Meet Pearl, the pig!
Pearl is a 7 month old Berkshire gilt (young female pig). Raine referred to her as our new friend, when
she came to us about 3 weeks ago. In the
photo, Jeff is trying to comfort Pearl and get her to enter her new pen. Pearl ended up spending the night in our new,
old and crusty livestock trailer (Fred is now working on fixing it up a bit
more for us). The need to relieve
herself and a new tactic used by Jeff finally convinced her to leave the
trailer (poor thing!). Pearl is now settling
in well in her new digs. She has been
trained to the electric fence and has gained access to a large pasture area,
which she is beginning to explore. We
have not gotten a boar yet and are considering attempting artificial
insemination. AI is supposed to be
fairly easy (and, yes, there is a you-tube video on that) and is far less
expensive than keeping a boar. The
challenge is detecting her estrus cycle, so everything can be timed just right. We have been checking her for the signs of
estrus twice a day, and, possibly, we saw some of the signs yesterday. Possibly.
It is also possible that the goats will be kidding
soon. Their udders have started filling
out, so it shouldn't be long now. In
fact, they will probably all give birth right after we leave town for a short
vacation later this week. In any event,
hopefully all will go smoothly.
Spring is definitely around the corner. The daffodils are just past the peak of their
bloom, and the forsythia are just starting.
Things are starting to green up, so the animals will soon have lots of
fresh forage.
Annie
Posts
