Outlier

This evening, I stayed late at the farm to help bring the animals in from the pasture into their pens at night. To kill time between 5 (when the normal workday ends) and 7:30 (when the animals are brought in), I decided to watch the piglets' entire bottlefeeding session.

What I saw was fascinating. Although all 4 piglets are the same age, give or take a few minutes, they are definitely not the same size. One piglet, Bulgur, who happens to be our only male piglet, is significantly larger than the others. That's him on the far left in the picture below.



Bulgur on the far left, much bigger than his sisters

No, I didn't need to watch an entire feeding session to realize that Bulgur is big; what the feeding showed me is why. Bulgur is a champion suckler. Once the bottles are inserted into the feeding station, Bulgur goes to town, chugging down the warm cow's milk. Once he's made a significant dent in his bottle, he pushes his slower-suckling neighbor out of the way and starts drinking her bottle, which has more milk in it than the bottle he left behind. Once he finishes that bottle, he moves on to another, pushing his little sister out of the way, again. This little sister, the smallest piglet, is a slow suckler and has only finished about half her bottle in the time that Bulgur has downed almost 2.

Thus, Bulgur's small advantage in suckling speed drives a cycle of perpetual advantage. Because he suckles faster, Bulgar gets more than his share of the milk. Because he gets extra milk, he grows faster than his siblings. Because he grows faster than his siblings, he is bigger than them. And because he is bigger than his siblings, he can push them out of the way and drink their milk. And the cycle repeats.

Malcolm Gladwell, I've found you another example of an outlier. Much like professional hockey players in Canada, who are disproportionately born in the first few months of the year, Bulgur has taken an initially small advantage and over time, accumulated a significant advantage. In the case of the Canadian hockey players, birth month becomes an advantage because kids born in the same calendar year play in the same league.   Kids born in the early months of the year are older than their teammates, and often stronger and faster. They do better in the league, and are selected for all-star teams. On the all-star team, they get extra practice and game experience, so they become even better players. Over time, they continue to get better faster than their younger teammates.

The question that I am now left with is what to do about Bulgur's advantage. If we don't intervene, and continue to feed the piglets four bottles of equal size, Bulgur will continue to grow at his sisters' expense.  One option would be to feed Bulgur separately, so he can't steal his sister's milk. Another option would be to give Bulgur a bigger bottle in the hopes that he sticks to his own bottle. A third option is to switch their feeding method entirely, such as to drinking from a saucer, meaning less bottle washing for us and perhaps loss of Bulgur's suckling advantage (although something tells me he will be a champion lapper, too!). And of course, we can just stay the course and allow for competition and survival of the fittest.  But such a course certainly doesn't seem like natural selection to me, given how much human intervention there has already been with this litter of piglets. 

After watching the piglets bottlefeed, I decided to explore the area around the farm.  Soil Born is right along the American River, but I hadn't walked down to the river until this evening.  I'm sorry I waited so long.  I found a spot right by the river to sit and watch the water flow by, listening to the ducks quack and watching the sun slowly sink toward the horizon. 

Sunset along the American River

On my way back to the farm, I spotted a doe with two fawns crossing the bike trail. 



Deer approaching the bike trail behind the farm

The farm really is a beautiful place, in an equally beautiful setting.  I am so glad I took this leap of faith.



Soil Born Farms' American River Ranch, as seen from the American River Parkway