Thursday, August 18, 2011

First Batch Ready to Sell!

Already?? Yes, indeed!!


The first litter of Natural-Farmed piglets is now 7 weeks old, and mama Suey is very ready to have them weaned. They weigh in at around 30 pounds each right now and are gaining about a pound a day. They sure grow fast!


We're keeping 3 gilts (young females) to improve our breedstock. The remaining 7 piglets will be sold off as weaners at $100 each. Some of them are already spoken for, but the sooner the better for the remainders. Of course, if they stay here much longer, the price will go up as the amount of feed - and the weight of the pigs - goes up.

Come & get 'em! Next litter will be ready around the time of the Autumnal Equinox.

Second Litter!

Lola had her piglets! They were born August 8. Sorry for the delay in reporting the birth; I was off-island at the time. They came about 4 days earlier than expected, otherwise I would have been back in time to assist the birth. Oh well, Mike managed. Lola did not have any trouble with the delivery, even jumping up at one point wanting to be fed when that time of day came around for the other pigs. 















There were 9 live babies, but now it's down to 7. Lola's mothering instincts don't seem nearly as strong as Suey's, which is unfortunate. She keeps squishing them, but they are learning to scamper away more quickly. Since the little ones completely refused to go into their creep area after the first night, we removed it just a couple days ago. Lola finally seems to be more aware of her babies so maybe the rest of them will survive and grow to weaner size.














This litter was sired by a Hampshire cross, via artificial insemination, hence the cute little black & pink striped piggies, a distinctive feature of the Hampshires.