Thank goodness for a Defender. We needed to take the pigs to Leintwardine and decided to trailer train them in the field. As with all good plans we had to modify them somewhat.
Mike used the tractor because we knew the fields were still quite wet. However, to get to the pig field requires us to go down a muddy slope and up a fairly stiff grassy one. Needless to say the tractor/trailer got stuck and no manoeuvring could free it. So, out came Toad the Defender. We got into our field via our neighbours (thanks Bob) and then pulled the tractor with one of our old sailing ropes. It was touch and go, but with a bit of attitude we managed to pull the whole rig free. The photos show the rope attached when it then got stuck coming back into the small paddock. Again the Defender managed to get it out although because of the angle of the rope we nearly took the gate post off.
So Plan B for trailer training the piggies; we brought them up to the concrete area with the feed bucket and then fed them on the trailer ramp. Fortunately they loved it so we didn’t have to worry about training them everyday. When D-day came they went straight into the trailer with no bother at all.
Tractor and trailer stuck and making a right mess of the paddock.
So here we go again, it’s time to move the pigs to their winter quarters. I was preparing myself for it to take all morning after last years attempts. I led the pigs down the field to their new area although the little boar ran back to Mike and wouldn’t come with the girls, so I had to tempt him with food on his own. Once he’d got the idea he followed me and was reunited with his girls. Then we set about moving the ark itself. This was amazingly easy with the forks on the tractor and this was Mike pulling it out of the mud.
It only took about 30 mins all told to get the ark and pigs moved. Amazing. It took about 3 hours when we did a couple of years ago so we’re getting very efficient!
A quick Xmas update. The fields are too wet to move anything with the tractor unless we want to ruin them. So we are taking hay to the sheep by barrow. Unfortunately we are on clay here so certain areas are now ponds and I have to steer the wheelbarrow through 1/2 a foot of water and the sheep have made a real mess round the hay feeders. But they are at least in a field that’s dry. The pigs however are loving it! Soft earth and it’s so warm they are finding lots to eat.
And because it’s so warm there are Iris and Aconites flowering (normally Feb) and we are having a home grown cauliflower. This photo shows what I picked from the poly tunnel today to go with our Sasso cock bird for dinner: The cauliflower was planted in August to overwinter and eat in early spring but like everything else as it’s so warm they have flowered early. The bad news is we won’t have any in March.
As those of you who have been following our news know, Kiwi only had 1 piglet and so as she is due to go this week, we have bought 3 little gilts to keep our little boar company. They were car sick on the way back so it was windows open all the way to stop us being sick too; the smell wasn’t great. We were well prepared with an enclosure next to Kiwi and her piglet, but like all well planned activities with animals it did not go to plan. The weaners came out of the land rover, saw Kiwi and thought MUM! and dived under the electric fence to be with her. She was actually very good with them, but they did get the message to stay out of the way until she was good and ready to engage with them. But the really lovely thing was that the little boar was delighted! So he will be happy when Kiwi leaves us tomorrow.
25th October and we had our first frost which is a good excuse, as if I needed one, to post an Autumnal dawn. However the main reason for posting though is that’s it’s analogous to my feelings about the local squirrel population.
Let me explain, the tree in the foreground is a Walnut which had an abundant crop of walnuts this year, more than enough for man and squirrel. However the local grey squirrels saw it differently and stripped the tree bear, there’s not a single walnut left. All of which made me see red aka why the photo fits! I’m already scheming on how I’ll stop them next year.
With the chilly mornings we’ve got the Rayburn up and running. It’s not the most efficient piece of kit but it makes it really cosy in the kitchen. However with the Rayburn and a wood burner we go through wood at a fair rate of knots. Back in April I ordered in a ‘little’ firewood for the winter. Rather than buying it already cut and split I thought I’d do it myself as I need the exercise and ‘how hard can it be’. The photo is 25 tons of tree trunks but I’ve got a great Tanaka chainsaw. Progress has been good if a little erratic, fortunately some friends came to stay. They worked like Trojans spending a full day splitting and barrowing, I think we processed about 5 tons. Thanks Tony, Ali, Victoria and Harry.
There’s probably about 5-6 tons to go but that can wait until next year when I’ve enlisted some other volunteers or should that read victims. Hopefully there’s enough in the wood store for the winter!
The tups have been in for 17 days and it’s time to change the raddle colour, why? The ewe’s cycle is approximately 17 days so by changing the colour we can see who hasn’t taken the first time they were tupped.
Yellow was the first colour we used and Orange covers the yellow as you can see. Hopefully we won’t have too many second timers, otherwise lambing will go on for longer.
Things are not going to plan, the idea was that Sultana would be our replacement sow as Kiwi is getting on and this will be her last litter. I’m already talking about Sultana in the past tense, she had one litter earlier this year but hasn’t come into season since despite spending 8 weeks with the boar. So she has had to go, on the upside as she was young we had 175kg of very nice sausages. I think we’ll have to have a village BBQ.
Kiwi farrowed 23rd August but only 1 piglet which is a real shame for her last litter. However mum and son are in separable. It’s like there’s 3 foot of bungie cord connecting them. They both seem quite content and Kiwi is hoovering up all the fallen apples.
Well, this year we decided to try our hand at showing sheep. Firstly thank you to all those Ryeland members who have helped out with advice (go to Bromyard before you show at Burwarton), trimming (quite an art) and feet (don’t leave them!). We took our Coloured shearling ram to Bromyard (4th) and Burwarton (4th) and a trio of ram, ram lamb and ewe to Kington another 4th.
Ubie and the jet wash: He looked much better afterwards.
It’s been fun getting involved in the shows, but there is quite a lot of preparation, not least making sure you shear at the right time and we nearly missed it this year. Next year we will be more prepared. I’m not sure the sheep enjoy all the preparation, especially the jet wash bit. But they did seem to enjoy going to the shows.
We’ve put the tups in a week earlier this year on 26 September, not because we particularly wanted to lamb earlier as I prefer to turn the ewes and lambs out onto fresh grass. But everyone was getting restless and it just seemed like the right time. With two distinct flocks it can get a little complicated and this year it means there’s 5 groups. Sam is with one group of Ryelands and Uhoo with a second. With Sherlock gone Ubi has all the coloured Ryelands, lucky boy. That just leaves this years ewe lambs and ram lambs, hence five groups in total. Surprising it only took a couple of hours to split and group everyone.
We don’t raddle the rams, instead we just mix the coloured marker with oil and smother it on the ram’s chest. The first year we breed Amanda used olive oil as it was ‘all we had’ apparently!
It’s all going well, after a few days a good percentage of the girls have been tupped already, hopefully the rest will follow and we’ll have a tight lambing like this year.
Tractor and trailer stuck and making a right mess of the paddock.
Dumblehole 