Using Rubber Bowls for Rabbit Waterers in the Winter:

     As we live in North-Eastern Washington, Our Autumn and Winter weather gets below freezing. Now, water bottles are convenient when the weather is warmer, but when things start freezing, they just don't work. (Unless you have the money to heat them, which we don't).

     We used to use plastic or metal water bowls, but they would just get dented and break. Rubber bowls do not dent or break, and it is easy to remove ice from them. Now, chewing the rubber bowls can be a problem with the rabbits, but as long as they are properly fed, watered, and entertained, I have found that it is not a problem.

Our New Zealand Buck, Andre

Our New Zealand Buck, Bucky

Tillia and her litter of kits

~Kathrynn H. Murray

A New Batch of piglets; A New Experience:

Tank and her piglets (the night they were born):

     The reason the arrival of Tank's first litter was special was that, unlike all of our sows (first timers or experienced mommas), Tank could not successfully farrow  by herself. Here is the Full Story:

     Due to some other errors, we did not have as many sows bred as we required for the year's worth of piglets.  So, we put Tank in with our boar, Bing (much later than we would have liked!). I never witnessed Bing and Tank breeding, so I did not get a due date for her. Which meant I did not have any idea when she was going to be due.                                                                            

     Finally, around the beginning of the 3rd week of September, Tank began to show signs of preparing for farrowing. Her channels began to fill, and her vulva began to slacken. I  then watched her closely for the next two weeks. 
     

     Finally, on October 1st, early in the afternoon, Tank began to 'nest'. 

Nursing time! 

     Later in the evening, something was obviously wrong. Tank was pushing as hard as she could, and there were no sign of a piglet or anything else. I decided to take a closer look. I reached into her cervix, and what surprised me, was that there was indeed a piglet, ready to be delivered. I realized that the piglet was stuck (because she had been pushing for at least an hour with no progress).

     Because of how long I had watched her pushing without progress with the piglet in position to be delivered, I was stressed about the piglet's likelihood of survival. I pushed the piglet as far back into the womb as I could, hoping that when she pushed the piglet back that it would get re-positioned. But it did not help. I tried a few more times to push the piglet back, hoping for repositioning, but to no success. I began to freak out. I thought that by now the piglet would be dead. 

     So, as I saw no other options, I did something I would almost never do. I very carefully grabbed the piglet's head, and gently pulled.

More milk? Why not!

     The piglet was finally delivered. And to my shock and relief, the piglet was still alive, with no signs of damage from the whole process. After the quick examination, I set the piglet next to it's mother's channels. I gave her some chances to continue farrowing by herself, but when she proved she couldn't, I pulled the rest of Tank's piglets. Luckily, all of her seven piglets were born alive and healthy. 

I believe the cause of her failure was obesity, along with a lack of abdominal musculature. (And both of which were our fault, because we were the ones who provide her food and space).

~Kathrynn H. Murray