While Daisy’s calf hides, growing fatter by the minute, (not too fat we hope).. though at the moment I have quite given up hope on a calf at all, is it a fantasy calf? but there sure is milk! (larger breeds will calve up to 10 days later than the average table so being an Ayrshire, Daisy is obviously shooting for the later dates). 
Yesterday I received a call from the swine herd, who bred the late Charlotte and our deeply present Sheila.
“I have a gilt. Eight weeks. Bit of a runt. Can’t sell her for much. Do you want her? Are you milking yet? She needs the milk. I am going away tomorrow so best you collect her now.” (above is the kind of medium I used to work in.. sorry.. got all artsy on you). Of course I wanted her. Sheila needs company. I need another breeding gilt. I loaded up the car and off we went. She definitely is small but determined. She chugged about her box like a little fire engine all the way home.
By the time we got her home .. there was no light for photos for you. She cried and grunted about. Trying to get through the division to Sheila, who brought her offerings of alfalfa..whether to build a dam so the piglet could not get through or to try and improve her diet, I don’t know. Eventually they both went to bed on their own sides. 
You are a good feeder, the old swine herd had said, raising his ancient eyebrow. (Meaning I feed my pigs too much and they are fat) . Too much milk, eggs and alfalfa, I laughed. I asked him; how old do these pigs grow to? He said, I don’t know. After they have bred three times I sell them. They are getting very high returns. I told him about Sheila and he sighed with happiness. It was as though with one good pig who can live as long as she likes (I told him that you are helping out with the feed for Sheila by buying calendars and T shirts so he ordered one of each on the spot) this allowed him to love the pigs again. A pig who can live until she dies naturally is so rare here.. will she soon be the oldest pig in the midwest?
He told me terrible stories about factory raised pigs. Disease is rampant in the last twelve months. Pigs dying everywhere. Reports of six, seven, eight hundred piglets dead per farm per month!. Could this be true? Leading to high prices for pork and a shortage they say. No-one really talking about it. No-one wanting to admit that the pork factories might be imploding. Though prices aside this is a very unsettling development. Is this gossip? I need to find out.
Is there an epidemic running through factory raised pigs here in America. He told me that it is killing off millions of piglets. People like us who raise small numbers of free range pigs who have air and light and a vegetarian diet (there is plenty of protein in eggs and milk) can command a premium now, he said. You will remember that here in America it is NOT against the law to feed pigs pork products. They are feeding reconstituted pigs to pigs. In fact all the hog finisher feeds have animal protein on them. Make no mistake – it is pork fat. The fat makes them grow faster. So is it possible that the disease is being spread (among other things) through the feed. I need to do some more research, but it does not look good. Be very careful now.. know your farmer. If you are close by to me and want pork, buy a piglet and bring it out here to raise. This is serious stuff. We need to be vigilant about our food.
I shudder. And make sure not to wear my farm boots anywhere but on my clean farm and thank god that I mix my own feeds. 
Anyway our new wee Hereford gilt is very small and has no name, (other than The Runt) but let us watch and see if she pulls through first. She will find her name. And hopefully become vigorous as soon as Daisy starts the milking. Nanny Boo is of course immediately engaged. And spent the evening staring down any other animal or bird who came by to check out the newcomer.
I shall take some shots of Little Runt for you today.
I hope you all have a lovely day.
love your friend on the farmy
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
56 responses to “The Runt”
I love to see pictures of all of your animals, but I have to admit, I really like Boo. Something about a good dog, sure feisty sometimes, but a good dog.
YOU be careful. Be careful what you say, because the meat factories have bought judges and set precedent for lawsuits (even against bloggers and small time farmers) that puts the law on their side when they sue over what they like to call a “Mass food scare”. Basically, if someone comes out and says the wrong thing about the food industry they can claim liable and take you for everything you’ve got. Check it out. It’s frightening.
Not only pigs are factory farmed, but cows and chickens. Horrible conditions and cruelty….inhuman. It is always about greed and the bottom line. Happily, more small family farms are spring up with pastured animals, but not enough, I’m afraid. And people are ignorant and kept in the dark about it all. That, combined with GMO foods are putting us on the course for total disaster. So, Celi….you are one of the guardians of the animals. Can’t wait to see the new little pig. Still sending good thoughts to Daisy and her calf. Today is the first day of Spring…a new beginning for us all, yes?
I have confidence in you, Boo, and Sheila giving this little one a leg up. That is scary about the piglet deaths.
How wonderful – I look forward to seeing lots of pictures of Auntie Sheila and The Runt 🙂
Nanny Boo is a little saint… he knows that mothering is the most important job in the world, bless him…
The plight of pigs is appalling…all over the world… ( apart from Sweden, where by law, every pig has to have a companion to snuffle around with – a sort of porcine Celi !) I no longer eat pork… or veal… or beef…. Just re-read that amazing book ‘ MY year of Meat’ by Ruth L Ozeki – hilarious and heart-breaking…
It has become my morning ritual to get up and quickly check to see if Daisy has had her calf yet before going out to feed the animals. Silly how a cow half a country away from me has grabbed my interest… Or it might just be that your blog is generally a pretty positive and joyful experience to start my day out with.
