Pigs of Destiny

Took a bit of doing but Matt and I got Winken, Blinken and Nod in Mary's trailer to spend their last night on the farm. We lured them in with cabbages, hay and warm slop. It took a while for all three to get in at the same time so we finally coaxed them with a hog panel closing the free space they had to run in. I'm really impressed with the boys. They are so healthy and beautiful, and probably weigh almost a thousand pounds - in only five months! No wonder so many people raise pigs. For what they require they give so much. I peeked in the silo room where the boys slept for the last few nights while the barn was being cleaned out. It was clean and cozy. They kept their bed of hay so tidy, even though they tore up the ground in the yard adjacent to it. I mean, those boys tore up all kinds of rocks, little trees, ate old stiff burdock plants and unearthed old wired and pipes. We were feeding them all they could eat but they just wanted to have fun. Tomorrow they will have the one bad day they were born to experience. I'm already looking forward to the next set of piggies. Matt is looking forward to bacon, ham and sausages. Stan's son stopped by to say the valve broke on the skid steer and work on the barn will have to wait until the end of next week. Too bad as the weather is supposed to be very favorable. Oh, well, that's the way it is with farm machinery. They require constant maintenance and repairs. The sheep are doing fine living in the upstairs hay mow and grazing in the evenings. I have to get them out of there when I start buying hay, which is now, so I'm hoping the guys get the machines fixed and running soon. I still have to get the new elevator motor. There's always something...I have a buck goat kid with a broken foot I suspect. I wrapped it and gave him Dexamethasone. He seemed to be able to put his weight on it with the support of the wrapping, but then favored the other foot. With examination I discovered some foot rot and treated him for that. He's a gorgeous goat - jet black with a little white stripe in the middle. Another doe kid is a little shaky. I wormed her and hope it's not meningeal worm, that deadly affliction that loves to kill goats. Thankfully, my sheep don't get it - bless their hearts. Baby Thunder is a little shaky too, and he's losing weight. I have been giving him feed and Nutri-drench. I wormed him today and made him go outside to graze, instead of lying in the barn. I fear Baby Thunder might not make it to "the teens" as I hoped. Trying to prepare myself for that day...