And, as if that were not enough

Ginger was overdue we thought. "Maybe she's too old?" we said to each other: "Maybe Mangal's past it" we debated.  They're both 5 years old and maybe that's beyond the age of reproduction. Ginger's been sleeping alotl  A whole lot. "Whatever happens, this'll be her last litter" I said to anyone who was lisening.

I went out on Monday morning to do the anipals; Ginger was late for breakfast. Not unusual. The Bestest Gundog was concerned and ran round the bridleway side of her pen: Having fed everyone else, I went in to investigate ....  and discovered several stripey bodies squiggling round in the straw alongside her. With a little urging she got up and came out for  breakfast - looking at me as if to say "Why'd you think there was a problem?".  She and Mangal may be getting on but clearly they have not lost the recipe!
So the question remains. Is this to be her last litter? The little ones bounce and squiggle around her but she sleeps a lot. We'll see how they all go on.... then we'll decide...
Meanwhile, Andromeda has been weaned from her piglets.

"So, what happens next is She'll stop you runnin' around for a while"

In the now time-honoured way, I fed them their breakfast in the barn this morning and simply shut the doors whilst they were too busy to notice. Gunner had warned them their freedom was about to be curtailed but they didn't understand what he was saying!
It's a relief to be able to leave doors open all over the place without fear a stream of piglets will dash in to investigate..... they're not so pleased with the idea though and, by the middle of the morning, were squealing to be let out. It was time for their general perambulation no doubt! How dare we shut them in!
At the end of the  week Andromeda will be reunited with Samson but in the meantime she is having some precious 'Me' time to rest and recuperate.

STOP PRESS....

Returned last night from Lincoln Sausage Festival - more news of which later - and went out a little later to shut up chickens - what a lot of squealing there was out there. "What the hell's that?" I said to The Bestest Gundog because, of course, he knows everything.................... He looked at me as if to say "Why you askin' me?" So, there we have it: he doesn't know everything!
We followed the squealing sounds: past the stalls with Andromeda and her brood - silence there. Past the Barn with the three big girls; just rustling there. Down to the Church Field ---- where the noise was deafening. I suddenly realised: "Must be Delila! Having her piglets.......".  I don't think I have ever heard piglets make so much noise. Clearly Delila thought so too because, hearing me approach, she came gruntling out: "Can't you shut that lot up?" she said.
"Best we leave them alone." I said to the BG and we turned for home. Later on when we tucked the horses up for the night all was quiet.
We'll see how they all are later this morning when it's light......

Introducing....



Hmmm - wonder what I do now?




The latest arrival at RectoryReserve..........
Jaunty arrived here on Tuesday evening after a three hour car ride from Norfolk.
He slept all the way on my lap (no! I wasn't driving) and when we got home I put his travel blanket in his crate - he went in as naturally as if he'd been doing that for days and happily went straight back to sleep.
Apart from a p & poo break he then slept through till 2.30 am - when he screamed the house down....! Only for a little while. After popping out for another p&poo break he went back to sleep till morning. Much the same the second night, except he didn't wake till 4.30!  Registered Gaberlunzie Master at Arms, Jaunty is going to be the The Bestest Gundog's understudy... so it's a good job he's following him around everywhere already! Pilot, as alpha dog, is demanding respect! And the cats both have their noses out of joint: PuddyCat won't leave the Big Boss and Waifa is keeping her distance from everyone - probably working out what it is that's entered her domain!! As are we all - on different levels.......

Here we go again.....



First day, first drive: how much longer do we have to wait?



Wet and happy waiting for the fourth drive



"We're off again. I'd forgotten all about it for ages but then THE bag came out and the next day off we went - to the fields where the wild birds live again. Oh I wagged my tail so hard it nearly made my nose drop off. This is me before the first 'drive' of the day. It was hard to sit still for so long: but I did: and then she gave me the command - "seek on" and I was away.... busy, busy, busy - so many smells, so many things to explore. 'No; don't make me slow down, you can't tell how many birds there are ahead'. But she insisted on calling me back time and time again. Listen - I know what I'm doing; don't stop me; I'll find them, just let me get on with it. But still she insisted and then I remembered - I'm s'posed to do as she says! So much one forgets in the excitement of the moment....................

