Blue Tulip Lane Farm

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Blue Tulip Lane Farm Sharing our daily farm experiences particularly in raising purebred, registered Meishans. Hours are by appointment
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07/06/2024

The feeders will begin to get processed in a couple of weeks at the rate of 2-3 per month. Pm me if you are interested in reserving a whole or half hog for prices.

We charge by hang weight. You pay us for the hog which includes a reserved processing date and transport of the hog to the processor for you.

You pay the processor for his services. We can.answer any questions you have about carcass cuts.

All of our hogs are state inspected.

The first ones available will be at the end of July. We will have hogs available July, August, September, and possibly October or November. From there none until July.

07/06/2024

Education. piece about boars

Ken cleaned half of the hog houses yesterday to get pigs moved around. Pasture paddocks are overseeded and divided off.

Pong has an ear infection so he is unhappily separated into the barn so Ken can give him his two shots. The first went well. The second tonight will be harder. Pong is not eating but he does like the PB&J sandwiches I make him to get his 5 pills down him. We only do medications that are really necessary and vet directed. He stopped eating and almost looked like he had a stroke. That is a call to the vet. He has been in with Ling for a couple of months for breeding so he is a bit more defensive and would not allow Ken to safely look at and work with his ear. So meds it is and something to knock it out of him. If he were a meat pig we would have taken a less aggressive approach plus we hold them for 2-3 times or more the wait period before processing.

But a boar is different. They are not 200-300 pounds. Pong is closer to 500-600 #. They can be more aggressive. Meishans boars raised right are generally more like big dogs BUT you never turn your back on them. They have the same protective instincts regarding their lady friends and their territory as any other hog and you never know when that will kick in. A boar can flip you and break your back in a second. They live alone for the most part so they take separate accommodations. This is for herd control and your safety! This allows them to develop an attachment to you which gives you a little more consideration but alertness is a constant.

It kills me to see people letting little kids play with boars. Boars do not know their own strength. We have a friend with a gentle boar, a kune kune, who was almost pet-like. That boar had been with him for something like 7 years. He got a little careless and had his back to the boar and he got flipped a couple of times and injured less than expected. He could have had a broken back but ended up with his arm injured and several broken ribs.

Our Dino is 2.5 years old. We had about 4 gilts and a sow in heat. We did not want to use him in the breeding. He completely shredded a rubber handging waterer from hu***ng it! He was so distressed so Ken put a baie of straw in his pasture. Dino went to town on it. Ken saw a little blood and did not want Dino harming himself. So he went in and got him off the bale and threw it over the fence. Dino was several yards away from Ken. He is Ken's puppy and has NEVER shown any aggression. He has not once in 2.5 years ever even challenged Ken. When they challenge they stand you off and drop their head while eyeing you, half grunt and half growl and will do a one or two step charge. If you run the race is on but you must be ready to MOVE and fast! Well Ken walked from where he threw the bale over the wire fence toward a hog panel which is sturdier and shorter. Dino started to run toward him with angry chase grunts. Ken was a sprinter in his youth and he is still really fast for an old guy. Even with his lead, by the time he was at the fence, jumped, and was getting his last foot over . . . Dino was right there chomping his jaws!

Dino is huge and his head is as big as I have ever seen on a Meishan. So this is the most gentle, laid back boy who loves Ken and lets Ken do anything with him. This is why people MUST know what they are doing with a boar. A boar is NEVER a trustworthy pet! Even after they can't breed they still have the desire and drive at times. You never know when they will get the whiff of a female in heat across the field or down the road.

Boars are not playmates. This is why we have secure fencing, checking it daily, and are picky about visitors and wandering pets. We cannot assure their safety as well as them not carrying something not harmful to them but harmful to the pigs. Your pet in a boar pasture may be fine or may be dead in seconds. We NEVER give our hogs any type of meat. We feel.it has the potential.to awaken more wild instincts. Your pet could not only be dead but be half eaten. Less likely on our place. But we currently do not mix species on pastures so the boars are pretty possessive. We do rotate them around which helps to lower their territorialism.

So there is your boar education for today. We like them but as we age, we will not keep a breeding boar around. We will bring them in for a couple of months. Pong is the exception. He gets to live life out here unless his quality of life gets pretty poor. He gets to freeload.

