Porcine shenanigans

Shenanigans. Say it with me: shenanigans. I love that word!

But before we get to porcine...

Hello Redford!

Look who follows me everywhere now!

He loves hanging with the livestock! He's particularly enamoured of the pigs, but today I saw him lie down right in the middle of a crowd of ducks, chickens, turkeys, guinea fowl and pigs. He looked completely blissful.

I think it's nice that he comes down to the lower barn now. (A) He'll have more company and (B) it's where the rats (the very few that are left!) live. He heard one squeak the other night, but it was running along the top of the stone foundation and he couldn't figure out how to get up there!

Pig (Button) sniffing pig (Cordelia) sniffing cat. By the way, that pig on the right is NOT black.

Nor is the pig (Cordelia) on the left (Olivia's on the right.)

But this pig on the right (Dahlia) IS black! (That's Button again on the left.

Aaand here's Button trying to assert her authority over her sister. Guess who was playing in the mud yesterday? Yes, both of them!

Luther, the manly man.

Button trying it on with Cordelia. She just stayed there as Cordelia walked way, so there was this little piggy train going around the barnyard!

Luther, Jersey and Redford.

Dahlia and Redford.

Jersey and Redford like each other best. Poor Jersey, last Thursday she was fine in the morning but by evening was off her food, shaking and clearly feverish. I called the farm vet right away and he was there within the hour. She had pneumonia, poor thing! I'm so glad we caught it early. The vet gave her a shot of Draxxin (antibiotic) and by the next day, she was already improving. Yesterday I gave her the second dose. You have not lived until you've had to deliver an intramuscular injection into the neck area of a screaming piglet!!

I'd say today she is 100%, running around and eating like a pig. We were very worried for the first day or two, having lost the runt piglet of our Easter litter to pneumonia. But Jersey bounced right back. The vet thought that the stress of changing homes may not have helped, and I think she is a bit underweight, so I'm trying to fatten her up a bit (but not to the extent of her milk-fed, sausage-like adopted brother  and sisters!

Ophelia has gained back some weight too and I think she has finally weaned her babies! As you can see, she and Redford get along quite well too.

We are just about ready to move the pigs to their new digs and pasture. I will be glad to have them separated from the birds. It's hard to keep them all from eating each others' food, and I think the pigs will be better off with their grass pasture to fun around in.

That's my news for today!