Three drives later I'd almost settled down. By then we'd been across miles and She'd crawled through hedges and ditches and was getting tired... we were both bedraggled. 'This is more like it' I thought.



Eventually the sun came out and it got quite warm and I was a bit puffy and my leg-without-the-lump was a little red & sore but I didn't care. This is my thing and I was loving it: I even picked up a few partridge that were lying around.

Suddenly the day ended and I was gloriously wet and muddy - but then I had to get in a weird box in the back of the strange vehicle. Not used to such indignity: where was the comfy back seat and my warm snuggie? Hmmph. Still, I was really too tired to care and when we got home, asked for my dinner and then collapsed in a heap and fell asleep.



waiting for the off

And then, joy of joys, next day we were off again. But this time in my own vehicle and when we got to the yard there were some familiar smelling people around that I hadn't sniffed for ages. And I was off with the wind again - trying to listen to her but oh it is so difficult when the command is given and the smells are everywhere. This was a better day: lots of hedges and thick stuff to hunt through and huge fields to charge across. She was still whistling a lot but she needn't have bothered. I knew what I was doing. On and on the day went. Lots of long drives and lots to flush out. I was here there and everywhere.   We went on and on for ages and it was wonderful - some long waits where all I could do was watch and listen for the command for the off again.    And I did try a bit more to listen to what She was saying - really I did. 



Fourth drive, second day... time to relax

Later on we had to sit and wait around again and I heard some shots going off and then something went 'plonk' in the wood; I looked at Her for instruction but She was too slow. So off  I dashed into the woods. And I found it just where I thought I heard it drop.  She looked very relieved when I gave it to her. It was a big drake,not shot too well so it was extra heavy.  Then a little while later she asked me to go swim in a pond and find another bird. Daisy came to help but each time we got to where the duck was it disappeared in front of our noses. Then it popped up somewhere else so we swam over to get it and it disappeared again. We did that for ages which was good fun but a little tiring. Finally She told me to get out and I looked and saw a Manperson had the duck in his hand. Picked it up from the bank furthest from Daisy and Me. Cheek after we did all the work. Never mind: it was a good game. And now She was happy 'cos I was wet and clean! 

And all too soon it was time to jump back in the car and go home. I'd have gone on for hours more, honest! When are we off again?..... Won't be long.... it's that time of year and I've done all this before..."



relaxing at the end of a hard (2) day's work...



Home again

Andromeda has been up at Elsham Hall for (the latter part of )the summer season. Whilst she was there she delivered a healthy litter of 8 piglets; which was lucky because her predecessor at the Animal Park was Scrabble who was supposed to be delivering piglets there but didn't. That was unfortunate because the visitors kept waiting for the piglets to arrive and were disappointed when they didn't and though Andromeda delivered it was a little late in the season.... however, she was a great hit for all that. But now the Season's over and the piglets are at weaning age and they all needed to come  home.
We've never done that before: brought home a

