Brrrrr Winters here, which means... Show Season!

We're still chugging along here in chilly New England. Ebony has the cutest little velvety dusting of hair coming through now her poor old hormones are settling down, she's sitting on my lap as I write this post. Sterling has a hair back on his chin/chest but it's still pretty thin so I'm continuing the quit itch. After all this though there is no chance he's still contagious, His coat is getting quite long so he got a butt bath today and I've stuck it up in a soft hair tie. He's getting trimmed off for his girlfriend but I wanted to do one last show with his pretty locks in tact. Since he's only entered as a pet it doesn't matter that much but still, I want him to look his best.

I continue to have panic attacks over his coat. Some days I could swear he has bad dandruff other days it's not obvious. His part line seems to have gotten wider which isn't a good sign, not sure why but ah well. I keep his coat drenched in conditioner between shows so I can't tell how good he'll be until I wash him just 24 hours before the show. Not so good for morale but it certainly makes his coat look amazing come show day. He continues to kick and it take s a lot of skill to manage a wrapping session without him hooking his back feet into his coat. Once the wrappers are on his a dream though, even washes the wrappers instead of his coat.

So right now I'm playing the dates game. I desperately want some of my own stock to show at the 2013 nationals which will on August 17. Pigs have to be six months old to enter the nationals which means they must be born by Feb 17 2013. To be born then they must be conceived by 9/12/12. Which basically means I have to pair pigs up by early November for a chance of my own stock to show. I collect Chantilly Ayanna on the 10th and she'll go straight in with Sterling, giving an approx due date of late August. Ayanna would then get a two month break assuming it wasn't a hard birth and hopefully go in with Edmund in late October/early November. Because I need to breed Eddie by then that means I'll need to give him 'the chop' by then as well. I will also need to find Laertes a girlfriend by then, though that's looking like a difficult prospect. Last time I showed there were always self blacks for sale, now I can't find a self black sow for love or money.

So shows. This is the current plan...

June 10th: Double Show at Castle Hill I've entered Eddie (Texel), Laertes (Self Dalmatian) and Sterling (Pet) in both shows.

June 24th: The second ACA show at Inverell this time. I will be taking Sterling (Clipped Long), Ebony (Clipped Long), Edmund (Texel), Laertes (Self Dalmatian), Feather (Pet), Fortinbras (Pet) and Rosie (Pet).

July 15th: Pymble Show. I'll take Eddie (Texel), Laertes (Self Dalmatian) and Ebbie (Pet). I'm assuming Ebbie will have all her hair back by then.

August 5th: Castle Hill Show. I'll take Eddie (Texel), Laertes (Self dalmatian), Chantilly Emmanuel (Sheltie) and probably Ebbie again.

September 9th: Double Show at Castle Hill: This will be the same show team as before.

October 21st: Castle Hill Show, Not completely sure I will go to this as I'm seeing Legally Blonde the Musical (WOOOOOOOO) just a few days before, so it would involve spending a week in the area with pigs. But if I do go I'd take Emmanuel, Eddie and Laertes.

November 11th: Pymble Show. This would be Eddies last show, and I'd take Emmanuel, Laertes and Ebbie as well.

December 2nd: Christmas Show as Castle Hill. I'd be taking Emmanuel, Laertes hopefully some new babies from Sterling and Ayanna and probably a couple of pets (it is the Christmas show after all).

Update

It's been awhile since I did an update on all my darlings so figured it was time.

Pipsqueak Sterling is starting to get quite lonely, poor boy. He really is a fantastic breeding boar, my one regret is the lack of girls for him. He's also got a slight issue, which may be fungal, I'm not really sure. He's missing a circular patch of hair under his chin in front of his front legs. So he's been ivomeced and quit itch dipped and I'm also applying topical quit-itch to the bald spot. He's entered in  The June 10th show (as a pet) so hopefully it will have cleared up by then. If not I'll need to leave him behind.

Pipsqueak Ebony Charm is doing better, she seems to have forgotten her babies and is back to her old sassy self. She has a lot of hairloss happening from her bottom lip to her privates. No skin irritation so I'm thinking hormonal but just in case the whole herd has been ivomeced and everyone part from Eddie quit itch dipped. She's as fat as ever and is back to being a fantastic cuddle bug. She's now outside the toxemia risk period so if nothing else I can at least say that there was no harm done to Ebony.

