Well, we hope that Hammy Fae is pregnant now. We took her over to her "boyfriend's house" on Thursday evening and picked her up tonight. I had hoped to time the date right so that Hammy would be in standing heat over the weekend. It looks like today was the day.
The boar, Major, is a BIG Hampshire cross. He probably weighs around 500 pounds. Last time, he was just too big for Hammy to handle. He would try to mount her and she'd almost immediately fall over under his weight. Not this time.
J and I went over this morning to check on the progress. We just happened to come at the right time. As we drove up to the pen, Major was sniffing and nudging Hammy's behind. He tried to mount a couple of times, but she moved. We pulled up to say hi. Hammy looked beat. She is still quite a bit smaller than him (weighing MAYBE 200-225 pounds). While we sat there, Major started lovin' on her again and this time successfully mounted her. We even saw contact at the right spot. Whether or not his swimmers made it to the right place, we'll have to wait and see. But he was definitely in the right place at the right time.
We left Hammy there for the remainder of the day. When we went to pick her up this evening, we barely had to open the gates to get her into the trailer. She had NO hesitation about leaving. I think it was pretty tiring for her. Major's pen is very muddy. He is the alpha so I'm sure he got the lion's share of the food. And he doesn't get fed grain in a bucket like ours do. He is given produce right onto the pen floor (which I mentioned is mostly mud).
It was a bit strange when we brought Hammy back in with Kevin tonight. At first he was really excited to see her. Then he was too excited to see her. He and Hammy started arguing and he actually rammed her into the fence. We moved him in with the goats for a few minutes (much to Lilo's dismay) and let him smell her through the fence. We also gave Hammy a chance to eat and drink without being accosted. When we let him back in, they seemed to readjust to each other quite well. They are now hunkered down together in the shed like they were never apart. I hope Hammy gets a really good sleep tonight. She deserves it.
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