The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: HappyHippy on December 13, 2012, 11:20:10 am
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We have 5 expectant girls at the moment, but one of them is a new Kunekune sow, 'Buttercup', who's only been with us a few weeks and is closest to farrowing (at least that's what I think, she came to me in-pig and the dates of service were hazy)
So after my feeding, watering and cleaning in the shed this morning I went for the usual piggy-human bonding session with her (I tell Bruce it's really important I do it so the sow trusts me before she farrows, really it's just an excuse for extra time for piggy cuddles ;))
She's such a sweetie and stands for ages getting her belly rubbed and me cuddling her, though doesn't roll over onto her side the way the rest of mine do - with time I think she'll learn though ;) I reckon she's about a week away, her belly has dropped and the udder is filling but no signs of colostum yet. She's got a massive baby bulge and this morning I felt the piglets moving and kicking really clearly, this is the first time I've been so aware of it - think it's because I stand and cuddle her rather than her lying down. It made me feel really great, there's nothing (except my family, obviously) that brings a smile to my face and fills me with so much joy as my pigs ;D
That is all, just wanted to share the love :hug:
Karen x
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Awwww :-* :love: :pig:
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Ah how sweet
Sounds like Xmas babies to me HH :excited:
:fc: all goes well
Mandy :pig:
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:thumbsup: yep, morning of the 25th December.
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Can you manage farrowing in between cooking the christmas turkey? ;D
Sally
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Nah, surely not ! Who'd be daft enough to have a baby on the 25th ::) :innocent: :roflanim:
They'll come when they're ready I'm sure - til then I'll try to be patient and not go on about them too much :excited:
Sally, I've never tried before :thinking: But I'm game for anything :thumbsup: ;D
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I used to do much the same with my in foal mares, Feeling the foal kicking always made me feel good and I often so to sing when brushing the mares. I am sure the new born foals knew my voice.
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Lovely image :love: I can't wait till the day we do this. Not even going to attempt it though until the weather picks up. :raining:
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Super :love: HH. When you can get this close to them, it just takes everything to a different level. I have really savoured my time with our Hampshire sows a couple of months ago. I feel like I can trust them a whole lot more now.
We've 3 large black sows due too. Unfortunately the one that is the furthest along, and looked ABSOLUTELY HUGE!!! tonight won't let me touch her belly. She loves a lovely back massage, a good chat etc but she really doesn't like my hands touching her beautiful belly. In theory they should all be along by the ummmm 17th. Can't see it happening with the other 2 and reckon we may well be in for some Xmas piggies as well. :excited:
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Might these be our piggies?
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Might these be our piggies?
Indeed they might ;)
I'll wait to see how they look when she farrows and send you some photo's :excited:
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:excited: Christmas piglet piccies :fc:
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Sound so wonderful Karen and can't wait to see photos. New born KKs must be amongst the cutest things ever ;D ;D ;D
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Bonding is so important. Hope she farrows before you start cooking!
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Well, something is different this morning :excited: :excited: :excited:
Buttercup (KK sow) lay down for a belly rub for the first time :thumbsup: (only sitting up a bit if I stopped ::)) she's gathered all her straw into a big nest and her udder is fit to burst ;D No sign of milk yet though, but I doubt she'll hang on much longer ;)
Poppy (our OSB) is also pretty stressy this morning and wasn't happy at all with us being in the pen (needless to say I've not had a feel of her udder) I've administered 2 beers and will sneak in for a feel once she's passed out :innocent: ;)
Will keep you all posted :thumbsup:
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I've administered 2 beers and will sneak in for a feel once she's passed out :innocent: ;)
I assume you've administered two beers to Poppy not you or Bruce ;D
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We're on tippytoes here too HH. I feel really sorry for our sow, she looks absolutely enormous and a tad uncomfortable. Belly rubs and a go at nesting, but she is tired :(. Weve been doing night time checks and I'm off now to check on her again. I hope shes going to be ok.....
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ours all come looking for a belly rub and chat ...............the only trouble with belly rubs is if the judge spends too much time having a good feel under there they will lay down for him too one was so bad for the slightest touch last year we only ventured out to 2 shows with her :innocent:
our first is due on the 2nd jan then the next 2 due 19th & 20th fingers crossed some nice january's for 2013
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ours all come looking for a belly rub and chat ...............the only trouble with belly rubs is if the judge spends too much time having a good feel under there they will lay down for him too one was so bad for the slightest touch last year we only ventured out to 2 shows with her :innocent:
our first is due on the 2nd jan then the next 2 due 19th & 20th fingers crossed some nice january's for 2013
Mortified of Fowgill that very thing happened to us at Westmorland show, dolly decided to lay down to have her undercarriage inspected the minute the judge touched her tum :-[ the commentator said to the audience that it took years of training! ;)
Our jans due around the 12th so :fc: & trotters too
Hope all goes well for everybody.
mandy :pig:
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Soooooo :excited: :excited: :excited:
I went out at 3pm to feed the pigs, with the intention of moving the Large Blacks back out to the field after I'd checked on Buttercup - it didn't happen ::)
She already had 2 little piglets all nestled in the straw :excited: and was furiously nesting around them. Kept getting up and down, really restless (only a belly rub would keep her down ;)) eventually number 4 was delivered at 4pm then it kinda went into rapid machine gun like fire as numbers 5, 6, 7 and 8 all appeared pretty much one after the other :D number 9 came in the second lot of afterbirth and shortly after we got a sneaky number 10 :thumbsup: I've come down for a cuppa and to feed the kids, Bruce is up there now watching to see.....just incase we have any stragglers :innocent:
Here's a photo and there's a video on facebook which you should hopefully be able to see if you go to the 'Yonderton Rare Breed Pigs' page :thumbsup:
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Altogether now
AWWWWWWWWWWWW
How CUTE :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Many congrats :trophy: :trophy:
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Great news.
