"HELLO" pigs, you're "O.K."

When it comes to 'getting down and dirty' the paparazzi know a thing or two.

But the phrase took on a very tactile and fragrant meaning this week when our Rectoryreserve herd were interviewed and photographed for a well known national agricultural magazine.

The paparazzo in question had met Wurzel and Pepper at Heckington and was eager to pursue their story in greater detail: particularly the 'hairy pigs return to Lincolnshire' aspect. Mind you, they were both well-behaved and, more importantly, clean on that occasion.

We had thought to present them in that same fashion on this occasion too. A considerable amount of time was spent on polishing and preening to remove the mud of the previous weeks. They were relatively sanguine about that, turning round to order so that we could attack the really caked areas and allowing their faces to be prettied up too. So, half an hour before the appointed 'interview' they were ready to grace the pages of the most celebrated of national magazines.

It is said that pigs have a sense of humour. Personally, I think it's an evil streak. We had no sooner turned our backs than they were straight back to their water drinker. We'd had the forethought to fill their wallows with hay. But they had other ideas. Within minutes the hay was made wet - and it takes quite a lot of effort to make water 'run' from an automatic drinker. Then mud was paddled in and then pigs rolled around ---- and became exceptionally dirty again. And, of course, wet! Cue the cool journalist! "No problem" he said; "The journal is one which prides itself in having its feet in the mud" (and, no doubt, having it's journalists' feet in the mire is an implicit part of the contract). And off he set about his work....... It was not long before thoughts of danger money were going through my mind, if not his.... Mangel and his mates were not into posing for the camera. Certainly they were interested in sticking their (dirty, very dirty) noses directly at the lens; they were equally intrigued by the photographers legs, feet, shirt, - well any part of his really. He began to take on a curious dappled appearance and muttered something about decreasing the value of his car, which he hoped to be selling shortly and which he was going to have to spend the best part of 3 hours travelling home in........ Something about clinging odours I suppose...

Attesting to his genuine fondness for pigs, however, he continued in good humour, giving up only when he felt certain he had at least one or two images which would be suitable for said esteemed magazine's readers. Let's hope he was right, after all we are trying to advance the case for Mangalitzas! Anyway, we look forward to reading the results of his labours in the near future.

P.S.

The following day, our lovable herd appeared clean and spruce for breakfast - and stayed like that for the remainder of the day. Sense of humour.... or what?

First safari visitors

The sun finally came to stay for a few days and with it our first 'safari' visitors. Unlike a 'traditional' safari (where you get to view the animals, from a safe distance, in their natural habitat) the Rectoryreserve experience is all 'hands-on' and living the country life with the animals, day in and out, in this instance for almost a week. Our first guests were typical 'townies' with little experience of the ins and outs of living with outdoor animals. Used to admiring them from afar, or on TV, the actual experience of feeding, handling and cleaning came as a bit of a culture shock - for the animals at least! But by the end of the week, trainers had been swapped for wellies, emptying horsemuck was taken for granted and the smell of pigs was just an ordinary breath of air! As they packed up their safari bus and drove away, the glint of a tear in their eyes underlined their promise to return next summer for another 'getting down and mucking in' country experience. Certainly they'll have lots of warm memories to make them smile through the cold dark wintry evenings ahead!

Little Ones & Growing-ups

It hardly seems possible that Gunner has been with us for nearly 3 months. Already he is beginning to resemble a 'grown up' spaniel rather than a roly-poly brown flecked sausage. He hasn't started 'school' yet but already he sits, stays and comes to command and walks to heel with or without his lead. He even had his first - informal - retrieving lesson yesterday, courtesy of Lancer. Polly and her ducklings had strayed far away from their pond and were merrily waddling around the yard not far from the pigs. Gunner happened upon them whilst mooching around whilst I was mucking out. He tried to make out what they were, which entailed getting quite close. They, naturally, didn't want to be too close so waddled quickly away, whereupon he wanted to get closer... and they wanted to get further away..... and so it went on till all the ducklings bar one had got away... at which point Lancer decided it was time to intervene and gently picked up the slow-coach. Gunner thought the game was then to take the duck from Lancer: but he growled something fierce and gave the duckling - shaken but unharmed - to me. I returned it to the hen-house. A little later yet another straying duck found itself in exactly the same position - with Gunner eager to help her go wherever she wanted to go, and Lancer quick to 'retrieve' the situation and return the duck to me to place back in the hen house. Somewhat later again (and either the ducks were being very stupid or were in cahoots with Lancer) Gunner found himself on the other side of Polly and her brood when I called him. So he calmly sat down, watched whilst she moved her brood away from him; then he inched closer and sat down again until she'd moved them all far enough away for him to calmly run around them and then quickly back to me. WHAT a clever dog - and not even 6 months old yet! He has to be a star in the making.

