Pigging... What fun! Meet our 12 new babies!

Pigs do not mess around on the whole due date thing 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days and she popped! I knew she was due yesterday by the calendar so I went to go check on Monster our pig.  We had been pulling grass out of the garden and the girls had given her several loads of it.  That pig carried the grass all into her house and made a nest.

So as the day went on I went to check on her every little bit.  The kids and I started trying to dig some potatoes one of the times we went to check on her we found her laying down breathing hard and looking miserable

Now mind you we have never had a pig give birth and did not know really what to expect.  So I got on the trusty Internet and looked up the process for farrowing.  It said 30-90 minutes from the time they lay down and be still.  Well at 2 hours I was getting worried and still no pigs.  I decided I would give her 30 more minutes and then go get my neighbor who used to work in the hog farms. 

30 minutes later I went out to check on her and this is what I found

Twelve year old daughter got called out to help we got the birthing bag and put pads down behind her to contain the mess and those baby pigs just started coming out.  One every few minutes.  We were wiping baby pigs down as fast as we could!  They are feisty little buggers when they are born.  We did not expect them to be running around the pig shed as soon as they were dried off!

I like this one.  It has some interesting colors on it!  And it is a girl so we are probably going to keep this one to replace her mother!

Monster is a good mom she was being careful not to lay on any.  If she heard a squeal she moved.  Except they were only squealing because two wanted the same nipple!
We ended up with 12 little piggies in all.  7 girls and 5 boys! 

Our pigs are mutt pigs so we ended up with an assortment of colors!

Monster is going to the butcher when we wean these babies.  That was always the plan.  Our pig is sweet and loves scratches and her tummy rubbed but she is just too big to handle anymore so she will have to go.  We will all miss her but we also know that is why we have them.

My neighbor is going to come and help in about a week or so to castrate them.  I can do castrations with a band and I have assisted with human castrations (worked as a RN for 20 years) but I have never seen or done pigs and the have to be cut.  So I am thankful for the assistance and guidance.

We are going to keep 4 of the barrows (castrated males) to raise for the freezer and two of the cute red females for breeding and probably sell the rest to pay for their feed.

We have been out of pork for about 2 months so we will be glad to get some bacon again!

Pork chops in the making!