Friday, September 14, 2007

Grow some hair on that chest




See this cute little guy?

We are one less.

You see, today was a sad day on the farm.

Last night the girls and I were doing our chores outside with the animals and I noticed that one of our four newly acquired cute little piglets was out of the pigpen. As I walked closer and closer to it, I realized that something wasn't right. It was shoving its face in the dirt and scooting around like a wheelbarrow.

I was mystified about what exactly happened and why he was acting so weird. With three years under my belt as a vet tech, I thought I was going to do something about this and go CSI on the pig.

As I went to pick up this little guy, I heard something come from him that I didn't even know existed in the world. There is great truth to the saying 'Squeal like a pig'. It should be 'Squeal like a pig, then pee your pants'. The shriek was deafening and I knew instantly that he was in pain.

I discovered that both of his front two legs were broken. Somehow he broke them during his escape from the pen. My heart hurt for him because I knew what was in store for him.

I wanted to be like Fern to the rescue in Charlotte’s Web and take 'Wilbur' in as my very own and push him around in a stroller and feed him his supper in a bottle and dress him up in bonnets. And then reality set in. I do that with my own human piglet. That is what the mama/girl in me wanted to do. However, I knew if I were going to make it as a farmer's wife I had to toughen up.

I consulted with farmer Jason about this last night over the phone because he was at the fire station. Although there wasn’t much said about this piglet’s fate, we both knew what had to be done.

How could he live like this? He was in too much pain. It would have been different if it was just one leg, but both of them.

Jason got home this morning gave me the ‘I am man’ look and headed straight out to the barn, gun in tote with his pants tucked into his boots. I wanted no part of the details. I just wanted to remain in my state of toughness because it had taken me sooo long to get there.

I know that you must be thinking ‘They were going to kill it anyways and make Christmas ham out of him’. Although that may be true, he didn’t get to live out his life’s purpose.

I have had to come to grips with that very fact. All animals here have a purpose. We grow and raise some animals solely to eat them. That’s it. How sad is that? Our goal is to let them live a life free of stress and grow up to be big healthy animals so we can eat good healthy meat and know exactly where it came from and exactly what we are consuming. Our pigs eat grass and for scraps they get our fruit and veggie clippings. Not buckets of slop with a bunch of miscellaneous in it.

Jason is amazing to me. He was somber and yet strong at the same time. He has a good balance. I know that must be so difficult to do something like that and remain sane. But then again, I forget what his other job is too. He truly has the mind of superman to be able to do the things he does. And he most definitely has what it takes to be a farmer. I need to take a course is Farmer’s Wife 101 or something. Do they offer that in the Ag Dept at A&M?

We could see the vultures from our back porch. And occasionally I would catch the two of us gazing off into the pasture in that direction with blank stares on our faces. Then we would look back at each other, sigh, and go about our day.

11 comments:

Williams Family said...

Poor piglet. Good job being strong lyns. I am proud of you! Not all ladies could have done what you did.

Is KK ok?

Ana

Hendrick Family said...

Ah man! That's so sad. I know that must have been so hard...but I'm sure there are good lessons to learn too. Like life is fragile. We are all weak. We live. We die. Bacon tastes good. I'm sure doing what you guys do brings the truth of our humanity up over and over again. We city folks like to live far removed from the most basic elements of life...reaping and sowing...living and dieing...I love how God will show Himself to all of you through the simple things in His earth.

He talked a lot about farming in scripture. I can't wait to hear all the things you learn from seeing those same illustrations lived out as you work that land every day.

SO neat.

Love you all.

Heather

BHG & Co. said...

Sorry to hear about the piglet... but once again, your husband in the man. If ever find myself in a fire I'm calling Jason.

By the way, have you given us names for the piglets? I remember chickens and goats, but I do not recall any pigs.

5 Chicks and a Farmer said...

Brother Bill,

This is where we draw the line on naming the animals. We try not to name anything that we are going to butcher and eat. It's just too much and too personal.

However, our first two pigs were naively named 'Hormel' & 'Oscar' for the fun of it.

But, I regret that decision.

The names of our cows are solely on a number basis such as Number 1, Number 2, Number 3, etc.

BHG & Co. said...

Aw c'mon... you can give them meaningful names that reflect the aspirations you have for them (you know, like they did in the Bible)

Names for pigs...

the obvious:
bacon
Sausage
Chops
Porky
Side-Dish

the not-so-obvious
Kevin (Bacon)
Sausy
Taco Meat (breakfast tacos)
Whitey (the other white meat)
B-fast
P-Diddy

Sorry that are not more amusing or creative, but I am on my way out the door. Talk to you later!

Megan said...

Sorry to hear about the piglet, Kramers.

All your farm stories make me nolstagic about my younger years. I agree with Heather that there's a lot of things that can be learned and understood in regard to the Word and His purpose better by being in your daily environment.

Can Meg and I come out and see the farm sometime? Maybe help with a calving?

Jennifer Bacak said...

Sad. Super Sad. I'm not telling Emma. Jason is a superhero, I agree.
jenn

texasmcvays said...

So sorry about the Piggy! We are getting chickens for eggs and meat and that is the one thing I asked Wayne. Can you kill the chickens? He looked at me and said yes and went on eating...Of course then I remembered this is the same guy that deer hunts (skins and chops up the deer). Keep living Titus 2 and loving that man!
K

5 Chicks and a Farmer said...

K,

I'm standing by my man! That's for sure.

When you get ready to slaughter some chickens get with Jason on this. He has perfected (of course) a plan of slaughter. We will have to let you know once it actually happens if it works, but there is a plan and a darn good one!

Oh, and let us know if you need any chickens. We are hatching them right and left around here!

Lyns

Garratts said...

I am laughing at the statement
"plan of slaughter"

Ya'll are real farmers! I'm so proud!

shauna maness said...

that is so sad. what a cute little piggy.