Piglets, primroses and Puppies - Happy New Year

Almost the end of the year. Time to reflect. The almost-perfect gundog - aka Gunner - is nearly 10 months old. Throughout November and December he's been given rein to be a complete puppy - no serious training just reinforcement of the basics. He's proving to be gentle and bold but certainly no alpha dog; constantly looks for direction and reassurance and just occasionally goes berserk (like in the hen house recently). But next month he will start secondary school. Reports will follow.

Ginger's brood, 5 weeks old on New Year's day, continue to enthrall us and our (steady stream of) visitors. They are still suckling but she gives them less time each time. Yet again today we had to reinforce the fencing as the little ones (doubtless led by little Polly piglet again!) went runabout once more.They are truly mega-inquisitive. The Tamworth Two were nothing by comparison! The astute farmers amongst you will be able to tell from this rear-end photo just which are the male and which the female piglets. Mail us if you cannot tell the difference.

And whether or not it's a sign of global warming matters not two hoots, but the first primroses are in bloom on the bank down to the Rectory Field. We've had snowdrops before in December, but Primroses??? Is this a first?

Let's hope it's an omen for a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year for us all.......

In search of Santa Swine

'Twas the day before Christmas and all through the yard, not a creature was bothered 'cept Ginger's young brood, who were bent on adventure.....

Everything was sorted: tree and decorations done;mince pies baked; fresh apples and carrots stocked for the menagerie; and dried fruit put aside for the poultry. All that was left to do was pay final pre-celebration visits and fetch the festive goose.

Mangel, Pepper and Wurzel's new pen was finished just ahead of Christmas and they were thoroughly enjoying the entertainment laid on for them. Nothing too high-tech: just 'tossing the bricks', but it proved to be very distracting.

So everyone was fully occupied.

'Cept Little Polly piglet and her siblings. Ginger's fault really. She's fond of tucking them up at night with a little bedtime story. They quite like the one about the Wicked Giant Who Lives in the Valley - he has a really scary, smelly, noisy wagon which roars up and down the lanes when little piggies have been misbehaving. But their favourite is the one about Santa Swine who Lives Down the Lane and brings tasty titbits to well-behaved piglets. Just once a year though. Ginger couldn't quite explain that one. Curious. Well; what's a brood of little ones to do when things get a bit quiet around the Reserve? Of course, they swore they were really just trying to get to that tasty bit of rotton wood on the other side of the fence. But before they knew it - Whoosh, under the fence they slipped and away they scampered. Down the lane. ---- But that leads to the Valley! Ginger was in hot pursuit --- but she had to make a bigger hole in the fence first. And then she was off. There followed A Big Adventure. Lots of sliding down the dip in search of Tasty Bits (maybe Santa Swine had dropped a few?); darting across the lane and up and down .... how far to go before waking the Wicked Giant?? Gosh, the seven little piggies had such fun. And, actually, Ginger thought it was pretty neat too. Though she wasn't letting on.....

And then who should come along and spoil it all? Yes; Him: The Big Boss. Oh, He was Not pleased. Now - he could have just opened the gate and everyone would have gone home straight away. Oh yes, they would. But he tried to get them back through the fence-hole. And oh no, he couldn't. Oh Dear. What Chaos. What squealing. What language.For over an hour.

Then Mum got a bit fed up and decided it was time for lunch.... and eventually The B.B. struck on the idea of opening the gate and getting some food out (well, actually it was that nice young girl who thought of the food - one wink from Ginger was all that took! She should stick around!) and then it was all over in a jiffy - bar repairing the now rather large hole in the fence. Oh dear. What a jolly Adventure to have and how the Three Tonners chortled to themselves. Best bit of entertainment they've had in ages; better even than tossing bricks.......

But goodness wasn't everyone hungry when it was all over. Tumbling over themselves to get to the food. All thanks to Little Polly Piglet.

Don't some say redheads are more trouble than any others.......

The Three tonners and the three-week-olds

The little ones were three weeks old yesterday; although they still depend on mother's milk and sleep for a large portion of the day, they are very bold and lively and growing at an alarming rate. Already we guess their weight to be somewhere between 3 and 5 kg. As they grow, so their colour changes, with a preponderence of ginger beginning to show through. Ginger herself is a cross between a Blonde and a Red Mangalitza and until lately was very definitely 'Blonde' herself. Since the birth of the piglets, though, her colouring is reverting to a far more gingery shade. What colour the little piglets will end up is a subject of constant speculation here at Rectoryreserve.

Meanwhile, if pigs can have their snouts put out of joint, the three boys' most certainly have. They have become far more vocal since the arrival of Ginger's brood. They are also making a concerted effort to discover what lies at the Centre of The Earth. Some of their rootle holes are seriously deep. We're just hoping they don't reach their destination before the new pen is ready for them at the weekend. Of course, they may just be doing a 'Great escape' routine and one morning we will wake to find them all back together with Ginger again........... Now, that would be a nice Christmas present for all..................

