Sunny Cedars Farm

05/29/2026

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05/28/2026

All eight new piglets are now thriving and doing well, but there was a time when we almost lost them all. They were nursing, yet it seemed like they weren’t getting any milk. Mama’s milk wasn’t coming down. We massaged and rubbed her teats, but when we checked, there was hardly a drop. We even gave her a shot of oxytocin, but it didn’t seem to help. Meanwhile, the piglets were laid out, twitching, taking shallow breaths, and looked very weak. Some had even given up trying to nurse.

In a hurry, we made a homemade formula using whole raw cow’s milk, an egg yolk, and a bit of dark Karo syrup. We heated it to about 100 degrees and used a syringe to carefully give each piglet a small sq**rt at the back of their tongue—being careful not to overdo it and strangle them. Gradually, the piglets perked up and started moving around again. Two of them even began to fight, which was a good sign of regained energy—probably from the Karo syrup.

Meanwhile, Mama still hadn’t started producing milk. I searched online for more information, and found that many factors could cause this. Toward the end of the article, I read that if a boar is housed in an adjoining pen, his sounds and pheromones could stress the sow, causing her to produce high adrenaline levels. This stress can block the release of oxytocin, preventing milk from coming down.

We moved the boar and his new wives to another pen farther away. It wasn’t easy—he would follow a bucket of feed a little way, then get distracted, and take off exploring in another direction. Once we finally got them settled in their new pen, we returned to Mama. She was already nursing her piglets again, and this time, we could see milk. She’s very gentle with her piglets, and so far, all of them are surviving.

In my 25 years of raising pigs, I’ve never encountered this problem caused by a nearby boar. Just when you think you know a little about pigs, they manage to humble you—there’s always more to learn.

05/27/2026

https://youtu.be/UuJluxelWZM?si=vdBwi9qnJJIT20F_

This week on Harvested & Handcrafted, we’re serving up a Southern c...

05/23/2026

Come see us Saturday 8-1pm at the Summerville Farmers Market 218 South Main St (behind Town Hall) plenty of free parking. It's where all the cool people hang out! They let me stay around 'cause I have bacon, lol!

05/23/2026

05/22/2026

We're headed to Williamsburg Packing in Kingstree, SC to pick up our new products. If at all possible, we hope to be back in time to be at Costas Farms from 12-5pm Friday, but we might be late or not make it. We're on a tight schedule and hope things go according to plan. Wish us luck! PS: If you need eggs, there's plenty at the farm- Sunny Cedars Farm

05/18/2026

Determining what genders we have on the 8 new piglets. 3 boys & 5 girls.

05/18/2026

The new mama still has 8 piglets surviving. She likes the mulberry leaves I'm feeding her. It looks like there's 3 boys and 5 girls.

05/17/2026

At 5:20 Saturday morning, we checked on our expectant first-time gilt. There were no babies at that time, so we headed to Summerville Farmers Market and enjoyed a good day selling eggs and pork. When we returned, we were thrilled to find she had delivered 8 piglets on her own. Experiencing the circle of life firsthand here at Sunny Cedars Farm never gets old!