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Wow, 10 must be a good litter size for a Kune, no? Hope mum and babies are all doing well :thumbsup: :excited:
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Wow, 10 must be a good litter size for a Kune, no? Hope mum and babies are all doing well :thumbsup: :excited:
It is really good, but not a patch on wee Adelaide the wonderKune ;) (she had 15 last time :o)
There's a slightly smaller gilt, but she's bright and very lively (christened "adventure pig" because she's been all over the pen checking out her new surroundings :D) there seems to be an 'adventure pig' in each litter of Kunekunes we've had and they're always gilts :innocent:
Will keep you updated with photo's over the coming days :excited: :excited: :excited:
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Here's a photo and there's a video on facebook which you should hopefully be able to see if you go to the 'Yonderton Rare Breed Pigs' page :thumbsup:
Hi Karen,
I may be missing it but have you posted the video on Facebook??
Pete
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:love: :pig: :pig: :pig:
Beautiful pics and video - what a lovely sight! :)
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Big congratulations :trophy: to you and buttercup. Lovely piccie :love: off to find the video now :excited:
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How gorgeous - they look so cute! Well done Buttercup :trophy:
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[Hi Karen,
I may be missing it but have you posted the video on Facebook??
Pete
It's on there......somewhere :-\
I've tried messing about with settings on my own timeline to make the video public but can't ??? It should be on the Yonderton page under posts by others.
If you look for me (Karen Lindsay McKay - avatar is a tartan background with an emblem) and send a friend request you'll be able to see it on there no problems :fc:
Thanks for all the kind wishes :-*
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Karen, if you Share it again, and before pressing the 'Share Video' button, click on the list (it's the Privacy list) to the left of that button, and select 'Public', then it should share it for everyone to be able to view, irrespective of their relationshipo or otherwise to you.
(Apols if you've been trying that and it's just not working - I know you know quite a bit about Facebook, probably more than me.)
It's a lovely video, BTW. :D :thumbsup:
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Karen, if you Share it again, and before pressing the 'Share Video' button, click on the list (it's the Privacy list) to the left of that button, and select 'Public', then it should share it for everyone to be able to view, irrespective of their relationshipo or otherwise to you.
(Apols if you've been trying that and it's just not working - I know you know quite a bit about Facebook, probably more than me.)
It's a lovely video, BTW. :D :thumbsup:
:dunce: :dunce: :dunce:
I think perhaps I wasn't fully concentrating last night :innocent:
Done now :thumbsup: You should now be able to see now :fc:
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Awww, how cute are they. Congratulations Karen and Buttercup :thumbsup: :pig: :pig: :pig: :pig: :pig: :pig: :pig: :pig: :pig: :pig:
Sally
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[Hi Karen,
I may be missing it but have you posted the video on Facebook??
Pete
It's on there......somewhere :-\
I've tried messing about with settings on my own timeline to make the video public but can't ??? It should be on the Yonderton page under posts by others.
If you look for me (Karen Lindsay McKay - avatar is a tartan background with an emblem) and send a friend request you'll be able to see it on there no problems :fc:
Thanks for all the kind wishes :-*
Hi Karen,
I've found you on Facebook but not the video still!! Friends request sent. :thumbsup:
Pete
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brilliant news Karen, gorgeous babies :love:
well done to all
Mandy :pig:
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I thought it was just me last night, as I couldn't find the video. Been looking again and still cannot see a link :-\
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Hi Karen,
I was going to just PM you but as others are having the same issue I'll post it. Even now that we are 'Facebook friends' I cannot see it. I even got the children (if a 17 year old can be classed as a child!) to check out what I was doing on Facebook to make sure I wasn't missing something.
Pete
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Congrats! :) :trophy: they look lovely! all spotted too!
My biggest litter so far has been 11! 15 must have been fun!!
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Hi Karen,
I was going to just PM you but as others are having the same issue I'll post it. Even now that we are 'Facebook friends' I cannot see it. I even got the children (if a 17 year old can be classed as a child!) to check out what I was doing on Facebook to make sure I wasn't missing something.
Pete
I'm not sure what's happening ??? :dunce: I'll try to post the video again Pete, if it doesn't work Bloomer has said he'll try and do it for me ;)
:fc:
I must be doing something wrong :dunce: :roflanim:
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It works!!! :thumbsup:
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I thought it was just me last night, as I couldn't find the video. Been looking again and still cannot see a link :-\
Try this (https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=498159673556891&set=vb.100000885881885&type=2&theater)?
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Awww thanks for sharing all this - making me pig broody.... but I'll stick to weaners for a few more years - I need to get to grips with lambing first! Lovely vid :bouquet: Congrats all around.
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Try this (https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=498159673556891&set=vb.100000885881885&type=2&theater)?
You'll have to tell me how you did that Sally ! Thanks a million :-*
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:thumbsup: They are adorable ;D ;D and loved the video!
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Try this (https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=498159673556891&set=vb.100000885881885&type=2&theater)?
You'll have to tell me how you did that Sally ! Thanks a million :-*
Ach, it was too cute a video to have people not able to see it! :D
All I do is open the video in Facebook, then go into the browser address bar and copy the address that's there. Then paste that into the url thingy in my TAS post.
Shout if you need it broken down more. :)