An exasperating day on the farm.

Well, in the interest of full disclosure, I have to say this has been an exasperating day on the farm.  When I went out to do chores this morning I found our boar Uncle back in the pasture with the bred gilts and the sow with the new litter.  I had seperated him to the next paddock yesterday and the day before that. 

The first time he got back into the pasture by pushing through at the botttom of the gate.  I double chained it thinking that would stop him.  It did; at the gate.  Instead he went over the 36" field fence last night.  Today I strung a hot wire (electric fence) above the field fence.  In the process I saw that one of the piglets was lying dead out of the nest.  The nest was pretty well beatendown so I have a hunch the boar was harrassing the sow and the piglet was collateral damage.

I had to go buy more straw today.  When I returned and was hauling straw out for the sow to augment her nest, I found another piglet mired in the mud and dead.  Then there were four.  Did I mention it has rained off and on throughout the day?  We really do need the rain so it is a blessing.

I slogged around in the mud trying to move the remaining piglets into the hog shelter.  The mama would have none of it, and valuing the wholeness of my limbs, I did not challenge her.  Perhaps if I had someone here to help, we might have been able to accomplish it.

Now it's dark out and the rain is pelting down.  I am trying to encourage myself with the thought that the sow might some how move her brood on her own.  Or she may have used the straw and rebuilt her nest to keep her young relatively dry.  Thankfully, it is not cold out.

"The Lord gives and the Lord taketh away.  Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Births and birthdays

The resident granddaughters love the movie Charlotte’s Web. Consequently, I have more than a passing awareness of the story. Those who know that about me were not surprised when I named our Hampshire boar after one of the characters in the story. I named him “Uncle”.


Perhaps you recall Uncle the large, apparently not-too-bright, boar hog that won the contest for best pig. This left Wilbur’s life in the balance until he was awarded a special medal essentially for being famous. Yep, he was famous for being famous.  Sounds like some of the people whose names appear so often in the headlines.  Anyway, I didn’t name my big boar after Wilbur because, in my opinion, Wilbur was a sniveling little sissy.
You can take one look at my boar “Uncle” and know that he is no sissy!

I bought Uncle in the middle of July this year. The weather was hot! Not great for moving hogs and not great for breeding hogs. By the first of August, I could confirm that Uncle was taking his job seriously. Whether his job was being taken seriously by the gilt hogs remained to be seen.

Time passed and the gilts continued to come into heat one by one. And then they didn’t.

Now understand all of this procreation activity was taking place out in the pasture without supervision. That left me in the position of having to carefully observe the females and try to gauge the stage of their gestation. It has been twenty-five years or more since last I raised hogs so I have been floundering. My confidence in my own judgment and Uncle’s effectiveness has ebbed and flowed.

Well this morning the wondering and guessing ended for our first gilt. About 9:00 I found her and her litter in a nest she had scraped out out in the pasture. She chose to ignore the hog shelter I built and placed in the field for her use. I went back to the barn and got a bale of straw to augment the nest she had made. When I got back to her, she was up eating the afterbirth. Though I didn’t get real close, I could see that she had five piglets alive and four or five more that were not. 

When I went back out in the afternoon she had taken the straw and created a big billowy nest for her young.  While I watched she was still working it around to get it to her liking.  Two or three piglets wondered out of the nest and back.  After a bit she laid down and the five little ones locked on.

She is a first-time mother. This is the first time I have farrowed pigs in the pasture. But this is the direction I want to pursue. My goal is to have hogs that can reproduce and raise young without confinement buildings. If I was a commercial hog farmer, 50% mortality at birth would be catastrophic. On this farm it’s just a sadness. My father-in-law used to say in such cases, “As long as it doesn’t come closer to the house than the barn, it will be okay.”

By the way, today resident granddaughter number one turns six years old!

Who's Gonna Feed Them Hogs?

Years ago, country music legend Tom T. Hall made a recording titled "Who's Gonna Feed Them Hogs". It was the story of a man who was deathly ill in the hospital. Though sedated, he kept on wailing the refrain, "Who's gonna feed them hogs?"

After a time, much to the surprise of the doctors, he got out of bed, put on his overalls and went home. He had hogs to feed, don't you see?

Now I'm not sick as sick goes. Yes, I've got a cold and feel crappy but that's no big deal. I did chores today and I'll do chores tomorrow, the Lord willing. I'll just get out and do them, and as much more as I can.

It's funny in a sense. When I was "working" if I felt like I feel today, I could and would "call in" and stay at home. It doesn't work like that now; or maybe it is more accurate to say that I don't work like that now. The chores need to be done, the critters don't care how I feel, they need their feed and water. It is important to me that the work is done. It is my work; my vocation; my calling. It is much less of a chore than "going to work" ever was.

A New Hog Hut

Today I finished my most recent project. It is a shelter for our hogs. Perhaps it will be used by one of the gilts when she farrows. I can hope.



The shelter measures 8 feet across, 6 feet deep and about 4 feet tall at the front. It is made of treated lumber throughout, glued and screwed together. It is built "Hog Tough"! It should last for a while. I can hope.



If you have any experience with full-grown swine, you know that they are very strong. When you factor in the weight of a mature boar (600 lbs +) you know that the equipment used with/by them needs to be strong and sturdy.

It is on skids so that it can be pulled to where it is needed. Today I pulled it out to the pasture with my Ford Ranger 2WD truck. Since the hogs are not yet in that pasture, the truck did just fine. I expect I will need a tractor to move it the next time.

Yesterday I was in Lowes to buy the two sheets of 1/2 inch treated plywood for the sides. These are displayed above the 3/4 inch treated plywood. I was about to reach above my head to grab the top sheet when a man said, "Can I give you a hand with that." I turned expecting to see a Lowes employee. Nope, just a guy shopping with his wife. I said "Yes, thank you very much!"

Together we grabbed the top sheet and saw that it was junk so we set it aside; same with the second. We loaded the next two sheets, one at a time, on to my cart. Again I thanked him and he went on to catch up with his wife.

After paying for my materials I went to my truck. Before I could get hold of the first sheet, the man getting into the vehicle next to me said, "Hi, can I give you a hand with that?" He was not a Lowes employee. Together we loaded the plywood into my truck and I thanked him. And I told him that another stranger had helped me get the plywood in the store.

As I was getting into my truck I was counting my blessings, having been helped by these two strangers. Then I was struck by this thought: Maybe I am starting to look my age. I can hope not!