We’ve had some cracking sunrises and sunsets over the last couple weeks. I don’t think my snap does them justice.
It’s starting to feel like Winter with the temperature getting below zero. The taps in the fields have frozen a couple times so far. If you want to build a stalagmite like mine, then don’t quite turn the tap off overnight.
With the porkers gone we’re free to move Kiwi, Sultana and her litter plus 2 arks to the other end of the field for the Winter. Straight forward you’d think. Plan was straight forward, move one ark, move Kiwi, move second ark and then move Sultana and the piglets. It’s a good plan however remember the quickmud? The quickmud didn’t really want to release the ark nor us once we were in it’s grip. The wooden floor I made and the Porkers never used other than a toilet was wedged tight inside the ark. After 45 mins of pushing, pulling, swearing and Amanda losing her welly(lol), we managed to get it free. A photo or two would have been hilarious but in Amanda’s words “Due to the difficulty of taking photos whilst trying to lever a large ark out of mud, without a) releasing the ark so that you have to start levering all over again and b) loosing your boots which are firmly stuck in that mud, we have only one rather uninspiring photo of lots of bits of wood under the ark, which in no way convey the sheer frustration of trying to move the bloody thing, or how long it took!” …not a happy bunny.
While all this was going on Kiwi was happily grazing, rattling a few pig nuts and she was in her new quarters. Ark number two was a lot quicker, without a floor and less mud it was down the other end of the field in no time. All we had to do now was to walk Sultana and her piglets down. Shouldn’t be a problem after all the piglets will just ‘follow Mum’ … err no that wasn’t what they or Sultana had in mind.
Sultana thought it would be fun to round up the ewe lambs and put then in the lambing shed. Meanwhile the piglets went in all directions except the direction of Sultana. More pig nuts and we have Sultana back with the piglets, temporarily at least. No matter what we tried we couldn’t get all 8 to follow her. Eventually we had 5 and Sultana following the bucket and off we went. So what about the last 3? Fortunately with some ‘sushing’ they went into Ark number 3, perfect. Amanda backed the Landrover up close by, then one by one we caught the piglets without letting the others escape and bundled them in the back of the Landy. After short drive to the other end of the field they were re-united with Mum and their siblings. Time for a shower and a cuppa.
I have to admit the Porkers were driving me crazy. It’s not all their fault but wading 30 yards through a foot of mud being hassled by 6 delinquent pigs each weighing 80Kg twice a day was a game that was ‘wearing a little thin’ shall we say. I thought Amanda was winding me up when she announced the butcher’s couldn’t take them for another week, that’s another 14 trips through the quickmud. What’s quickmud; it’s the clay equivalent of quicksand. If you move fast enough you can stay on top, any hesitation and you’re up to your knees. They say revenge is a dish best served cold, my preference in this case is roasted, sliced with crackling on the side 
Here is feeding time with piglets after 1/2 inch of rain. The buckets are supposed to reduce the food waste, but as you can see the piglets have other ideas. The field has gone from being muddy to looking like the Somme, it won’t be long before we move them all to drier ground. Thank goodness their ark is nice and dry.
We have hatched some eggs this spring as a trial. We used eggs from pure breed Cream Legbars and a Ludlow Legbar Cockerel because I love the blue eggs and the Ludlow Legbars have been excellent egg layers, both in terms of quality and reliability. We hatched seven chicks; four hens and three cocks. This is one of the cocks with one of the hens. Two of the hens look like Cream legbars and two like the one in the photo. To date they are laying beautiful blue eggs and should supply us all winter and into next year.
The draught control on the Massey isn’t working . It’s the draught control keeps the implement (e.g. plough) at a constant depth independent of the tractor’s ups and downs as it travels over the ground. Very clever system invented by Harry Ferguson some 80 years ago. Anyway mine isn’t working so armed with the workshop manual and a phone, to call a friend, I’ve started to dismantle the Massey. Minor problem the Massey came off the production line in 1960 and so all the nuts and bolts are imperial and all my large spanners are metric. Tracked down some large spanners and I’ve got the offending part off, it’s off to the mechanic tomorrow.
Whilst the tractor is in the shed I’ll try and fix the fuel leaks. Got the fuel tank off to sort the drip from the tap and clean out 50 years of muck. Need a few washers to sort the rest of the leaks out, all in all no biggy. As you can imagine the old girl is not looking at her best.
The piglets are scampering about sticking their snouts into everything. One escapee managed to duck under the electric and through the stock wire. We couldn’t find it and with the light fading we had to leave it to it’s own devices. ‘It should find it’s way back, that’s what piglets do’ we told ourselves!
Headcount check at first light, 8 are you sure? After a double and triple check all eight present and correct. Sultana remains her laid back self keeping the little ones and herself fed.
The most adventurous piglet has a white blaze on it’s forehead shaped like Harry Potter’s scar. Not a good name as she’s a gilt, maybe we’ll shorten it to ‘HP’.
Inquisitive little fella (video)
Tea Time (Video)
Kiwi’s back with us, she’s been away for the last 5 weeks with the boar, hopefully she should farrow in February. Her last litter are coming on well, they’re just about 4 months now which is when they get boisterous, they’re like delinquent teenagers pushing and shoving each other. Pigs have a talent for turning good grazing into a mud bath in double quick time. These Six are black belt ninjas hopefully we can keep them there for another month and then it’s off to the butcher.
Sultana’s litter is a week old and pretty lazy if you ask me. Only two have come out of the ark, the rest are happy to stay inside all warm and cosy and wait for Sultana. We think the two adventurous ones are the same two that were out on day one. Today however another two have braved the outside world, take a look at the video.
Sad news unfortunately we lost one piglet yesterday, we think Sultana sat on it, so we’re down to eight. The others are doing well though, fingers crossed.
Sultana, had 9 piglets yesterday. All fit and well. Two ventured out of the ark somehow and I found them under huddled up together underneath it. It’s Sultana’s first litter and she’s chilled about the whole event.
Dumblehole 