It's all go and off to the show!

Hectic is how it's been here for the past week! First it was a visit to a new venue for curly coats (more of which later) then it was the vet arriving to do all the necessary administrations to the piglets - details of which are not to be gone into here! - then it was completing all the necessary 'Movement orders' for all the things that were going to happen over the near future.... not to mention prissing and preening the piglets for their various forthcoming roles......

The first to fulfil his new role was Little Ern (named for his 'short, hairy legs' if you please!) who is seen here being air-lifted into the transportation by his new boss... closely watched by the wife with Pilot and Lancer monitoring activities....... In view of the made-to-measure fit of the accommodation in said transportation it was as well that the journey to the new homestead was but a short one. Little Ern is our first 'Gardening pig' - destined for a life of pampered luxury aiding and abetting the new boss's attempts at cultivating first class veg. for the kitchen! We wish them well and will watch their progress with interest.

Then it was 'off to the show' on Sunday with the 6 remaining piglets. After our experience with not getting Lily's companions to the Woodhall Show we were fully expecting a re-run of that frustration this time. We were well and truly put in our place. 6 better behaved piglets you could not wish to find.
"Want us in that trailer?" "No bother." In they went.

Travel over an hour to Heckington Showground.... position trailer in unloading position, open up... "Want us out there - along that runway of hurdles..... between all those very noisy woolly sheep..... No problem."

"What?" "In that there pen? OK"

"Yes, alright, we'll do our best to entertain all the people all the day. No slacking here, you know!"

And they did just that---- rootled here and there, chased each other about despite the heat, gruntled and snortled and played hide-and-seek for all they were worth. Just occasionally collapsing in a heap in the water or disappearing under a pile of straw to cool off!!! And the people were enchanted. Better ambassadors we could not have wished for. They had a steady queue of admirers all day long. We mere humans talked ourselves hoarse in response to all the queries and questions. Linda-who-loves-pigs admitted she'd never talked so much in all her life. The husband was drop-jawed with wonder! By the end of the day we had numerous potential 'new homes' and some very tired piglets and their people!

And what a joy they were even then....

"Time to go? OK, off we trot to the limousine.... " and in they loaded without hesitation or deviation. Same again when we arrived home. Open up trailer and out they trotted into the cool comfort of their well stocked stalls..... happy to eat, drink and sleep --- who knows, perhaps to dream of the maddening crowds...... What a joy they are!!!

Meanwhile, out in the grown-ups quarters we were happy to see Mangel and Ginger, noisily reunited on Friday, mooching happily around together, blissfully unaware of the day's excitements.... It must be their chilled out and stress-free attitude to life that they pass on to their offspring.

Soon we shall start counting..... 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days.........

Woodlands Farm visit

Finding ourselves in that 'neck of the woods' yesterday we decided to drop in on Lily's brother and sister-in-law at Woodlands Farm (www.woodlandsfarm.co.uk) It's a bit off the beaten track so took a little finding - along miles of very bendy fenland roads lined with the sort of dykes that one imagines many people must have 'mysteriously' disappeared in over the years!

But find them we did: along the "Organic Trail" just beyond the orchard and the organic turkeys!

We couldn't actually see them when we located their pen - that Curly Pig information board was a bit of a give-away. Typical pigs - they were fast asleep in their rather salubrious house. But we made lots of "here we are pig" noises and soon they came running over to say Hello!

Apart from making the most of an opportunity to have a bit of a back scratch, they were keen to hear all the news from Rectoryreserve and gave us the low down on Woodlands farm in return:- lots of fresh fruit and veg. to eat; visitors like London buses (all at once then none at all for ages); plenty of space to run around in and a very nice pad thank you..... and if they wanted to go walk-about they could probably organise that too---- but no point in that really when everything necessary is already to hand. Mind you, we mentioned the orchard was just a stones' throw away across that dyke and perhaps that was a mistake................................

All in all they looked very well and happy and, we thought, rather larger than Lily.... perhaps we should be feeding her a little more . Doubtless she'd have no complaint about that!!!!

Mummy's girl

It was The Day of Weaning on Friday. For the weaning of the last litter we'd had the help of two young strong men but, not wanting to appear wimpish, we thought we'd try and manage alone this time. "Preparation and Planning" said the boss. And duly spent many sleepless hours doing just that!

