Community Corner
Benner's Farm Welcomes New Piglets
At just over a week old, one died due to a hernia.
in East Setauket last week welcomed two new piglets to their farm animal family, but lost one at just nine days old.
The white piglets, dubbed "The Bacon Brothers," were born July 29 at the Suffolk County Farm in Yaphank in a litter of 14. Only able to take care of 12, the farm sent the two runts to Benner’s Farm. In just a week they played with over 100 kids who attend camp at Benner’s Farm and even made it on national television when MTV stopped by for a visit.
During a veterinary procedure on Saturday morning one of the “Bacon Brothers” had to be put down when he suffered an inguinal hernia. He was nine days old.
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“That’s one of the things that happens on a farm, strangely enough,” said Bob Benner, owner of the farm. “There’s life and death.”
Benner recalled an older sheep that lived on the farm this spring that died after a tough pregnancy and a complicated birthing process of triplets where only two survived.
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“It’s tough in the beginning to get used to – but you do have to get used to it,” said Benner.
Kirsten Hunter, an employee at the farm, said both piglets were full of character.
“We are so sad ... Losing baby animals is always heartbreaking," she said.
As for the surviving piglet, he is doing fine, according to Benner.
The piglet gets fed goat milk every two hours, “but they are pigs, they’ll eat anytime,” he said.
Eating habits aside, piglets are clever and easily trained, said Benner.
Benner’s Farm houses a lot of animals during the season, and has a lot of new life on the farm.
“We name our babies different things. We almost always name them for what they are going to be,” said Benner, explaining the “Bacon Brothers” name.
When it’s not as easy, the farm creates other clever names for it’s new animals. This year, the animals have candy names, such as ‘Kit’ and ‘Kat’ and ‘Good’ and ‘Plenty’. Last year, the animals were named after The Simpsons characters.
The animals on the farm grow fast, Benner said. The piglets had tripled in weight in just a week.
The farm usually does not keep too many animals during the winter. Some of the animals then become food.
Benner’s Farm cares for all their animals but in the end “it is a farm, and we do make food,” Benner said.
