Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Pig Adventures: Part 10

I wish that this were happy news but I woke up to find that 6 more pigs had died last night. Dh was so frustrated. I stayed home today and we moved the remaining pigs to the barn as I had intended to do this weekend. I called the vet and he confirmed that they died of drowning. With all the rain there was no dry ground left for them to lay down, eventually they became tired of standing and drowned :( I wanted to cry, if I had known that all they needed was some dirt I would have set them loose, I was so worried about them getting sick from being out in the rain that it never even occurred to me. They didn't really bother with the pallets as it wasn't the ground. He checked out the pigs and they are all healthy, in fact they sound great. I am so thankful that we found a vet willing to come out to a little farm. He looked at our setup in the barn and recommended a different watering can than what we had but said there wasn't any hurry. He guesstimates the pigs are about halfway to their ideal butchering weight. I am saddened by this experience but I am thankful that dh is still interested in keeping pigs again. It's amazing the things you learn the hard way :(

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

awww, don't be so hard on yourself! The first 2 years of "farming" are the hardest as I tell my friends. You learn a lot...most of it the hard way. It will get easier, I promise! You know how to reach me on momys if needed, we have had animals of nearly all sorts for years now, not all great experiences, but lots of lessons learned.

Your friend, erickson7

Janelle said...

Thanks erickson7.