Yup, more bad luck. I would like to say our luck gets better eventually, but it really doesn't.
We try to just laugh about it because the other option would be a mental breakdown, and "Ain't nobody have time for that!"
From the evidence that was in the barn, it seems the piglets got out of the gated pen, away from the heat lamp.
It was possible my Dog Roxy was clawing at the piglets to "help" them or tried picking them up like a mother does her puppies on the back of their necks.
Well…Apparently, it was a little too rough…she clawed them to death according to the puncture wounds…
Not all of them thankfully. We still had 3 of the 12 left.
In Roxy's defense, Sweet Pea didn't do a very good job at being a mother the first couple of hours of giving birth before I woke up.
IT WAS AWFUL. I CRIED FOR 3 DAYS!
My poor husband felt so guilty for letting our dog stay outside.
He felt that was the best choice because of the coyotes we heard that night.
He believed Roxy would protect them.
I really do think she was trying her best …
Poor Roxy, Poor Piglets, Poor Farmer John, Poor Grace, Poor Luke, Poor Mommy.
It was a sad day on the Grotte Farm.
One great thing that did happen though...
Grace rescued the runt that was the size of my hand!
She proudly proclaimed; “Mommy I will save her, sing Jesus loves me, Rocky-rocky her, and keep her warm.”
(John and I really thought that Piglet was going to pass. But we let her try anyway.)
Grace kept her promise, kept her wrapped up for several days, helped bottle feed her, prayed for her, and loved on her.
That baby runt is now fully grown and thriving.
We named her “Tesha”, meaning “Survivor.”
...
It wasn’t but another week that we all were in the barn in the middle of the day, and Luke got his first animal Anatomy lesson.
All I hear is Luke Screaming, “MOMMA! THERES SOMETHING COMING OUT OF OREO!!!”
Grace, John, and I run to see Luke witnessing his first live birth. Piglets shootin' out of her like a bottle rocket.
We sent the kids inside; we didn’t want to spoil their dinner.
Sure as hell spoiled mine though, because the next thing you know I'm having to stick my whole a$$ arm wrapped in a trash bag inside that sow to help.
Never in my life would I or anyone would have thought that this would be me now.
I went from being a hairdresser to a farmer in .10 seconds.
Got my veterinary master's from the school of YouTube and Google.
It is Safe to say, she had 2 healthy piglets. And they are still SO dang cute.
And if it isn’t obvious by now, we haven’t gotten rid of those pigs…
Well…Except maybe one is in our freezer…
In total, we have two girls and 5 boys.
The moment those things realized what they were capable of (which was only about a MONTH BEING ALIVE), we had to separate the males from females before we had another pregnant sow on the farm.
Now, that's not to say that they are not constantly trying to break down the fence to get to the girls.
A bunch of teenagers going through puberty around here.
I sure learned a lesson from all that. Being a farmer is hard.
Seeing animal death is not easy, but it is the circle of life.
You must be a certain type of tough to raise a homestead.
We go round' eating beef, pork, and chicken like it ain't no thang.'
(But a chicken wang').
We don’t think about the farmers who care for the animals just to butcher them so all of us spoiled Americans can eat.
I see God in everything, especially here.
An innocent child who has the faith to heal an animal.
Or the moment a piglet comes out of the womb, it sniffs out the mother's breast.
A hen's natural instinct: sit on an egg to become a momma and don't move until it hatches.
A fox hunting for food to bring back to its babies.
A dog trying to protect a tiny creature from outside elements.
(Unless you're a pig like "Sweet Pea" and you don't have a motherly instinct. I called her the demon pig; she was MEAN with red eyes!)
((Well, Jesus did cast demons into pigs, maybe she was just a product of the evil that was here before we moved in.))
You bet your little butt I was praying out loud to Jesus when I was around her, spraying her down with the water hose, pretending it was Holy Water.
🙏 Amen