The D-of-W dawned - another typical summers day ---- grey and wet. Not to worry.

The plans and preparations were put into effect.

The raceway was constructed......

Trailer parked level.....

Special Enticements from Heather's Fruit Shop were to hand - (well, actually to trailer and to ground) kindly delivered by Linda-who-loves-pigs, who volunteered to help.

Even the sun came out to watch.

And it all went swimmingly - more or less. Which just goes to show that P&P really make a difference. It was a bit of a game trying to separate Ginger from her piglets and she was none too impressed when I scooped one of the laggers up and added it to the 5 on the other side of the fence.

(I and the onlookers were mightily impressed by that bit of deft handling....Never managed to pick up a piglet and hang on to it before!!)

Separated from their Mum, the 6 little piglets were only too happy to go exploring the new green pathway and were almost oblivious to the fact they were actually being herded down that same green pathway. Lured on by treats of the nicest kind - cherries for instance - they were in the trailer almost before they realised! And whisked off to the weaning stalls where they disembarked, equally inquisitively and well behaved...... not a single murmur of discontent.

Leaving just little RedRuth behind with Mum.

She refused to leave --- and refused to be caught.

There was no point upsetting everyone.

She wanted to stay with Mum. Mum was more than happy for her to stay. And, on reflection, it was probably a good way of taking Ginger's mind off the fact that the others had gone. At the last weaning she went in search of her babes in the middle of the night - causing considerable havoc - but this time she and her sole charge went peacefully to bed...... AAAAhhhh. And in a day or two they'll be fed up with each other and then we'll separate them. Or we may just leave Little Red with Ginger rather than put Ginger back with Mangel. That way, she'll get a bit of a rest between litters.

And on the subject of Ginger..... we're mystified as to how that heavy lump of solid mud which has been stuck on her tail these past months suddenly dropped off. We'd tried breaking it off, removing it with water and rubbing it between lumps of stone --- all to no avail. But the vet's due during the week to sort out the piglets so we'd asked him to come prepared to deal with it, if necessary sedating her first. He was not looking forward to it. "Never come across anything like it before." He said, when asked.

Just goes to prove that pigs are really smart; it'll be a little while before the tail will curl 'cos it's been stretched straight for months. But at least She can now wag and whisk it around.

No doubt in preparation for visiting with Mangel again.......!!!!

The Brazen Hussy!

If you go down to the woods today.....

"You're sure of a big surprise" I said to Gunner as we set off for his training session.

He's been in the odd copse or spinney but not in a Real Wood. So that was the next test for the going-to-be-bestest-gundog......

It was chucking down with rain. We were undeterred! But wet!

A 400m grass track led to the woods. Gunner was very keen and alert. He 'pointed' at a pheasant which, a few yards further on, duly clattered up out of the corn. Dog sat without a word from me. On his best behaviour!

By the time we reached the wood both The Trainer and I were sodden from the boots up. Dog was just wet and excited!

The heavy canopy kept much of the rain off but the dense undergrowth was as challenging for human legs as dog's nose. I stumbled merrily on with Gunner hunting ahead but fairly close, alert to every sound and scent.

Our trainer was in charge of dummy throwing. Walking in parallel to us about 15m away, he soon started chucking things for our bold retriever to fetch. All very well, but apart from the general direction, I couldn't see where they went! Gunner had only his ears and nose to go on. And much of the time when I sent him out to 'fetch' I couldn't see where he went either..... Bobbing up and down, around tree trunks and overhanging branches, I tried (somewhat desperately at times) to give sensible directions. How he managed to follow these I don't know but the g-t-b-b-g retrieved each and every one. At one point our trainer complimented the dog on coping brilliantly with a severly handicapped handler! Actually, I came in for much criticism over my lack of crisp handling.

"Half the time I can't see the b..... dog. It's like training a gundog for the blind" I retorted, very slightly ruffled, on one occasion!

"If you think he's going wrong" said our trainer "then, the moment you catch sight of him, stop him and redirect him. After all, he's got a lot of white on him...."

"Easy as that, then?" I muttered to myself, peering through trunk and bush - sometimes almost on my knees - for my dog...

....who never once gave up trying or looking. Rory's tests became tougher. Lobbing a dummy into a hollow tree trunk surrounded by brambles, he was impressed to see Gunner keep on till he got it out. Distances and obstacles were increased. Hunting one moment and hardly drawing breath to stop, sit and go for whatever retrieve was put down for him, Gunner was clearly loving the woods.

