Tagged and logged (in Evans and on website) some recent keeper sows. Added some others to my For Sale page. I have several reserved, now to get people to actually pick them up! The winter is so tough on pig sales!

One person was really interested but would need pigs shipped. I told her I don't ship, because No. 1 it is a pain in the ass not worth the chunk of my time, and No. 2 I don't think any pig is worth the low price of the pig plus the high cost of shipping and accoutrements plus the time lost that I could have been doing something more productive, like selling a pig to someone within a 2-hr drive. I'm fortunate to live close to a popular region pig-wise.

Meanwhile a young MM sow popped out a MM clone baby compliments of her dad who didn't like being separated from his family and climbed back in (apparently chimney-climbing the water bottle and food dish) for 2.5 seconds--just long enough to nail his offspring. Ugh.

Still have more to inventory, but it's nice to see some fresh faces on my sow pages.

 I recently added a second level onto my ex pen. The pigs only get little bits of time in it so it takes awhile for a full rotation of the caviary—they’re cautious at first-- but I think they’re all comfortable in it now.

Today it was a turn for Posy and her two half-grown sow offspring. They were in there a little over an hour—about the time it takes me to completely clean a few cages, water and feed everyone and clean up.

Well had they had me laughing so hard. No one’s done this to date. Usually they NASCAR in circles around the lower level, and every now and then one will venture “upstairs,” check it out and come back down. I have a Texel sow who likes to nap up there after exercising, probably because it’s covered in fleecy fur rather than the toweling on the base level.

Well today—and all three of them did it the same way at least once I’m pretty sure— the pattern was zip in a circle around the hut “downstairs,” then run up the ramp at full speed, spin around at the top and zip back down again, another lap around the hut and back up the ramp and repeat. They were all doing this at once—and Posy is 2 1/2!   

They had the fleece at the top of the ramp all kicked up they whirled around so fast. Every now and then someone running up would run into someone coming down and it’s a tight squeeze, but they barely paused the MPH. OMG I was in stitches.

I cleaned pigs, carried out two 50-lb tubs of litter, then carried in a bag of shavings and four 40-lb bags of pellets and that was it. I'm pooped. The other six bags of pellets, 50 lbs of chicken feed, 100 lbs of cavy-lets and one bag of shavings are gonna have to wait. This is why I don't use the pickup. My RAV is like a mobile feed shed LOL.

I was very happy to see my Teddy sow Alyssum had the single baby I knew she was carrying.

Alyssum is nearly all white with red and black eye patches. She has excellent conformation and coat, which is why I kept her despite her being mismarked. She's almost 2 and has had some nice babies. Allium, her daughter, is a very nice brindle who had babies a couple days ago.

I noticed this baby looked all white so I picked him up. If I didn't raise primarily roans I'd probably never even think to look, because Alyssum is a TSW, not a roan. She had been bred to a roan though. So I checked his teeth. Twice. Damn! NO teeth at all. I examined his eyes. They didn't seem unusually small, but were very red underneath, almost like a cherry eye. He was very docile, but then again he was only a couple hours old at best. Definitely a lethal. He was immediately euthanized.

I felt bad for Alyssum. She is a very good mom. One of Allium's three babies is a golden agouti, a color I don't care for and never keep, and to top it off he has a pinstripe blaze. Definitely not a keeper. I plopped him in with Alyssum. He immediately snuggled under her. What's he care? She's got two teats!

Alyssum seemed a bit taken aback. I'd removed a familiar-smelling white baby and gave back a dark funny-smellng one. Better clean all that off him, she apparently thought, LOL. He got a good tough-love cleaning for awhile but she seemed to accept him.

Later she went to the front of the cage and left him behind and he cried a bit. I think he probably missed having sibs around him. But he'll be well-fed. Then he went to find her and she stopped eating and went back to him. I guess they've bonded pretty well. Gotta love piggies for that. On any other day they might beat the pants off another sow, but give em a newbie and instinct kicks in and they'll clean the heck out of it and snuggle it. Of course this isn't 100 percent with every sow, but close enough that I didn't have to watch these two for very long.

I probably should have back-bred Alyssum but I just didn't get around to it. She'll have a bit of a break.

What's nice about this arrangement is that even if I forget whose kid this is, being as how he (or she, I haven't actually sexed it) is a mismark, it'll go for a pet without a pedigree anyway so it doesn't matter. I WILL make note of it though.

I had a mom die after giving birth last year and I gave her baby to another sow to raise. She'd had all boys and after they left home I kept the two sows togehter and I had to continually check and remember whose baby it actually was. You think you'd be safe raising mostly tri roans and brindles but this past year I've had several look very much alike. I had to tag all the suckers at weaning before I mixed them up. I even noted a couple ear tags on my Web site as another backup.

Or maybe I'm just getting old, LOL.

So what does everyone think of our new Web site?

http://NYSCF.net

Our company, VentureWise Design designed and maintains it for the club in our free time. I think it looks very professional and contemporary. I still have a lot of little details to tweak though, and since it's done mostly on "free time" (THERE's an oymoron, eh?) everyone has to be more patient. But since it does represent VentureWise we try always to do a professional job, and not take TOO long.

I got the Auburn show photos up last night even though I had a rotten headache and didn't need to be staring at the computer after 8 hours of it, steady. **Pats self on back** Hee hee, such a martyr.

I just got an e-mail that tomorrow night I have to copy edit a business magazine. Uck. I actually like the work but it's nice on those nights I DON'T have to edit, and the 'zine is I think the longest publication I regularly edit. So it can be hard to fit stuff in sometimes.

