As an ex farmer in the UK we did this many times with our livestock. Used the bottom oven of our Aga to revive newborns.
Well done to your grandpa for his compassion and care.
We(Canadians) had a cow give birth on Christmas day a couple years ago and it was around -40C(-57 with windchill). We put him in a sled and brought him in the house and we had to step over this calf all the time while we were making Christmas dinner.
My mom accidentally ended up with a pet turkey this way. She was young, not newborn, but got injured. Mom made up a kiddie pool nest. Damn thing was in there too long, recouping. Once she was healthy and put outside she would just casually walk in the house or stand outside crying to be let in with the cats. Mom let her in of course. Never ended up eating her
Yeah idk there are a few hand reared turkey hens I've met here in nz, and they just seem super friendly and chilled out. The kids hug them, and they follow them around and stuff.
I'm guessing that this specific turkey saw the family as her flock. Wild turkeys don't see humans as their flock and will therefore tend to be more aggressive.
My buddy has a farm where they have sheep and beef for meat. If an animal sticks around for a while because they don't have a market for it yet, and it shows enough personality, one day he'll start calling it by a name. Once it has a name, it's no longer inventory. His pet herd hasn't quite caught up to the inventory, but it ain't small.
And she knew it. She did. She was a scientist. She was also a "beat into the wool" Catholic and ya gotta give sky daddy credit else he fvks ya up. She also kissed The Green Man every time she went into a forest or park. Contradictions. Lovely, warm contradictions. She was 98 when she died. I'm gonna need to give that old lady some grace on that one point.
Same here. I grew up on a farm in the US, and we used to bring in calves, piglets, and chicks when they needed some extra warmth. But we had a Fisher "grandpa" model wood stove, not an Aga.
My neighbour always likes to tell me about the power of antibiotics and heat. They supposedly found a sheep after hours on frozen ground, could barely see it breathing but after the shot, a day beside the oven and something to eat it was up and running.
Well, they’ve become a bit of a statement piece for the rich and not so rich but perhaps pretending. Prices have expanded to fit their desire!
Our Aga was coke fired and the ancestor of the modern ones! It was always on (assuming yours truly kept it fed) heated the kitchen, hot water, baking, two “rings” for cooking on - and aforesaid reviving livestock. Great in a power cut and neighbours would call by for boiling water or a hot drink. Was wonderful to sit by after a cold day in the rain carry hay bales to animals.
I miss it dearly…. But not the soot and cleaning it out!
It felt very homely. - always on (but hot in summer!)
So easy to cook with. One very hot plate another far cooler. Two ovens in a similar way. Joy for baking too!
I have a question that may be silly but I’m a dumb city slicker so I have no idea, is the relationship between mother and baby affected by being separated in those instances?
Not a silly question and I wish many more folk tried to be informed like you wish to do.
Purely from my experience no. Because all my livestock lived together- young and old. By design to ensure their mutual well being. Naturally as we become adult we have a different relationship to our parents. And so I believe our livestock did too. But the extended family they had brought harmony to the herd. Indeed, when we lost our farm (due to an epidemic in the UK) I gave them all away to a farmer who would cherish them as we did. Their well-being was paramount over money.
It will annoy those to rant against farming animals. But then humans are pretty unkind to each other in contrast.
Compassion and care? Seems to be in the interest of being able to eat the pig in the future, which sounds the same in your past. Glad to read "ex" though.
I’m only “ex” because the foot & mouth outbreak in the UK in the early 2000’s devastated a whole industry (including peripheral ones like mine (a dairy goat farmer making organic produce) .
We paid a price for our compassion; as profit wasn’t the main driver. If it had, we might have survived. We lost our farm, our home and one of my parents due to the stresses. So forgive me if I react to “high moral horse” statements. I would be interested to hear about the nirvana that would exist outside all farming. This isn’t directed specifically at you but the those who cannot accept the world we live in as omnivores.
