Janis, showing us how she really feels...When stuff like the piglet escapade happens everything else on the farm stands still. No goats need milking, no pastures rotating, meals cooking, gardens weeding.

We wish.

In fact, not only does everything still happen, none of the animals even seem to care! The goats were actually perturbed by the whole thing. When Bridget and Mayday would come in for milking Bridget would walk right over to the edge of the fence and snort loudly at the little gilt piglets.

The cows knew exactly where the boars were hiding and would stand on their fence line staring at the little guys. No mooing, just a curious stare. No wonder the piglets emerged so infrequently. I wouldn't be too keen on running about if an 800 pound wooly mammoth was giving me the ice-cold stare either.

Of course the dogs escaped at one point and started tracking the piglets, clearly on the hunt to eradicate the newest intruders. That quickly had to come to a stop and we fenced off the dogs with the goats during the stakeout. After the piglets were all accounted for we introduced the dogs. Sheba and Izzi, the big girls, grew up with Tamworth hogs, so they didn’t seem to mind the little oinkers too much. Sophie was perplexed by the whole situation, but she doesn’t get too aggressive with anything except the neighbor cows, so that all went well.
Freja getting broody on some Guinea eggs last week.
The chickens and guineas showed a lot of interest in the piglets and would always seek out places where they had been to peck around and eat the bugs around the manured area. Good chickens.

Our “house dog” also got in on the act. She is actually an outdoor dog, she just lives around the house instead of out with the animals. She “came with the property” and since she’s obedient and very sweet with the animals, she found a new home with us. On several occasions she showed some curiosity and scampered over to see what all the grunting was about, but those pigs can get a little feisty sometimes and they scared her off real quick.

About the only animal around here that didn’t meet the pigs is Levon. He got back his swagger after nearly getting eaten by Sheba and now he goes outside on a regular basis. Generally, he’s very inquisitive and always on the lookout for new stuff, but he stayed far away from the Ossabaws. Smart cat.
The goats love distractions - especially if they're edible!
And so life went on at the farm. The goats got milked twice a day, everyone ate fresh pasture, the chickens laid their eggs, the guineas ate the ticks and eventually the piglets were trapped. There’s always something popping up that distracts our attention from other things, but the animals just keep on going.