Tiny: The Lone Survivor

Farm life isn't always easy.

We share a lot of the happy moments here on the farm, but raising livestock also means dealing with the unexpected, and sometimes those moments are heartbreaking.

Tiny's story started with one of those difficult days.

I had bred our pig, Patsy, through artificial insemination (my first successful breeding) and spent the next four months waiting for her first litter of piglets. She finally went into labor on May 27, more than a week overdue.

We knew first-time mothers could have a difficult time, but nothing could have prepared us for what happened next.

There were complications with the birth and I had to take one of the newborns to the vet but it didn’t make it. Once I got home, Dad and I went about our usual morning chores.

When I came back to check on Patsy, I discovered that a huge group of buzzards had found the newborn piglets. There were more than 20 of them in the field, and the damage was devastating. By the time I got there, only one little piglet had survived.

That little piglet was Tiny.

She was a tiny black gilt, the runt of the litter, and she had already been through more than most pigs ever will. She lost the tip of her tail in the buzzard attack, but otherwise, she was OK. From the beginning, she showed us she was a fighter.

We made some changes to our setup to better protect the pigs, including putting our livestock guardian dogs, Yeti and Savannah, in with them.

The thing about Tiny is that she just kept going. Despite such a rough start, she's grown into a healthy, thriving young gilt. We've decided to keep her here for a breeding sow.

After everything she went through as a newborn, I think she's definitely earned her place here! She's proven she is a tough little pig, and we're looking forward to seeing her raise her own litters someday.

Not every day on the farm goes the way we hope, and sometimes there are losses that are hard to accept. But Tiny is a good reminder that even on the hardest days, there can still be a bright spot, even if it’s covered in mud. 😉❤️

It's hard to believe that the tiny little piglet we almost lost is now growing up to be one of our future mamas!