What would you do if you were offered a horse before your farm was finished?
A horse you really didn't need or want but who really needed out of his situation?
I was asked how I could say no. I couldn't. I decided even if the answer was euthanasia it was a better answer than saying no.
And Sept 13th, 2013 Valiant arrived. I knew he was thin. I didn't know he was near death and starving.
Now on the anniversary of his 8th month here he is happy and filling out and muscling up. We've been able to have his teeth done and deworm him (many times).
He went onto a Cornell Study refeeding program - slowly slowly building him up to eating huge rations - for the first 72 hours he got less than 4 pounds of hay a day. Now he eats free choice hay 24/7 and gets 2 large meals too ...
Last night he wanted to canter while having his short ride - we did a half circle each way. What a good good boy.
Team Valiant deserves so much credit for making this possible. They fund raise for him so he can have the best of everything. He sees a chiro and vet monthly and has as good a life as we together can make for him.
yup - many many years in the making but we are actually living full time at the farm ...
still lots to do cleaning and packing school house stuff and figuring out what the future should be for it ..
but WE ARE HERE! and IT'S WONDERFUL!
The dogs are loving it.
We planted 37 trees Mum got us in a little tree nursery and along the fence line of the house - so neat to be planning so actively for the future
There are signs spring might be coming. All is good.
If you get asked to raise a pig and go to your friend Google you will discover raising a baby pig is very difficult. Survivability is low. (Yah, I made up the word. But you get the point.)
It's a scary thought to put so much work into something with the expectation it won't work out.
But saying no to this little face proved impossible. Meet Arnold.
A month of hard work and I hope the highest risk is over. He's very cute, very funny and been quite the education.
I present for you some cuteness and a primer on raising an orphan piglet. (Based on one pig and many many other orphan species).
1. Warmth is your friend. If you don't have a warm orphan you must NOT feed your baby. Warm them up first. Keep them warm and out of drafts. Arnold lived in a diaper box lined with towels and a heating pad at one end set on medium or high depending on how cold it was. He could always get away from the heat and he could always get to a hot spot. He did both. He still is draft free and has a little warmth source in one spot ... we've gradually increased his living space and it's working well. When we travel he has a snuggle safe in with him - warmed int he microwave it holds heat for up to 8 hours.
2. Find buddies. Even fake ones. He has 2 towel wrapped water bottle buddies that he can snuggle with. They stay quite warm up against a heat source. Arnold has some dog friends and a cat friend and gets lots of human contact too. Contact with living breathing interactive things is really important to proper growth. Singleton orphans need particular attention in this regard.
3. Feed the right stuff. Sometimes this is easy. Kitten formula for kittens, whole cow milk for cows but sometimes it is much harder. Pig milk replacer is on back order in our part of the world. It's been a month and it still hasn't come in. So off to my friend google and our farm vet I went and settled on kitten milk replacer fed at whatever amount Arnold wanted - mixed just a little stronger than the directions called for. Kitten milk does not have quite the same fat level as pig apparently. I thought about various ways to up the fat level and have been watching carefully to see if I should do anything but Arnold has thrived on kitten milk replacer. Thrived all the way up to consuming a tin a day.
4. Weaning is hard. Getting your orphan eating is tricky, messy and sometimes frustrating. Know it's coming and you will get through it. Start a little earlier than you might think. Just one or two meals in a dish the rest by bottle. Then one day the ratio will switch - one bottle at bed is a nice tradition to keep awhile but usually in my experience the animal eventually chews the nipple top off and weaning from a bottle is done. Keep a mash sloppy and wet for a long time to ensure the baby is getting enough water intake. I put a dish of water down at this point but it seems to take awhile til water is consumed.
5. Introduce your piglet to new foods in tiny amounts. Arnold is now eating a mix of oatmeal cereal (to ensure he gets lots of iron) kitten milk replacer and pig pellets - all soaked in hot water and allowed to sit - then just before feeding I add more water to make it more sloppy again.
6 Enjoy and love your baby. You are doing a great thing even trying to save the baby. Thank you!
Our farmhouse is being built in the middle of a big field so the first decision was where in the field would it go - we thought we knew - then we second guessed ourselves a bit - then got input from builder. It's very close to the original plan.
Then every little detail - siding, flooring, window, colours I expected - but trim for doors and windows? handles on doors? types of doors? baseboard look? stairs? railings? Wow. What an education.
The house is starting to look complete - just a few more choices for it and we'll be starting to move in ... so on to outside choices
Getting dog yard fenced - where? With what?
Garden? (any regular reader of this blog will know food garden will be first priority)
Where will the rabbits go? The Chickens?
Barn? Garage? What do we need today, tomorrow, in 10 years?
our water supply has gotten quirky ... iffy ... and we aren't quite sure why
occasionally it starts to freeze when the wind is a certain way and the temps are arctic - but we now have a good handle on stopping a full freeze ... but the pump is feeling gitchy too - occasionally with no warning at all it just stops. Give it 24 hours or so and it comes back - but highly annoying - always seems to happen when I was about to do dishes or laundry or both. Once poor Big T was in the shower - whoops!
oh rural living - sure helps you appreciate the hard work of our rural forefathers!
2013 has likely been a life changing year around here. Most years are when you think about it I suppose but this year has opened unexpected doors and may lead us unknown places. On New Year's Eve it seems only fitting to toast you -and hope your journey's are as rich and full as ours!
May you find patience to appreciate what frustrates you and peace with the things in life that aren't perfect. Think of people with love and understand it really isn't personal. Be open to change, no matter what else we have we will always have change, moving with it is much easier than resisting.
we spent 50 hours without power this week thanks to a beautifully treacherous ice storm.
Luckily the wood stove did a great job keeping the core of the schoolhouse at 60 or above. She also gave us a way to heat water - and on our final no power morning Big T scrambled eggs with her help.
We did well. We hunkered down and concentrated on survival.
The animals all did fine too. (Phew!)
the ice is stunning, terrifying, impressive, humbling
