I won’t go into this story in detail. – it is too sad. But I rescued these two tiny hours old piglets from the abattoir yesterday. 
Their mother was brought in for slaughter at full term. She was brought to the slaughter house yards after-hours and delivered two piglets in the night in an outside concrete pen.
The owner of the sow was called and he said he was not coming back for her and to proceed with her slaughter.
The babies had a number of hours with their mother but kept slipping under the gates and one was rescued by a worker as it wobbled into a pen of cows.
This one was particularly filthy with manure.
On a normal rescue newborns have a 50/50 chance of surviving being hand raised. These spent a cold wet night in a slaughter house yard, and are now horribly at risk of illness.
So here I have two wee piglets in the laundry next to the heater. Already they have diarrhea but surprisingly both have taken to the bottle and are drinking their goats milk really well.
They jump up when they hear me come in every two hours and twice were at the door yelling before I even got there. Which as you can imagine has Boo-Nanny rushing back and forth trying to hurry me up.
They fill up fast from their supermarket goats milk then snuggle back down to sleep. But the runny poo is very worrying. Expected though.
One is getting stronger I think and the other one definitely weaker.
I have medication for the diarrhea but they are so young they have not even had a chance to decide to live yet. We will see.
John told me I was ‘insane’ for taking them. ( I threw breakfast pumpkins to the animals yesterday then drove at speed, at 6 in the morning, the 45 mins to the locker to pick them up.) Then later he said, well at least they will die warm.
While I drove to collect them my mother in law drove in the opposite direction to buy the milk. I will buy more today after the vet. But everything must be paced in between the two hour feeds.
The abattoir staff were incredibly grateful for me taking them. They had tried to keep the piglets in with the sow. But the whole thing was a disaster. They were so relieved at the rescue and horrified to have these tiny wee life forces born in the slaughter house waiting room. But the owner of this sow is damned in my opinion. Damned straight to hell.
I am unapologetic in my fury. He knew she was vastly pregnant – it is pretty hard to miss that udder.
So in between two hourly feeds I brought in all the hay myself. All 86 heavy bales. Fury is best put to work. My arms ache from the weight of these bales and I have stacked them loosely so I can keep a watch for any heating up.
Also the tree men came yesterday so now the big dead tree outside my bedroom window is gone and I am not quite sure what to do with all this light.
My tired sad self does not feel like so much light.
Feeding went well in the night. But I fear John’s prediction may well come true.
I feed these babies again in one hour so I had better get busy with the other farm animals.
I am being very careful with hand washing too. And Boo is not to visit with the babies until they recover. I have no idea what bacteria these wee animals brought back after their birth into the slaughter house gutters. But they were covered in it. They are clean and dry now though and warm and well fed and burrow deep into my dressing gown after their feeds like normal little orphans.
Love celi
Weather fine and clear! Of course. It would be, now that all the hay is under cover and the orphans are inside. They had a wet night.
C
The Kitchen's Garden 
80 responses to “A SAD TALE”
I despair for the human race when I read about people like this😠 I wanted to write mankind but that definitely didn’t apply to this peabrained heartless individual! Thank you for at least offering these two little babes some of their 50/50 chance of survival. So sad. Laura
At least they have a new mother. Food when they need it. Warmth. Cleanliness. And a bathrobe to snuggle into. I feel like crying. It is silly, but I do.
me too…
Well, I have wept, you all. It is heartbreaking & hard to think about.
Poor little piglets but at least they were rescued by you who will give them every chance possible for survival. I do believe in karma and that farmer will be the recipient at some point.
I hope your hay stays dry and cool.
Years ago – we had one of our best sows rupture a uterine artery during delivery – she passed in the night leaving us with five live piglets. I managed to shit down my grief and spring into action quick enough to save three of them. Iron shots right away. A shot of oxytetracyclin (LA 200) to combat infection/disease, and mixed milk with baby porridge flakes to give the food some substance. Kept them under a heat lamp. Gave them a second shot of iron about a week later. Left them a warm ground grain slurry to mess with. They grew to be regular fat healthy pigs. Don’t count them out yet. You can also whip up a home made version of colostrum (you’ll find a recipe online).
Ohhh sorry – bloody autocorrect – ‘shut’ down my grief 🙄
The iron and heat are covered. And the vet is calling me back re: anti b’s. I have read of baby cereal being added at 3 days to help with runny bottoms. Did you do that from day one?
Yes from day one. I wasn’t sure they’d mess with it – but I stuck their snouts in it so they would know it was there – and they did quickly learn to slurp it up. I thought the ‘bulk’ so to speak, might help with the diarrhea. It did.
I should also say – you could mix the cereal in with the milk and simply enlarge the hole in the nipple if they show no interest in it. Just a few tablespoons I think. It’s unfortunate you don’t have a nursing sow – you could have fostered them over.
Well I do but her babies are huge! She feeds them standing up. I will start done cereal tonight – they are good drinkers but the little is fading.
Rice water is good for stopping diarrhoea , C. So terribly sad, but karma will out…
You are the Pig Lady, what else could you do? If anyone can save them, you can. Good luck! Poor little things.
Every life matters. Whatever the outcome, the abattoir people took the first steps and you followed through, so they have a chance. Universe will take care of that farmer… and you are correct, the best way to work out that fury is to get busy. That’s worked for me for my whole life.
thank the heavens for GOOD People like you!
Sending BIG LOVE (and unending energy) from my heart to yours. XXX
I will be thinking of you, yours, and those helping you in any and all ways to help these wee ones.
I feel at a loss for what to say as others have already spoken well for me. Add my rage to yours moving forward, and yes I will say that I hope that farmer encounters his own horrible suffering for this act. Thank you Celi, for being the person that you are, and for trying.
There are some wicked horrid people about and I hope this one get his comeuppance. Thankfully also there are people like you around too. Fingers crossed that they pull through. Take care of yourself too.
So many layers to this horror. God bless you for your compassion for all things. And God bless your kindred spirit, your Matriarch. Wishing all the best for the piglets and wishing you a lovely, rewarding day. (And your hay looks beautiful!)
I wish they would have spared the mum. But even if as John says, they die warm, that in itself is filled such compassion and grace.
I did ask about the sow but the man owns her – the abbatoir does not- they were happy to spirit away the piglets though – best I could do really.
Oh, I understand – and the fact that you got the piglets is amazing.
What a heartless man, thank goodness you have a relationship with the slaughterhouse. If anyone has a chance of getting these piggies to live, it’s you!♥️❤️♥️❤️
But the owner of this sow is damned in my opinion. Damned straight to hell. I am so with you on this! What a huge nasty big jerk of asshole!!!
Thank you for taking the little ones. I hope they make it!
I am just furious!!
I’m gripping my phone so hard as I read this I’m afraid I’ll break the glass. Just sick at heart and angry that people like you and the workers at the abbatoir and your mother-in-law are left to pick up the pieces left by heartless men like the one who couldn’t be bothered with giving even a minimum of care to his sow and her piglets. As if you all don’t have enough on your plate. Especially you Cecilia.
Such sadness! But if these two little tykes have any chance at all it is with you—and I’m crying too.