Pig Bomb!!!

Hello all,

We have had 4 litters of pigs born in the last week. Our two American Mulefoot sows farrowed with 11 pigs total. Our two Berkshire sows farrowed with 18 piglets total. Our Berkshires had some interesting piglets. It turns out that one of the Berks was bred to our Large Black boar Bubba and the other to our American Mulefoot boar Cletus. The half Mulefoot piglets turned out to look a lot like a fullblood Mulefoot. They all have non-cloven hooves, but, with some of them, you can see a line where it looks like a split should have been. The Large Black crosses have me perplexed. The Berkshire female is fullblood registerable Berk and Bubba is a fullblood registerable Large Black, but, some of the cross breed piglets are spotted!! I don't get where the spots came from. None of the Mulefoot crosses have spots. Here is a photo of the different colors that we got in this litter. These piglets are all half Large Black.

It is hot on the farm!!

This weather is not good for the pregnant pigs. We are expecting 4 litters in the next couple of weeks and the sows are really feeling the heat. We are trying out best to keep the pigs as cool as possible. We are using fans and water to try and keep the pigs cool. Our two berkshires are really getting with the program. They will soak in the mud wallow then stand under the fan. The Mulefoot sows spend most of the day in a drainage ditch by the pond, the coolest place on the farm. I am not too worried about he Mulefoots. They were bred to deal with outdoor raising in very hot and humid climates,but, the Berkshires were bred to live indoors and produce piglets, it shows in the way they seem to stand up to the heat.