Small Wonders

We have babies everywhere here on the farm. This weekend, Charlotte, Eric’s beloved porcine princess, gave birth to eight little bacon seeds. My bib overall wearing buddy gets so excited when his pigs are expecting. I don’t know why he likes these intimidating, cumbersome, intelligent critters so well, but he really enjoys them. Earlier in the week, he noticed Charlotte was making milk, so he prepared a stall for her and separated her from the rest of the bigs.

Charlotte enjoys the solitude and takes full advantage of her time alone. Eric treats her with goat’s milk in her feed, takes her out to use the restroom, gives her scratches and belly rubs, and gives her large amounts of hay to build her nest. She worked for days building the perfect nest for which to deliver her little ones. With the perfect nest built, she settled in and waited for the babies to appear.

Friday, Charlotte’s milk had dropped, and Eric knew it was just a matter of time until her labor began. Pigs never deliver during the day, it is always at night or the wee morning hours they decide to go into labor. Eric would need to check on Charlotte every hour or so. During baby season, we set up an air mattress in the garage. We sleep in the garage, so the alarm that goes off every hour or two hours doesn’t disturb the entire household. My bib-wearing buddy went on baby watch alone. He checked on the progression of Charlotte’s labor every hour. However, between the hours of 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., he slept through the alarm. Of course, that is when she delivered. When he went out at 5:00 a.m., eight healthy babies were running about and squealing. They were clean, their tummies were full, and nuzzling their mama. Charlotte had changed positions since the last check and had not squished any little ones. She did a fantastic job, but my bib overall wearing wonder bun was disappointed he had missed all the action.

I told him now he knows she can safely deliver without him. However, he worries that something goes wrong and she needs him. He’s a very attentive farmer. To date, all the little piglets are healthy and doing well. Charlotte is up and caring for them. She has a healthy appetite, is drinking a lot of water, and is voiding. Pigs don’t like to void inside. If given the opportunity, they will go outside to use the restroom. In the winter, they choose one area in the barn and use it as their bathroom. Although Charlotte cannot be convinced to go outside and use the restroom, she chooses one spot by the door, making it very easy to clean. Although she is very attentive right now, her eight little monsters will be on her last nerve in a week or so, and she will seek refuge outside the stall with her friends. Even pig mamas need sanity time.

Overall, it was a good weekend. We are thrilled to have tiny bacon seeds. The three little pigs that belong to Rose, our Large Blanck Hog, are fat little sausage balls with hard round tummies and lots of personalities. They are doing well on goat’s milk, and Eric is astounded by how much they have grown and how big their appetite is growing. All our goat’s milk is going to feed either baby goats or baby pigs. I hope our moisturizer inventory holds out. If you notice low stock on the moisturizer, this is why.

The weather has been so beautiful that we spend our evenings on the front porch. We love to watch the baby goats running and bouncing through the field. It is incredible how much they have grown in just a few weeks. They have little friend groups they run in and have developed games to pass the time. They are really adorable. No matter how you spent your weekend, dear reader, I hope you enjoyed it. As always, stay safe, be smart, enjoy the small wonders in life, and keep washing your hands.