"He's really come on in the last few weeks" said our trainer. I recalled the recent evening when he'd raced off in pursuit of a hare I had failed to see in time to stop him!

Then He set up a Really Big Test.

When neither Gunner nor I were anywhere near seeing what he was up to, he chucked a dummy deep into a vast growth of brambles about 20m away from us.

"Sit him and send him back" instructed the man.

Gunner went straight to the brambles. He knew it was there somewhere; but he kept skirting round the outside, jumping up to see if there was a way to fetch without going into the nasty thorny stuff. It took a number of minutes, stops, starts and redirections to get him into the middle. But in he eventually went, following all my directions to go 'back' --- until he found it.

The dog was so pleased to find it! He came bouncing back to me with it.

I was so relieved he found it and made a great fuss of him.

Rory was almost enthusiastic - for him - that he found it.

"That really surprised me" he admitted

"I thought he was in the wrong place" he continued "I didn't realise I'd thrown it so far back and began to think he was messing about - but I'll trust him now..... He didn't once think to give up trying."

We called it a day and set off back to the car, dropping a dummy just outside the woods. Again, Gunner paid little heed. But, almost back to the car (about 300 yards) I sent him back and, taking a short cut through the corn to cut off a corner, he went straight to the dummy, whipped it up off the ground and raced back to me with it.

"He really is the strangest spaniel I have ever come across" said Rory. "He appears to pay no attention, yet rarely misses a thing. He's making life hard for himself yet seems unbothered...."

Almost 4 weeks till our next 'lesson' as the trainer is away on holiday. Homework is to "keep pushing" the dog and "stretching" his memory. And for the dog's handler to be a bit crisper with directions and not get overconfident and lax. As if.......

P.S. to the previous

Not only is Mangel busily engaged in digging his tunnel/down-under/wherever, he has also developed another (to us, annoying) habit. He takes all his feed bowls and puts them in his ark. Not just in the doorway, but tucked right up the back as far away from the entrance as possible. The first couple of times he was a little complacent and we managed to hoik them out with our 14' boathook. Which he observed. Now we can't reach them even with that. By yesterday evening he'd accumulated all the bowls (5) and piled them up so come feedtime, there were none for Ginger and her brood; nor for Mangel himself.

Of course, it is the easiest thing to go in his pen and simply remove the bowls. But with his strength and his exceedingly sharp tusks, and being such a friendly soul, just a little rub against legs with his head can result in very nasty gashes (as a certain Big Boss has learned to his cost). So we spent a very pleasant half hour yesterday evening, trying (and eventually succeeding) to bribe him down to the paddock to eat so that the other one of us could scoot into his ark behind his back and quickly retrieve the bowls. Needless to say, he rumbled our little plan and decided to turn it into a big game. Well. What else would he do - guaranteed attention for as long as he cared to play! No sense our getting impatient cos that would only have made him more pig-headed. No. He was not hungry.

And since he was not hungry there was no point in going down to the paddock. And since we kept talking to him nicely he was obviously on to a good thing.

Even Lancer got bored!

But eventually Mangel had also had enough. And peace descended.

I forgot to mention that all the time we were trying to cajole him, the piglets were squealing - extremely loudly - for their dinner. As was Ginger. They could probably have been heard 3 counties distant. And because they were squealing the ducklings squeaked as loudly as they could. Clearly the piglets would not make so much noise unless there was a real crisis afoot and that was the message the ducklings were getting, loud and clear! That might seem a bit fanciful, but as soon as we fed the piglets - which kept them quiet - the ducklings instantly stopped!

But I digress.

Back to Mangel and his bowls.

Why is he doing this all of a sudden?

We have a theory.

Ginger will soon be weaned away from her piglets, or vice versa.

So Mangel will have his lady back home again.

We think he is doing this to impress her on her return.

It may sound daft but perhaps in the world of pigs, food bowls are currency. After all, twice a day - just when a pig thinks s/he cannot wait another minute, food miraculously appears in the bowls.

So, if you are a hirsute, charming and caring Boar and want to impress the lady in your life, what better way than to accumulate as much 'currency' as possible? When all these bowls miraculously become full she is bound to be sooooooo very impressed.

Not for no reason do they say pigs are the most intelligent of creatures.

