Bucket-cide

I am home all day.

After being in Wisconsin Wed and Thursday for the Vernon Hershberger Trial  (still not over, will cover it in detail on raw milk Monday) , I am THRILLED to be home all day. The sun is shining, the wind is minimal,I slept great last night,  the GK's come later this afternoon. I am in one happy mood!

Then Keith came bearing bad news.

Yesterday while waiting on a raw milk customer, one of our piglets decided the free range- great food- wonderful time with mommy-life was just too much for him.

He committed suicide via the old bucket of milk trick.

Keith had accidentally left a half filled bucket of grain and milk in the pen with mama pig and her 3 week old babies. One of the males, a greedy little tard, threw himself head first into the bucket and unable to wiggle his fat self back out of the five gallon bucket, he drowned in the quicksand consistency of grain soaked milk. Of course because he told no one where he was going, asked no one to accompany him, we can only assume it was suicide.

The fact that no note was found really means nothing since the brilliant Red Wattle  pigs don't learn to write until they are at least 4 weeks old. But then again no witnesses have come forth so perhaps fowl play was at hand.

The barn is fill of ducks and chickens you know.

Seriously, we feel bad. Very very bad. I never would have guessed that the weight of the piglet was not enough that he couldn't have knocked the bucket on its side with his wriggling around. Hopefully with his snout buried deep in the milk he died a good quick death. Another hard farm lesson learned. And one more piece of advice we can share with all our new homesteading followers.