New Piglets

Yesterday, while my brothers in-law were preparing the lechon baboy, the sow went into labor, giving birth to ten piglets.

Sadly, one piglet has already died.

These photos show the sow just before giving birth, followed by the first piglets born.

The final photos show the nine remaining piglets, as they feed this morning.

Finishing the Lechon Baboy

In two posts from yesterday, I chronicled the preparation of a lechon baboy for the celebration of my in-laws' 43rd wedding anniversary.

In this post, I will include photos of the final steps.....the baboy, as it is nearly complete, and photos of the lechon on the dining room table.

Preparing the Lechon Baboy

In my last post [Hogtying The Pig ] I published a series of photographs documenting the early stages of getting a pig ready to become the lechon baboy. Those photos showed the hogtying of the animal prior to it being slaughtered along with a few photos taken after the slaughtering.

The photos in this post show the removal of hair from the carcass, the washing of the pig and the beginning of the roasting.

As with my earlier photographs, some may not wish to view these and might question why I post them. These photos document life as it is in Philippines today. This is the way things are here - it is not a whitewashed portrayal.

Hogtying The Pig

There's going to be a celebration this evening, and I suppose some might say this pig will be the guest of honor - or rather the main course. She will be the lechon baboy or roasted pig.

The following series of photos show the pig being "hog tied" as it were, along with photos taken immediately after the slaughter. Although I did not photograph the actual slaughter, there is blood in some of the photos and some may not wish to view them.

You have been warned.

As I write this, water is being boiled to scald the carcass to facilitate the removal of hair. No need to photograph that.

Later, when they are further along in the roasting of the baboy, I will take photos for another post. I'm sure there will be some who will object to what is being documented in this post. This is, however life as it exists in Philippines today.

Male Piglets File Case In Court

According to an article at greenwichtime.com, Germany's male piglets become the latest animals to file cases in court.

Of course, it isn't actually the piggies filing cases with Germany's Federal constitutional Court , but rather PETA doing it on their behalf.
PETA is arguing that the castration of male piglets is in violation of German law, which states that animals shall not be harmed without reasonable explanation.

Regarding there being a a reasonable explanation for the need to castrate male piglets, one need merely go to porkgateway.org to read the following :
Removal of the testicles reduces the potential for odor and taint associated with male hormones in boars after puberty.

Clearly, pig farmers do not castrate piglets for sadistic pleasure, but because not doing so would give the meat of the grown pig an offensive odor.

I first learned of the need to castrate male piglets when I was nine or ten years old, when the father of one of my friends in the neighborhood had managed to capture a pig that some jokers had released unto Bankhead Hwy. near Georgia Tech in downtown Atlanta. The boy's dad was keeping his treasure in a pen in their backyard and the boy explained to me that the pig had to get his "nuts cut off".

Being pretty much a city slicker, I had never witnessed the castration of a piglet until 2007,  while on a trip to visit my wife's family in Philippines. As I wrote in a blog post at the time :

There was quite a commotion outside behind the house. The pig were squealing loudly and even the dog and roosters were in some sort of stress. My wife told me that Papa was circumcising the piglets. My first thought was that, perhaps, if what she said were true, then it might be possible to make pork Kosher.
After I had explained the difference between the definitions of circumcision and castration she admitted that her choice of words had not been the right one.

At that time I simply watched my father-in-law, with the help of one of his sons-in-law, do the deed. Fully ten years would pass before I would assist in castrating piglets. These were my piglets, so I was obligated to help Papa.

Fortunately for me, there were only two male piglets at the time. Papa and I were sitting in chairs opposite one another. I was holding the squirming, squealing piglet while Papa performed the operation. The 2nd piglet was squirming so much that my chair toppled - I fell over, still holding on to the piggie.

About the age when male piglets are castrated, both males and females have another procedure done. Both sexes have to have their teeth cut. In Philippines, this procedure is done with large toe-nail clippers. I've assisted with this, and let me tell you, it's as difficult as the castration. I'm surprised PETA hasn't filed suit on behalf of the female piglets for this.

Sounds a bit sexist, if you ask me.

A Disappointing Development

In July of 2016, we bought our first piglets - naming the two females Peppa and Olivia. Eleven months later, one of the sows gave birth to eight piglets. The second sow should have delivered a couple of weeks later, but instead, she had some sort of bizarre miscarriage and had zero piglets. To cut our losses,we sold her for slaughter, taking what we could get.

As my reliable swine gestation chart predicted last Sept., the sow that had delivered in June, was due to deliver Monday. When my wife's papa arrived at the property this morning, the sow has delivered three piglets. When we arrived two or three hours after her papa, the sow had not delivered any more.

This is very disappointing. I was expecting more than eight in June and now we didn't even get half that number with her second pregnancy. After the failure of the sister sow, it's obvious that these were poor breeding stock. When these three piglets are weaned, the sow will be sold for slaughter, like her sister.

I had hoped to have more breeders from this batch, but that won't happen. These three will be used for food - either for us, or sold. I'll look to buy two or three female piglets from someone else in a few months.

Waiting on Piglets

According to two separate swine gestation tables that I've downloaded to my pc, our pig should be delivering this coming Monday. The breeder's record show that she was bred on Sept.16. 114 days later puts the delivery date at Jan. 8.

November Pig Update.

When I last posted something about my pigs, the piglets had just turned 12 weeks old. That post was back in September. Sadly, I've fallen behind in my blog posting, with only four posts in September, one in October and this one being the first posting in November.

We're ready now to sell the remaining pigs - with the exception of the pregnant sow, of course. We're looking to sell the two larger pigs as soon as possible, saving the smaller of the three to sell in December. We have friends who are interested in buying one next month, so that should work out just fine.

The photos posted today were taken this morning when we delivered a supply of feed for the pigs.

As I mentioned before, the sow should be delivering again in early January. I'm hoping that we get more piglets this go - 'round.

The Piglets at 12 Weeks

The photos used in this post were taken last Friday when the piglets turned 12 weeks old.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we sold one of the piglets to my wife's sister and her husband. It has since been moved from the piggery. The remaining pink piglet has been moved to a pen by herself, while the two spotted piglets put into the second. The larger of the spotted piglets will be the next to go. Once it reaches a marketable size, we'll sell it.

The piglets' mama has been put into the larger pen. According to my wife's papa, the sow was bred on Sept. 16. If successful, she should give birth next Jan. 8.

As an aside, the sow managed to escape from the rope keeping her inside the pen. My wife's papa arrived at the property today to find her roaming around outside the piggery. Fortunately, she was unable to get outside the property fence.

The Piglets at Nine Weeks

Our piglets were born June 23. This past Friday ( August 25 ) they were nine weeks old.

After taking these photos this morning, we sold one of the pink piglets to one of my wife's sisters and her husband. That piglet will be moved into one of the empty pens until the in-laws have a place ready on their property.

One less mouth to feed.