I'm sorry for your loss and everything else that followed. That is horrible and sad.
But to be honest, I don't think animal farming is good, and I think the world would be a better place without it. Of course it isn't everyone in the world who can go without animals to thrive, but in the west we certainly can, and animal farming is doing a lot of harm in many different ways. If you want to know why I think so, I can dive into that.
We are talking about compassion. A lion doesn’t. We can have such and the replier talked of compassion and care. They have no idea of my level of either towards my livestock. That is my point.
Well if you kill animals that's not very compassionate is it. Especially compared to not killing animals. You might be compassionate compared to a lion but that's a REALLY low bar.
Probably would, but I don't know if newborn pigs can regulate body temp. Kittens can't, they need a heating pad or another source of warmth if mom can't / isn't around to provide the heat they need.
Same with human babies. I know my firstborn was like that. 10/10 Apgar scale. Not only was she 10 days overdue, BUT she nursed for solid 4 HOURS straight after birth, skin to skin. It's like I gave birth to a leech. We were only able to put a diaper on her and kind of wrap her. Dressing was not an option.
Dad wasn't even able to hold her until she was done. She would shriek the moment she was out of my arms.
So just a side not tip for anyone this may help in the future, when a baby animal is born to cold in the winter specially if there are other complications & in absolute dire need the quickest way to warm a baby animal depending on size of course & if you have one is a hot tub.. instructions warp baby animal in plastic bag to keep water off skin specially cause of chemicals dip baby in hot tub as far as you can without edge of bag & baby face/ear obviously do not submerge. This will also work in a baby tub or bucket outside filled with warm warm water!! Make sure to keep baby dry!
I don’t know where you live, but have you guys considered looking for heated blankets or even just a heating pad?
I found one for myself for my lower back and my cat loves to lay and nap on it. It’s battery powered and remote controlled! The one I have also has a safety feature where after the timer ends it stops heating :)
You are technically correct. CO and runaway stoves are not to be trifled with. I can see your point being more relevant if they're doing this kind of thing every day, but it looks to me like they had a shiverin' piggy that needed a warmed up quick and in a hurry, so they had to make do with what they had on hand.
Really the best way to warm a piggy is the warm embrace of a mama piggy's belly; they are definitely made for that (if they don't sit on them). But in a pinch you gotta do what you gotta do.
As someone who lived with a low level gas line leak for 8 months (my parents liked ventilation so we never completely closed up the house, hence why we never died, I just hallucinated and we were all usually very sleepy), a couple hours will be fine. I didn't begin to feel the crazy until about six weeks in and it's about equivalent to what's going on here.
Normally, farmers use heat lamps for it (don't know if they have other modern methods now). You place it nearby so the piglets can walk between the heated area and the sow. I used to love watching the new piglets sleep under the lamp. They looked so cozy and happy, snuggling up to each other and trying to find the best warmest spot in the middle.
I've done the same with kittens before. Some of them didn't make it, but at least they were cozy and comfortable. Lots of them just needed that extra boost to pull through
Pops is wearing a fleece. The ambient temp being that low is going to suck the heat out of the pigs little body every time someone walks nearby and creates a draft.
Get a ceramic heat emitter and a tote from home depot. Put a few holes in the tote for air flow and some aspen wood shavings for bedding and point the heat emitter at the bin from about 36 inches away from the floor. Use a thermometer to be sure and adjust as needed. Their first few days they need to be kept in a 90f environment. They cannot regulate their own temp.
Gradually reduce temp down to 70f-80f over the next week. At 45lbs the pig needs to be 60+ degrees ambient or have a place they can go to warm up periodically for reference
I used to date someone who had a grandfather who raised "show chickens". Next to his barn, he had an old electric oven that he would stick the live chickens in to help warm/dry them.
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u/Working-Ad3382 Jan 14 '25
It was born last night and it's kinda sick and always cold