Makin’ Bacon

…and they also do other, ummm…things, here

Our breeding sow, Bubble, is now seven months old.  This means she is officially old enough to become pregnant.  Since this is the first pig porkin’ rodeo for any of us, hogs and humans included, we are (as ever) learning what to do and how to do it as we go.

Until today, there wasn’t a lot happening in the ol’ hog shed.  Bubble and Squeak ate and slept and rooted around in the mud, repeating this cycle ad infinitum.

Decidedly not-milky teats

Hoping that Bubble was, in fact, impregnated, I’d gotten into a pretty creepy habit of checking her teats and girlie bits every time I went out to feed or water them.  Everyday, I was sure her teats looked slightly fuller than the day before and perhaps her girlie bits were a tinge rosier and more plenteous than yesterday.  Each day, I thought maybe she might maybe be possibly pregnant.  Maybe.

I am here to report that it has been made abundantly clear to us that there is ABSOLUTELY no need for guesswork in this arena.  If the pig sheds a-rockin’, don’t bother knockin’.

Squeak has been wearing this mischievously satsified smile A LOT lately. Now we know why.

When a sow goes into heat, her lady region fairly morphs into a completely other body part.  It ain’t pretty, but it certainly leaves no room for questions.  The change has a profoundly seductive effect on the boar, who obliges in a manner that would have made John Holmes proud.  Dave actually managed to capture the entire affair on video–a cinematic delight I have respectfully chosen to omit from this post.

You are welcome.

Since pig gestation takes three months, three weeks, and three days (give or take), we have calculated that our first litter of piglets should arrive on or around July 17th.  This is really great news because it will allow us time to set up a place for her to farrow out in the woods, separate from Squeak, where she and the piglets will be safe and warm.

And cute. Odds are, they will be pretty darned cute.