Wednesday, February 26, 2014

When it rains...it rains some more

Since the Marines illness and  hospital stay.  We have fallen behind on a lot of our must do projects.

First of all I thought Miss Piggy was due to give birth the first week in February and we had not built her a separate pen and shelter from our boar.  As it got closer to the date I saw no signs that birth was imminent so we didn't get in a hurry.   Not that I or Papa Bear are experts.  This will be our first rodeo but according to everything I read and pictures I saw she wasn't close.  Thank God I looked at the gestation chart wrong. 

In November Miss Piggy became so frustrated with Kermit our boar that she tried to show him how the deed is done.  OK...she had it backwards too,  but you get my meaning...hahaha  piggy porn!

If they finally got it right and the deed was done during this time, I should have piggies the first week in March.  If she didn't get pregnant during this heat cycle, then 21 days later will be toward the 3rd week in March.









When we got home from the hospital we had so much rain that the pen Miss Piggy and Kermit were in had massive mud puddles.  I had nightmares that Miss piggy was going to give birth and all my new piggies would drown.  Papa Bear and I recouped a couple of days from the day and night shifts at the hospital and then got busy.  We got a new pen put up adjoining the one shown in the photo above with a gate separating the two.  A larger shelter was also built.  

This is Miss Piggy in her new digs.  I had to put a bucket in the corner and tie it to the fence until I can get an automatic waterer installed.  I have to fill it up a couple of times a day.















This is a picture I took today on the 26th.  Any piggy experts out there who can guess if she's due anytime soon?  It is supposed to freeze here again tomorrow night.  Murphy's law and all you know.  I will get as much hay as I can moved in there with her tomorrow.....just in case.








I told you when it rains, it rains some more.  Yesterday I noticed Calico, one of my pregnant does limping.  I am way behind on trimming goat hooves.  I know...bad goat mama.  I brought her into a stall and put her up on the milking stand so I could save my back from breaking.  Sure enough.  She had a lot of extra growth with dirt packed under it that was causing her to limp.  I got the hoof trimmers and pick,  got one front hoof done when Papa Bear handed me a new pair of trimmers.    I trimed her back hoof and went to the other side and got the back trimmed and started to do the front and saw a pool of blood.  OMG.  I thought I was extremely careful not to cut too close.  I called Papa Bear and told him to bring me the ground Cayenne pepper.  He wanted to know if I had cut myself...I said no...the goat.  I got a bucket of water and paper towels and still could not see anything on the hoof and then I felt the blood oozing through my fingers where I was holding around her pastern.  I had cut a nasty gash with those new clippers and didn't even know it.  Calico never flinched or anything.  I got it washed and poured the cayenne pepper on the gash.  It clotted the blood in just a few seconds. (Cayenne Pepper is a great item to have in your survival gear.)  I have used it on myself.  It does not burn like you think it would.

Once the bleeding stopped I put some Colloidal Silver gel on the wound and wrapped it to keep the dirt out of it.  Today she is just limping slightly.  I'll take the bandage off tomorrow and see how everything looks.  I probably should give her a tetanus shot too if I can remember.  She's just going about her usual business like nothing is wrong other than the small limp that I caused!  Her kids are due in March.  It's going to be a busy month!



While running back and forth between the goat shelters, pig pens and house I noticed the pear trees have started blooming.  This is what happened last year.  The trees bloomed out, we had a late freeze that killed the blooms and had no pears.  It is supposed to be 29 tomorrow night.  Such is life.












On a brighter note.  The Marine is doing well.  He is sleeping here through his Nebulizer treatment.  He told me he didn't mind being a lab rat...More on that later.














His fur babies are glad he is home.  We only allow one at a time to sleep with him since his illness instead of all three of his babies piled up with him.  It was Freeway's turn last night.  He just propped up on the Marine's leg and decide he wasn't moving!

16 comments:

  1. Does anyone know why I have such a large gap between my pictures? When I write the post I only have one space and when I publish and view there is an inch gap.

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  2. Neat I didn't know that about pepper. Glad to hear your son is getting better as well. I also have that same issue with my fruit trees each year. Usually it's a different type but during the flowering season at least one type gets interrupted and the blooms fail to produce. It's very frustrating.

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    1. Preppy...do a search on the pepper. It does a lot of wonderful things when you can't get medical help. I know for sure it clots blood almost instantly. A couple of years ago I was trimming pond fronds. One fell before I moved out of the way and it sliced down the back of my ear right where it joined my head and almost took it off. I was pouring blood and Papa Bear grabbed the bottle of pepper and doused my ear while I leaned over the sink. The bleeding stopped, was healed completely in a few days, never hurt and didn't leave a scar. It is supposed to stop a heart attack or stroke as well. I hope we never have to try out that theory but being 45 minutes away from the nearest hospital it is a good thing to know.

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    2. palm fronds not pond fronds...LOL

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  3. OMG, piggy porn, lol. Hope you get caught up around the property.

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    1. Thanks Senior...I thought the piggy porn was funny...Once a long time ago a friend sent a card to me of two mating pigs. It stated that my Christmas ham was in the process of being made.

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  4. We're new to the pig stuff ourselves. Everyone but me seems to think our board did his thing. I watched and he wasn't even close, so we'll see. If so middle of May for us.

    I'd like to see more photos of what you'll do for the farrowing pen. I'm not sure what we have will be enough or set up properly.

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    1. Izzy...I may regret it later but I am not going to use a farrowing crate. Gilts and sows naturally want to nest. They will take every piece of straw, sticks etc and make their nest. I know a couple of people who raise pigs. They don't crate their pigs either. One told me his sow pushes her nose through the hay to make sure there are no hidden piggies before she lays down. Today I am going to put a massive amount of hay in the pen for her to make a nest. Scroll about half way down for pictures on this post
      http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/livestock-forums/pigs/509069-pregnant-ready-farrow.html
      Miss Piggy looks almost the same as this gilt and she had her 3 days after this picture was posted.

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  5. Glad the Marine is doing so well :) Can't wait to see piglet pics!!!

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    1. Thank you Kelly...We have raised feeder pigs for the freezer a long time ago but have never had a breeding pair. I am excited to be having piggies as much as when the goat kids are born.

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  6. My female dog will do the same thing to our male dog.. thankfully they are both fixed.
    While I am no expert on pigs...Ms. Piggy looks like she is about to pop. I want to see pics of the little piglets--so cute when they are babies..

    Glad to hear the Marine is doing better..he looks better as well in that pic. Give him a big ((((( HUG ))))) for us.

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    1. Thanks for the hugs Glock Mom!...The Marine has went all day today with no supplemental oxygen!...YaY!

      I think Miss Piggy will have her piggies this weekend. If not she sure has me fooled! We are excited!

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  7. Yep, our dogs do the same thing...female on the male, then the male on the female....Our littlest male Cavalier King Charles will even do it on the females side....I think she gets so frustrated she then shows him how its done...Life with critters is never dull!

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    1. Life is never dull here either HL..I could just sit and watch the critters all day. They all have their little quirks and personalities... It's more entertaining than watching a movie!

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  8. As a Marine wife, to a Marine mom, I am so sorry about your son's accident. However, our Marines are tough! Drunk driving is a scourge in our society. We lost a 5yo granddaughter to a drunk driver. I'm going to try some of your recipes and pray for your son.

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