Pipsqueak Edmund is his usual sweet insane self. At some point he learned that I respond to crying and instead of wheeking now cries when he wants food, it's driving me insane. He still also needs his quit itch dip but it's currently below freezing here and his coat is so thick it takes over an hour to blowdry. But tomorrow I'll do him and then sit with him in front of the fire for a few hours to make sure he doesn't get chills. No change to his coat, it's still uneven with damage to the ends but the damage hasn't gotten any worse. Eddie is entered in the double show on June 10th.

Pipsqueak Feather is as always adorable. He's still a bit light on gram wise but he's got plenty of condition to him so I figure he's happy. He's adjusted well to the new vetbed bedding and only lacks time with his 'mistress'. he's one of those pigs that bonds and he's bonded quite closely with my mother. It's such a pity he's such a grot as he doesn't get held anywhere near as much as he would if he didn't need fortnightly baths.

Pipsqueak Fortinbras is pretty much the same as Feather, though he is also finally growing into his own and looking less ugly and more handsome by the day. Fortinbras' not really a cuddly pig but it's fun to watch him and Feather in their cage. I think one day I'll give them a baby boy to add to the dynamic and give them more of a herd feel.

Symphonia Laertes is as always my adorable little possum. As a short hair without a cage mate my poor boy is more then a little cold and rarely leaves his cozy. The bonus though is it means he hasn't lost any condition which can only be a good thing. Unlike Sterling he shows no signs of loneliness and if anything seems to love his life of solitude, occasionally chatting to Eddie through the cage bars. Once he's 'done his duty' I'll probably house him with a son or two and keep showing him (it would be years before I managed to produce anything as good as him). Laertes is of course entered in the double show on June 10th.

Symphonia Rosaline is very sweet but all in all a fairly quiet pig. She has some sort of tooth issue going on that's worrying me. She keeps breaking a front tooth, a different one each time. I can't for the life of me work out what she's breaking them on. She's eating fine though so it doesn't seem to really be stopping her, it's just weird.

And joining us on June 10th will be Chantilly Ayanna and also a little sheltie to show who will either be Chantilly Eleanor or Chantilly Emmanuel. I'm just waiting to find out what sex I'll be getting. I'd say in all probability a sow as there was only one boar in the litter, but it's totally up to the breeder. I'm starting to lose hope about these satin coronets. I'll give it until I leave for the show on June 8th before giving up entirely.

RIP in little ones

I took Audrey and Andromache to the vet yesterday and had them put to sleep. I stayed with them while it was done and it was very quick. It just seemed like it was the only choice left. Neither ever gained any weight and both were starting to exhibit some very apparent congenital defects. Their back feet turned out so they would touch at the heels like a frog. Audrey was beginning to have water bubble out of her nose and they both had a very odd shape when sitting still.

So Rest in Peace little ones, I hope things are happier where you are now.

Ebbie isn't doing particularly well either. Not toxemia but she does appear to be grieving and she keeps calling for her little ones. I'm hoping lots of nice treats and cuddles will help. She's still eating so I'm sure she'll be fine.

Because this now leaves me without a breeding sow (though I wouldn't have bred Audrey and Andromache even if they had pulled through, not after such a rough start to life). However a lovely friend of mine in the fancy has offered me a golden agouti and gold texel girl who I can pick up at the June show. She hasn't been bred yet but was born late January so she'll be the perfect age for breeding by the time I collect her. And I still, I 'think' have the satin coronet sow and boar coming. It's a struggle with their breeder as she's very busy and weeks can go between email replies, but I think I should be able to organize transport in June.

And I still should have a sheltie coming (from the same breeder as the texel sow) to be my new show pig until I can get my own babies. So that's four more coming, wow LOL, I feel like I'm starting to collect pigs already.

In other news the dog crates arrived and have been made into a lovely boar tower with three cages. I'm raiding my stash of incontinence pads so all I need to buy is some nice dark blue vetbed and water bottles and they'll be all set and ready to move into their new home.

Vets.

