Not a great weekend. I had been having trouble with my tractor for a few months. I have posted about that before. Last week I changed the hydraulic oil and removed the filter. Friday afternoon on my way home I rode my BMW R1150RT to Paige TX to buy a new hydraulic oil filter. They didn't have one and sent me to Giddings to get one. Well darn, that's further out so I went. Opened the door to the auto parts store to find an empty building. After looking around I saw there was an opening into another half of the building that was in operation. It looks like the auto parts place is cutting itself in half. Sign of the times I suppose. I asked for a hydraulic oil filter for a 1990 Ford 1720 tractor and the sales guy immediately went to work. I had expected a puzzled look and a "you want a part for a TRACTOR?" kind of question. They had one and I bought it. Had a nice ride home, put the filter on the kitchen counter (where all new things end up) and went off to do other things.
Mimi is improving. For the last 3 days we have been opening a small door that would allow Mimi out of the barn and into a large paddock. We've planted corn, sunflowers and other grains, grasses in there for our Buck, but he has been demoted to the outside for the time being. Mimi gets the good stall. She has finally emerged to the outdoors of her own volition. Of course we MIGHT have lured her with corn and apples and other treats. She brought her kids and they are having a great time learning to rototill dirt, push stones and food around and scamper around fighting with each other. Mimi was a bit more conservative and looked around and retired back into the indoor portion of her stall.
I got around to replacing the tractor's hydraulic oil filter and refilling the oil. Of course the tractor needed more than the 5 gallons of oil I had on hand, so a quick trip to Tractor Supply and another 39.00 dollars solved that problem. Put the oil in, started the tractor - it is still very hard to start - the goats were in the dogleg field so I had a chance to scoop some muck! What fun! Open the gate, shoo the mating peacock and peahen out of the way, start the tractor, realize that the tractor's left front tire is flat, run for the air tank, realize the air tank doesn't have enough air in it to fill a tire, turn on the air compressor to fill the tank to fill the tire and wait. Once there's enough air I run back to the running tractor and fill the tire. Yay! Success! I drive into the barnyard, scoop some muck, back out, put the tractor in neutral, put the brake on, remove seat belt, jump off and close the gate because after all this time the goats have returned. Jump back on the tractor, put my seat belt back on, put the tractor in reverse and....nothing. It doesn't move... just a faint whirring sound. All 3 gears and reverse. Nothing. I poke. I prod. Nothing. I took off part of the dashboard to look at the gearshift linkage. Nothing. Oiled it anyway. Nothing.
I was disgusted.
This afternoon while we were enjoying our late afternoon custom of sitting out watching the goats, I was bothered by a decaying animal matter smell coming from Mimi's stall. This tied in with the hundreds of flies that were swarming there yesterday and today. I was thinking there could be an afterbirth under the hay in one corner. Nope. Worse. I found 2 decaying piglets. Got them out of there immediately. Removed any hay that might have been in contact with them and powdered the area with Diatomaceous earth. Tomorrow the flies will be gone and Mimi will be more comfortable. So she had 6 piglets total. That falls nicely into the 5 to 8 for a potbellied pig.
As we walked back to the house after goat watching, I said I'm going to try the tractor again. Kristi watches as I start it and futilely try to move the tractor. She looks at it and says "What's this" pointing at the range selector lever. I told her what it was, shifted it into a different range at the same time noticing that it seemed to be in neutral. Put the tractor into gear and it worked fine.
S^#T!!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
what a day...
So everything's just fine... Mimi had her piglets. Great. But something's wrong. She's not eating much, she's fatter than she needs to be for just having had kids and she seems like she's got very little energy.
Thanks to a friend in Orange Grove (who runs M & T feeds), I found that Mimi may have more kids inside her. Is she pooping? Yes. That means the bulge in her stomach isn't gas or uh, other.
I told Mike and he called the vet to get something called Oxytocin, which should help her expel anything in there that's not supposed to be. After a little more investigation, we decide to take her to the vet - and did so at 4:00ish yesterday afternoon. My friend had inadvertently saved Mimi's life.
We arrived and the woman took her temperature (a bit high) and gave her the oxytocin, then we waited for about 20 minutes. She expelled blood, but no kids.
"What kind of pig was she mated to?" An American Yorkshire, we say... too big for that little potbelly to handle, apparently.
After the Oxytocin didn't work, they had to go in to see what they could find. And find something they did, but the vet's hands were too big. They called in a smaller-handed girl, but she couldn't get what seemed to be a snout of another kid out.
Yes, there were kids.
So now what? They were going to have to sedate her and see if they could get the kids out (they used a rope!) and that worked. There were two kids. Both dead. I had to leave at this point. It had already been a pretty upsetting day for me. But I didn't stay away for long.
I came back and they were finished. The kids that they pulled out were huge - probably just about as big as the living kids are... THREE days later!
We brought Mimi home, clipped her nails, cleaned her ears and her eyes (because it's a lot easier when she's sedated) and put her back in the stall. We kept the kids in a basket and put them next to her stall so she wouldn't try to get them out and then inadvertently sit on them and kill them.
