Farming Friends

Diane asked, ‘How is Cagney and have you come to any decision yet as to her fate?’

Cagney my Saddleback sow has recently had mastitis, in fact the infection was very bad and it looked like I might lose her. I am pleased to say that she has thoroughly recovered. I kept her separate from Lacy my other sow for a few days as we treated Cagney and fed her up as the mastitis had put her off her food for a couple of days.

Once a pig has mastitis the teats are no longer useful so if the pig has a bad case of mastitis then it makes breeding difficult as the piglets will not be able to suckle their mother’s milk. Last week I had to decide if I was going to keep Cagney and let her breed again. Cagney has 14 teats and 6 of the teats have been affected by the mastitis. it was hard to make the decision because Cagney is the most gentle pig you could wish to meet. She has also been a fantastic mum. She farrows without any difficulties and this time produced 10 piglets. She is never aggressive to her piglets, Lacy the other sow or me. I also have a sentimental attachment to Cagney and Lacy as they are the first pigs I have ever had so they are special to me. Cagney and Lacy have provided me with much enjoyment and have taught me alot about pig keeping.

I spent a number of days deliberating over what to do as I didn’t want Cagney to be stressed or affected when she had more piglets. I did’t mind the thought of hand rearing some piglets if I had to, as I made the decision, but I didn’t want Cagney or the piglets to suffer.

This has been a very difficult decision to make but I have decided to keep her and give her the chance to have another litter. Only time will tell if this has been the right decision, but for now Cagney is doing very well. She has returned to the pig pen with Lacy and after an initial scuffle between them they are getting on well and Cagney has put on the weight she had lost when she wasn’t eating.

Thanks to you all for your kind words and well wishes for Cagney. Thanks Diane for asking about Cagney.

Here is a photograph of my father in law with his Saddleback pig back in 1953. They are standing in front of the brick piggery which was located in the backyard area of their house in the centre of York.

My father in law and his father had Saddleback pigs for a number of years, but the farm has not had pigs for the last 25 to 30 years until I bought my 2 Saddleback sows last year (June 2007).

My husband’s family think that it is funny that we getting all the animals that Hugo (my husband’s grandfather) once had on the farm. I am sure that Hugo would have been thrilled that Saddlebacks are now back on the farm and I am sure that he would have enjoyed teaching me all about breeding and raising them, so I dedicate this post to Hugo whose memory lives on in with the return of his favourite animals.

If you have any old farming photos or memories that you would like to share then please leave a comment.

The top 10 most popular posts from May 2008 were:

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10. Stewed Rhubarb

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I am pleased to let you know that Cagney is over the worst and has returned to her usual gentle and happy self. She has been in the farrowing crate since Friday when we realised that she had mastitis and was not very well at all. The farrowing crate made it easier to inject her and we decided to leave her in the crate so that Lacy would not disturb her as Lacy is the dominant sow and had been trying to get a piggy back from Cagney when Cagney wasn’t feeling very well.

Cagney slept most of Friday. I made sure that there was plenty of straw for her to lie on and then when she was laid down I placed lots of straw on top of her, which acted like a straw duvet. I made sure that she had water and food on hand so that if she began to feel better she would be able to eat and drink and build up her strength.

I was relieved when she did start to eat and drink. On Saturday she was beginning to eat and drink a bit but she still wasn’t herself.

By Sunday morning I could tell that Cagney was on the mend, she was grunting to Lacy who is in the other barn, which is just a door away. I definately knew she was better by Sunday teatime when I went to the barn to feed the sows and piglets and came face to face with Cagney. She was no longer in the farrowing crate but had managed to get out. This sow should be called Houdini!

Cagney has lost weight as she has been ill and I think that she has slid herself under the bars on the farrowing crate. I am sure that some of you must think that it is cruel to keep a sick pig in a farrowing crate, but it has been the best place for her. My farrowing crates are very large and there is plenty of room for Cagney to move about and lay down easily. I wanted to keep her separate from lacy as she was so ill on Friday. Also because Lacy is the most dominant sow I didn’t want her to bother Cagney or take Cagney’s share of the food as Cagney needed building up.

Cagney has had a bad case of mastitis and some of her teats are affected. I now have to decide if Cagney will be able to provide milk for another litter of piglets. She still has 8 teats that don’t seem to be affected. Cagney has been a great mother and has never showed aggression towards her piglets, or me! She has a very gentle nature, I could not have wished for a nicer pig as my first experience of pigs.

I now face the dilemma of deciding if I should part with my beloved Cagney. I love this pig and do not want her to go, but is it fair to get her in pig and then have to hand rear piglets that can’t get Cagney’s milk?

I would keep Cagney and Lacy as my pet pigs as they are the first pigs I have ever had but there isn’t the space to keep them and get more sows for breeding at the moment.

I will let you know when I have decided what to do.

They say bad luck runs in threes and with animal husbandry I have unfortunately found this to be the case this week.

