We had a very exciting weekend. We have been waiting forever (well, it seems like it anyway) for our pig "puppies" to be born. We were given our Hampshire Cross sow named Piper by Alizabeth Herndon. She raised her last year and thought that HZ Harvest Farm would be a good home for her. That is Alizabeth collecting eggs for me today in the above picture. We bred Piper to Chuckles who is a Yorkshire pig we bought from a local pig farmer. Piper went into labor Friday night. Marvin had been up since 1:00 am watching her so it had already started to be a very long day for him.
We called my sister Colleen and brother-in-law Del at 5:00 am. They caretake for Wayne on his cattle ranch - Deer Valley Ranch - which is about 40 minutes away from the Farm. They used to raise pigs and volunteered to help us with our first farrowing. That is Del comforting Piper in the picture.
Chop is the cute little white sow in the adjacent pen and was wondering what was happening.
Of course, this was exactly the wrong day for this to happen. Our niece Chrissy was getting married at 4:00. You might remember that our daughter Meghan was married last month. Both of these beautiful intelligent women waited until their early 30's to find the right life partner. Both men are exactly right for each of them. The girls are only a year apart in age and were pretty much raised together since our families are extremely close. There was NO way we could miss this wedding.
Although they were also invited to the wedding, Del and Colleen graciously offered to stay with Piper and allow us to go to the wedding. I don't think we will every be able to make it up to them.
Just as the reception was beginning, we received the phone call that Piper had given birth to the first piglet. The next phone call was to tell us that she was not "progressing" and was getting very agitated. Of course we left the party and headed home, trying to contact a vet for some assistance. We were about half way home when we received a return call from Dr. Exline. He needed us to come to his office to pick up medicine to help her continue birthing.
We finally drove through the gate and up the hill to see Del holding up our second baby. Marvin took over from Colleen and she and I headed out to Deer Valley to take care of their baby Guinea hens and kittens and gather clothes for them. We arrived back at the Farm around 11:30 pm. The third and last piglet was born at midnight. After 4 more hours of checking on the new family, we all slept for a few hours.
Pigs often have large litters up to 16. We were a little disappointed that Piper only had 3, but it probably was for the best. First time mothers often roll over on their piglets causing death. She is handling her small family very well and will be much better equipped for a larger bunch next time.
Although we are all sleep deprived tonight, we are very happy to have these blessed pigs added to our farm family.
I have much more to share with you, but it will need to save for another day - I'm going to bed!
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