Life at Big "R" Piggery

What A Week!

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 14:21:12 GMT

Ok so Brandon and Lindsey passed their drivers test on the same day. On Monday I went with Lindsey to get her a used car, insurance and temporary tags. Which took ALL day. On Tuesday I went with Brandon to do the same thing. Again it took all day. On Thursday Brandon drove his car over a bank. We were afraid to turn it into insurance because he was already paying $1066 for six months. So on Friday we went to the tow place and fixed the car enough to drive it off the lot. Hopefully my father, a skilled mechanic will be able to fix it. On Saturday we are all set to leave for the pig show and my van won't start. I just looked at Jack and said "seriously?" Thank god he got it started!

Lex, my new pig show dog, barfed on me on the way to the show. Not a stellar start in his road buddy career! LOL! But he was extremely well behaved during the show. Didn't bark much, and everyone commented on how cute he was. He was also the subject of much debate as his papers say he is a "pomeranian" but he is far to leggy and doesn't have the right snout. One lady suggested he might be a heritage pomeranian which some different style on the breed developed in Germany. Shelley gave us some good tips on how to keep him a friendly, social dog :)

The show was small but a lot of fun. I was sorry to see that Heather B. didn't make it to judge. We haven't seen her in awhile and it would have been nice to catch up :)   So it was down to one show which went quickly with plenty of time for us to rib one another.   For instance Suzette and Jack conspired to steal Lex, I walk around the corner and theres his leash with no dog attached. Sneaky SOB's LOL!   Val gave Godric, Lindsey's junior peruvian BOB. Ok there were only 2 peruvians, both juniors :)   But as it was an informal show, he also got to participate in a cutest pig contest, which he won hands down :) His silkie sister also won BOB because there were no other pigs in the class LOL!    Shelley won teddy BOB with a pretty roan and we won BOS with Sonic Boom (pictured above). Sonic is a good pig in type and his coat is finally coming in. Although I was surprised he beat Pongo who does have an awesome coat.   I believe there were enough pigs there for Sonic to have picked up a leg:)

Tom and Debby had a beautiful red teddy who won the satin group. What a shine that pig had! Kind of rare in teddies.   Plus they kindly offered to let me ride with them to the finals should I have to go alone. BTW Tom makes awesome chocolate chip cookies!

Suzette didn't bring K1 & 2 but managed to win RIS with a nice little abby & Denise won BIS with one of her stunning americans.

After the show we went to visit Vince, Bobbie Jo and kids for a few hours. The baby is precious and has a laugh that could win America's Funniest Home Videos. Emily was really interested in the pigs and I'm working on getting her a show pig:) Sorry Vince & Bobbie Jo but I have to encourage future pig lovers!   The boys were funny as usual but feeling a little tired from their recent soccer games. Just wish I had remembered to take some pics for the blog!

New Pig Puppy

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:29:33 GMT

Well most have you have heard that I am being abandoned by Jack & Chloe to show pigs on my own. Soo...
I got a new road buddy to accompany me to pig shows. He is a pomeranian and his name is Lex

Cobleskill

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:26:30 GMT

Cobleskill was a small show but the animals were fabulous. On Franks tables a beautiful silkie won and RIS was a pretty cream from Steve & Margie Lussier. On Val's table a roan teddy from Laurel and Penney & an american from Mary Ann & Al were the winners. They were all very nice animals!

Chloe was the sales woman of the day. She sold 72 items at 50 cents each. Her delivery was hilarious. " Snacks here, 50 cents each, help the cavy club." She sounded like a barker at a circus sideshow! She made a total of $20 for NYSCF :)

My peruvian, Taz, was looking good but didn't have the coat development of the other cavy's. Val was laughing because I kept telling him he was a sexy pig. I told her he shows better when I compliment him :) LOL!

Of course we didn't have a chance in hell in teddies with Val's and Penny's animals there! But we had fun :)

Breeding for type: The experiment...

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:44:12 GMT

Color be damned, I tried an experiment -

Bindi, (GA/R/WH) a wonderful sow from Heatherdale, with great type, big head, good shoulders, awesome patching & the dense, plush type teddy coat , was bred with ....

