Friday, January 13, 2012

Winter Piglets

Well, I awoke yesterday to the forecast of snow and realized it was going to happen. Our Berkshire gilt - Black Betty - was going to farrow. After waiting around for a week and a half, the onset of winter weather was the perfect opportunity to give birth. Sure enough, she failed to show up for breakfast, and we began our final preparations.

With some extra straw and a heat lamp, we let Betty take over from there. Over the course of the day she farrowed five piglets, with four remaining this morning. Though this is a smaller number of piglets than we'd hope for, this is her first farrowing and they do tend to be small. All appear to be happy and healthy, however, and we're proud to announce the first Red Wattle / Berkshire heritage hybrid hogs from Ecotone!

Monday, January 9, 2012

Turkeys Lurking

To start off the new year, we thought we'd post some farm folly highlights from the last.  Highly ranked among these is the fall's turkey burglary.  Jennifer's father, Peter, was in town for a visit, and Jasper and I took him to the farm one nice day for a visit.  Entering through the house, we were greeted by a calm group of turkeys taking in the living room's afternoon sun.  This video says the rest.