No huffing and Puffing

With straw prices at a low we found an economic use for our large bales. Safe in the knowledge that there are no wolves to blow the house down we erected some pig houses.

New Berkshire Sow is first time mummy

Last week we took possession of two 10 month old pregnant sows and a 4 month old berkshire boar. Brother Scott undertook the 7 hour drive to Adelaide to pick them up. As with our Wessex Saddlebacks the Berkshires, or Berkies as owners of these breeds sometimes call them, are also considered Rare Breeds.

This morning Ben and I went out to feed the pigs at around 8:30 and were surprised to find one of the sows walking around with a little one that couldnt have been more than an hour old wriggling through the thin layer of hay. I was surprised that the sow was up and about and at the same time concerned as a first time mum, I wasnt sure she knew what had happened and what her responsiblities were. After tucking down some food however she went and nestled down and proceeded to pop out 8 more. There was a 10th which she had trouble producing and I tried to help every time I saw the feet come out and retract back in. After about 5 minute I caught the feet and helped bring the piglet out however it was dead on arrival.

Throughout the day all 9 remaining piglets were trying to find teats and get their first dose of mums milk.

The other sow should have her piglets in the next day or so......

Pigs new digs.

Today we finally got the new accomodation for the piglets and their mums sorted out. A nice little patch at the back of the house dam with a couple of nice big old gum trees and some lush grass. We had put little to no thought what so ever into how we were going to move the new pig shed Id built from the place where we had built it to the the paddock. In the end Scott dragged it the 400 or so meters using the bobcat.

For the new enclosure we had to errect a electric fence, add a gate and run water down to the new paddock.

Once I had Beatrice, Doreen, B2, Dixey and Daisy safely down in their new digs they settled in and gourged themselves I think on the onion weed. A weed as its name suggests has a small onion shaped and colored bulb.

The primary goal for the new accomodation was to wean the piglets. So after a couple of days Ill remove Beatrice to begin with and shortly afterwards Doreen so that the piglets can concentrate on the important job of growing. As this is such a large field for 3 little pigs it looks like Ill be getting another couple of small weaners to keep them company.

The Three Little Pigs

Friday evening was a bizare but rewarding evening. At 5:30pm with my usual feeding routine I headed to the pig paddock to feed the crew. No one was in sight so I yelled the ritual, "pig, pig, pig, Prince, Doreen, Beatrice" Prince being his usually enthusatic self stuck his head out of the galvernized iron water tank converted into a pig shed and looked around then bolted the 50 yards toward me. Doreen then emerged and waddled in my general direction. I yelled several more times for Beatrice but she didnt appear. I got to the shed and stuck my head in and was bowled over by the sight of Beatrice lying on her side and two tiny little pigs staggering about in their fragile state not really bigger than my hand.

Panic set in, this wasnt meant to occur yet. Beatrice hadnt even looked like she was ready. She had dropped around the back udder area, however her teats hadnt looked like they had formed yet, not compared with other near farrowing sows Id seen.

In the Chaotic state of my thoughts there were a number issues I was trying to resolve quickly, getting Doreen and Prince out of the Paddock, creating a barrier so Beatrice could exit the shed but the piglets couldnt, establishing an escape area for the piglets, food, water and protecting the piglets against cold and foxes.

I lead Doreen, then Prince back to the house pens individually and by the time I returned to the shed at 6:30pm the third piglet was born. I took the tail gate off my ute and put it against the pigshed entrance propped up by rocks dirt so the piglets couldnt excape and then put a gate inside the shed as a piglet escape area. I gathered food and water for Beatrice and as for guarding against foxes I pondered getting our keplie sheep dog, Basil, and tying him up near the shed but thought that he would bark all night and possibly stress Beatrice so I decided to park my ute next to the shed and camp for the night. I hoped that me checking regurally and the body heat of Beatrice would protect against the cold and for 2 of the 3 it did.

I dropped off between about 3:30 and when I awoke at 4:30 I checked and found the last piglet born lying out by herself and when I picked her up she was alive but ridgidly cold. I brought he back into the ute and cranked up the heating. At 6am her body temp had returned and I bought her back to the house and placed her under a heat lamp and went and collected colesterum from Beatrice and then every 30 minutes fed her Natalies baby formula. She then started to struggle breathing like there was still fluid in the respirtory system. As per the literature I swung her by her back legs between my legs. This did provide some relief however Im guessing the fluid had been down there for too long and she passed away around 4pm.

Not long after that we brought Beatrice and the two piglets up to the farrowing pen they were meant to be in to begin with. We were hoping there would be more then 3 however not surprised as Beatrice is getting on and aparently litter sizes decrease the older a sow becomes.

Tomorrow Ill be ear notching which is required for identification purpose. I think Doreen is now also close to farrowing so Ill be a little more prepared however I wasnt expecting them both to be farrowing around the same time.

After writing the above and before retiring for the evening I went to check on the piglets. Only one was visible. After looking around the pen I nudged Beatrice to move and as I suspected one of the piglets laid squashed to death underneath. So the Three Little Pigs are now One. Its a harsh reality of life.

Pigs into new pasture

Prince and Beatrice moved up in the world today into larger acreage from a paddock which is around 500 square meters to around 2 acres. Doreen on the other hand remains around the house paddocks while we figure out her pregnancy situation. She was suppose to give birth a day or so ago but has failed to show any signs of farrowing. 

Moving the two was easier than I had envisaged, beatrice did however start wandering off in the opposite direction to our destination, Scott chaperone her dawdling while I flew ahead trying to steer Prince in the appropriate direction. 

