Waitangi Day will never be the same!
Waitangi Day is commemorated here in NZ on 6th Feb annually. But first we take you back to Feb 5th when our gorgeous Priscilla started showing signs she was finally ready to give birth. I spent all day in the paddock with her, bringing her fresh straw to bed down on, splashing her with cool water when she chose to roll in the mud and generally keeping her company. Midnight rolled round and Priscilla was definitely uncomfortable, but no babies yet so I retreated to the couch and Rob promised to check her at 2am.
2am….Jo Jo we have 16 piglets, get up get up….bleary eyed I leapt off the couch, threw on my warm gear and raced across to meet Priscilla’s new family. With only 14 teats, we weren’t expecting this kind of number. A few moments passed, picking up tiny piglets and latching them on, this is a crucial time as colostrum is essential for strong piglets so it was all hands on deck. Rob went to grab some more straw when he found 2 small piglets around the back of the sow; this began a frantic hour of discovery. It appeared that the first few piglets had been born and wandered off, the babies we then found took us up to 22 piglets, which included one, stillborn.
I raced back to the house with 3 tiny cold piglets in my jumper, to be followed by Laura our German Helpex friend, with another 2 needing revival. Laura had been given rather a rude awakening by Rob, yelling we need help! Warm towels in the microwave, warm calf milk fed using a dripper syringe and very little sleep! Rob found the final wee boy and he appeared too far gone. I was determined to give it my best shot. I fed him, warmed him and fell asleep with him in my arms…I woke 2 hours later with him alert and nibbling my earlobe! With a total of 14 females and 8 males, minus a stillborn female, we started our Waitangi Day!
As soon as the babies looked strong enough, we
returned them to Priscilla, and rotated the weaker ones out for top ups. It was an incredibly hot day so emergency shade was erected and plenty of fresh water made available for our clever sow. At the end of the day, a little female piglet was rolled on and didn’t make it. We took on a female we named Waewae, as she had a leg injury. Within the next twelve hours we would take on Sheryl with a wound on her side, and be unable to return either of them due to the length of time apart.
There is a very poignant saying in farming “ Where there is livestock, there is dead stock” and sadly this situation isn’t any different, 4 babies didn’t make it overnight and another got rolled on during the day. Day 3 saw another 2 rolled on, a very common side effect of large litters. By the time the dust settled Priscilla had 10 piglets with her and we went on to hand raise 2, 12 out of 22 is still good going. The 10 that remained with Priscilla have flourished into long backed meaty survivors!
