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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Tamworth Piglets

I realize that I haven't really put much of a farm update on recently.  Now that we have a Facebook for our farm, a lot the "happenings" get put on there.  I've tried linking it over to blogger but have not succeeded (anyone know how).  So I thought it is time for a quick farm update.

Although we are selling beef and eggs, our biggest seller this past year has been our pork.  It is really good!, and it is what we have most available.  We have a heritage breed of hogs called Herefords (yes, Hereford hogs, not the cattle.)  We have been very happy with them.  Early on, however, Ethan wanted to have some Tamworths on the farm.  We had a lot of trouble finding them, but now we have them!

It has been quite the ordeal too.  Jonathan, our newest little guy, was due in December.  Ethan planned on picking up these bred Tamworth sows in January.  Well, Jonathan decided to come a bit late.  10 days late to be exact, born on January 6th.  This just happened to be the day that Ethan finally rescheduled to pick up the hogs (we were waiting on Jonathan being born.)  So instead of picking up sows that were due any moment, Ethan took me to the hospital since I was due at the moment.

Since the sows were due to farrow anytime, Ethan went and got them the day he brought Jonathan and myself home.  He got back late and left them in the trailer to unload after church on Sunday.

Our Tamworth that farrowed in the trailer with her 6 piglets.
Well, one of the sows decided that the trailer was quite cozy and she'd waited long enough, so she farrowed that night.  It was not quite ideal - 4 large sows (we got two Berks too) in a tiny trailer can crush little pigs fast.  Ethan managed to find the sow that farrowed (by milking them and seeing who had milk!), got the other sows out, and let the new momma settle down with her babies.  The new family eventually got moved out of the trailer.

Last night our second Tamworth farrowed.  Thankfully she was a little more settled in.  I encourage you to check out our Facebook or Ethan's Twitter if you want to see pictures of the newest baby pigs!

2 comments:

Angela said...

We're (or scratch that)..I'm looking to get some pigs on our farm. I love them. I think they're fun, easy to bred, and darn good to eat. My husband on the other hand it not a fan of raising them. How do you like your Herefords?

The Beginning Farmer's Wife said...

Ethan said he would never be a pig farmer - now the pigs are his favorite animal on the farm at the time (not because they make things easy though - but they are what he calls the mortgage lifters). We have been very happy with our herefords. They are good mommas, have a decent temperament, and taste great!

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