The farm has one less pig because one was sold yesterday! Pigs have the loudest, bloodcurdling screech when they are in distress or scared or in pain. Romeo is recuperating. I am teaching the pigs to take hay as a supplement. I have used alfalfa pellets and sunflower seeds in the past, but that can be expensive. PawPaw has learned to climb up on the fence for food! He acts just like a dog sometimes. KuneKunes have internal testicles that can't be seen externally. You have to cut them to castrate them. If you see any swelling or something abnormal where you think the testicles would be, that is probably a hernia and that can be a serious situation and is a trait you do not want to pass down to later generations. Therefore the boar should probably be culled, castrated or gown for food. This time of year is when I start watering with buckets. I have a hobby farm without a monetary goal in mind. I will sell an animal, but I don't raise them for that explicit purpose. I do it for the relationships.

Every day my family and I are learning what it means to run a hobby farm. We started with chickens then added myotonic, or fainting, goats, and eventually kunekune (kune kune) pigs. Throw in some Guinea fowl and turkeys and cats and dogs with a creek and tons of wildlife and you start to get an idea of what our hobby farm is like. Hobby farming is time consuming and hard, but rewarding and fulfilling. There are daily chores that never stop. The animals need to be fed and watered. Pastures and pens need to be fenced and built. Goats and pigs need to be rotated in their pastures to give them fresh food and to rejuvenate the land. Food is planted and grown for the animals. Medicines are given orally and injected to prevent and cure sickness and combat parasites. Hooves need to be trimmed. Babies need to be raised. At any given time we have gilts, sows, boars, piglets, bucks, does, kids, chicks, chickens, keets, guineas, turkeys, etc. that need our attention, love and care. Follow along and we’ll learn and grow on this adventure together!