Our final three

So we are officially down to our final three sows. It hasn't been quite as hard as I thought it would be rehoming the pedigree pigs as I know they've all gone to great homes where they will be treated with the respect they deserve.

These girls have been living it up, enjoying an over-abundance of food as I try to adjust to only needing to feed 3 pigs, not 30 plus!

Last baby left needing a new home

Little leighton is the last pig left to find a new home now. He is the surprise pet-satin we had born to Chilli x Montezuma. He looks like he'll have a shorter more rex-like coat, and still has his stunning rich colouring.

Laura, the satin-carrier sibling has already gone to her new home so we forgot to get her coat-update. She was looking quite fluffy though. And then Lilly's update is below. She wasn't cooperating for an 'in the sun' photo, so looks quite dull in the shade (the satin effect messes with my camera! It doesn't like photographing it! The iphone does a much better job!).

Lilly is looking quite fluffy though, and may end up looking like a coronet (a texel with the crest).

And this is how the last remaining pigs are living until the tower cages get picked up this weekend. After monday, and provided little Leighton finds his new home, we'll be down to just three pet girls - Lilly, Kobe and our old girl Custard (the big cream girl shown on the blog's top banner). She is only a few weeks away from her 7th birthday now!

Stud Closure

We made the sad decision a few weeks ago to close the stud. We've been slowly reducing our numbers over the last few months, but it just hasn't been enough. I just don't have the heart for breeding anymore. We are going to keep 3 pet sows for the kids, but all of the pedigree animals have been found new homes with trusted studs to continue the work with our lines.

We have a few last pet pigs looking for homes still. A pair of pet rex sows (Cupcake - shown above, and Chilli will go together nicely), as well as our LAST baby pedigree texel, and a baby satin curly-coated boar. All the information on our adoptables can be found on the available page.

We will need to sell our tower cages as well. The above cage shows our newest long 3-bay cage. This one measures 200cm x 60cm x 110cm tall. Each of the 3 levels is 200cm x 60cm allowing for LOTS of room. There are centre dividers that are hinged and have a bolt to allow you to secure them out of the way when opening the section up (no need to remove/no risk they'll get lost). They also have front pannels that are removable for easy cleaning - with each pannel the same size so they can all be mixed around. We're asking $400 for this cage, and pick up is from Wynnum West, Qld.

The older cage is our taller 4-bay tower cage. Each section here measures 120cm x 60cm, and it too has the centre dividers to turn it into 8 single cages if required and the front lift-out panels. We're asking $300 for this cage. They cost well over $1000 new, and have been professionally custom made by a fellow Brisbane Cavy stud.

There is also this little patio-hutch style cage below with the lift-up lid. It measures 120cm long by 45cm wide by 50cm tall. It's one of our very first cages, so is a few years old. But hasn't been used in a while. We're asking $40 for this one.

Email me at eleb2000@hotmail.com if you're interested in any of our cages.

Our very last litter here at Sirocco

Last Wednesday (the 13th Nov) our pet rex  Chilli (shown below) delivered three gorgeous big 85g babies. This was an experiemental pet litter fathered by our satin texel. We had some information about Chilli's dad carrying the satin gene, so I decided to see if she was possibly carrying the gene as well.... and sure enough, 2 of her 3 babies have been born with satin curls!

This is little Lilly - she is a lemon agouti, white and cream curly-coated girl with a crest and the gorgeous satin shine. She will be staying here after we close our stud at the end of this year as a pet sow.

(Chilli feeding Lilly - you can see how much her coat reflects the light in this photo!)

And this is the little boy - Mr Leighton. He too has the satin coat, this time in a gold agouti tri-colour patterning. He will be looking for a new home in a few weeks, and will be one of our last available babies.

And this is Laura. She has the 'normal' non-satin coat in the same colouring as her brother. She has a new home lined up already, and will carry the satin gene like her mum.

Amore x Montezuma - two little boys born 6th Nov 2013

This is mumma pig - our very pretty 'Amore'. It took her a long time, any many attempts with different partners before she finally fell pregnant. Interestingly enough, it was Montezuma's first time with her that resulted in the successful pregnancy. Monte is pictured below and is only just 4months old now.

These are the sweet little results of the mating between Amore and Montezuma. Two gold agouti, gold and white pedigree texel boars. I will admit I had hoped that Monte was carrying the gene for Amore's gorgeous colouring (they share some similar ancestors), and that we wouldn't get ALL BOYS or ALL GOLD AGOUTI - but we did! lol

This little guy is 'Sirocco Truffle' - the larger of the two boys at 100g.

and this is 'Sirocco Treacle' - slightly smaller at 85g. (he also has slightly more gold on his rump).
I think I will have to study their different markings to make sure I can tell them apart as they get older too!

Updates on some of our spectacular bubs

Sirocco Myrrhini

 newborn

1 month old

2.5 months old

and her most recent photos taken yesterday at 3months old. This girl is looking lovely! 

~*~

Sirocco Hunter

newborn

3 weeks old

6 weeks old

 9 weeks old

and Hunter's latest update shots now at 2.5 months old. This boy has a very promising future ahead of him. And how gorgeous is that big cream nose!!!

~*~

Sirocco Tadita

 newborn

2.5wks old 

1 month old 

 6 weeks old

and this is Tadita's latest photo update, now 2 months old. She's never had the density of the other two bubs Myrrhini and Hunter - but she's definitely looking nicer now that her length is coming through. 

Opal x Amadeus's single sow

On the 24th September 2013, Sirocco Opal delivered a stunning single sow bub sired by Sirocco Amadeus. (Mum is above, dad is below).

It was the first morning in months that we'd woken up to find the area clouded in mist. So we decided to call this little silver agouti and white girl 'Misty Morning'.

These are her progress photos taken a few days ago at 10 days old. She's looking so gorgeous and is already 250g. The benefits of being a single baby!