This morning I went ahead and got things around for our dinner since we will be needing to get it over quickly. At the e...
07/06/2024

This morning I went ahead and got things around for our dinner since we will be needing to get it over quickly. At the end of the month,the refrigerator is bare of fresh veggies. I like a meal with meat and both root and above ground veggies. Dessert is fruit. I have had to learn to get creative on salad. I am thankful the garden is already producing. So today's farm to table meal includes:
Mini meatloaves from our ground pork
Carrot buttons (from last year's garden we are eating out the freezers) and will add a little bit of local honey
Our strawberries ( the less than perfect ones so adding cool whip - tiring of just plain fresh but not going to waste!)
Salad: No lettuce, celery, or carrots so nothing usual to use. Today's salad consists of our fresh spinach leaves, our radishes, our fresh asparagus chopped, a bit of diced apple to use up the last one, a few walnuts, a bit of bacon bits (pork.of course), and a sprinkle of cheese. We are so blessed with the gardening opportunity. I am finding novelty in our salads and we like it.

The washer is running which what a convenience to have!

ThenI hear something running outside and see the farmer cutting the alfalfa field for hay. Tim and Spencer Troyer are such good farmers. We just love them and are so fortunate to have them farm our two little fields. The Troyer family is such a good family. What a blessing to us. Julie Troyer

07/06/2024

We have been so busy. It is getting there. I haven't shared my devotionals for a few days. You have to follow my personal page for those. I will share a couple of garden posts from there soon. And I will circle back to two devotionals that really hit home.

But this morning I am just getting ready to have my devotional time and have so much blessing to share. I LOVE the privilege of busyness and hard work of this little farm. Ken is going to give up his afternoon to go with me to complete a much needed grocery shopping. We only do one major shop per month. I completed a small shop last evening and used the electric cart bc I can no longer make it through a store
using the shopping cart like a walker. I thank God for having these limitations right now. Although I worked mostly with people with various disabilities both physical and mental for over 40 years,this experience is giving me so many new insights. I thought I knew and did, more than most people, thanks to my clients and patients teaching me. But until you walk in these shoes, you do not. It is so difficult when everything you try to do either fails or takes so much effort. U relenting pain is a mysterious phenomenon that impacts so much more of a person than one can realize. I am thanking God for several things today.

A new level of awareness and compassion about what is and is not helpful

A renewed effort to think about smiling and every single movement to make life more positive.

An appreciation of time that effort takes.

Noticing little things by being slowed down.

New appreciation for a faithful and loving spouse. It is really hard on him. And. I am not always bery pleasant. Some days this is very scary and sone daysjust dien right frustrating.

Increased ingenuity to figure out how to do things when the legs will notdo what the brain. says abd inly having one available hand to carry things.

Being humbled by needing help. Getting a vehicle handicapped plaque and using the electric cart in stores. That really hurts the pride and the eay people look at you is hurtful also. You can tell the thoughts are negative.

A conscious actually stating every day my trust and faith that God has a plan.

If God chooses for this to subside, I pray I do not lose these things.

Now for a post on the little ecternal blessings this morning .

01/06/2024

Busy times. Spraying, sowing, mowing. Some people get all bent out of shape about spraying weeds. My retired doctor once told me that it can be harder on the body to be in pain than to go ahead and take something for the pain.

The garden and flowers are almost finished. Hoping for a gentle rain this evening. My beets were slow coming up and I could not tell them from the weeds. Last night I finally was able to tell the difference and pulled the weeds out. . .gently. I was interested in how different these seeds had grown.Same soil, Same beets. Then I realized the weeds were choking them and stealing all their nutrients.

Weeding the beets reminded me of Dr. Dickmeyer's words years ago. Thinking about this I realized that judicious use of sprays is the same thing. If the fields are left alone the crops will likely grow but with much less space and fewer nutrients. I know God allows things and other things are His direct will. Since farmers feed the majority of His creation, I must believe and trust that He would keep.us safe until the appointed day of our demise.

Then I thought about it from a different angle. The company we keep close to us is important. I companion garden placing plants to grow together bc they compliment each other. We need to select people who challenge us to be better and not those who stifle our growth and rob us of good nutrients for our soul.

