Insemination Fail
Much to my dismay it looks like our Pigalicious is in heat.
Our giant black sow is just as friendly as can be. This morning when I went to feed her she practically bowled me over with hog-snuggles, a clumsy sort of dance which involves lots of snorting, foaming at the mouth, and nuzzling with her massive snout. This is dangerous in the best case and a sign that she is fertile in the worst case. It is all quite distressing since I thought I artificially inseminated her a month ago. My next chance to inseminate her will be 21 days from now, which would put her due date in late August. That would put our butchering date in February. Not ideal for many reasons – fattening them through cold months requires more food and trailering them to the butcher once they’ve sized up can be a nightmare in the snow.
So, as we do pretty much everyday here for one reason or another, we are heading back to the drawing board. Our basic choices are to go for it next month with Pigalicious or buy some piglets from another farmer in the next few weeks. We’ll have bacon one way or another in 2011…
alice carroll-dierickx said,
May 12, 2010 @ 12:09 pm
just stumpled on your farm venture by accident as I saw your add inthe news paper What a great idea for bringing city and country folk together. also a great way for our city people too have good fresh veggies and meat,
good luck with your market farm
alice Carroll-Dierickx
Kriss said,
May 13, 2010 @ 8:48 am
It is a great idea! I didn’t make it up, so I can freely say how much I love the concept. It is so much fun for us to be able to share the farm with others, and so vital for us to have the support of customers who value unique fresh food. Perfect! Thanks for the good words, Alice.