(Yes. We know. There's a flaw in his argument but we're not going to upset his plans are we???)

Growing up in the country!

It's a recognised fact that compost makes everything in the garden grow faster and stronger. And we certainly have an awful lot of compost around here......I shouldn't be surprised therefore to see our little ones all racing to become big and strong! Yet I am!

The three orphan ducklings are just one month old and are already losing their baby feathers. They still squeak a lot, particularly at the beginning and end of the day when all the other birds are in the Poultry Palace and they think they're on their own in the world....It will be unfair of me to keep them in the baby pen more than another week or so. Already they spend more time gazing through the fence at the big pond than they do paddling in their own trays.

Mind you , it might be something to do with the fact that the 10 chicks, hatched from the incubator the same weekend the ducklings hatched, have now moved in to the baby pen also. And they have taken over the 'big house' leaving the broody coop to the ducklings ---- although that was the ducklings' choice... I gave them the option (no--- we didn't debate the issue around a puddle, I just left both doors open) and they chose the smaller house. Very sensible....

Although the chicks are the same age they behave far less 'grown up', squeaking frantically and running away at the slightest provocation. With very few exceptions, chickens are far less intelligent than ducks - most of them are God's dummest creatures! So - no surprise really that the little ones are so silly. And I suppose I would run away screaming like a banshee if some strange giant came walking into my house.................

The first brood of ducklings to hatch are now almost indistinguishable from their colleagues. Only one stands out from the crowd. She's the prettiest little duck ever born here. The picture doesn't do her justice. Actually, she could be a he... it's too early to tell yet. But she is gorgeous. It'll be interesting to see whether her head remains milk chocolate coloured as she grows up or whether it will fade to the lovely buttery lemon shade of the rest of her feathers..... Some of her tail feathers are fringed with milk chocolate too. Actually, on reflection, she's far too pretty to be a drake! At the moment I call her 'Little Lemon' but I think she needs a grander moniker than that.

Meanwhile, over in the pigs' domain Ginger's brood are almost ready for weaning. She still allows them to suckle but the intervals are further apart. Nor is it unusual to find them out and about on their own, particularly late in the evening, when the grown ups have retired for the night. When Gunner and I return from our 'dusk' training sessions they are frequently to be heard squealing (excruciatingly) for attention at the fence.... And that may explain why Mangel is digging the biggest hole ever; either he's digging a tunnel through to Ginger so that she turns her attention to him and gets rid of them, or he's off 'down-under'! Or maybe he has something more evil in mind....... but we won't go there.

The little ones will be weaned next week, then it's off to Heckington Show with them (or as many

as we can persuade to explore the inside of their limousine!). Following that, three of them will be off to their new homes...... one (Red Ruth) will definitely be retained for breeding. And the other three? Well, we're not absolutely sure about them just at this moment. But it's still early days......

You can't outsmart a smart one!

It was lesson time again for the Will-be-bestest-gundog:

"We'll start with the rabbit pen" said the Man "See if you can get him to hunt around in there and make sure if a rabbit moves, he sits"

"Right" I said. "Out you get" I tell the W-b-b-g who, giving Rory
a sidelong glance, does that and walks perfectly to heel down

to where - he knows - the pen is.
And when we get there I let him off his lead and tell
him 'go seek'.

And off he goes.
Not exactly fast. But he goes.
Which is more than he did last time.

And he spends the next 15 minutes happily - though still somewhat warily -
hunting up rabbits and sitting to every one that moves - even marking them before they move. And he jumps 'Over' a fence on command when it's in his path.

"Been practising that I see" says our trainer.

He's so good I get complacent and 'forget' to whistle him to sit.

So I get severely reprimanded for "sloppy handling"!

Eventually Gunner tells us that we're dumb. He's chased out all the rabbits and we've not caught a single one, so it's time he stopped. Seems reasonable.

So Rory tests him out with a dummy. Thinking there's no way he's going to retrieve in the midst of all the rabbits. But he does.

Full marks.

"Excellent" says the man "Not much more we can teach him here"and off we go to practice some retrieving in an adjacent paddock.

Gunner is so focussed on the rabbit pen that for a while he fails to focus on the dummies being thrown. "Dummy" his eyes say "What dummy?"

For a while clearly I'm the dummy since I keep telling him to go off to fetch something he says doesn't exist.