So today, ponder your "weeds". And pull those that are diminishing all God has created you to be.

24/05/2024

I have greatly ignored our piggies and customers. It cannot be helped at this point in time. Many time demands due to health, weather, and conservation program deadlines. Plus my gardens. Trying to figure out ways to keep me as mobile as possible. I crash every afternoon. Shopping is painful as I am good to make 2 short stops or one medium length one on any given day. Still planting garden and Ken is helping me get flowers planted in the ground. We had so many areas torn up late last fall due to house repairs. I hope in a couple of weeks we are caught up to where we should have been 3 weeks ago. For perspective on why I get so little done: to make my bed takes me 20-30 minutes which is a 10 minute job. Let's pray I improve and that we can get things back on schedule with adaptations. Thank you ALL so much for your patience when I do not follow through very timely. It is hard

20/05/2024

Had an interesting interaction last week and evidence of just how much there is to learn in agriculture, food, and health industries. Wish I would have been a better student much earlier in life.

We will not feed our pigs pelleted feed. Some people shame us bc our non gmo feed has soy in it. Organic anything in this country is a scam, so save your money. We use non-gmo not because we have some bias against gmo feed but bc we were curious if old genetic grains would make a difference in our old genetic hogs. It did. They are tighter; less sloppy fat hogs. Yes, still as they were intended, still old fashioned lard hogs.

So to the feed snobs of America, lol. Read and learn. I met a trucker. We were both waiting on food orders. I asked him what he was hauling expecting some type of grain. He said I would never guess and he was right. He went on to ask me where all the leftover and outdated cookies, breads, doughnuts, etc. went. I said in the dumpster. He laughed and said they used to. He then pointed to his truck and said they are all in there.

He stated that it was jammed full of them and came down out of Chicago. I asked him where he was headed and he told me exactly. It was a mill that makes pelleted livestock feed. If your food is eating unhealthy then why would anyone expect when you eat it suddenly it becomes nutritionally sound. He was anxious to get on his way to drop that load because he could get two loads transported in one day. Is it any wonder we are addicted to sugar? Can you imagine how these poor animals must feel and why they grow so quickly? It amazes me that there seems to be no limit to how man can mess up nature and often the motivation is a little piece of paper. Sigh.

So pay your extra money but for us, we will stick with our corn, soy, pea mixture, some alfalfa, fruits and veggies, and yes the occasional and rare sweet type bread. Just call us traditionalists. Money is a tool, not a goal particularly when corners are cut to line pockets at the expense of others' not knowing. God clothes the lilies of the field and knows the sparrows. He cares how we treat other beings. Do we need money? Yes, but the goals and stewardship must be honorable.

18/05/2024

Upcoming now that there will be a few days in a row with no rain.

1. Pictures of 8 month old gilts ready for new homes. Get ready to reserve them. Prices once we figure out feed costs in them.

2. Begin reservations for whole and half hogs to be processed in July through October. Again prices and pictures forth coming.

3. For groups/events: we may have a couple hogs that could be all ground or pulled pork.

We need to get pictures and we need to weigh the feeders.

14/05/2024

Today MaeMae will move to the isolation area so she can come and go in house, lot, grass, or woods as she pleases. We had hoped Ling would be pregnant so we could move them together. They get along wonderfully. I just have a hunch not to put her in with the two younger sows yet. They each have quirks, the strongest is being in charge. So likely MaeMae would have to fight to maintain her dominance as boss. I do not want to do that just yet. She hates the drama of the others and avoids it. But she can tear them.up when needed. I want her stress free yet. I just have a feeling that to sacrifice or defend her role is just not quite time yet. Love these ladies. Each is so different. Still praying that Ling took last heat for summer piglets.

08/05/2024

Education in the humor:

MaeMae is doing great. I told Ken not to leave her roam bc she is in heat. Did he listen ? Noooooo. He finished chores and went to put her up. She wasn't in the back yard or the front yard. He checked the barn and her pen. No MaeMae. He looked under the pine trees and behind the bigger barn where she likes to lay and see the boars which is why I told him NO UNSUPERVISED ROAMING. She wasn't in the gardens or the walkways. She wasn't in the alfalfa field. It sounded like a "Where's Waldo?" game but she wasn't wearing a red striped sweater!

