Piglets have finally arrived. Definitely not a phantom pregnancy Farm Hand Bandhu. It has seemed like she has been pregnant and ready to drop for most of this year. But they are finally here. Our best guess is that this is her a dozen litters or approximately 100 piglets. Heritage breeds longevity and productivity too it seems.
As her name implies she is not a purebred Large Black. She’s got a good bit of Berkshire in her too which seems to produce both black and spotted pigs. Her sister Black Steiner is still going strong too. Alison named then the Steiner Sisters for their incredible ability to do their own Read More
Black is the new black it would seem when it comes to pigs. Who knew four years ago when we got our first Pure Bred Large Black Breeding sows from the fabulous Judy Barnet from Black Beauty Pigs. It’s great to be part of a renaissance of good eating and a more accountable way of living. End of Green rant so let’s get Back to Black.
Our two most recent litters of pigs are getting close to weaning time.
Gypsy or Babe-Purebred Large Blacks
4 piglets Born September 3rd, 2014
3 male – 1 female
2 males complete available for sale October 22nd, 2014 available for sale November 16, 2014 Read More
Another just in time production at Cromwell Farms. About 3 hours after I blogged about Alison and I making room in the farrowing pen for our next Large Black Lady in waiting–the waiting was over. Just goes to show how clever and dedicated our heritage breeds are to their own genetics. No way was Gypsy going to have her piglets without the proper facilities and requisite hay nest prepared.
Although I can’t accurately tell who is Gypsy or who is Babe–I was told by Aubrey that it must be Gypsy because of the size of the litter and the size of the piglets. “Dad Gypsy always has about 10 Read More
Another just in time pig production. A day after getting Babe in the farrowing pen she let go of a litter. I was in Melbourne and from what I gather the weather was miserable and it was quite a scramble for Alison and the girls to keep the piglets warm. Babe had twelve piglets this time and we are now down to nine. Lost 3 in the first couple of hours. They would appear to have been premature and Babe was not milked up enough to give them an early boost. The nine are all doing fine and we have amped up the heat lamps over them to keep Read More
When I got home from rugby, Alison let me know that piglets were close. Here is our sow in waiting last night.
Okay, get them out of me.
Still waiting to hear if it’s Babe or Gypsy who has just given us some more heritage breed piglets. Whoever she is, they are sure darn cute.
Born in the last few hours. Will have to wait for Aubrey to get home from netball to confirm who the sow is and what our girl-to-boy ratio is.
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Time to head for the Gourmet Garlic patch with another batch of piglets. We are very pleased that Will and Vanessa Cotterill had such success using our heritage breed pigs as part of their biodynamic farm!
I will get some pictures of the girls and me loading up the piglets into the back of Jennie Lee (Landcruiser Ute) and, of course, shots of them in their new home. It’s going to be a lot easier to wash out the tray and then the back of our wagon. Less smell too.
An exciting morning on the Cromwell Farm today. We were greeted by 12 lovely little Large Black x Berkshire/Hampshire piglets from our Gilt Diesel. And what little black beauties they are – Diesel, girl, you are a star! It must be true that heritage breeds happiness. So happy. A special thanks to mid-wife Linda for the preparation of her hay hotel and for great room service after the delivery.
Lucky first time Dozen for Diesel
This picture, taken last night, is pretty cute. I am pretty sure Diesel was looking at these chicken nest boxes we put in and asking herself, Read More