On that gallery page, I think I am going to delete all but the first row and maybe add directions that you click on the thumbnail to go to an album--is that obvious or do you think it needs directions?

Then I'll add an album or two by year of some past shots that are all over the place on my harddrive right now.

And I gotta get working on that breeders directory! I want to link it both here and to the NYSCF site.

And I quote:

The association which is a crowd deeply loves the cavy composes, the cavy is call guinea pig, or call “kui mouse” （Hong Konger, Taiwanese and Japanese）, the Dutch pig（Mainland Chinese） and so on. They lovable tame, is humanity's good partner, everybody shares info and happy together!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=39786871671&ref=search&sid=670902347.2070572516..1

Why do some pigs INSIST on drinking by YANKING the bottle, lifting it with their teeth even?

I have a pair in one cage, the boar has managed to unhook the nearly full bottle twice today and flip it into the cage with a large thud. Good thing there's not like newborns to squish! I finally taped it down. I generally tape all the bottles down but after a few days of refilling the tape gets less sticky and/or chewed so i have to re-tape.

I was just watching said boar yanking on the bottle, flipping his head under the bottle, then yanking and drinking again. His older, wiser cagemate was reclining nearby, passively watching him. I could almost hear her warn him: "You're gonna bring the thing down on your head again!"

I was recounting this story to a friend and wondering out loud how my super-coated Teddy boy could have produced such flat- soft-coated babies. The sow has a pet-quality coat, but it's still obvious she's a Teddy-she just has flat sides and could use kink. I was mentioning how they look almost like my Texel babies, except they have no waves.

That's when the lightbulb went off. I grabbed my Harry Claus book and turned to his article "Attention: Texel Breeders." Texels, one of the newest breeds, were reportedly produced by combining Silkies with Rexes. Rexes are a European breed similar to Teddies -- their coats are similar -- but the similar coat is reportedly controlled by a different gene than the Teddy coat.

Apparently you can also make Silkie x Teddy Texels, for Claus noted people had been wondering what we're showing in the US-- if our Texels came from Rexes, or our own Teddies. A simple cross can give you the answer, he said. Breed a Texel to a Teddy. If your Texel carries the Teddy coat gene, you will get Teddies. If your Texels are based on the Rex gene, the babies will all be Americans.

Well, I breed Texels AND Teddies. Those are the only breeds in my caviary and they are all purebred for at least many generations. I've had the odd Lothario jump cages, so I started to think... Hmmm Texel x Teddy = American babies...

I finally remembered that when the super-coated slightly older Teddy boy was seen jumping the young Teddy sow, he WASN'T the only older boy in the cage. There had been another Teddy and a Texel of approximately the same age. I had held all three back, then sold the one Teddy and the Texel when they didn't mature as well as I'd hoped. My Texels are red and white. Just because I saw the Teddy raping the little sow didn't mean she hadn't just been impregnated by the TEXEL boar!!

Well, it WAS a total mistake and the babies aren't going to be sold with pedigrees or used for breeding anyway, but eureka! Now I solved the mystery of the unexplainable American litter in the Teddy and Texel caviary, AND I know my Texels (most of them anyway!) are based on Rex genes.

THANKS Harry Claus!!

Backing up a bit, I had this litter I had checked for gender and I was sure I had remembered who was a girl and who was a boy.

You know where this is going, LOL. I put the baby "boys" from the litter in with a slightly older boar. Everything was peachy for several weeks--they all got along so well!!

Wll after a couple weeks I hear this screeching to see the older boar raping a younger one. Even then it didn't occur to me--boys will be randy boys, LOL!-- but I just thought I'd check for the heck with it. OMG it's a GIRL!! I put her immediately in with two young "keeper" sows and here it is 70-whatever days later.

So this morning I hear the tiny squeaking of a newborn, and checked and she'd had three. Number four came along right after. They all seemed  bit perturbed, but they took turns cleaning the babies, after sniffing and not knowing what else to do with the little aliens, LOL.

So everything seems to be going well--they're a good size for being from a small sow. There are three red and white brokens (ugh) and a self red. The mom is a self red with a so-so coat--she was to be sold as a pet. The dad is a mismarked red and white with one big roaned patch. I assumed he's genetically roan, but not sure. His mom is roan; dad is TSW with an excellent coat and type and son inherited both so I decided to keep him despite his iffy markings.

So anyway, the wet babies looked not impressive, so I waited til they dried. They have the softest, flattest coats I've ever seen. If I hadn't seen the breeding myself I'd've sworn she'd been with an American. There's just the very slightest wave to the coats, like straight Texel babies. And the parents aren't related, at least not very closely, or I'd have thought some sort of recessive brought about by inbreeding...

Oh well. They're cute except for the flat coat, and very soft. Mom and babies will be sold to pet homes anyway. It's the first "oops" litter I've ever had so I don't feel too guilty for overpopulating the world with crap Teddies, LOL.

These guys will have the cleanest ears in town because the cagemates keep coming over and cleaning them and so does mom. Ears seem to be a fave, LOL. I'll be separating them right after work though.

The other day I was cleaning piggies and tossed an adult sow and boar into an extra tub lined with a bath towel while I cleaned their cage. I looked down to see them tug o' warring over the tag attached to the towel!

It was the funniest thing--she'd nabbed it as something interesting to nibble and he spies her chewing with something hanging out of her mouth and, in typical piggy fashion, HAS to check it out and grab it out of her mouth, but nuh-uh, she wasn't letting go of THIS prime tidbit!