greenstorm (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
greenstorm) wrote2020-07-09 10:32 am
greenstorm) wrote2020-07-09 10:32 am
Bounty the second
Right after Josh left I had a chainsaw training course at work (truly fantastic! We learned not just work stuff but also how to make planks and hot to (illegally) fell trees).
The next day, two days ago, felt super rushed, as office days in field season often do, and at the end of it I walked out and... Nox was having her babies. There were two already out, still wet, and I went in (and filmed!) as the next five were born. She was indifferent to my presence. Everyone else has farrowed at night so this was my first time watching. It was amazing to watch in ways I cannot explain, though I will try.
First, it was an easy birth. She got up and lay on her other side a couple times, making sure that if a baby squeaked she didn't put her weight on it but instead got up and readjusted. The babies often came in sets of 2 with just a few minutes between. They tried to walk less than 60 seconds later. Pigs don't lick their babies clean or anything like that, the babies just dry off and move around to find a nipple. They're walking in ten minutes. Her udder was enormous and she was clearly giving milk right away.
Second, I cried when the first one came out. It's so good to greet them instead of just dispatching them. It's truly amazing and wonderful how fast they turn into individuals, and I thought of the Temple Grandin movie (great movie!) where she says "where do they go?" on a cow's death. I had the inverse feeling, an immediate sense of presence. It was humbling and awe-inspiring.
Third, someone asked me on facebook recently how I keep from getting attached to my animals, and my response was that I don't: that's the opposite of my goal. My goal is to love my animals, which should drive good care while they are living and should cause the correct reverence for their death and the flesh they give me that then becomes my body. It's like someone trying not to be attached to their kid because the kid will grow up and leave. It's just not what it's about. I think love of all kinds needs to encompass separation, whether that's love with a partner who has their own private inner world and self that they sometimes don't share, or whether that's love with a parent that will include death, or, yes, with an animal that will become food. In some ways we're least separated from our livestock than from any other being: they literally become our bodies.
Fourth, this morning one of the second cohort of pigs had a single baby (she was born in Sept, so she's pretty young still) and is giving a ton of milk, that baby is going to be huge. There's one more of that cohort that looks due, I expect just one or two babies. Then we should be good for awhile. Right now we're at 29 piglets for the year, so maybe that 2nd cohort girl will put us up to 30?
Everyone is doing well so far: Nox had 4 girls (one black, the rest orange) and 3 boys (one black, one orange with a white face, and one orange almost covered in black). Younger girl had a girl.
Meanwhile everyone is molting or shedding their coats or whatever you call it. The bristles fall out, the wooly underlayer is exposed (who knew there was a wooly underlayer?) and everyone looks super different while a new overcoat grows in. I'd forgotten that Penny has spots in her wool coat; her bristles are dark red with black tips. Lotta difficulty telling who's who right now.
Anyhow, pigs are neat and I like them.
The next day, two days ago, felt super rushed, as office days in field season often do, and at the end of it I walked out and... Nox was having her babies. There were two already out, still wet, and I went in (and filmed!) as the next five were born. She was indifferent to my presence. Everyone else has farrowed at night so this was my first time watching. It was amazing to watch in ways I cannot explain, though I will try.
First, it was an easy birth. She got up and lay on her other side a couple times, making sure that if a baby squeaked she didn't put her weight on it but instead got up and readjusted. The babies often came in sets of 2 with just a few minutes between. They tried to walk less than 60 seconds later. Pigs don't lick their babies clean or anything like that, the babies just dry off and move around to find a nipple. They're walking in ten minutes. Her udder was enormous and she was clearly giving milk right away.
Second, I cried when the first one came out. It's so good to greet them instead of just dispatching them. It's truly amazing and wonderful how fast they turn into individuals, and I thought of the Temple Grandin movie (great movie!) where she says "where do they go?" on a cow's death. I had the inverse feeling, an immediate sense of presence. It was humbling and awe-inspiring.
Third, someone asked me on facebook recently how I keep from getting attached to my animals, and my response was that I don't: that's the opposite of my goal. My goal is to love my animals, which should drive good care while they are living and should cause the correct reverence for their death and the flesh they give me that then becomes my body. It's like someone trying not to be attached to their kid because the kid will grow up and leave. It's just not what it's about. I think love of all kinds needs to encompass separation, whether that's love with a partner who has their own private inner world and self that they sometimes don't share, or whether that's love with a parent that will include death, or, yes, with an animal that will become food. In some ways we're least separated from our livestock than from any other being: they literally become our bodies.
Fourth, this morning one of the second cohort of pigs had a single baby (she was born in Sept, so she's pretty young still) and is giving a ton of milk, that baby is going to be huge. There's one more of that cohort that looks due, I expect just one or two babies. Then we should be good for awhile. Right now we're at 29 piglets for the year, so maybe that 2nd cohort girl will put us up to 30?
Everyone is doing well so far: Nox had 4 girls (one black, the rest orange) and 3 boys (one black, one orange with a white face, and one orange almost covered in black). Younger girl had a girl.
Meanwhile everyone is molting or shedding their coats or whatever you call it. The bristles fall out, the wooly underlayer is exposed (who knew there was a wooly underlayer?) and everyone looks super different while a new overcoat grows in. I'd forgotten that Penny has spots in her wool coat; her bristles are dark red with black tips. Lotta difficulty telling who's who right now.
Anyhow, pigs are neat and I like them.