Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Beep... Beep... Beep... BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!

That's the sound of a Renco Preg-tone II Pregnosticator/Ultrasound handheld telling you that you're about to be a grandma...  These little handhelds are awesome.  If you're anything like me, you're a nut when it comes to looking at piggy vulvas at day 21.  These handy tools allow you to check on day 18 to see if they're going to come into heat or not, so you can order semen for AI or make arrangements for a boar.  On Day 30, they're 100 percent accurate at detecting pregnancy.


For about 250 dollars, you too can be saved from scrutinizing the 'business end' of your gilts and sows, for hours on end, wondering if it's getting bigger, or pinker, or anything out of the ordinary.  http://www.rencocorp.com/preg_tone_ii.htm


So, a little over a month ago, we AI'd our two sows.  Today, we were thrilled when we touched our PT2 to them, and it was screaming a solid tone.  It didn't matter if we pointed that thing at their shoulder (like you're supposed to), or between their ears, or at their back, or anywhere.  It was screaming that they were both pregnant the minute I touched it to them.  The three gilts that we knew were open also sounded open, with persistent beeping.  Why did I check them?  I couldn't believe how quickly and absolutely the sows toned.  But there's no denying it.  They's preggers!

So, for the matchups, here's what we are expecting in about 3 months:

Porkchop (Fame Monster x Hamp)  has been bred to Gopher Nation 88-1 (Stinger 8-4 x Fame Monster).  We're expecting black belteds out of this litter.  It's a Fame Monster on Fame Monster, so we're curious to see what we get, but should be fairly consistent in type.

Porkchop:  Porkchop was bred by Gary and Tina Tuckwiller of Asbury, WV.  She placed 3rd in her class at the West Virginia State Fair in 2012.  She has been the mother to several class winners and top placers at the Greenbrier/Monroe County Youth Livestock Show in 2013, and a 2nd in class at the 2013 West Virginia State Fair:


Gopher Nation 88-1:  Gopher Nation 88-1 was bred by the University of Minnesota, hence his funny name.  He is currently housed at North Iowa Boar Stud http://www.omnitelcom.com/~nibs/index.htm, and they donate $5 of every vial to the Randy Morris Memorial Award:

Fame Monster, who is the father to Porkchop, and sired the mother of Gopher Nation 88-1, is housed at Lean Value Sires http://www.leanvaluesires.com.  He was the $55,000 Champion Crossbred Boar at the 2010 STC and sired the 2012 Indiana State Fair Champion Barrow, amongst others.  Here he is:

In Porkchop's last litter, she weaned 12.  This will be her third parity, and we're hoping that it turns out to be one of her best!

Calyse (War Fare x York) has been bred to Blue Genes 69-35 (Blue Blood x Monster 52-4).  We are expecting an assorted colored litter, with hopefully some blues, some belteds, some white, and oddly enough, some red.  I'm pretty jazzed about the pairing.

Calyse:  Calyse was bred by Ray Showpigs http://www.rayshowpigs.com in Cabery, IL.  Her mother was class winner at the NJSA Summer Spectacular in 2011.  She has raised a Heavyweight Cross Class Winner at the IL State Fair.  Also Calyse raised the 2nd in class behind the Reserve Grand Champion Market Hog at the Douglas County Fair in MO.  Calyse came to us by peculiar means.  We bought her as a bred sow, from a fellow who had used her, only it turned out she wasn't bred.  Sadly, she wasn't cycling either.  She had large abscesses on her rear legs, was lame, had a UTI and was severely underweight.  We got her in the dark, so when we got home after driving 19 hours, and got to see her in the light, we were surprised and disappointed.  After several courses of antibiotics, urinalysis, changes in her diet, supplements, tests and medical intervention, it was a true miracle when we managed to get her cycling again, almost a year after her last cycle.  We were told it would be truly a miracle if she conceived, but we wanted to try.  We're not a big operation, maybe because we don't give up on animals that probably need more intervention and care than it should take.  It's probably because we started with dog shows, and you would not believe the lengths we dog people go to when it comes to keeping our animals alive and healthy, even if it means we'll never get a litter out of them.  Or maybe it's because I have my own battles that made her circumstances that much more wounding.  


Blue Genes 69-35:   Blue Genes was bred by Sieren Swine Farm  http://www.sierenswinefarm.com in Keota, IA, owned and operated by Jayme and Scott Sieren.  His sire, Blue Blood, was the Champion Cross boar at the 2011 WPX.  Blue Genes placed 4th in his class at the National Swine Fall Classic in Duncan, OK, and was purchased by North Iowa Boar Stud for $6,500.  


I can't vouch for this litter with regards to fertility, but Calyse had two litters of 7 and 9 before she stopped cycling, so I don't think fertility was a problem initially.  Only time will tell.  Irregardless, she's trim, healthy, sassy and pregnant right now, so thank God, our veterinarians and the staff at Virginia Tech, my wonderfully supportive and tolerant husband, and the Almighty Dollar for making it happen.  

War Fare was bred by Edwards Family Genetics in Dublin, TX http://www.edwardsfamilygenetics.com  and was housed at Mike Fischer Showpigs http://www.fischershowpigs.com in Iowa Park, TX.  


Blue Blood was bred by W-D Swine Farm http://www.wdswinefarm.com in Turlock, CA, and is housed at Upperhand Genetics http://www.upperhandgenetics.com in Huntington, IN.  



We also bred our Hereford gilt, Lucy (Sycamore, bred by Cook Farms, Hillsboro, OH) to Hershel at Shipley Swine http://www.shipleyswine.com for a summer litter.  Will update to let you all know if she took or not.  Cross your fingers!!!  We had hoped to have a litter out of this paring this January, but Lucy got injured by being jumped by one of our much larger sows, and her placenta detached, causing us to lose the litter.  She's separated this time.



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