Working on hard enough problems

Written to The Best of Santana by Santana

If you don't make mistakes, you're not working on hard enough problems. And that's a big mistake.
- F. Wikzek

It was when I found out I could make mistakes that I knew I was on to something.
- Ornette Coleman

While I am mostly convinced that we have avoided making major mistakes with respect to the rearing of our hogs, the events of the past couple of weeks, our research into the issue of savaging -as well as that of many readers- and the many comments that last week's posting generated have all convinced me that we are working on a very complex problem. As our virtual veterinarian-in-waiting and sometime orthopedic surgeon, Tony Matan, correctly concluded, there clearly is no consensus on how to totally prevent this problem. Nor is there even agreement on the frequency of the problem: Tony's research suggests that the percentage of savaging is 3%, while an article in New Scientist sent to me by my mother suggests that One in eight piglets born alive is fatally mauled by its mother.

And the complexities do not stop there: this past week saw another case of mass cannibalization, while Hannibela 3 is now nursing sow #1's piglets. Go figure!

Our latest strategy, which was generated after a Sunday evening meeting with Clair and Rosana to discuss the importance of taking a constructive approach to these very disturbing events, is to let the two most-likely-to-give-birth-soon gilts out of the pen. We did so on Monday, June 15th, and they are now roaming free at Alfheim. Interestingly, one of them has gone dark, presumably, or perhaps more accurately, hopefully, to build her nest.

Our rationale for taking this approach was based on the following observation from the New Scientist article:

In the wild, sows spend time and effort building elaborate nests of twigs and branches in preparation for their offspring. But their nesting activities were severely curtailed within the confines of a crate. And the pigs that went on to savage their offspring left it far later to start nest-building activities such as snuffling at the floor and bars and pushing straw around. They were still active four hours before the birth, while more peaceful sows were lying quietly on their sides.

At the very least, under these conditions the gilts should have more time to build their nests undisturbed by the other hogs. Worst case: if they do savage their young, their behavior should not impact the other expectant mothers. 7-9-13!

In other, less-sobering news, our shipment of 250 sacks of organic corn arrived from Fruto do Sol. Fortunately, I was away the day it arrived, so I escaped the corporal punishment that is moving 250 60-70 kg sacks of anything. Amazingly, this load made nary a dent in our new storage room.

Also, for the past two Saturdays we have been working with a new team of fencers, three-four day workers from the team of mandioca harvesters that work at our fazenda each Monday. They are all from Vargem Grande, and all have worked previously with Clair. Thus far the experience has been excellent. Unfortunately, Wilson, our most recent fencer, from Paraibuna, proved too unreliable. Unfortunate because we liked him and his work was solid, but he had an annoying habit of taking entire days and/or weeks off -wreaking havoc with our pasture planning. This coming Saturday we will inaugurate pasture 6, a huge deal as it will finally allow us to implement a proper, albeit nascent, system of grazing management. I say nascent because Most rotational grazing systems utilize ten or more paddocks to best achieve the benefits of the system. We have plans to open another four pastures over the coming two months. Remarkably, under this type of system grazing cattle will return 70 to 85 percent of the nutrients consumed back to the pasture. If that does not qualify as the definitive argument for sustained cattle production, I have no idea what does.

In a case of what goes around comes around, I had to move 65 fence posts (my punishment for missing the offloading of the corn) last Saturday from the staging area next to our house over to the bottom of pasture 6, where Castanha and Gargalo brought them up the hill. Most impressive work by the horses.

Finally, the one surviving, abandoned piglet has taken up residence in our kitchen, and she is doing wonderfully. Quite the character and an immediate favorite of one and all at Alfheim. We hope to reintegrate her into the herd (litter #3) over the next couple of weeks.