He finally looked where she has never gone. There she was 500' down our 528' drive headed toward the road!!!! She was on a mission to find a male and she knew the boars were over to the side someplace but due to a separating pasture, she did not know how to get to them.

Now if you know anything about pigs, you move them by driving from behind with light taps on their sides right behind the front leg or some of ours you just walk by their heads and talk them to come along with you. Sometimes you tap lightly on their hips. The side you tap they turn the other direction so they know which way they are to go. You do not need to hit them.You do not need to repeatedly tap them like I see so many do at shows. If you work with your pig and they trust you, they know what to do and will follow their training. EXCEPT . . .

When a female is in heat they are VERY determined to breed. Much like a bloodhound dog, they follow their nose over just about anything, even food. If you happen to touch them on a back quarter they stop, stiffen, and you cannot move them!!!! We are talking about a cement statue. Ken has picked up little gilts like that to move them and they actually stay in that position!!!! This is called "standing" and if you see someone pressing on a female's back or hips they may be testing to see if she is ready to breed or in heat. Sometimes they will turn and try to jump on you, mounting, and you have to knock them down. I tell them "NO! You stupid girl you do not have the right part for that." This is why now I never go in the pens with young gilts if any are in heat. I usually just comfort them with petting but with my balance now that is too dangerous

So poor Ken is thinking how in the world will I get MaeMae back here! Not only is she in heat so driving will be very difficult. This is MaeMae our most lazy lady!! Two steps and stop to rest! He did get her back very, very slowly. He was late to dinner again. Good thing we were having fried fish so I hadn't started it. We just ate late. So goes life at Blue Tulip Lane.

03/05/2024

Dont forget today is the last day to order up on the pork sale!!!! Check the previous post and text 260-441-6103. Thank you for your support.

29/04/2024

TYPO !!!! MEET UPS ARE Wednesday May 8th!!!!!!

Remember sale orders end on Friday. Supplies are low. The next available will be July. If you are in a town and get new to us others to join in with an order, you will receive an extra little surprise!!!!

Get them in . . .

Tuesday 4-23. Reagan Ruth joined our family. No bias here. She and mama are so beautiful.
25/04/2024

Tuesday 4-23. Reagan Ruth joined our family. No bias here. She and mama are so beautiful.

25/04/2024

Here is the May sale. Orders may be texted to 260-441-6103 by May 3rd. Please do not order here as a comment or on messenger. Meet ups will be the afternoon of Wednesday, May 8th. Hopefully in Columbia City, Kendallville, and Fort Wayne. There must be a combination or orders of over $50 for a location to be put on the meet up route. Locations will be given upon order.

Please give your name and telephone number when you order. We will contact you to confirm details.

Unit Descriptions: All product is frozen at transfer. Not responsible for status once product is transferred to Customer. l
Ground Pork - #1 approx. $5.00
Brats - 4 per pkg $6.00
Bacon - 1 # approx. Not our best ever $5.00
Jowl Bacon - 1 # approx Not our best ever $5.00
Ham Steaks – approx 2 # $8.00
Spare Ribs – approx 2 # $7.00
Baby Back Ribs – approx 1 # $5.00
Hocks – 2 per unit provided in 1 or 2 pkg $5.00
Liver – ½ # approx $3.00
Liver – 1 # approx $5.00
Lard – 1 pint, non-inspected kitchen By donation

We will be taking orders and deposits for half and whole hogs beginning June 1st.

All sales are subject to availability and prices are subject to change. Cash or Check (for previous customers only)
Thank you for your business! Ken and Ronda

Here lies The Queen. MaeMae went for her garden walk this morning and this is the spot she chose for sun bathing literal...
22/04/2024

Here lies The Queen.

MaeMae went for her garden walk this morning and this is the spot she chose for sun bathing literally ALL afternoon. Grabbed a shot of the Creeping Myrtle while I was on the porch.

22/04/2024

I apologize for the silence last week. MaeMae is progressing very well. We will find out in the next few days if Ling is pregnant.

