. But before we moved them, we had to ring and tag all 15 and give them a shot of Dectomax. We made a chute system so it is easier to handle the little guys and gals. Tony's job is to get them in the chute and hold them once they are in. Scott will then use a hog snare(a device that slips around the nose and tightens to hold them still) and my job is to give the shot, put in the ear tag and apply the nose ring. The system ran smoothly and the pigs were so happy to be moved to a new home. Scott and I always went back and forth on whether or not we should ring. Sure, they love to get head deep into the ground but they really can wreak havoc on pastures. Rotating pastures is so important but this winter led us to decide to ring the hogs. If we know we will have a pork group that will stay in the woods then we won't ring them. The hogs can still get in the ground to get the good stuff, but they won't ruin pastures. Some people think it is cruel to ring hogs. But I have to say, I am a witness to very happy and healthy creatures with nose rings. They act no differently than my hogs without rings.

Today's Special......Stewing Hen

Today started out like any other day. I made my rounds with the hogs. The last hogs I usually feed are Big Daddy and Darla. They are located in the field next to the egg layers. These chickens have access to anywhere on the farm but a bunch will make a bee line right to their hog neighbors at feeding time. They all huddle around, carefully attempting to grab a bite of corn or hog pellets from the feeder pan. I just put the feed in the two pans and started examining Darla. She is due to farrow in about three to four weeks. I looked around for a second and then happened to notice a rooster chasing one of the Black Star hens down the hill.

"Oh for Pete's sake! Can you just leave her alone!!"

There was still some snow and ice on the ground. Maybe that is why the black hen was having a hard time getting away from the rooster. She was trying to get up but still having a hard time. I ran down to see if I could assist and what do I see? A headless chicken. She got too close to Darla's mouth! Chickens still move after they are killed. That's why I thought she was just having a difficult time with the snow.

I grabbed her by the legs and proceeded back up the hill to Darla. Sure enough, right by her bowl, there was the head. How strange. Now here I have this newly killed chicken, but what do I do? I didn't want to waste good meat. Scott was in Fairfax. I definitely could scald and pluck feathers but I didn't know how to eviscerate. My job with the chickens is quality control, bagging and weighing. Tony(our farm partner and champion eviscerator) was at work as well so it looked like it was just going to be me. I did call Tony to get instructions but I needed a visual "how-to". So I checked out You Tube...How to Eviscerate a Chicken. By the way...those of you who do not know what eviscerate means, it is gutting a chicken. Taking out all of the innards(intestines, gizzard, heart, etc.). Joel Salatin had good step by step instructions.

I got a big stock pot filled with water and set it on the stove. When the water temp for scalding was correct(147 degrees is what Scott likes) I started dunking the bird up and down for about a minute. Then I put the chicken in a bucket and went outside to pluck feathers. Back inside to the kitchen sink to attempt eviscerating. Too cold and windy outside. The crop was the size of a baseball. That was easy to get out. I start cutting...eeww it stinks. Back outside where it is cold and windy so the smell can be whisked away. I finish cutting, put my hand inside and everything comes out at once. Hmmm...not so bad. I completed the task at the kitchen sink, washing and doing my famous quality control.

This chicken is what is called a stewing hen. Egg layers only lay efficiently for about two years. Ater that, they are processed for stewing. If you roasted one of these birds in the oven, it would be very tough. An older hen needs to be stewed all day, like in a crockpot. Chicken and dumplings would be great with a stewing hen. A friend of mine said he puts in a crockpot a can of mushroom soup with about a half a can of white wine along with the chicken. It goes great with broccoli and rice. You can't go wrong. The key is slow cooking for a LONG time.

Bon Appetit!