Wednesday, April 10, 2013

The Three Little Piggies - Week 3

Our happy little hogs are growing!

Baykin, one of our two 9 week old gilts. Brother Porkchop is standing just behind her, and Miss Prosciutto is... somewhere else.

They still are a little people-shy, that is, unless you're Scarlet, the bringer of doughnuts.

Scarlet-girl loving on one of last Spring's chicks. She's a little mommy!

This week's diet has remained mostly the same - Pig porridge once daily (a 50% larger ration than last week), a dozen packages of bakery outlet yummies and a case box of random produce.

We have our awesome fellow farmer neighbors, D & R, to thank for the produce. They get a mighty haul of unsold and imperfect produce from the same source the we used to, and are kind enough to have shared several cases of it with us this week. We probably will check in with our/their source (a locally owned grocery store) to see if there is any more free produce to be had, since our piggies appetites seem to be growing daily.

Another big dietary change is just around the corner for our porky pals, just as soon as we finally start milking our goats. We have nine does who are in milk, eight of whom are milkable (When it comes to milking, Blue is civilly disobedient). We anticipate that we will get a good 2-3 gallons or so, milking just once a day. Last year, we had just two girls in milk, and got roughly 3 quarts per day, and were frequently overwhelmed by the bounty. The pigs are here to make sure that not a single drop goes to waste!

In the meantime, our chickens are helping us shoulder the burden of providing these growing pigs with adequate protein. In addition to the generous serving of porridge, produce and bread products, we have been giving the pigs some whole, hard boiled eggs each day. First it was the Easter eggs that the girls had to dye, but refused to eat. They were so well received that I started adding a few eggs to their porridge on days when there is no other protein to offer them. Everything counts at this stage in their development!