The New Little piglets are still alive. They are drinking and wobbling about. They are not being given back to their mother. When Tahiti calmed down I went in and removed seven piglets bodies and parts of bodies. I tell you this so you know why I have decided to try to raise the surviving seven myself. Poor Old Tahiti. But I cannot breed from her again. I cannot trust her. I saw what she did. Pigs are not intelligent they are not cognitive but they are highly instinctual. And her instinct to trap and kill her piglets when she herself is frightened is not sustainable on my little farm.
Here is a nice story.
A local woman farmer read about my problem (FaceBook publishes my blog, so Social Media really is useful) and even before I called her to ask about sow replacer she had dug out her piglet feeder (it is very old – and has saved numerous broods of piglets for her), called our local feed store and asked if she had any milk replacer (the feed store owner is a woman farmer too who operates a small feed store from her farm and we all buy from her) then when I called she had everything in place and all I had to do was drive over and pick it all up. How is that for kind neighbours?. Women Farmers Rock.
So I trained the seven piglets to drink from their gentle and quiet Dalek mother. They are very busy piglets so that was a bit of a riot – piglets bite too, the little savages). The Dalek has a heater that keeps the milk warm and is screwed down to a heavy base so now I can allow the piglets to drink whenever they want to. I just have to keep fresh milk in there and pop in every few hours to make sure they are all eating. They are all set up in the turkey house with a heat lamp.
We are not out of the woods yet but we are way ahead of the last game. Whoever decides to live will still be alive in 24 hours.
Molly and her brood survived the experience without a problem. All good in that department yesterday.
The thing with an incident like this is that it threatens to take over your whole day – defining every decision. But the piglets will just have to slot in with the other farm jobs, I will do a few very late nights and very early mornings until I am satisfied that everyone is drinking well and I will deal with each of their crisis as they arise. But the milking still must be done, the big pigs fed, the mineral still has to go out to the cows and the broken window in the barn fixed, the chicks fed, the washing hung on the line and dinner made – not to mention all the straw in the house from last nights rescue mission needing sweeping. It is easy to neglect the rest and that would result in another catastrophe. I must stay aware!
It was hard for me not to sit with the piglets all day but there was plenty of other things to do and I got most of them done. And it is important that they drink when they want to not when I want them to – this is much more natural and easier on the digestion. As long as they all drink of course. I should put numbers on their backs to tell them apart. There are two that are still not vigorous – I have my eye on them
I hope you have a lovely day. We have another long one but a good one.
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
56 responses to “A Dalek to the rescue”
Who would have thought that the Daleks could feed pigs! Good luck and fingers crossed 🙂
Beats bottle-feeding the little buggers… Animals are like that – not a quiet moment. And every year something happens you’ve never seen before, however long you’ve been farming or breeding or whatever. Good luck with everything. Xxx
i’m so glad that some survived and hope they all continue to do so. they were so lucky to have you and your neighbor farmer around to help )
How wonderful are your local lady farmers! Glad they have helped you with the resolution of the feeding problem. I am sure that at times like these you feel you need three heads and at least a dozen hands. Knowing you have genuine and knowledgeable support is a blessing. I hope the day is easier.
I FC
I’m so happy that you have found a way to help feed the little piglets. When I read about how much work you have to do on the farm, I wish I could come over there and help you, but I am needed here with my family.I hope you get some help soon. I hope everything turns out good with all the little piggies.
What a nifty contraption!
Women Farmers Rock! And long live Dalek Mamas! I love how this way the piglets can take their proper place in the Farmy scheme of things without (sorry!) hogging all your time 🙂
Bless those women farmers. Fingers crossed for piglets and the farm as a whole. Whoever invented that contraption is a genius!
Great that the Women Farmers just got down to it and sorted everything out. Good luck, if anybody can raise that litter of piggies it will be you. I have just discovered that I can ‘like’ your blog even though I don’t facebook 🙂 Laura
Glad to hear you sound a little more positive this morning – I am sure yesterday was one of those days that you hope will never be repeated! As you say, we can only move forward and put one foot in front of the other to do so. Hope you get the impulse to put a little skip in that step soon!
Please ..just tell me..HOW DO YOU DO IT? How do you manage to go on day after day? How do you cope with all that you do without having a breakdown? How do you cope with the heartache? I am so pleased that the piglets have a Dalek mother and what wonderful neighbours you have. I think that somewhere between your shoulder blades you have a set of wings…Lots of Love
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2016 at 1:20 PM
Well that is a happier story, isn’t it? I am sure you are exhausted by now but maybe some of the worry is alleviated now with that amazing contraption as Kim referred to it! Where there is a will there is a way and you have a great support system! Yay for neighbors!
Such a good report on the little piggies! Hopefully you can restore some normal today.
Women farmers are the salt of the earth. Your challenges are huge, but you sure know what the deal is and you are so on it. Those little piggy would steal me away, I know..but I also know that your decisions are in the best interest of all.
Wonderful neighbors, a farm environment that is never dull, your skill as a farmer…waiting to hear.