I'm not sure I've mentioned it before but one of my big concerns is the lack of exotic vets up here. With a single petstore that doesn't even stock vetafarm let alone rabbit food I was a little doubtful there would be anything. I've checked vet websites and spoken to numerous ditzy (why are they always ditzy?) receptionists who all told me that nope they can't do a rabbit vaccine and nope they don't treat parrots. And no, no one has experience with cavies.

But today we went to the Armidale Wool Expo and ran across one of the bigger vet clinics doing a stand. The lady manning it is what do ya know? a rabbit specialist. And the Uralla branches vet is a parrot expert. Neither are real sure on piggies, but willing to learn and at the very least rabbits are similar to piggies when it comes to health, so I'll get somewhere. However though they said they didn't have xperience with cavies when I mentioned I bred and showed them she asked me what breeds AND knew what a texel is. So I think the lack of experience may just be because I'm one of the few piggie people in the area. I know there's a BYB in Uralla, and there's a rescue in Inverell but it's certainly nothing on all the Hunter Valley/Central Coast piggie people where I used to live.

So I'm very happy and they were also running a competition for free vaccinations for dog/cats but she said they'd be happy to change it to a rabbit vaccine for me if I won, so I of course entered...

In other news Andromache and Audrey haven't changed. Andromache's at 91g and Audrey at 89, neither are near their birth weights of 102 and 107 but they are more than they were on Monday which was 82 and 88. I still don't have much hope for them. They are now eating the dry feed and have garduated to a low suacer for the dry feed and a small bowl for water (that I've yet to see them use). They still have their snugglesafe which is kept warm 24/7.

Ebbie is worrying me slightly. Since the babies aren't feeding shes constantly full of milk and I'm worried it'll turn to mastitis as the milk that comes out is very thick and gluggy looking. So I'm 'expressing' her twice a day. The milk is drying up though, so hopefully that happens before she ends up with mastitis.

In other news it's the second day of vetbed for the sheba boys and I have to say I'm impressed. The newspaper below is sodden but the vetbed is dry as a bone. I think once the incontinence pads arrive it'll be perfect.

Sooooo I'm thinking I'll convert all cages to vetbed and incontinence pads. It'll cost an absolute fortune, but it is a one off payment. Even if it costs $400, that is just ten weeks of the newspaper bedding and this stuff will last for years. So I've emailed the store I bought it from to ask about the price of a full 10m roll. Fingers crossed the new brand of incontinence bedding is just as good as then I'll be set for life.

I'm still waiting on the delivery of the dog crates as well. Since that will give me six new cages I also need six more food bowls and six more water bottles, which will probably cost more then the dog crates did.

Oh and I'm also working on a new design of hayrack, more info and pics if it works!

Updates on Babies and Shopping...

Well, life has been beyond hectic since I got back.

Firstly an update on the babies. It's not looking good for them. It doesn't matter what I do, they will not gain weight and simply sit at 85g. Considering they are a week old today, they should be at least up to 120g. At the same time they haven't shown any sign of fading so I haven't really decided what to do yet... For now while they seem happy and comfortable we'll keep chugging along but there is a probably a trip to the vet for euthanasia in their future. Ebony at least seems good, and so far no signs of the dreaded toxaemia. Once we get through another week I'll be certain she's free and clear and stop stressing.

Now on more selfish subjects the issues with this litter has thrown a rather severe kink in my plans for showing. I of course do a lot of traveling to shows and considering the rough start the two babies have had to life, even if they pull through I wouldn't be comfortable taking them on my long trips. Most likely if they pull through I'll find them a very nice pet home. But a breeder friend of mine has been WONDERFUL and offered me one or two babies to show once Eddie is retired. I can either keep them or return them to her at the end of their show career. So they won't be Samsara babies, but at least I will still have something to show along with Laertes. For showing though I do prefer to show longs. I love Laertes dearly but he's pretty much the same at every show, it's the reason why markeds have such long show careers. Whereas longhairs are always different, they always look different and are can change so rapidly.

I have also been shopping, which is always excellent fun. Basically I'm not happy withe the bedding I use. It costs me $40 a week for just enough bedding to clean out seven pigs, which is ridiculous. Anyone who knows me or reads this blog knows I'm a fleece fanatic. It's looks so nice, is so easy to clean and is a one off cost, what could be better? However people have also directed me towards vetbed so I decided it's time to run a comparison.

