Remember last week when we shared about how things can go wrong with wintertime farrowing? Well, I’m afraid this is exactly what happened on the farm this week.
We knew Vicky was getting close on Friday night. We checked on her right before bed around 9pm, and again at 1am and 4am. On all our checks, she didn’t appear to be laboring just yet.
By the time we checked on her at 7am, we had missed most of the birth and there were already 7 piglets on the ground.
As we feared might happen, instead of the piglets being cuddled up and nursing peacefully like usual, they were scattered about in all corners of the house, rigid and chilled, and nearing the point of no return.
It was a dire situation and one that we’ve never experienced to this extent before. Luckily, instinct kicked in and we knew just what to do.
With a propane heater and a warm water bath, Greg focused his efforts on warming the piglets, while I expressed colostrum and helped the piglets nurse. Every so often, another piglet was born. And to our great relief, the newbies required nothing more than some drying and re-positioning.
It took over 3 hours, but with our persistence and their stamina, the piglets improved. Miraculously, of the 11 piglets that Vicky delivered (7 of which were severely hypothermic) we lost just one – the runt who was disadvantaged from the start.
If all this all made your stomach drop a bit, you’re not alone. We call moments like these “fires” because when you’re in the midst of them, it feels as if everything around you has just suddenly turned to shit (that’s the first time I’ve sworn in the newsletter!).
As tough as they are, we try to learn and grow from such experiences. This time, in addition to realizing that piglets are strong as hell (I just swore again!), we learned that it’s definitely time to invest in webcams so that we can monitor winter-farrowing more closely going forward.
Your Farmers,
Jenney & Greg
PS – We brought more of our organic pork back from the butcher this week so we’re fully stocked, just in time for the holidays. We’re offering more organic veggies from our friends at Andy’s Specialty Produce, too! Be sure to place you pre-orders HERE.