Once in the paddock Prince ran ahead and generally made his very odorous mark on a number of items and then came charging back to us like he was going to mow us down and thankfully backed down at the last second.

Prince and Beatrice were however pleased with the green grass and munched for ages.

Maybe Doreen does need to join them.

The set completed.

Today I headed back to Fernleigh Farm to pick up Beatrice the third of the Wessex Saddlebacks I had purchased in late February. I was to have picked her up on Wednesday but with a storm whipping through the state and with wind gusting upto 120km/hr I decided it wouldnt be a pleasant trip for either myself or Beatrice.


When I arrived Beatrice had already been put in the stables a lesson we learnt when trying to put Prince and Doreen up onto the back of the ute from out in the paddock. Bernie set up the ramp and after sprinkling some food up the ramp and into the back of the ute Beatrice went much easily than her buddies Prince and Doreen. After a quick chat to Fiona and after Beatrice had a quick jab of Dectomax to help with the lice we were on the road back to Greenvale. For the 2hour journey back Beatrice refused to sit down and stood all the way.


Back at Greenvale Beatrice didnt seem to settle initially and hadnt eaten much however she has seemed to have come around and is getting out and wandering around where in the first couple of days just lay in the pen.

Water hoses and Pigs dont mix

I tried to separate Prince and Doreen so that I could give Doreen more food than Prince. Prince is on the podgy side and Doreen needs the extra sustenance to help her through her pregnancy. I tried shutting the gate, locking Doreen in the run and Prince in the field however Prince took advantage of a loose bolt on the gate and lifted the entire gate off its hinges.

Having fixed the gate today I successfully managed to separate the two for feeding time. Doreen however was in the run and had finished her feed and must have been looking for some fresh water to wash down the feast down with and sussed out some pipes running under the run that feed the chicken shed, a few quick nosed digs and she had successfully located the pipe and managed to bust the pipe from the join and struck water.

I rushed to turn off the water at the mains and Scott and I diverted the pipe up over the run and into the top of the chicken house. Problem solved I hope. Now to install a water feeding device on in the pigs run.

Sir and Madam have arrived.

Today my brother Scott and I were up before the crack of dawn for the 2 hour drive to Fiona and Nick Chambers property Fernleigh Free Range farm to pick up our new additions to the Greenvale Homestead, Prince and Doreen. Prince and Doreen are Wessex Saddleback pigs, a rare breed that is believed now to be now extinct from England but prior to the Wessex and Essex Saddleback being merged a herd was imported around the early to mid 1900s from the UK. We arrived early to avoid travelling with the pigs during the mid day heat. Doreen is due to give birth around the 14th April is approximately 10 years old and Prince nearly is 2. We were to have taken another sow Betrice however where as we believed she was "in pig" as it turns out it was a false alarm and Fiona has kindly offered to keep here on for a while while she mates again.

Loading the two was an adventure in itself. Im sure they were just playing with us as it took us what seemed forever to load the pigs, Fiona, Scott and I tried Prince then Doreen then Prince and then Doreen, Bernie one of the stockmen from Fernleigh Farm also came to assist and finally with a combination of bits of zucchini torn up as enticements up the ramp and with some prodding, pushing and pressure being applied from the rear we finally got Doreen up there, she had travelled before on a number of occasions but this was all new to Prince as such he took a little longer. As soon as Prince was up in the back of the ute he thrust his nose under the unattached crate dislodging it from its base and we all frantically and manically dove into action to tie the crate to the ute before any more damage could be done. Unfortantely in the disruption Doreen tried to dive under the wire mesh divider and scratched her back.

Nick then showed us how to trim both the razor sharp tusks from Prince and clip the nails after which both Prince and Doreen settled into the shadecloth covered crate for the ride back to Greenvale. After the paper work was filled out and Fiona dumped a mountain of information on us from feeding to, ear clipping to tattooing and the list went on. No doubt some of this went in one ear and out the other but Fiona kindly offered to act as consultant when ever we had questions.

Doreen and Prince travelled well all the way home albeit standing up most of the way and the only incident was Prince getting slightly randy, something I wasnt comfortable with only because with a combined weight of over 400 kg and a lot of jigging about we might find our selves in the ute upside down in a ditch. Fortunately Doreen wasnt having any of it and managed to fend off Prince.

Back at Greenvale the two had only just laid down, something they really should have done the entire trip. We backed the ute up to their new accomodation and put up the bobcat ramps for them to disembark. I had visions of having the same troubles getting them down as we did getting them up however fortunately they were eager to sus out their new surroundings. Once in there new shelter they ventured out the back door which opened to a run to their paddock. The first wander along the run prince dug his nose into the ground digging it up as if it was butter. Both Prince and Doreen then both independantly wandered around the perimeter, Id imaging to check the fencing and as yet there is no electric fence to which they are accustom to having.

The water containers full of water which we provided were tossed in the air like a beach ball so we fetched an unused cement water trough, placed it in the paddock and filled it with water allowing some overflow to be used as a wallowing area which they seemed to really appreciate.

As they dug up the soil I noticed how dark and rich it looked, now Im wondering if I should reneg and take back the paddock for my own and plant some veggies. I think Ill give them time to settle in before thinking about any moves.



While they wallowed about and munched on the green grass I tightened up some fencing an activity Ive only ever observed Scott doing, it took me a while but not a bad job if I do say so myself.

Later in the evening Amanda went to offload some corn on the cob but the two were snuggled up fast asleep like an old married couple.