The week started badly when on Monday night only 28 of my 29 guinea fowl returned to their hut. I thought this was strange so did the rounds of the hedgerows thinking that she may be sitting on the large number of eggs that I had not been able to locate. Unfortunately as I headed up the hedgerow that separates the paddock and the field with barley growing in it, I noticed a pile of grey spotted feathers. I knew instantly that the unlucky guinea fowl had become prey for the fox. Although it is light until late at night, it is not wise to leave my guinea fowl free-ranging much after 6 as the crops and hedgerows make great cover for the fox and the vixen who is out searching for food for her cubs. I am pleased to report that no more guinea fowl have fallen prey to the fox since I have been bringing my guinea fowl in a little earlier, even though they don’t want to go in at that time and a job that would normally take a max of 10 minutes can now take up to an hour rounding all the guinea fowl up.

On Wednesday morning I went to feed the sows only to find that Lacy would not get up and eat. cagney was up but staying close to Lacy. Cagney did eat a little but not a lot. I wasn’t sure what was the matter. By teatime Lacy was up and feeding but Cagney was now a little subdued and not eating. I decided to keep my eye on them. By Thursday Lacy was back to her normal self but Cagney still wouldn’t eat despite my attempts with the bucket under her nose. At midnight having scoured the internet for information about sick sows and having convinced myself that by morning Cagney would be dead, I headed back out to the barn. When I entered Cagney was stood up. She did lay down and so I brought her some fresh straw to and placed it on top of her to keep warm. I left the barn reluctantly at 1.30am realising that there was nothing I could do to help Cagney. I woke early this morning to check on Cagney and she is still not well. Upon inspection my father-in-law thinks that she has mastitis. She has had an injection and is now resting. She did manage to have a drink of water and had a little food. Now only time will tell. I just hope that we have injected her soon enough to get rid of the infection. Cagney is the most gentle pig you could ever wish to meet and she is not just a sow that is on the farm for breeding purposes, she means more to me than that. I have already shed a tear or two and can only hope that she returns to her lovely gentle healthy self.

Again on Thursday just as I was heading out for coffee with my blogpal Birdy Trish, I noted that it was day 24 of the duck egg incubation and that it was time to take the egg turner out. I decided that I would do the job in the afternoon when I returned. (I bet you can guess what’s coming!) Yes by the time I returned and had had my lunch, as I was washing up I suddenly heard a tweet coming from the incubator. I couldn’t believe it, a duckling’s beak was sticking out of the shell and was quite close to the top of the incubator as the duck eggs are so big. I called my husband who returned home to help remove the turner. Opening the incubator at the wrong time can be fatal to the eggs hatching. By teatime the duckling that was well on the way to hatching had stopped moving. Some of the other eggs had pipped but nothing was happening. From experience I have found that although the books say don’t help the chicks, the only way to get a successful hatch when the eggs have been pipped a while is to help the chicks along. we decided to check on the duckling that had made a good effort to get out. Unfortunately the duckling had died. We did find some eggs that were pipped and had live ducklings in so we decided to help them out. It is now Friday morning and at the moment we have 3 ducklings that have hatched with assistance. i am not sure if anymore are going to hatch. Conditions were obviously not right in the incubator and although I think that many of the eggs are fertile, I don’t think that this is going to be a successful hatch. I’ll keep you posted with news on Cagney and the ducklings and I hope that I don’t have to report back of another fox incident.

Each side of the hut has uneven edges as the wood is rotting in places. A few days ago I decided to put by carpentry skills to the test and saw off the uneven edges and make the base of the chicken hut level so that the hut sits on the ground with no gaps between the hut and the ground. I have managed to saw all the edges successfully and the hut now stands on the ground without any gaps.

I have painted the outside of the hut a medium oak wood preserver that is safe for animals and the hut is beginning to look like new!

I have also nailed parts of the sides together where they were coming apart.

The next job is to replace the wire netting on the front of the door and then decide what to do with the floor. If I add wood to the floor then it might be heavy to move about and may rot over time but the wood would stop any predators from burrowing under the hut and attacking the poultry. A wire netting floor would not be so heavy and would allow the birds to peck at the grass under the hut but there is an increased risk of predators getting into the hut as the wire netting is not as secure as the wood. Decisions, decision!

If anyone has any advice they would like to give about the flooring of the poultry hut then I would like to hear it, so please leave a comment.

On Monday Lightening The II didn’t look very well. She was reluctant to come out of the poultry hut and spent the day sitting in the same place unless I got abit too close for her and she reluctantly moved to a safe distance. I noticed that her droppings were a little loose so I checked out my guinea fowl books and decided that she had every guinea fowl ailment in the books.

I made sure that she had access to water and I actually saw her drink which was a good sign, although the books did say that drinking too much was a syptom of various illnesses, so this was also a potential worry.

On Tuesday Lightening The II  looked a little better and although she wasn’t rushing out the door with some of the other guinea fowl she did make her way outside and ventured further than the previous day, although she did stay relatively close to the poultry hut.

On Wednesday she appeared more spritely and she wandered about alot. I saw her eating grass and she started to call out to the others which she hadn’t done for a few days.

She is still keeping to herself but she no longer looks poorly.

I am not sure if Lightening The II is poorly. Initially I thought that she might have coccidiosis, but now I am not sure if she is broody or being bullied by the other guinea fowl. I don’t know if it is true but sometimes poultry can pick on a bird if they are a different colour so this may be what is happening as she is my only white guinea fowl. I only question this as I have one pearl guinea fowl and she is certainly not bullied. 

I will let you know how Lightening The II gets on over the next few days.