The pigs for this experiment are my messiest pigs. Sterling who lives by himself and the Sheba boys, who are the grottiest pigs I've ever known. Sterling will have the usual fleece pad, which I'll make myself. It'll have a fleece upper, an incontinence pad sandwiched in the middle and a cotton backing. The sheba boys will have purple vetbed over the top of an incontinence pad.

I've ordered a new brand of incontinence pads since my old one is no longer available. These ones are meant to be of a commercial quality with a 3300mL absorbency per square metre compared to the 2500mL per metre squared I was using. Unfortunately they are on backorder so they may not be here for another couple of weeks yet. But the vetbed has already arrived and so far I'm impressed. So since todays clean out day and I totally don't want to buy more bedding after shelling $60 out on vetbed, I'm going to try the more traditional approach with the vetbed and place it over a thick wad of newspaper and see how we go. I bought enough for three changes because the sheba boys are so messy so we'll see how we go.

My other purchase was three medium dog crates to convert to a tower of boar cages. Each dog crate gives just over four square feet of space, perfect for my show boars. Plus the height on the crates means I can put a level across effectively making two cages. So once set up I'll have six boar cages. I have access to incredibly cheap corflute in black or white so I'm thinking I'll use black corflute to make nice deep trays for each level. Then once my 'experiment' is over and I decide whether I want vetbed or fleece bedding I'll outfit the whole tower. I have to do the bedding in stages though as it's so expensive. The incontinence pads are $20 for 1m x 1m and the vetbed is $35 for 1m x 1.55m. However I'm going to enquire into purchasing a whole roll to see if that might save some money.

OMG! Amazing Week!

The last time I posted I was still waiting on Ebbie and getting ready for the Gosford Show. The last few days have been amazing so it's time to share all the fun and games.

Firstly Ebony, I left at midday on Saturday (the 5th) and still no babies. But Ebbie had been fidgety for a good 48 hours and I'd slept in the animal room just in case. She gave birth at 6:00 that night with my mother there to witness it. The first baby was an 82g overdeveloped baby, it looked like it had been overcooked and was born dead. This was a little lemon agouti, cream and white boar. The next two came in quick succession and were two live sows, one 102g and one 107g, both lemon agouti, cream and white, one has the same markings as Ebbie and the other is the same as Eddie. Finally a very large 120g boar was born, also dead. I'm so sad over this one he was absolutely gorgeous and would have been pick of the litter if he lived.

So Mum texted me pics but avoided telling me that the two girls were ill, a fact I discovered when I got home today (the 7th). Both are very shakey on their feet and look premature and runty, they've also both lost 20g since birth. The smaller one (Samsara Andromache) has rallied after a bit of calcium/divetelact/glucose and found her voice and feet but the bigger one (Samsara Audrey) is not doing so well. In part the issue is Ebony, I don't think I've ever seen such a hopeless mother. It's like she's got ADHD, she's sits with them for a few seconds and then wanders off often dragging little Andromache who's still attached to the teat with her. It's very cold tonight and Audrey's still not walking (though she's sitting up etc) so I've placed all three in a  carry cage so Ebbie will at least keep the little ones warm.

As to Audrey I tried her on divetelact and she drank a bit but wasn't very interested so we switched to Vetafarm Critta Care which she likes very much. She's taken 4mL so far. She won't use a teat or spoon so we're working with a syringe. Because of the fear of aspiration I'm just holding the syringe about a cm off her mouth and letting the mash dribble off and she licks it up as fast as it comes. She's already getting stronger and starting to gnaw the syringe tip as she waits for the next little dribble.

So the girls are in a very "we'll see" territory. They'll stay in my room tonight so I can keep slowly getting food into Audrey and just in case Andy goes downhill.

Now onto my other HUGE news. Which is illustrated by photos taken by another member who is an AMAZING photographer Nicole Macintosh who's very kindly allowed me to post them here. Anyone who actually reads this blog (LOL) will know I really don't think much of Eddie, mainly because I keep accidentally wrecking his hair. So I dragged him to Gsoford Show mainly because I need the practice. La-La of course came to as did Sterling. So La-La's class is one of the very first and I take him up pretty much expecting a BOB as the only there dally there was heavily roaned. What I did not expect was to beat an amazing roan and a dutch and win best Marked with him.