Last week I had many appointments and completed several days cooking food ahead for the freezer for our son's family. Today our daughter-in-law will be induced for their third child's birth and our fifth grandchild. So . . . we anxiously await to meet our new family addition.

This week will bring gardens prep and catching up on emails and some writing.

Have a great week.

15/04/2024

MaeMae started her 1st post farrowing heat yesterday. She is not quiet and Pong in the other pen area is going crazy. So I was correct on my dates of breeding and anticipated farrowing date. Her heat began 20-21 days from when I had her calculated to give birth. This means she was 9 days overdue from 119 days which was the length of her last gestation. Ken felt movement at day 5 over but likely her placenta died and the piglets starved to death. Makes me so sad.

So now the decision is whether we will try again in a few months or give the project up. If we do try again or even breed her to Pong, I am going to follow my gut. So far it has been exactly on with her. Lots and lots of observing a pig. That is what I am trained to do, watch for the slightest things. I guess just because one retires the tendency of certain skills, even developed intuitive ones, do not die. Certain things are worth keeping them honed for but overall ot is nice to go through life just not seeing so much.

13/04/2024

Just a strollin'

MaeMae Update:Changing the bedding seems to have helped. She still does not want to leave the barn area but part of her ...
13/04/2024

MaeMae Update:

Changing the bedding seems to have helped. She still does not want to leave the barn area but part of her care plan includes daily walks to help her milk dry up safely and to get her strong. Her nutrition is part of her post farrow care. Pictures of MaeMae roaming the yard. We drive her out from the barn so far and then let her roam the yard and make her way back to her pen at her leisure. Considering her age the hang isnt too bad but she has to dry up and lose a little weight. She gets two weeks or so continued on lactation feed but we cut her amount back to normal 3 # per day cut into two feedings of 1.5 # am and pm. If she has dried up mostly we will switch her back to gestation feed which we keep our sows and older boar on to hold their weight while being sure they get the nutrients they need. If not we will mix feeds for a while longer. She also gets good quality electrolytes daily.

To hope for her to produce it is only moral to input the best possible. Even if she no longer produces it is stewardship to continue to validate her worth for just being and all she has done.

11/04/2024

I know it has been one of those long difficult weeks when Ken walks in and says, " Is it only Wednesday?" He normally bounces in with some dumb joke-ish remark but always. " Is it Friday already, where did the week go?"

You all know we take stewardship to heart with a passion. When MaeMae cries, we break a little inside. Today Ken showed me he breaks a little too even though he declares he never gets too close because relationships can be gone in an instant. (Just watch him with our sons or grandchildren and tell me that is true. Ha.).

He sat down to tacos for lunch today. "Sorry I was late coming in to run errands. I changed all the straw out of MaeMae's pen this morning (even though he had it all fresh just going into last week). She was still looking for the piglets and crying the whole time. I thought it might help so she didn't smell them each time she was in the barn. I think she needs a day alone to just sleep."

Tomorrow I will sit with her, brush her, belly rubs and ear scratches. I will talk to her and sing and whistle her favorite calming tunes. I will tell her she didnt do anything wrong and we are proud of her and love her. Will she understand every word? Likely not. But we do know pigs are the most intelligent livestock animal with higher IQs than dogs or even horses. They can learn between 200-300 words. Their cognitive abilities are similar to a 3 year old child. They are relational. They have feelings. Do they have souls? I do not know. They are not made in the image of God like humans. But He created them as they are for a purpose. He gave us stewardship over them which is a high privilege calling. Know your animals and treat them as they deserve. Let them be what they were created to be but shepherd them well and do not cut on their treatment or environment. Give them the best you are able and respect them. My dad told me once when i asked him why he liked to visit the farmers in his Parrish at chore time, "Ronda, I can tell a lot about a man's relationship with God by how he treats his animals." I pondered that most of my life and finally understand.

Although we hurt with her and groaned inside with questions, tomorrow we persevere forward and watch for how the lessons we learned from this pain grow us. We look forward to seeing how God brings this disappointment to our good. So thankful for the resilience of the peace and joy beyond circumstances having a Saviour brings to this life.

Wanted to mention I am sorry my phone was on "Do not disturb" most of today. We needed to get things done before the rains hit this evening. We each needed time to pray, think, and process.