Meanwhile, Daffodil has been proudly showing off her latest brood; it's just a week old and OK so there is only one, but she couldn't be prouder if there were 20 of them. Let's just hope it's a baby hen and not another Cockerel........ should know by Christmas.....

Orphans find new home

It's just over two weeks since Polly deserted her nest of 9 ducklings and went back to her mates in the Poultry Palace. Eight have survived and have been providing Rocco - nearest whose stable they have been living - with a continuous chirruping as they explore the confines of their pen. At least I think that's what he said they were doing. Four of the eight are yellow, so should grow into apricot ducks; the remaining four are brown and will probably stay that colour unless they are male, in which case when they mature they may display richer brown on their chests and slightly paler tummies. Unfortunately, it is impossible to tell at this age which sex they are. Theoretically, male ducks always have two or three curled up feathers in their tales but here on the Rectoryreserve we have a couple of males without this distinguishing feature! The other distinguishing feature is their voice: the females quackle and chatter for all they are worth, whilst the males communicate with a more sober single 'quack'.
Anyway, at the weekend the four little yellow ones - two of which are seen here having a last swim with two of their brown brothers (or sisters) - went off to new homes. Two of them are going to be staying in Lincolnshire with the lady whom we bought our very first ducklings from some 5 years ago so in a way this 're-homing' represents a closing of the circle. The other two will be travelling down to Kent later in the week. It's sad to see them go - especially as they are the very first to be sold from here. The four who were left behind snuggled that bit closer to each other for the night and were a little subdued first thing this morning, but they've brightened up as the day's gone on.

The Paragon of Virtue

Summer has arrived with a vengeance. The past 10 days have been glorious. Here on the Wolds hot days are often accompanied by balmy breezes wafting - or occasionally 'blowing' in - off the sea, and evenings are frequently accompanied by the most amazing sunsets.

Last weekend was the hottest of the year so far with people flocking to the beaches to cool off. Somewhat perversely, my horse and I were at 'Adult Summer Camp' - perhaps more accurately described as equine boot camp. Spread over 3 days, this is a wonderful opportunity to take advantage of the facilities of the Lincolnshire Rural Activities Centre and the experience of highly qualified trainers. Participants can do as much or as little as they like - so we did a session (one hour) each of dressage, show jumping and cross country on Saturday; dressage, show jumping and Le Trec on Sunday and dressage and show jumping plus a dressage and show jumping competition on Monday. In would be an understatement to say that my horse sweated and I glowed buckets! Normally he's such a cool character! He's never flustered or temperamental and will have a go at anything. In his 7 years here he has done most things: hunting (which he truly loves), cross country (next favourite thing), showjumping (which he used to think was just indoor hunting!), dressage (which he is learning to really, really like! - my view, not his) and Le Trec (which he will be doing more of in the future - possibly). Plus he'll hack out anywhere for as long as I like, alone or in company, and never, ever misbehaves even in the heaviest, or most bewildering of agricultural, traffic.

Who is this paragon of virtue?

He goes by the name of Rocco - aka Madonna's Child when competing at Dressage - and is a 16.2hh, 12 year old, bay, Irish Draft x Thoroughbred. Imported from Sligo in Ireland by Barbara Rich (of Leicestershire hunting fame) he was bred for the hunting field - where he truly excels: but he has grown into a genuine all-rounder, worth his weight in gold.

He's quite a character too and his favourite thing in all the world is bananas. The third photo shows us having a jumping lesson at 'boot camp'. His normal inclination is "see jump, must charge" so we've spent quite a bit of time getting him to slow up and think and actually jump rather than gallop madly at the obstacle ahead. He's really getting the hang of it now (shame about the rider) so after this lesson some of the other chaps had gathered together a bunch of banana skins as a reward! We have yet to discover how many he will eat before refusing to take any more. It's been suggested that they contain some hallucinogenic so maybe he's not so daft. This show jumping session was followed by cross country and he did get pretty excited as we went round so who knows? Anyway.... we came home with rosettes from both competitions on the Monday so clearly the training paid off. Next outing for the 'Child' is dressage competition on the 18th when we'll really see if it's made a difference....