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7 years ago

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Our summer this year here in northeast Ohio has been dry and now HOT. All of us critters are searching for shade. We do our work in the early morning or cool of evening whenever possible. The greenhead flies bite the horses relentlessly making fly nets part of the harness routine.

One of my sows farrowed on pasture as usual, but chose a big brush pile to keep her little ones near. There is morning sun, afternoon shade and a safe place for them to hide when the hawk flies overhead.

It must be that the hog huts are too warm or perhaps she just knows what she needs better than me? In any case she is raising eight youngsters and teaching them many things at this early age.

You have to look close. There are four babies sound asleep in the shade. The other four are hidden in the brush sleeping two by two. The babies make farming fun...it simply never gets old.

NoraWI says 2016-07-14 06:17:50 (CST)



Tee hee hee! That's like one of those puzzles when I was a kid... find items hidden in the picture. I must confess that I don't see a single piglet. But it is fun looking! :)


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Klaus Karbaumer says 2016-07-14 08:04:48 (CST)



Great! I bet they like these accommodations better than sleeping on concrete slats in a ventilated pig barn without natural light and access to the outside. The fate of the overwhelmingly vast majority of pigs in industrialized agriculture!


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

K.C. Fox says 2016-07-15 06:41:56 (CST)



I can see 7 for sure and I think 1 one other. Some mothers take care of there own, others expect you to take care of them for them, she is a keeper I would like to have 3 or 4 sows just to turn out in my old lot


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Ralph in N.E.Oh says 2016-07-15 07:12:22 (CST)



Nora, I am glad that I made you smile. In the left center of the photo, there are 4 spotted piglets that blend in with the partial shade. In the brush pile there are 4 black and white ones hidden in the branches. If you look for the spot of white first, then the rest of the baby will focus. Hope that helps :)

Klaus, you are so very right! My babies don't get iron shots either. They get what they need by rooting in the pasture. They seem wiser and more engaged in the world around them. I guess this makes me a "pig whisperer" when I can understand how a pig feels!


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Ralph in N.E.Oh says 2016-07-16 06:32:13 (CST)



K.C. you are correct she is a keeper. She had her first litter under my barns overhang on January 25th. It was very cold, just 5 above zero. She built a nest in the deep straw and raised 8 babies without help from me. Although I did give her plenty of straw and bedding material. This sow's momma was a great old gal too.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum


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