Bluto, (SA) a fantastic boar from The Shire. He is BIG, and has a harsh coat, big head, good shoulders, awesome coat.

So we get these awesome type babies. All with wonderful type, even the runt. I can't wait to see them develop! But of course there is only one with a showable color pattern. LOL! But I'm thinking of keeping them all (3 were sows). And breeding them back into the broken program.

Colorwise I got a broken lemon agouti (sow), a mismarked lemon agouti (sow), a showable dilute agouti (sow), and a barely showable broken Dilute Agouti, red & white (boar).

They are so cute with the biggest black-lined eyes you ever saw! To bad cuteness isn't showable. LOL!

Then we have 2 peruvians and a silkie born from Pan & Tinkerbell. A chubby, good-looking bunch :)

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:14:45 GMT

Well we couldn't stay for the MACBA show on Sunday. But we did get to attend the ACBA show on Saturday. WE had a blast! It was sooo much fun and very well run.

Brother John wins a digital photo frame at raffle. Uncle Jack wins Emma "Linny the Wonder Pig" & Chloe wins a watch!

Zen wins Best of Variety & becomes a Grand Champion like her dad. Hera wins one of the AWESOME awards from Leigh!

And now some random Specialty shots where we can play spot the person you know :)

Crowd Shot                                                               Bottle crafts

James - ACBA Table                                           Judging

Spectators/exhibitors watching the judges.

Ty playing in the kids section                                            Charity - Head Honcho of Venturewise aka Shelley's daughter

John                                                              Heather

Shelley                                                                                      Sales Area

Peg judging                                                                                           Suzette & Kady

Judging                                                 Leighs AWSOME awards

More Awesome Awards

Awards                                                                                      Emma

Linda taking orders                                 Chloe, John & Me

John, Emma & Me                                                                      John & Emma playing

We got to stay with my brother, His wife Laura, and our niece Emma for the weekend.   They took us to a hibatchi grill. It was loads of fun as we watched them cook our food right there. Very entertaining!

Show Reports & Litters

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 23:22:11 GMT

In the first Fulton show, Chloe took Best Of Breed on both tables. Big R's Zen (golden agouti) & Pongo (black and white) from The Shire took the top honors.

The next show was in Olean and Metaxa from Briar Patch took Best Of Breed in the open, and Pongo took Best Opposite Sex Of Breed. This was a small open show, and we were very pleased to do so well in teddies. Many thanks to Shelley, Penney & Laurel for parting with some nice competitive pigs for Chloe to show :)

Pongo & Metaxa

It was also awesome to see our niece Cindy & her husband Todd & their kids at the show. They brought a little silver agouti named Ruby who won Best of Variety on both tables. Hunter and Austin were showing her. I think they had fun and were proud of their pig for winning a 1st. Meanwhile Brooke was working hard to sell some extra pigs I had, while spoiling them the whole time. And Tonisha helped me get my little peruvian , Tinkerbell, on the table. Both girls were helping out with fetching pigs. Thanks girls! We were really glad they all came, and hoped they had fun. Just as a sidenote, Cindy and Todd came with 4 kids , 1 pig - and left with 4 kids and FOUR pigs. One of which was a silkie that I hope Cindy will showing soon :)

Fulton was a double show and Pongo won Best In Show on the youth side. Wave The Shire flag high!

I feel so behind in cataloging litters, so here are the newest ones. This litter is from Enyo and Graham, both are sows, a red/golden agouti/ white and a cream/ dilute agouti/white. Hey Colin, this might be the cream girl for you! I'll post more pics of her as she gets bigger : )

Now check out the curl on red/ga/whites belly. This is crazy!

And the next litter is from Bluto (silver agouti) and Nubia (self black)

Deb, tell Tom he was right! I only got 1 silver agouti from this pairing :)

Long, hard winter

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:53:09 GMT

It was a long and particularly cold winter. Unfortunately, we lost a lot of good animals during it. The one that really stands out is a dog we had for a long time. Her name was Crow. She was named after a favorite movie of mine called The Crow.    Her mother was a husky and her father was unknown. But we always suspected he might have been a Border Collie.

