Oink Oink is a pig that I sold to a couple last year who wanted to raise their own pig for meat; she was purchased with another piglet, as it's best to have two pigs to keep each other company, and both of the weaner pigs went off, and I thought that would be the last I'd see of her.
They called me about 8 months later and explained that one of the pigs had been sold to a friend of theirs, and that pig had been sent off to market, but that they couldn't do that with oink oink. You see, they'd named this pig, and were attached to it, and would I like to buy it back from them?
When people sell me animals I listen to what they say and if they ask me I'll say what will probably happen to this animal. Some people would like to know, and some don't. In this case, I agreed to buy Oink Oink back, and they brought her down in the trailer, and they never asked what I might do with her.
When I'm managing my herd I'm looking for certain traits that I want to encourage. Number of nipples on a sow or boar (looking for 14 or 16), overall length of the animal (more bacon), stance and muscling. So when i got oink oink back I looked at her carefully, and kept her separate from the main herd to make sure that she was in good health. It was clear that this pig had been handled a lot, and loved. She loves to get her ears scratched and is about as sweet as they come, and she was 14 nipples, and good conformation.
So here's her first litter -- a little late, but she's doing fine with her 11 piglets. Welcome back, oink oink.
Lucky pig!
ReplyDeleteHi, You say that her first litter was a little late, how many days late? I have a Saddleback/GOS aged 14 months having her first litter which was due friday (115 days today sunday) and she has still not had them. She has uddered up a little, but has not yet nested and seems happy enough. Do you think she is OK? How many days over should I let her go before calling the vet?
ReplyDeleteThanks