Food and Drink

The seven little piglets are becoming very comfortable with the notion of being 'centre of attention'. So much so that when we had a 'wetting the piglets head' cocktail party at the weekend, Ginger was quite happy to open the Bar in full view of the fascinated onlookers. She really knows how to pluck at the heartstrings. The smallest of the brood, now known as Little Polly Piglet (the brownish one by mum's head) kept missing out and being buffetted by her bigger siblings. This drew frequent cries of "Oh poor little thing" and "Couldn't you just pick her up and tuck her inside your jacket" and "Move over you other greedy piggies" from the wondering crowd!

By Wednesday, with milk still much in demand, all seven had discovered the delights of hard feed and now tumble higgledy piggledy in and out of the 'mexican hat' whenever there's food in it --- and even when there isn't. They are also quite adept already at rootling; just as well as this is the way they derive much of the essential minerals they need to grow healthy and strong. Which they are wasting no time doing: already they are about 3x the size they were when first we saw them. They can jump logs as high as themselves and have great fun pushing considerable amounts of dirt and quite large stones with their tiny snouts! By the time they are weaned, at 8-10 weeks, they will weigh about 15-20kg. Aaahhh - what a shame they have to grow up!

The starlets spend the next day relaxing with Mum

After all the excitement of Wednesday, it was rather nice just to see the piglets mooching about with mum. They become bolder almost by the minute. Whilst these three were happily rootling and exploring close to Ginger, the other four were having a gay old time scrummaging around the Ark and exploring what the world outside has to offer. Not least, they discovered, three very large chaps (only) just the other side of the fence. Once again, remedial fence repairs became necessary .... next time I think we shall just opt for cast iron barriers......

Ginger's Piglets hit the headlines

No - this is not Mr Bean creeping through the copse bent on nefarious deeds. It is, in fact, our intrepid Look North cameraman gingerly (pardon the pun) sneaking around the day before yesterday trying to capture a glimpse of Ginger and her brood. But they were having none of it. Well... for a start it was pouring with rain - on and off - and blowing a bit of a gale. And then there was the small matter of that odd bloke with his big lens and as if that wasn't bad enough there was that other bloke from the BBC stomping about muttering about "rare as dodos".... Enough to make sure any sensible pig kept her little ones securely stashed at the very back of the Ark!

Thankfully, though, the rain and wind eventually abated and, after 3 hours, the reporters had their story and picture. Which was just as well because hot on their heels came a charming young lady from Radio Lincolnshire; and after her came a well prepared and pig loving reporter with her cameraman from Calendar News; and they had only just finished gathering their material when another young reporter arrived to record her story for Lincs FM. Fast as they got their stories out though (on the same day!), all of them were pipped at the post by the determined young reporter and his photographer from the Lincolnshire Echo who turned up at dusk on Tuesday afternoon in order to meet their deadline - just - for the Wednesday edition.

Inevitably, much as Ginger was scornful and shy of the press at the beginning of all this, by the end of the day she was totally relaxed about the whole thing and allowed her family to cavort around every moment the weather allowed. In fact, it was just as well we kept having intermittent heavy showers because it gave the little ones an opportunity for a much needed pit-stop. And it doesn't stop there. As if local fame and adulation were not enough, they have an appointment with a gentleman from one of our national Dailies at the beginning of next week.....

I don't think we realised what we were letting the RectoryReserve family in for when we asked our friendly journalist - he of Heckington Show and farmer's Weekly fame - if it might be an idea to do a press release about the 'first hairy piglets born in Lincolnshire for nigh on 50 years......'

What's outside Mum?

There was a little bit of calm between the storms on Sunday so Ginger conceded to these few exploring, tentatively, just outside the Ark. (Actually, they all went round the corner for a pee!). She's proving to be a very attentive and firm mother and, as far as we can tell, the piglets are thriving. However, we will sleep a whole lot better when we can get to see ALL the little ones. Our suspicion is that the more active four are little boars..... and the rest will be gilts... but we will (hopefully soon) see.

Meanwhile, the Three Tonners have been very inquisitive. Having (presumably) exhausted their musical repertoire, or just got bored with serenading, they've been making a concerted effort to visit the New Mum and her Brood. Whilst we applaud their efforts and eagerness to welcome the offspring, we deplore their methods ---- attempting to lift up the intervening fencing. Especially when the fruits of their labours only became apparent at dusk on a very wet and stormy Sunday evening..... We spent a very (un)pleasant and wet hour or so doing emergency reinforcement work. PigKeeping is not always a smiley-smiley affair.....! But I'm sure Ginger felt a great deal more secure as a result.