Crow was a smart girl. She stayed out of trouble, and was the alpha female of the pack for a long time. She only ever did one stupid thing in her life. When she was a puppy she ate some insulation. She was sick for days and we didn't think she would make it. She pulled out of that, thank god! She moved here when I married Jack.   Her favorite human was JJ my oldest. And when he moved out she liked Jack the best. We had her from the time she was a puppy til she had to be put down at 15 years old.

Dyami, my absolute favorite pig, died the night before his appointment to have his molars clipped. We just loved this boar. He was a grand champion and his personality was to die for. He actually played with you! You could scatch his butt, and he would run bucking and kicking. Then come back for more :)

We lost several sows this winter when a bacterial thing went through the caviary.  3 who were very important to our breeding program. One was Grand Champion Marie, a teddy.  Also Penelope the peruvian (3 legs). And lastly Denali (Dyami's main squeeze). These girls were pregnant when the bacteria hit and didn't make it.

GC Marie                             Penlope                                   Denali

Denali & Dyami as pups

All will be missed! And the circle of life rolls on (insert the Lion King theme here.) We have had several new litters born.

Bindi & Bobba Fett's Pups                                                  Epione & Bobba Fetts Pups

Show update and newest litter pics coming soon :)

Pigs and things

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:43:21 GMT

Poor Dyami has overgrown back molars. So I'll be calling Cornell today to see if I can get him into the vet hospital there. My Vet here suggested it (as well as Shelley). Cornell is a teaching hospital, so the fees may be less. We'll see...

Clark, Master Hong & Ruby will be heading to a new home. Our niece Cindy and her husband Todd will be starting a small herd. LOL! Hunter, their son, is very good with pigs and showed a lot of interest in them when he visited us. Maybe Hunter will show them. Or maybe they'll be pets. Whichever way I'm sure the pigs will really take to Hunter!

A GA sow, and broken boar will be heading off to a fellow 4-hers home. She lives pretty close to us, and Chloe may be joining that 4-h group, even though technically we are in the wrong county. But I think it will be fun for her.

So we are downsizing just abit for the upcoming move. At which point I may change all my cages. Haven't told hubby yet - he may choke me! The cages he made are wonderful. They are huge with plenty of room for the pigs to frolic. Yes frolicking pigs...Hee! But the coroplast bottoms are a nightmare to keep clean!

The Horror .....

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:04:00 GMT

While cleaning cages I throw some clean shavings into a cage - and see something strange. At first I thought it was bark that it didn't get mulched up. So I picked it up and it was a dried out dead snake.

Insert scream here!

I'm so scared of snakes that my stomach clenches when driving past a dead one on the road!

Illness in the herd

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:54:23 GMT

Well went through a horrible week of worrying about my pigs. The first suspicious event was Denali dying 10 days after she had delivered. Her delivery went fine. She was healthy, eating well and nursing. So finding her passed on was quite a surprise. Then later in the week I find Penelope passed on. She was a huge loss in many ways, she had gained 3 legs during her show life, she was pregnant, she was one of only 2 peruvian sows I have, plus she was a sweet girl personality wise. I got very paranoid after her death. Thinking "what the hell is going on here!"

So I did a post mortum inspection. Nothing looked off at first, then I noticed a snotty disharge from her nose that had a slight tinge of blood in it. This really panicked me. I was afraid I had some airbourne disease. I went through the whole herd looking for snotty noses and found four more animals that looked suspicious. I took these animals in the house to watch carefully and see if more symptoms developed. Jordan was one of the 4. She got worse and worse. I was supplementing her with kitten milk and vit c, but lost her anyway. The other three stayed in the house for a week. But all were acting fine and rejoined the herd. All in all we lost 3 pigs - all sows : (

Now everything is back to normal. It was a hard loss though. We have such a small herd that every pig is important. All have names, all are handled frequently and treated like pets. In fact I think it was a bacterial problem - not airbourne. And the frequent handling is what passed it around.