But we persist and eventually he believes me and after a while we're off again. The only hiccups we encounter are handler hesitancies again - it's difficult to know how much help to give the dog .... but the answer, it seems, is 'as much as it takes to help him understand' and when he does understand, "be more confident and crisp with the instructions!" Right! OK, Got that. And so we continue.

Then Rory tells me he's dropped a 'blind retrieve' in a bundle of twigs and branches and I'm to 'handle' Gunner in order to help him find and fetch it.

Since even I have not seen where it went it's a genuine case of the blind leading the blind.

But Gunner follows all my instructions and..... finds the dummy easily!

He is such a star.

"All the homework is definitely paying off" says the trainer. "He listens to you and understands every command you give him - he's still the most laid back spaniel I've ever come across but he has a certain style when he gets to work!"

Then he admits that he had thought that Gunner wouldn't hunt in the rabbit pen so it would be a very short and sticky lesson!

So for homework we have to now "push the dog" and give him increasingly difficult questions to answer.......

But there'll be no lessons tonight cos it's pouring with rain.... and the young dog can carry on sleeping in blissful ignorance of the scheming that's going on in the name of turning him into the Worlds'-bestest-gundog in time for the coming season. Which is only a little over two months away now.......

Whither the Blonde Pigs went?

Yet another pair have departed for pastures new!

On Wednesday 2 July the offspring of Paradise Curly 2 and Paradise Princess 5 and ditto Princess 6(of the noble line of Hagisz z Linie 8 Vasvar Ungarn, Ungarn z Linie 1 Bacska Hagisz and Ungarn z Linie 16 Hertobagy Mangal Ilona!!) left the Rectoryreserve with their new boss, Andrew Dennis (he in the red shirt). Apart from one small nip in all the time they were with us, they really were the most amenable creatures. Even loading them into the trailer on Wednesday morning was no problem.

"Breakfast?"

"That way?" they said

"No problem, off we go...." and that was it. And after they'd eaten that they set about examining every small detail of the transportation..... some very interesting smells.... a few low grunts but absolutely no fuss. Would that all pigs were so amenable! There are some that say they are - but others of us know different. It was quite sad to see them go. They will be missed.

They are now safely esconced in their tailor-made enclosure - furnished with woodland, pasture and a rather grand (we understand) house - at Woodlands Farm near Boston (www.woodlandsfarmorganics.co.uk ) where they will form the foundation for a new herd of Curly Coat pigs in that part of Lincolnshire. They will get their first sighting of 'the public' on Sunday when Woodlands Farm hosts its first Open Day of the season.

Wonder what they'll make of that, having lived in the Old Stalls here since their arrival (quarantine regulations.....) and only seen visitors in two's and three's rather than tens, or hundreds!

Meanwhile we still have Lily of the same noble and amenable line whom we will, in due course, breed from to preserve the genes..... and we believe Precious is quite probably expecting a litter since she was living with the pair of them for a month whilst they were here....... Maybe the pitter patter of tiny trotters in late August or September.......... aaahhhhh

Ducking the issue

At a party last Saturday evening we chance upon Paul, Carrie and Jack Morris of Jemima-the-duck-who-came-to-stay fame.

"How is the old bird?" we enquired.

"She's very well, really, but I'm glad you're here because I just wanted to ask" said Carrie slightly pensively "Is it possible that she could be pregnant????"

"What makes you think that?" said I "Surely you don't think our little drakes could possibly have behaved with anything less than the utmost propriety during her stay at the Rectoryreserve?"

"Anyway" I added "She seemed to prefer her own company most of the time......"

"Well she is behaving a little oddly" Carrie replied. "She's hidden about 5 eggs and we hardly ever see her. She just appears for a little while and then disappears into the undergrowth. I've tried looking for the eggs but can't find them anywhere so we wondered if she could be sitting on them and waiting for them to hatch?"

Now that is very strange behaviour for Jemima..... it even got me wondering, but then commonsense returned...............

"She''ll have a long wait then" I said, trying to keep a straight face as I explained some of the facts-of-ducks-life to Carrie and Paul; not least that without a drake around to fertilise the eggs it would be a miracle if ducklings one day appear......

Personally, I have two theories: (1) it's that pheasant friend of hers who's to blame...

or (2) it's just Jemima's way of piling on the pressure in order to get a real pond of her own...........

Only time will tell!!!!