Mike was making dinner and I went out to the barn to check on her and put her kids with her. She was grunting a lot, but as soon as the kids were by her side, she laid down and began feeding them and was quiet.
Because there can be lesions for kids that stay in (although the vet doesn't think she felt any in there), there could be issues in the next day or two with infections that could be fatal, but Mimi was happy to eat this morning (after an initial refusal), and she seems a little better.
Thanks to a friend in Orange Grove (who runs M & T feeds), I found that Mimi may have more kids inside her. Is she pooping? Yes. That means the bulge in her stomach isn't gas or uh, other.
I told Mike and he called the vet to get something called Oxytocin, which should help her expel anything in there that's not supposed to be. After a little more investigation, we decide to take her to the vet - and did so at 4:00ish yesterday afternoon. My friend had inadvertently saved Mimi's life.
We arrived and the woman took her temperature (a bit high) and gave her the oxytocin, then we waited for about 20 minutes. She expelled blood, but no kids.
"What kind of pig was she mated to?" An American Yorkshire, we say... too big for that little potbelly to handle, apparently.
After the Oxytocin didn't work, they had to go in to see what they could find. And find something they did, but the vet's hands were too big. They called in a smaller-handed girl, but she couldn't get what seemed to be a snout of another kid out.
Yes, there were kids.
So now what? They were going to have to sedate her and see if they could get the kids out (they used a rope!) and that worked. There were two kids. Both dead. I had to leave at this point. It had already been a pretty upsetting day for me. But I didn't stay away for long.
I came back and they were finished. The kids that they pulled out were huge - probably just about as big as the living kids are... THREE days later!
We brought Mimi home, clipped her nails, cleaned her ears and her eyes (because it's a lot easier when she's sedated) and put her back in the stall. We kept the kids in a basket and put them next to her stall so she wouldn't try to get them out and then inadvertently sit on them and kill them.
Mike was making dinner and I went out to the barn to check on her and put her kids with her. She was grunting a lot, but as soon as the kids were by her side, she laid down and began feeding them and was quiet.
Because there can be lesions for kids that stay in (although the vet doesn't think she felt any in there), there could be issues in the next day or two with infections that could be fatal, but Mimi was happy to eat this morning (after an initial refusal), and she seems a little better.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Gilt by association
Ha ha! What riotus fun farm humor is. A gilt is a female pig prior to having piglets. If my humor is off a bit today there's a reason for it. Mimi, our pot belly pig has had piglets!! She started building a nest out of fresh hay (ha ha! another farm joke) at 6pm Saturday night, started pushing in earnest at 1am this morning and sometime between 4:49 and 6:39 she had 2 piglets! Why don't I know the exact time? Because it seems I slept through my 6:00 alarm. Both are healthy active little squealers. She has passed an afterbirth which could mean the end or not depending on if she's finished or not. Pigs have 2 sides to their uterus and each side has to be done and have an afterbirth.
I am finishing this up at 8:25pm. She has not had any more piglets, so 2 is what we get. Normal would be 5 to 8. It is her first time. This is fine because really, 3 pigs is more than enough to handle. The daddy was an American Yorkshire pig (hog) and he probably weighed around 250 when he went off to freezer camp where he is enjoying an extended stay (lets all sing kumbayah!!) If we were to total up all the packages in the freezer he would probably weigh a lot less now, because we have eaten some. Does this gross you out?
I am finishing this up at 8:25pm. She has not had any more piglets, so 2 is what we get. Normal would be 5 to 8. It is her first time. This is fine because really, 3 pigs is more than enough to handle. The daddy was an American Yorkshire pig (hog) and he probably weighed around 250 when he went off to freezer camp where he is enjoying an extended stay (lets all sing kumbayah!!) If we were to total up all the packages in the freezer he would probably weigh a lot less now, because we have eaten some. Does this gross you out?
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
The Spring Post
That doesn't sound optimistic. Possibly realistic.
We have had 18 kids so far this year. Goat 19 is still pregnant due sometime this month.
Mimi the potbelly pig is pregnant. Due tomorrow. She is the queen of our farm. She gets what she wants over all other animals (including us) She is cranky and cantankerous and fun and sometimes loving. Rarely loving, but it happens. She was mated to an American Yorkshire pig. They had a swell time together. We have moved her from her shed to a barn stall (the indignity!) So she can have her piglets. She was being bothered by flies all around her eyes and Kristi solved that problem tonight with mint oils. We applied mint mixed with water on a paper-towel and rubbed it around her eyes (I tested it on my eyes first to make sure it wouldn't sting. So it was human tested before being applied to a pig....sigh) This had an immediate effect and the troublesome flies are gone! Yay! Mimi's attitude has changed for the better! She even let us pet her and brush her! We also sprayed it on the goats. They are pestered by flies this time of year and we suspect they bite. One brief application of the mint spray and the flies are gone the goats are less stressed and to top it off, they smell better! The goats smell better, not the flies.