I feel bad that I didn't notice this was going on. I spend over an hour with the pigs every day, and just didn't see it :(. Oh well, every one is doing great now and things are back to normal. :)

Master Hong goes Visiting

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:55:01 GMT

I go into the caviary with the goal of weighing some pigs. First up to be weighed, Bugsy the roan from BriarPatch. Clark, Bugsy & Master Hong are in a 3 tier cage. The cage only has one door that covers all three cages. So I open the door to get Bugsy and SURPRISE Master Hong is in the same hole as Bugsy!

How did he do it? Well thats an ancient chinese secret obviously.

Bugsy Master Hong

Run Of Bad Luck

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:50:31 GMT

1. I flipped my van with 2 kids in the car (Chloe and Lindsey). No one was hurt - so that was good luck! I was driving and both Lindsey and me managed to get our seatbelts off. I got the drivers side door open and Lindsey crawled past me - which was crawling upwards. She got out and asked a man who had stopped if he had a knife. I stayed in the car because Chloe was hanging upside down and her seatbelt was all tangled around her and wouldn't release. I cut the seatbelt off her and we both got out. We are thanking God that we didn't have any serious injuries!

2. Our laptop crashed right after we did!

3. Denali (Golden Agouti) died 10 days after delivering her pups (cause unknown). And was soon followed by a little sow who wouldn't eat. One baby sow is still alive and doing well.

4. Tried to foster Denali's babies onto Bindi by wiping her smell all over them. This worked for about 15 minutes. Then Bindi went psycho. Bindi is buy far the biggest wicked witch in the caviary. Her pups are huge-less than a month old! And their ears have flopped already!

OK chalk all that up to bad luck and move on LOL! Here are some pics of Bindi's litter and Denali's surviving pup.

Floor Boar

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:10:25 GMT

Sonic Boom, little devil that he is, has been housed in a basket on the floor. It didn't take him long to figure out he could stand on his hind legs and see over the top. Only hours after that, he figured out how to make a prisonbreak. I would go in, and see him scurry into hiding. After he figured out it was me, Sonic would come out and follow me around as I fed the other pigs. It was sooo funny!

I actually thought about letting him stay there. But only for a second because of electrical concerns. I remember reading about the famous floor boar, Zorro. Not sure who he belonged to, but he lived out his life on the caviary floor. Sonic however, will NOT be living on the floor (I'm sure he'd like to!), and has been relegated to an escape proof cage. :)

Jan. 4th Show Rochester NY

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:25:20 GMT

STARTING LATE:

Oh man, Jack came in and woke me up at 20 minutes to 6. My alarm never went off. I kind of freaked and went into superspeed! Quick shower, then loaded the pigs and the cooler. We still got headed out around 6:30 am. We had an hour and a half (at least) drive ahead of us. Jack likes to get to shows early, so we can get a good table spot. We did manage to get there by 8 am and found a spot close enough to the cavy judging.

I immediately got asked to write, and I was reluctant to do it because it was control sheets - not remark cards. So I offered to run pigs instead. I took a break to see how chloe's teddies were doing in the youth show. Bret Davies got BOB with an enormous boar. Chloe got BOSB and Bjr.B with Skye.

She did so well that she almost picked up BOSV on Frank W's table (which was the open show). He commented on how nice the cream color was on her coat. She is a little brassy, but not as bad as the orangey (buff) color you see on a lot of teddies. She was beat by a sow who had a more developed coat. We are expecting great things from her!

Jordan got Bint.B on the youth table - Sonic Boom got Bint.B on the open table.
Jordan Sonic boom

The way we work it is that Chloe shows the teddies, and we help her get them up when its an open show. But she is the pig handler for the teddies. Chloe was also originally showing the longhairs, but REALLY didn't like to groom them. So Jack and I took over the longhairs at the start of this show season. We've had fun and thanks to Jen P. and Kirsten we got to start out with competitive stock. So Phoebe did very well and got BOB in both shows. She is from Kirstens Caviary. The other peruvians were gorgeous, but Phoebe was the only one in full coat. She looked great and we were so happy with her. You may remember her as the rooster tail pig. This is how she looks now.