Thank you each one for your continuing support for what and why we "do" Blue Tulip Lane Farm. Words fall short to express our appreciation.

Shout out to the Churubusco Food Pantry. Your timing of kindness could not have been better. The piggies are grateful. Thank you to one of our good neighbors, Bob Baker, for your time and kindness to help Ken today.

Good night all, sleep well.

09/04/2024

Sitting with MaeMae. Here is what having livestock is like. Today will be constant watching her and being with her. She needs contractions and if they do not come another shot every two hours. We are ready for the next one following the vet's shots. We may face her expelling more dead babies.

MaeMae is one of those sensitive easy to read sows. She is relational. She loves having babies. She loves the perks and solitude in the barn where we have them farrow. She has gotten up with much difficulty two times looking for her babies. This last time she laid down, rolled up, and started the gentle, repeated, low grunt call for them to come nurse. It is the sweetest sound. She called and called until she fell back asleep. My heart broke for her.

People who blast livestock owners as cruel have no idea how hard this can be. I cannot imagine how they do it over a lifetime. My heart would never harden but I can see how they must learn to have what we called in counseling professions as "professional distancing". You care, you feel, but you do not show and you learn to let go or you cannot survive.

Raising livestock: Physically demanding. Socially limiting. Emotionally crucifying. I am glad we have done this these past few years. To do it is the only way to begin to understand even a little bit. I hope our sharing gives others a glimpse. The lessons learned have deepened my respect for livestock owners. Sure we all have lost pets and that really hurts. I cannot even imagine to have the financial threats these farmers go through in addition to all the other pain when livestock are lost. It is incredibly expensive and they have families to support. They are not greedy. Most I know are very generous.

But through it all for us, God knows. He is still good and His ways are not our ways, thank goodness! So we grieve and we hurt. But faith carries us through. Some people call faith a crutch. If it is what a wonderful gift. How else does one deal with the hurts of this life? Carry them around ruining relationships, limiting your own potential? Do we "get it all out in anger which by the way repeated research shows that anger expressed feeds for future outbursts. Do we just push our hurt down and get depressed and end up not functioninng or turn to addictions? I choose to acknowledge my pain, lay it at Jesus feet, and trust knowing He will appropriately take care of it and make a way for me to move forward. Is faith an imaginary crutch? Has not been in my life, but if it is again what a wonderful gift compared to the alternatives.

This is how we shall live.

09/04/2024

Our hearts are breaking.
MaeMae farrowed 4 dead fully formed piglets this morning. 3 gilts and 1 boarling.

After weeks of observation we missed this. It is obvious she was working the piglets to get them breathing.

She has gotten up two times to look for them. She has not passed anything for 3 hours. Vet was kind enough to stop by on his way to a presentation at Purdue. He gave her some medicine.

Knowing MaeMae she will grieve so the days ahead will be tedious to get her strong again, eating and drinking.

It is going to be a sad day. We feel like we failed her. The "should haves, could haves and if onlys" are setting in. Today will be a day in the barn watching closely.

Please NO comments or reactions to this post. Thank you.

08/04/2024

Still waiting on MaeMae and God to do their thing. They know the picture better than us. We will post a picture when piglets arrive. We are thinking this week into next weekend now.

Quern MaeMae seems to have pulled a fast one on us! It seems that after her shot for her UTI in December she had a brie...
06/04/2024

Quern MaeMae seems to have pulled a fast one on us! It seems that after her shot for her UTI in December she had a brief silent heat at Christmas and we are looking at maybe next week. So inspite of our records and how obsessive we were in observations from October through January, she and GaiPan had a secret love life going on. That'll show us.

We have never had a sow come into milk and colostrum this far ahead! I think MaeMae, who LOVES being moved to the barn for all the special benefits may be playing us! Even though we went to the extra bother and expense of a second ultrasound which confirmed pregnancy AND skull development (which generally doesnt show for 30 days) at around 21 days!
We are feeling baby movement.

Here is MaeMae's benefits conducive to play us::

She is a more solitary pig preferring to avoid the sow drama scene. So a quiet undisturbed barn pen is like vacation.