Kristi planted loofahs tonight and some birdhouse gourds for me. We're a bit late to the party with planting, but my tractor hasn't been running and we really need it. I had arranged with a fellow to come pick it up and haul it to the tractor repair shop last Saturday. I filled the flat tire, and hooked up a battery charger. Got a tow chain out and brought over the pickup. Once the battery was charged and the chain hooked up. I towed the tractor (with Kristi steering) to the end of the driveway where the tow truck would be able to winch it up. Kristi said to try starting it. Now I had tried starting it dozens of times over the last few months and I knew it to be a futile effort. I tried it anyway just to appease her and of course it started! F&*(!! I hate it when that happens. I called off the tow guy, and immediately began mucking out the barn. This isn't as much fun as it sounds. It hadn't been done for about 9 MONTHS and it REALLY NEEDED it. Goats have little common decency and they will do absolutely disgusting things right there IN the barn in front of anyone. After that I disced the two garden plots, turning under the grasses and weeds and making the dirt nice and fluffy for planting.
That's when I started pushing the limits. I tried to haul the barn muck to the compost area. There is about 9 cubic yards of "muck" that will over a couple of months become 6 cubic yards of beautiful rich compost. All it requires is that I turn the whole mess over a few times with the tractor, add water while I'm turning it and oh yes, our secret ingredient for central Texas - elemental Sulfur. We moved that goats into the driveway so they could eat the grass and weeds on either side. That would keep them occupied for a few hours while I moved the muck. I got about half of it moved when the tractor began acting up. When I would raise the bucket to dump the muck on top of the pile, the disc set on the back would drop to the ground and drag. It would drag enough that I couldn't pull forward to drop my load. Arrg! The tractor with have an appointment with the tractor doctor. I don't know how to fix hydraulics, but I'm gaining experience breaking them.
Oh the peahen may also be fertile. I have seen the peacock mate with her a few times. We would love to have some more peafowl. They eat lots of bugs, we don't have to feed them, they take care of themselves and Kristi sells the feathers of the peacock every year so they are profitable for us!! Only the peafowl and chickens make money. Everything else costs.
We have had 18 kids so far this year. Goat 19 is still pregnant due sometime this month.
Mimi the potbelly pig is pregnant. Due tomorrow. She is the queen of our farm. She gets what she wants over all other animals (including us) She is cranky and cantankerous and fun and sometimes loving. Rarely loving, but it happens. She was mated to an American Yorkshire pig. They had a swell time together. We have moved her from her shed to a barn stall (the indignity!) So she can have her piglets. She was being bothered by flies all around her eyes and Kristi solved that problem tonight with mint oils. We applied mint mixed with water on a paper-towel and rubbed it around her eyes (I tested it on my eyes first to make sure it wouldn't sting. So it was human tested before being applied to a pig....sigh) This had an immediate effect and the troublesome flies are gone! Yay! Mimi's attitude has changed for the better! She even let us pet her and brush her! We also sprayed it on the goats. They are pestered by flies this time of year and we suspect they bite. One brief application of the mint spray and the flies are gone the goats are less stressed and to top it off, they smell better! The goats smell better, not the flies.
Kristi planted loofahs tonight and some birdhouse gourds for me. We're a bit late to the party with planting, but my tractor hasn't been running and we really need it. I had arranged with a fellow to come pick it up and haul it to the tractor repair shop last Saturday. I filled the flat tire, and hooked up a battery charger. Got a tow chain out and brought over the pickup. Once the battery was charged and the chain hooked up. I towed the tractor (with Kristi steering) to the end of the driveway where the tow truck would be able to winch it up. Kristi said to try starting it. Now I had tried starting it dozens of times over the last few months and I knew it to be a futile effort. I tried it anyway just to appease her and of course it started! F&*(!! I hate it when that happens. I called off the tow guy, and immediately began mucking out the barn. This isn't as much fun as it sounds. It hadn't been done for about 9 MONTHS and it REALLY NEEDED it. Goats have little common decency and they will do absolutely disgusting things right there IN the barn in front of anyone. After that I disced the two garden plots, turning under the grasses and weeds and making the dirt nice and fluffy for planting.
That's when I started pushing the limits. I tried to haul the barn muck to the compost area. There is about 9 cubic yards of "muck" that will over a couple of months become 6 cubic yards of beautiful rich compost. All it requires is that I turn the whole mess over a few times with the tractor, add water while I'm turning it and oh yes, our secret ingredient for central Texas - elemental Sulfur. We moved that goats into the driveway so they could eat the grass and weeds on either side. That would keep them occupied for a few hours while I moved the muck. I got about half of it moved when the tractor began acting up. When I would raise the bucket to dump the muck on top of the pile, the disc set on the back would drop to the ground and drag. It would drag enough that I couldn't pull forward to drop my load. Arrg! The tractor with have an appointment with the tractor doctor. I don't know how to fix hydraulics, but I'm gaining experience breaking them.
Oh the peahen may also be fertile. I have seen the peacock mate with her a few times. We would love to have some more peafowl. They eat lots of bugs, we don't have to feed them, they take care of themselves and Kristi sells the feathers of the peacock every year so they are profitable for us!! Only the peafowl and chickens make money. Everything else costs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