MEETING PEOPLE:

I got to say "Hi" to Jan S. from NativeFox. It was good to put a name to the face! I also met Collin's sister and mother who were very nice and desperately looking for a cream teddy sow for him. Hopefully one of my sows will produce something suitable for him. It was good to see Penney and Laurel again, I was so happy with the cavies Chloe got from them. And if you read the previous post, Alter Ego AKA Bugsy was a big hit with Chloe.

GETTING BREED PICS:

I spent most of my down time photographing rabbits so I could get a breed library going. I accidentally deleted a wonderful picture of Butch C's giant chinchilla. Darn! But I am sure I'll get a chance to replace it at one of the shows. All in all, I think I got 24 breeds of rabbits. Pat H. jumped in at the end and helped me get good poses. Those last pics are the ones that turned out the best. Thanks Pat!

New aquisitions

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:24:49 GMT

I have been going to post this forever - Our new pigs:

Ruby from The Shire:

Silver Bell from S&W Caviary:

Jordan from Val H:

From Briar Patch:

Cristall Metaxa

Alter Ego AKA Bugsy

Alter Ego came from Briar Patch. Penney had told me he was a lovable boar. Boy is she right! Chloe carted him all over during the Jan. 4th show. You never know what pig she'll take to. LOL! He is her first roan and she spent quite a bit of time showing him off to her friends. She nicknamed him "Bugsy" immediately. I have no idea where that name came from. I must admit that he really is a sweet boar :)

Christmas Litters!

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:16:48 GMT

We actually had a litter born on Christmas! Thank you Santa! The parents were:

Denali Dyami

And a pic of the babies:

I believe these are both sows. You can't tell in the pic, but one is super dark with a great red belly.

The day after x-mas, Bobba Fett & Bindi's litter came!
Bobba Fett Bindi

Here's a pic of the little nippers
.

The one with the tsw type squares (on the left ) is a sow. And the one on the right is a boar.

I never - never -have had so much trouble as I did sexxing these litters. Just last week I was lamenting to Shelley that I thought I had 4 boars. I look at the babies, and if I see an "i" its a boar. If I see a "Y" its a girl. I think I got this method from Wanda L Currans book? Anyways, it has never served me wrong - even with just born pups! But these two litters, I've changed my mind daily. LOL! Today I think I have 3 sows and 1 boar. Tomorrow I may change my mind again!

Ha Ha Funny!

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 18:19:49 GMT

My daughter , Lindsey, just got photoshop, and made me this lovely pic of one of my favorite pigs.

Not sure why it posted so blurry. But the bottom tag line is the funniest.

"King Dyami does not sleep. He waits."

Hobbit & Elven Name

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:30:53 GMT

Your Hobbit Name Can Be Found Here:

http://chriswetherell.com/hobbit/

Mine Is:

Lily Moss of Lake-By-Downs

Your Elven Name Can Be Found Here:
http://chriswetherell.com/elf/

Mine Is:

Uruviel Nólatári

(Huh? Somebody please pronounce this for me! I never did understand eleven ;)

Better pics of my new baby girls

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:01:41 GMT

Jade, my not so great sow, has delivered 2 sows I like alot. Here are some pics of them at a little over 4 weeks old.

Cloud
This little girl is the first self white born at Big R. And that could be the reason why I am enamoured with her. I do like her coat. It seems to be very dense. Her skin color is soo pink! She's just so darn cute!

Skye

Skye is a dilute agouti/cream/white broken. Her patches are evenly distributed and clean. Her coat seems a little less harsh that her sister, but is also very dense. This little sow already has a big head so I expect her to get big.

Here's Some Pic's Of Their Parents:

Snow - Sire Jade - Dam

Man is it cold!

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:15:14 GMT

Had to run around all weekend doing errands. Including shopping at Walmart at 10:30 pm. Which actually isn't bad cuz its pretty empty. LOL! We didn't get a lot of snow, but we do have a bitter wind that could chill you to the bone. So running errands was literally "running", seeing that we ran from the car to the stores, and then back again. So cold! Oh well, its supposed to warm up today. We'll see!

