Yesterday Molly took offense to me cleaning her floor. I have done this every day for all her confinement’s but it is never good to be complacent around a newly farrowed sow. I ended up with stitches from a pretty bad bite to the left hand.
So my record since a doctors visit – thirty one years – has been ruined. I went to the doctors to get a tetanus shot after Molly drew blood. ( I refused to go to the ER – luckily the local tiny doctors office was happy to rummage about in their seldom used supplies and look after me). They cleaned the wound which was incredibly painful and began to stitch it up then I ended up passed out and shifted in a fog to a gurney with BP and heart rate dropping fast.
It was a most peculiar feeling.
I was so embarrassed – here’s me thinking I was such a tough guy.
Molly and her eight piglets are going to be getting a little less attention in the meantime. The piglets are small and not as vigorous as normal and this may have made her more protective. After farrowing is a very dangerous time with any mother animal. I know this well. Just lucky human animals don’t bare their teeth and bite their nurses!
It was totally my fault. I have been working around sows and piglets for years and was over confident because I have never had an incident. I gave her a fright. Now I know better. 
It could have been a lot worse. I am bandaged up, my hand is smarting and not as mobile and I am a bit bruised from the fall. But there you are. I have learnt my lesson. And no real harm done. I will have a good scar for my troubles though. And there is blood in a trail from the barn to the house. I would take a photo but it is kind of ghoulish!!
And the show must go on.
Celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
94 responses to “AN ALTERCATION”
Ouch!
Mama mia! Be careful C! So glad John is home to help! Would have been more awful without him! Take care and hope all goes smoothly from here on out.
I feel sorry for both of you – hopefully Molly will be quick to remember who her best friend is.
She is having a hard time getting over the births. I think. I am sure if I gave birth to that many children one after the other I would be a bit messed up
I’m sure Molly didn’t mean it. Give yourself a little love and kindness for a few days. xo
I am sure she did not mean in either – she was being super protective and probably was after the scooper
Wow! Pigs have the nastiest, sharpest teeth of any farm animal, so you are lucky she didn’t bite off your hand! As much as I love animals, I am also a little scared of their spare of the moment attitude. Happy you are on the mend. Wishing you cyber speedy recovery.
She was fast like a shark. And you are right / I feel very lucky that she backed off. Especially as she had me on the ground
Take care of yourself. I will be at your mother in law’s post office for a week beginning Saturday. Come see me if you need something mailed. 😁
Another lesson learnt the hard way! Glad you got the tetanus. Don’t let anything from the barn or the animals touch your hand until it is well healed . . . and it will smart for a few days . . . sorry !
No need for you to be sorry.
I do hope you heal quickly, I know (from experience!) how easy it is to become a little too complacent around your own animals. I also know what you mean about thinking you’re tough. Many years ago I broke a couple of ribs in a car accident. At the ER they told me it would be quite some time before I could move easily without pain. I thought ‘nah, give me a week at the most’, boy was I ever wrong! That said, on Sunday the biggest auger of the 3 point post hole digger fell on my foot, I’m surprised you didn’t hear me howl! While I didn’t go to a doctor – I can move everything albeit painfully – I have what must be the ugliest large toe ever. The rest of that end of my foot doesn’t look much better either. Just goes to show you how quickly things can turn on a dime. For now just call me Festus.
Oh no! You poor foot! You are right about things turning on a dime! What are you fencing?
Not fencing anything at all, just trying to reclaim my barn, it’s greatly in need of organization but the post hole digger and augers are now going to stay right where they are!
Wise choice.
I garden and live in an old house with 100 years of hidden refuse in the yard, so against the risk of puncture from a nail or wire I make sure I get my tetanus booster shots.
Good thinking – I only just had mine ten years ago so I was not far off the booster
Cranky old mama. Perhaps she is also still feeling bit cruddy from last week. Take good care of it. I imagine Tetanus is not the only bacteria that will cause an infection on that farm.
But goodness. I had finally given up my childhood prejudice against pigs being dangerous animals because yours are all so good. But perhaps there is a sliver of truth in it. My old uncle used to tell me the sows would eat children alive if I went in to touch the piglets. He claimed a friend lost a child to one just a couple of months ago. Every summer it was just a couple of months ago… Looking back that was a tale he told to keep me out of harm’s way. It worked at making me rather afraid of adult pigs.
I really really love this story. Hopefully if you did a historical survey if missing farm children you would not find monthly incidents . You know / they made me fill out a Bite Incident form . I said I am not writing her name – I don’t want her to go on some Dangerous Pig list
😊😀
I am glad to hear it sounds like you’ll keep function in your hand.
I was quite embarrassed myself when, after my finger got crunched in a car’s power window, I went into a grocery store to find the bathroom, thinking I’d be sick. I didn’t find the bathroom, or lose my breakfast, but I did think I could muster through closing tunnel vision and instead passed out cold by the cashiers’ stations, taking down a few stanchions quite loudly as I fell. Did I mention I was in a swim suit with a lacy cover, covered in terrible poison ivy, and likely looking like Patient Zero from some horror film?
Oh no!!! That is an hilarious story – not for you of course but in the retelling the lacy cover is quite quite perfect!!
Yes, about the time we think we have it all mastered, we hear from the animal we are just a little too confident around, be they pig (Porcus) (Sus) or horse (Equus). Sorry you got hurt, but I’ve been wounded around horses myself, when I least expected it. I’m not around them much currently, but they are a part of me.
You are so right. One needs to remain on guard. Nothing for it.
Just what you needed, a sore and stitched hand. That will hurt for a long time since we use our hands every day. I can see being confident with domestic animals – the relationship is more trusting and friendly. I always keep my guard up with the wild things – especially those deer. This reminds us that domestic or wild, mother’s are protective and instinct rules. I hope you heal quickly, C. I’m trying to catch up reading this morning. My life has been topsy-turvey since December – nothing serious, just life rolling along. I have got to make time to blog…
Even topsy turvy I think life is easier to manage once we are out of winter. Take care !
Many, many years ago I went into a farrowing pen to ”Persuade” a sow to move off 3
Oh no! I do hope it heals quickly and you are back to normal in no time. About your doctor record, don’t you even go for checkups?