I’m not sure we can fight the CAFO’s et al by any other means than supporting independent farmers who raise food with integrity, and with information. But we will fight. Because such commodification of animals is evil.
Your arty image of The Runt gives me the impression of a little porcine angel.
Nanny Boo will always have a job. Glad you grabbed the runt. Sheila will be a comfort. Long live the lady and her staff!
Factory farms of beef, chicken, and pigs are horrendous. It’s not rumors. There will be disease when animals are not kept as is natural.
We eat meat, but are getting picky about where the animals are raise and how they are fed. For our health and the animals. We must support the responsible independent farms
Since we have not heard from Celi since this morning, is it possible that Daisy has decided to calve on the first day of spring? I have my fingers crossed!!!! So glad to hear about your new little runt, she couldn’t have come to a better home. Scary business with these pork factory farms. I have been watching Craigslist in my area for feeder pigs, with no luck. I am determined that I start our own pork this year.
in my opinion, Daisy is living a perfect life. Loved and well cared for, eating food she was meant to eat. She is totally contented. Soooo, when her calf is perfectly done, it will come. (But she could hurry up a little)
Feeding pigs to pigs… I can’t help but remember what happened when they fed cows to cows. This isn’t going to end well. Shame he is still seeing dollar signs in his eyes as he tells you this, too.
It was nice & farmy-like of the pig farmer to thing of you & offer the runt. I suppose many people would not find a runt piglet actually much of an offering, but the pig farmer & I both have confidence that if anyone can give the little piggy a chance to survive, it will be you who will make the magic happen. After the sad losses this year, it would be so nice to see another underdog creature overcome the odds just like Marcel.
I guess the Franken-farmers did not learn a lesson from the Mad Cow epidemic or learn that turning your livestock into cannibals by feeding them bi-products from their own species. I have a degree in microbiology and receive a monthly newsletter. The last one I read in Feb. 2014 talked about a huge epidemic of Porcine among piglets that began in 2013. Porcine is a diarrheal disease that is killing hundreds of thousands of piglets. I read at horrible article at http://www.care2.com about 6,000 piglets that died from Porcine. At Iron Maiden Farm, the law was violated when the dead piglets were liquefied and feed back to the remaining pigs.I am sorry to tell you something so unfathomable, but this involved animals & meat that might have been at your local grocer waiting for you to buy & eat. It is the reality of mega-farms & what reckless people are doing to create epidemics among animals & eventually people that consume the contaminated meat. Perfect way to kill off all the animals during an epidemic. Federal law states that no animal containing fecal material can be placed in the food supply of another animal. Too bad this farm manager didn’t care, They did it because they knew no inspector would be there to see it happening & it shows how ignorant they were about spreading disease. It is this kind of revolting disregard for disease practices, Federal laws & stupidity that led to my not eating any meat or poultry unless I know every detail about their life & death. Just put “Porcine 2014” into the search engine & you will see lots of articles about the epidemic & why things will only get worse now that the meat slaughtering industry is basically unregulated with so few inspectors & so little actual meaningful inspecting from the ones we do have. Porcine may have started as an epidemic at industrial farms, but at some point it could spread to smaller operations. It is very likely that contaminated meat has been going through the supply chain.
Sorry for being so long, but people need to know what is happening so they can protect their animals & make informed decisions about where to buy their meat.
Thank you, Ellen. Everyone needs to be aware of what is going on. BTW…Smuckers has just contributed thousands of dollars to lobby AGAINST labeling food containing GMOs. Small farmers like you, Celi, are to be encouraged and lauded. If I lived closer I would have you raise a pig for us, too.
I have just signed (electronically) the petition to Smuckers decrying their contribution. According to our local farm paper this epidemic has been going on for some time. The large swine farms are saying it is mainly a financial problem for them and that the meat from the animals that survive on their farms is perfectly safe to eat. REALLY? I feel immensely fortunate that there is a local family raising pastured chickens, tamworth hogs and gallpway beef with no hormones or antibiotics, not even insect repellent so I am able to buy a half hog and quarter beef and when I find I need some other cut of meat we have a local butcher shop to buy from rather than the grocery store. It’s not rocket science, if you crowd that many animals together any health issue is going to run through like wildfire and the idea of feeding pigs to pigs just turns my stomach.
A fantastic discussion today.. thanks for a wonderful passionate read. No calf yet.. just a very busy day.. have been dealing with every other thing plus the vet to discuss how to proceed with Daisy .. she on the other hand is as sanguine as ever.. off to bed for me.. see you tomorrow! And thank you again, you guys are more than the Fellowship, you are the wind that pushes me along.. c
I thought for sure that today was the day. I hope the vet had good news for you. With the weather improving, the farmy is sure to be bustling. Have a good night, Celi.