yep. Both of the black and white 'oreos' are female, the red and white one is a male. Sadly, we lost 2 a couple of weeks ago. One was the runt and had been stepped on within the first day of life. She did well for awhile, but then we had a week of single digit and negative digit temperatures, and she didn't survive. The other one we lost was fine until one morning, it was acting like it couldn't breathe. My husband was preparing a pen in the house for it, as it was super cold outside. When he went back outside, the piglet had died. This happened in just a couple of minutes. We think she had been stepped on/injured in some way that caused her death. She didn't show any signs of trauma, but if it had just happened, she may not have. Anyhow, the remaining 7 are healthy, active piglets. They are so fun to watch run around! Incidentally, when they were born, piglets were selling on craigslist in our area for $100 a piece at 6-8 weeks old, now they are $20-30 each. UGH. So much for making a buck.
it happens to us all the time. One year, we fell into some beautiful brangus/holstein calves. Nice and meaty, but with good height. We were pasturing them on my bil's place, their kids left the gate open, a couple of them got on the highway and met their end with a semi. Ugh! Most of the time though, we see the upward trend in prices at the livestock sale and then when we take our livestock to the next sale, the price is falling. Even if it is a week's difference! Oh well. We enjoy the animals, and we enjoy sharing the extra meat with friends and neighbors. We won't quit growing livestock, but it would be nice to make a buck now and then.