Looking forward to the January show coming up. We have a lot of teddies that are looking good. In fact we may take 7. Our two new baby girls Skye and Cloud will be going. Can't wait to see what the judges think of them. They have such nice coats!

Cloud is the self white, Skye is the DA/Cream Broken

We will also be taking the golden agoutis - Sonic Boom, and his sister Amelia. They are fair in type and coat. And may do well. Then I have this excellent little silver agouti I bought from Shelley. Her coat is so neat. It really stands up in the back, giving her a sharp appearrance, plus it has a good eveness of length. She has a ruby cast to her eyes, so her name is Ruby. Original I know. LOL! Our other sow is a dilute agouti that I bought from Val. Nice coat and eveness on her too. Her name is Jordan.

Here I go playing Judge....this is how I think our agoutis will place against each other:

RUBY - Silver Agouti - 1st
JORDAN - Dilute Agouti - 2nd
AMELIA - Golden Agouti - 3rd
SONIC BOOM - Golden Agouti - 4th

I'll let you know how I did!

And lastly Enyo the broken will be going for the teddies. Still trying to finish her out in legs. I'm sure she would like to retire!

Only have 1 peruvian for me and Jack to show. Phoebe, the famous rooster pig. Pan and Penelope are in breeding now. Remember this pic?

Her hair still doesn't lay down very well!

Success!

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:58:42 GMT

Yay! Thanksgiving dinner turned out well enough. Sure the turkey and stuffing were a little dry, but hey, it was edible! Jack took a picture of it so I had proof that I actually did it ;) The apple pie was the biggest hit. Lindsey helped me make it. We used cheaters crust, and filled it with a carmel apple pie recipe she found online. Yum!

ENYO UPDATE: Got the last show results in and poor Enyo didn't get a leg. She's and excellent looking pig, with perfect patching. But she is always beat out by her sister Epione who has a better coat.

PENELOPE UPDATE: Penelope the peruvian got her third leg in the mail. Yippee! She's a great little girl and will be going on our Grand Champion Page. She is currently in breeding with Pan. Hopefully we'll have some babies coated around the time the spring shows start.

Pan- Boar & Penelope-Sow

View the previous post to see how pretty Penelope looks when she's coated out.

Wow I haven't Updated For Awhile!

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:44:43 GMT

Grand Champion Marie

Marie was a great sow, sister to Ozzy, who had delivered 2 nice litters previously. Her win history included 5 legs, 2 Best In Shows, and 2 Reserve In Shows. Her last litter produced Epione a Grand Champion with 5 legs, and Enyo who has one leg, possibly 2, we're waiting for some show results to come in. LOL!

But here's the thing, Marie's last litter didn't make it. 2 days before she delivered, I noticed her huddled up in the corner. I feared it was pregnancy toxemia and immediately started supplementing her with kitten formula. She delivered 3 dead pups 2 days later. And then a fourth dead pup later the same day. I kept up the formula supplement and Marie started to improve. She was drinking and eating on her own. I was encouraged and thought, she must not have toxemia or she would already be dead. But my hopes were dashed because 3 days after she delivered I found her dead. I have no idea what happened, and was very dissappointed as I really thought she would make it. Marie is now buried next to her brother Ozzy.

Marie Jan. 22nd, 2007 - Nov. 17th, 2008

Jade Has Babies

Jade, a cream colored broken sow, delivered right after Marie. I just love these babies. A white sow, a broken sow, and a boar with a black face. All have nice dense coats. The boy in particular, but his rear patch is brindled in unshowable colors. Isn't that always the way! The patched sow is evenly marked. With nice, clean patches. The white sow has blue/gray eyes.

Awards:

Big R is attempting to make awards, keychains, magnets ect. at reasonable prices. Eventually (when I get enough breed pics) I will update the webstore at www.bigrpiggery.com. This originally started as an idea to offset the high price of gas, but now is mostly for fun. I don't know about you guys, but last year we were paying over $4 a gallon to drive to shows 2 hours or more away. Costly! Now I can't complain about gas. My last fill up was only $2.04 a gallon. So we made these awards for the last NYSCF show. They weren't without errors, as we couldn't get the transfer paper completely wrinkle free on the BIS tray. The tray went to Val Horning and her awesome teddy. Sorry Val! There was a learning curve with the transfers LOL! We donated them to the club.

