This morning I started the day mentally preparing myself to send the last of our pigs to the butcher. All the other times that we've sent pigs to be processed, I haven't really thought too much about it because the intended purpose for raising those pigs was for meat. This time, we are sending two sows that we kept for the purpose of raising babies. The thought of eating them never crossed my mind until recently when our financial situation, unexpectedly, changed. Red is three years old and Peaches (out of Red's first litter) is one and a half years old. They were both really good moms and had big litters (13 to 16 piglets each), so my heart is heavy today as I prepared to send them off to be processed. Once they are loaded onto the trailer and off the property, I will be okay. I will enjoy the meat just as much as I have any other pigs we've raised.
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| Peaches sharing her last meal with the ducks and chickens. |
Soon after starting my morning chores my heart lightened a little because I realized that Shay (one of *Z*'s goats) was definitely in labor and we would have new babies in a few hours.
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| Shay cleaning her new babies. |
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| Shay cleaning her babies. |
Actually it didn't even take two hours. Within an hour of me noticing that she was in labor she delivered a set of twins. A buck and a doe.
When it came time to load the pigs, Red decided she really didn't want to go for a ride. She squeezed through between the barn door and the trailer and went for a walk about!
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| Red on her last walk around the farm. |
Yep there she goes back the other way!! I was half expecting to see *T* following along behind her with a bucket of feed...
I was not helping but was told that Red did NOT want to get in that trailer, and it took quite a lot of convincing before she finally did get in.
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| Red finally on the trailer. |
I guess Peaches wasn't nearly as hard to load.
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| Peaches on the trailer. |
So, with the pigs on their way down the road, it is time to focus on the new additions. Meet Sage and Sarah!
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| Sage and Sarah - Shay's twins. |