No one else is slobering up her water

More attention and relaxed belly rubs and brushings.

Yummy treats such as fruits to keep her "cleaned out"; Ronda's "build the milk brew"; a boiled egg for good protein boost:; and a banana a day for extra potassium. NOT all at once but throughout the pregnancy at various points.

The sooner the milk bar starts to fill up she gets and LOVES lactation feed. So much that she doesn't seem to mind the feed amount decreases as farrowing gets nearer.

Then there is the space, her own pen and bed with no one messing it up, heat lamp if weather is nasty to help her maintain even temperature, private dry lot, and front and back door access to wander the barnyard and house yard at her leisure and she can choose the closest door to enter her pen when she is tired.

I think she has this figured out. The babies must like their set up as they are happily rolling around in there.
So we may have been played. Anxious to see these babies who formed skulls early or are enjoying their environment they do not want to exit yet. Wondering if they are going to be really smart or really dumb with that skull development and brains inside. Or are they going to be strong willed piglets stubborn as mules.
We will lovingly deal with any or all of it.

So we continue to be homebodies and she continues to enjoy life although it is getting hard to move . She drags and has to walk funny not to step on her bo***es (aren't we ladies glad to only bounce and not drag!). And we continue watch duty to be sure she is ok. Looking for any time from now into next week. Us and our records! The pig and God only truly know.

Below:
Mae yesterday morning on her daily walk, oh unless clouds spit the slightest raindrop or its just a bit too cold, or too windy, or she is just extra sleepy. Lol. She IS the queen after all. Comments under pictures.

I feel bad for our professional media guy not familiar with pigs and wondering if and when he will get the call.

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Monday 11:00 - 19:00
Tuesday 11:00 - 19:00
Friday 11:00 - 17:00
Saturday 10:00 - 12:00

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Baby videos

Cuteness continues. These little ones will be up for discussion before we know it. These are 4 of the 5 boys I think. They have fun but boy can they argue with each other! These are babies of God Blessing Pong and Odd Bird Precious. Hoping we get more litters from Pong but he is about 6.5 years old now. We will see how he does in his new adaptive house getting up since his sheath cartilage is so big and his legs so short. He is so deep bodied and Precious is so broad-shouldered. These guys and gals should make some great meat breeding stock. 5 boys and 6 girls. We naturally wean so Precious will decide when they are ready to go as long as she is. holding her own well. I will post 1-2 weeks before we castrate. So if you are interested in a boar, let us know asap. We will not hold unless we have a deposit.

Baby update day 3.5. More active, curious and showing some independence venturing outside without mama!

New friends in action.

Birds begin to venture out now on nice days Shut in at night

Tusk be gone.

A Pong roll.

The pig you hear in the background just on the other side of the fence is an 18 month gilt in heat..Every gilt and sow goes through this every 21 days. They pace constantly moan, groan, call, and sone even scream for 2-3 days. They want a boar. The boars in turn pace and pull on the hog panels. Our two boys are pretty good. Both are strong enough to break down that fencing but they don't. I can tell ggem.to stop pulling on it and they will . . .until I leave the barnyard LOL.

Farm Happenings: UPDATE please note the alert posted today. Miss White our sitting hen has 3 eggs under her. We moved her to the barn. Expecting and hoping for 3 healthy chicks in the next few days. Green Center Church ladies came Wednesday to learn about what we do here, learn about the Meishans and meet them. I had fun and hope they did too. We got our last pig from the 2021 litters back from the processor. We are so glad to be moving forward after a very difficult 2022. They paper wrapped instead of vac packed as requested. Sigh. For two weeks on several days I have been planting gardens, both veggie and flower. I still have a cutting flower bed or two to plant but otherwise done.Now begins all the weeding and watering. See pictures and videos below and following. Update: I planted spinach in the strawberries, marigolds at the ends of the watermelon box and will likely put up hog panels on each side of it. In the asparagus I planted Nasturtium to keep the beetles off of the asparagus.

Day 2 mild fence pushing allowable natural behaviour.

Day 2 boars Fence pulling stopped by command.

Video of day 2 mild boar introduction. Chomping

Here is what clipping and shots sound like. It is pitiful. Turn up your sound.

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