Ty and Chloe having fun in Syracuse

Syracuse Show Results:

Penelope the peruvian won BOB on both tables. Dorothy and Sandy were also showing so Penelope earned 2 more legs making her a three leg pig. She will be going on the Grand Champion page of our website even though she can't be registered because of silkies in her background. She deserves it! Congrats to Sandy for RIS with her beautiful silkie!

Now Enyo may have a shot at becoming a GC also. She won a leg, and may possibly get another leg when the next report comes in. Her sister Epione has 5 legs. Wouldn't it be something if Enyo goes on to get a third leg. That would make 2 pigs in the same litter that went on to GC status. We have only been showing for 2 years, so that has never happened to us. Both are daughters of Marie

Penelope & Enyo

Photo by Shelley M.

In closing, I'd like to wish everyone a happy turkey day. And add that I will be cooking on Thanksgiving for the first time in 15 years. Yes my mother spoils me! As I told Shelley M. today, I hope it doesn't end in tears and me lying in a fetal position on the couch. : )

Best wishes everyone!

RIP Ozzy

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:42:29 GMT

On Friday, Oct. 11 we lost Ozzy. He was one of our foundation 2 boars from Heatherdale lines. I have posted off and onabout him because he's such a dear.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original Post: Oct. 16th 2007

Bindi's first Litter - Oddball, Marie & Oz

Being the first litter we had a Big R, I checked them all for good teeth, right amount of toes, ect. About a week after they were born, I noticed one of Oz's eyes had gotten cloudy. So I take him to the vet, and the vet finds an injury, says its most like hay related and that it probably won't heal up enough to show him. Darn! He actually has a harsher coat than Marie, but Marie has a better head than him.

So I had give him eye drops and piggy antibiotics twice a day, every day for two weeks. He became a very tame pig as a result of this constant handling when he was young. This may not be a good thing. I don't think he got the first sow he was with, bred.   Is Oz too much of a people pig, and not interested in breeding? So the sow went to Grahams cage, and Bindi, who was already bred, went to Oz's cage. And funny enough, Bindi is actually nice to Oz. So maybe Bindi only likes the boys!

Originally Posted: April 17th 2008
My boar OZ, injured his back from a very high fall. He was getting around by pulling himself with his front feet. I was afraid he would be permanently paralyzed. Early this week he started using one of his hind legs. Then just yesterday I noticed he was using both his back feet. We're so happy to have this little miracle!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So Oz had his problems and I think thats one way he endeared himself to us. It seemed we were always doing something to help poor Oz.   First the eye thing, then he fell from the 3rd tier of a cage (about 4 ft.) I had the cage open and he was chasing his sow around like mad, somehow he overshot the edge and flew to the floor. Poor guy, he hit so hard, I knew something was wrong. Seriously, how many of us have seen GP's fall and bounce right back - not even breaking their teeth? Oz couldn't walk at first, but he still ate and drank, so I had hope that he WANTED to live. So we kept him clean and comfortable. Then amazingly he DID start walking again, begging for food, begging to be scratched, the whole deal.

So I was very surprised to find him passed on my afternoon check of the caviary. I can only make guesses as to what happened. I suspect it was a complication of the back injury.   We're all sad, Chloe especially. Hubby said it best....

He was a good pig.

RIP OZ:
Jan. 22nd, 2007 - Oct. 11th, 2008

State Finals

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:46:35 GMT

We started out the day by getting up at 4 am. Loaded up piggies and headed up to syracuse where the state finals are held. I fell asleep off and on as we drove, mostly due to the fact that I stayed up late watching Santuary on sci-fi. We got set up pretty quickly and the show got underway. Chloe won with Epione (now a 5 leg pig) on Mary Lou's table and Amanda got RIS. On George Longs table Amanda won both BIS and RIS.

