Today they learnt about birth

Today, the girls learned a little bit about birth. They got the chance to be present - although out of sight (as in mum was unaware) - at the birth of ten piglets. Sadly, this particular mum wasn't cut out to be a mum and so they've also learnt that nature isn't always kind. It does give them the opportunity to watch and be involved in hand rearing though.

Today, they, (the girls with the lady pig farmer) discussed the anatomy of a sow, the physiology of birth and the nature of 'goo'. They talked about placentas - Boo remembering the one she saw at Yogis birth, and what they are for. Luckily when the piglets decided it was time to suckle and mum decided she'd rather not the girls had got bored and left (Boo left several times during the proceedings - birth is a bit boring during the inbetween bits) so they didn't see her turn and bite. Luckily, she missed. By the time a few hours has passed and she still wasn't accepting it was decided they'd need to be hand reared. Busy times ahead.

On the same day the girls saw a mummy cat foster 4 kittens whose mum was very sick with mastitis. They heard how Sarah had put the four newbies in with Muppet, how she'd moved her slightly bigger babies aside, cleaned up the newbies and shuffled them into place. Two of the kittens have since gone back to their mum who was very lost without them but isn't yet up to full strength so better off with just two.

So, they learnt that mothers can be cruel, and kind. I think in all that learnt some valuable lessons.