Wow – it got really cold in a hurry! Last night went below 30F, and I woke up to frost and ice everywhere. Amazing to think that with a change in just a few degrees, water can be liquid or it can be solid, and that difference can change our lives!

Pigs know how to snuggle to keep warm when it gets cold out. We humans are not so smart usually. I’ve been learning a lot over the last few weeks about what it means to farrow a large group of piglets in the cold fall weather. Piglets are remarkably resilient it seems, especially my heritage breed crosses of LBH and Berkshire. I do not dock tails or cut wolf teeth, and I have noticed that about 10% of the piglets have some battle scars on their heads – cheeks and ears mostly. I think it looks worse then it is, but I have brought in a couple piglets to my temporary infirmary of a plastic garbage bin lined with hay to treat their wounds with a spray iodine, and to give them a bit of breathing room from their warrior brothers. There is a lot of warrior spirit in these little piglets, and the mommas as well. They are definitely protective of their young. When they hear a  squeal from a piglet (say, if I’m taking one to treat it’s wounds) they group together and emit guttural barking and grunting that is pretty effective at striking fear even in the heart of a kung fu farmer like myself.