Yesterday I lost one of Poppy’s piglets. She looked a bit off on Friday evening, stopped eating on Saturday, did not respond to the usual treatments and died yesterday morning.
I don’t know. I take these things hard. She had no symptoms at all. No scours. No vomiting. No cough. But something was happening inside her.
There was a bad smell in the barn for the whole two days she was ailing and after she died the smell went with her. All the others are fine so far, arguing and eating and pushing each other around as usual. Nothing unusual but I will be on high alert for a few days yet.
Lets hope it is not something that will spread. They have a big inside space and a big outside space and everything is kept clean but little pigs die fast.
Ah well. These things always happen on the weekend don’t they. I will talk to the vet about it tomorrow but I have nothing to tell him. She did not even have a temperature.
God said No. One of our low days. But you get that when farming. Today will be better I hope.
We did not get a lot of snow yesterday, though they forecast piles of the stuff, we got off lightly. Last night the temperature rose and everything started dripping. This sounds nice until we look at the forecast and see that everything will freeze again tomorrow. I think I might need my Swedish sprig boots this year – I need to find them and dust them off.
I am very much looking forward to going to Canada for Christmas (if all goes well) and a proper break. I might just sleep the first few days! My arms ache – I think the hay bales are getting heavier this winter!
I am going to go hang out with Sheila.
I hope you have a lovely day.
love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
80 responses to “”
Poor little piglet. It sounds like an internal injury of some kind. The losses are always sad.
Yes, but the others are good today so I am not as fretful as I was yesterday.. c
I’m sorry too for the loss of the little tyke. A shock! It’s so hard to accept when you do your best to make them hale and hearty at great personal price (loss of sleep, tremendous effort, going to such extraordinary lengths –I’m remembering The Duke!–and still they slip through our fingers.) It is a lesson in humility I know I have to learn over and over. With no kids, my only reason for pride is the care I gave my animals. O Canada!! I hope you have a wonderful time. I can’t wait to see your son’s rescue dog again!
I’m sorry for the loss of the little piglet. (Wrote a nice long note and it went bye bye .)
Oh dear, I too am sorry for your loss. Such a stomach-turner. You never never get used to it, nor do you ever get used to the shock.
Your lovely message was here all along! And I look forward to seeing the avalanche dogs again too. Cai is the one you remember, who visited here. You have seen him a few times now! c
I dug out my Icebug boots to walk this morning and a good thing I did! We got about 8″ on Sunday but thankfully wasn’t the wet heavy concrete type so not to hard to clean up. Probably my last walk for a few days – highs predicted in the single digits and windchills below zero til Friday when it’s supposed to snow again, sigh.
Hell! I know my icebugs are here somewhere – I must follow your example and track them down
And so sad about Poppy’s little one, one of the hazards of caring for and about your animals I guess. I do like the idea of God saying yes.
Sad news. I know it’s part of farming life, and loss a part of life in general…but in a small way I feel reassured that we feel sadness, so much better than feeling nothing. Stay warm my friend.
I am so sorry to read this. Here is to better times.
Sorry to hear about the piglet Celi .. hope the others will be ok