Mary Lou, Chloe & Epione

Notice the neat BIS show blanket made by Linda Wilbur. She's getting to be real crafty with that embroidery machine.   Linda had her machine set up at the show and was working on projects. Jack is a gadget guy and found it very interesting. LOL!

Normally I get pics of all the kids in the youth show, but didn't get any of Amanda this year. Amanda had to leave early to do a public speaking challenge at Cornell University. Cornell! During the course of conversation I found out that Amanda shows cavies, dogs, rabbits, horses & goats. And in her spare time she speaks at Cornell! LOL!    She's a great kid! Chloe, a friend of Amanda's and I made sure we got her cavies up for the second show. Where she won big time!

On George Long's table, Penelope won BOB! I was so excited, this was the 1st time she won against some very nice pigs. Sandy has some roan peruvians you could just die for! Then George said she was a serious contender for RIS so she got an honorable mention.   Of course I think she's a pretty girl, but its nice to hear it from a judge. So of course I wrote to Jen with a big thanks!

We got all packed up around 4 pm. The banquet doesn't open until 6 pm and food is not served til 7:30 pm. What to do? I suggested we go eat, in case the banquet food was terrible. So I suggest going to a diner. I want greasy, fried diner food. Using our trusty GPS we programed in a diner - get there and its out of business. So we try a second diner - closed. And a third - not closed but gross looking on the outside. We landed at Burger King LOL!

We get to the banquet, and work at saving two tables. Its tough work, because people were really starting to file in. Suzette and Pat arrive and we realize we actually only need one table. It gets to be 7:05 pm and Shelley isn't there yet. I'm thinking her nose was red as Rudolph's all day, she's sick and not coming. Shelley blows in a few minutes later explaining she had to follow the directions by starting at the fairgrounds, then finding the banquet hotel. All in all, we did have fun. Just a small cavy group was present, Mary Ann and Al Chmura, Pat Haefle, Suzette Glave, Shelley Manley, & Chloe, Jack and me. It was a good thing we ate at BK, because by the time out table was called, most of the food was gone. The kitchen couldn't keep up with us hearty eaters!

The glass award is 2nd place for all breed. The plaques were:
1st in Teddies
1st in Coronets
2nd in Texels

And last but not least, we didn't get home til midnight! What a day! LOL!

Forgot to mention that Charity, Shelley's daughter, had a table set up to promote venturewise. She was pretty funny which I suspect she got from her Mom. Cuz Shelley's hilarious!

And we sold the two sows from our For Sale page to Tom & Deb.  They were laughing over the teenager stories we were telling them. Teenagers are funny in general, but specifically mine could put others to shame!

Morrisville Show

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 17:46:46 GMT

This was a very, very small show. Chloe got BIS with Epione, and Cheyenne got RIS with a cream teddy. They were the only 2 exhibitors. With 7 pigs between them.

Chloe, Judge -Val H. & Cheyenne

Morrisville was a fun show, they had a REAL breakfast cooking in the kitchen, and their awards are pretty neat. Speaking of awards, Shelley left hers behind for best of breed teddy. So I took them home, sent her a pic, along with with a note saying "you forgot something, LOL." Overall I think Morrisville may suffer from low turn out because it is always dated very close to nationals. And I suspect people need to save money for traveling to nationals.

Update from the Niagara Frontier show - Epione got 2 legs - Penelope (from Jen's Galatea Cavies) got 2 legs. Epione is now up to 4 legs, and Penelope the peruvian got her first 2 legs from the double show. Yay!

Enyo (teddy) & Penelope (peruvian)

Photo by Shelley M.

Penelope is really coming into a nice coat. She is a chunky girl, already a senior at 33 oz. And for a long time her coat wasn't keeping up with her weight, LOL! Then all of the sudden her coat started taking off, I swear she looks different every day. She is such a fantastic quality pig (Thanks Jen!) And also a real sweetheart, I always call her my chub, because she grew so fast. My only experience had been with teddies, and they seem to take more time to mature. Anyways, can't wait to get this little girl to state finals!

Now poor Enyo in the back , is always beat by her sister, Epione. Enyo has superior patching, but always loses to her sister who has a better coat overall.