Feeling very pleased with the day and happy I came I settled down for the long wait to the longhair classes. Sterling was entered as a pet and to my surprise won Best Pet, apparently he had amazing condition ? and here's me wishing he was another 300g heavier...

So we get to the end of the day and I fish Eddie out of his carrier and start getting him ready. At the last show I was told I need to stop combing the curl out, so this time I comb all the curl out and then mist him all over and give his coat a good scrunch (it's what I do with my hair and I get awesome curls that way LOl) and then let him airdry on the grooming stand for awhile, while people wonder if he'll jump off. Meanwhile next to me the most immaculate longhair is being unwrapped. Seriously every hair was unbroken and perfect and this pig was just gorgeous. I was so envious, I was and am still certain it'll take years before I can present an animal with that degree of excellence. Eddie hung out on the grooming stand through the ticked and coat type line ups without an issue though it certainly freaked people out, especially when I walked away and left him sitting there.

Eventually we get to his class and I was absolutely gobsmacked to be awarded BOB with him, like wha? can you not see all the missing ticking? Apparently though he has amazing density and his belly is the densest she's seen. Here's me thinking those tight curls were normal...

So he goes up against the BOB Sheltie and stuns me again when he wins Best in Group.

That's when I realize I now need to table two pigs for the Best in Show line up, whilst somehow stopping an increasingly fidgety longhair from simply walking off the table. So I'm standing there more concerned with keeping Eddie sitting still than paying attention to the judging when the judge points at Eddie and says....

BEST IN SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes that's right my Eddie, my rotten brat of a pig won Best in Show, at a big NSWCC show. I think I'm still in total shock. I just can't believe it, he didn't even place at the last NSWCC show he was at, but he got BIS at this show? It's just woooooooow.

My first ever BIS, and all I can keep thinking is those people who said his fur would matt if I used polar fleece wrappers, and that you never win anything till you've 'wrecked' a few longs.... But I won Best in Show with my first longhair!!! Though giving credit where credit is due he comes from fantastic lines and a lot of his success has to do with his breeder breeding the right pigs together. But still I am just soooo happy.

Coming Soon!

Well I've been communicating with a breeder for a while now about purchasing some satin coronets. I'm still waiting on final confirmation from the breeder but I just thought I'd share some info about the new pigs that will be joining my stud soon.

I'm after satin longs in order to create satin texels/merinos. Although a satin curlycoat would be better to start with they are pretty much non-existant so I'm working with what I have. It'll take a few generations to get both the curly coat and the satin genes into one pig because they are both recessive genes but it's an interesting project to try.

So I've bought a boar and a sow. There's another sow available as well but I'm still undecided on her, it depends on Ebbie's litter (which still hasn't been born BTW). They are from a line free from osteodystrophy and dropped shouldercoat. Two very very important things.

So I don't know the age of the boar but he is at least 18 months old and has been proven. Apparently he's sired eight litters already and is a very good breeder. I believe he's a slate and gold satin coronet, though there may be some white as well. He seems rather sweet, here's the pic I was sent:

The sow is five months old (so born December/January). She's had one litter (will ask for more info later) and is the daughter of the boar above. I'm not sure if she's slate, gold and white or chocolate, gold and white. I'm in love with her look, it's a pity she was never shown she certainly has more than a bit of wow factor...

And this was the other sow. I haven't asked the breeder to hold her or anything, but if Ebbie does have all boars and this girl is still available I'll take her as well. She's 15 months old and had one litter, she's half sister to the sow above and daughter to the boar. I'm fairly sure she's a slate and gold.

So I'm looking forward to meeting them. Sterling is destined for the coronet sow, though I may still change my mind and use Eddie and use Sterling later on in the program...

Anyway that's me for the day. Ebbie's simply refusing to pop. I'm starting to think she's weeks off of actually having her babies. Though god knows how. As of today she's 68 days pregnant, her pelvic bones have been open for ten days, her babies have been grinding for ten days and movement started 23 days ago. She's also not rapidly gaining weight anymore. She never loses but it's more like 5g a day rather than the alarming 70g she was doing for a while. She's at 1520g and I honestly don't think her belly can expand any further. She's incredibly content and the babies are as active as ever so I guess I just have to keep waiting. Ebbie's eating and drinking like a horse so at least I don't need to worry about toxaemia.