mother and her piglets. En route to collect them we devised various strategies for getting them all to load on to the trailer (actually, Linda spent most of the previous night doing that). But in the end it came down to the tried and trusted way: load mum first (easy cos she just followed the feed bucket) then collect up the piglets and put them in with mum. Collect up the piglets? Ahh ! There's the rub. How? Well, easy really: you corner them using hurdles and pigboards, pick them up one by one and put them in the trailer! Just like that! Hmmph; in the ideal world. In reality, piglets have not read the script. They don't know the rules. Corner them? Nope. The first one maybe.Totally unaware, one can be picked up by surprise. The others hearing the squealing - cos when you pick up a piglet they certainly squeal ---  just dash off. Everywhere. And the squealing also sets Mum off. What was a contented sow eating her food in the trailer turns into a roaring behemoth! So what really happened was Andromeda went straight into the trailer - following the food bucket was ovious to her. The gates were shut behind her.The little ones stayed were they were. Linda and Pirjo (the pigs' erstwhile keeper) picked up a couple of surprised piglets without too much trouble and they were loaded through the side door of the trailer. Then all hell was let loose. No way did piglets want to stand and be caught - or be cornered and picked up. What followed can only be described as a masterclass in 'catching piglets'. No matter where the piglets went, Pirjo and Linda followed, turned them and then Linda launched herself at an unsuspecting little porker - "Focus and Fall" is how it's  best described.....-  grabbed it and hung on till she had a good enough hold to struggle back to her feet and then carry the little thing to the trailer and push it in the side door - which The Big Boss kindly held open for her. After about 4 piglets had been thrust through the door in that manner Andromeda got wise --- and angry. In retrospect we're not quite sure if she was annoyed at the piglets being put in with her or upset at the noise they were making! Anyway, in the end all the squealing, squirming piglets were reunited with mum and - after Linda had washed her face and hands and anywhere else the mud had got to - we set off for home! 
"You'd have made an excellent scrum half" commented The Big Boss as we drew away from Elsham!
After that excitement, unloading them at this end was simple. Andromeda walked off the trailer and into the old Stalls - again following the feed bowl. After a little persuading the piglets followed her and, despite a few qualms on our part that they might not be able to, squiggled under the hurdle to join her - and share her tea! Don't think she was entirely happy about that.

Now we just have to persuade them to leave her and go walkabout so that they can be weaned - preferably in the next week or so. That'll be a doddle then....

Indoor Games

In November 2010 Ginger gave birth to a litter which became known as the 'Indoor games' - it was so cold and snowy that the little ones didn't get the chance to play outside for weeks. Ginger kept them warm and safe inside and they spent their time romping around in the straw and, generally, annoying her!
They grew to be strong and healthy.
Last year Ludo (her sisters were Cluedo & Scrabble) moved up to Yorkshire with Aster and Clarence. Her first litter was very small and her new 'family' were disappointed.
Last weekend they got in touch to say Ludo had just delivered a litter of 8 healthy bouncing piglets.
There - it was just a matter of time and getting to learn the rules. They're all on to a winner now!  It's always rewarding to hear of our piggies doing well in their new homes.

The waiting game

The Mangalitza was introduced to the UK at the end of 2006 and our first pigs, Mangal, Wurzel, Ginger & Pepper were from the earliest litters born in Britain in 2007. Apart from Tony York, who imported them, Rectory Reserve was the first place to start breeding these marvellous curly coats. So there wasn't exactly a lot of experience we could tap into. Ginger took us completely by surprise when she farrowed her first litter; "What do you mean she's had piglets? She can't have" said The Big Boss when I yelled the news across to him from her ark, where I'd gone to investigate her strange behaviour. "What do we do now?" I asked. "I don't know" he replied "I haven't read that chapter yet.....!!" It's been like that all along. The pigs have led us along a wierd and wonderful learning path, the details of which we could never have dreamt of when we were running a sane and sober management consultancy business 'down South'.

Nor at any stage in our lives preceding that.

Ginger is now 5 and a half years old and has produced two litters each year. Hence we are now awaiting her 11th litter. We have no idea if this is normal for a Mangalitza or whether she is over-the-hill and should be gently pensioned off. A commercial sow, for instance, would be 'sent off' after just 6 litters. Certainly Ginger sleeps a good deal - but doesn't any pregnant creature? Having said that, whenever anything's going on near her pen or somebody is in the vicinity, she gets up and ambles over to the fence for a closer look or a welcome scratch. It's no good creeping around her either - she's not at all deaf! She doesn't look in the least bit miserable either- she wallows like any of her younger colleagues and is ever eager for her food.

So, as ever; we'll let the pigs show us the way. She'll be farrowing any day now. We'll see how she gets on and take it from there..... she doesn't seem to mind the waiting game so why should we?

We're eating sausage toad

Here we were at Historic Lincoln Food & Craft Fair at the weekend.
That's the ancient courthouse within the Castle walls behind us; Lucettes Pancakes and Boston Sausage Company on the left and Angel Desserts on the right. Saturday was a glorious early autumn special - sunshine & breezy (and The Big Boss's Birthday - he loves a working holiday!). Sunday was a little more challenging with gusty breezes and sudden showers but we were undaunted! We were 'trying' out our new strategy which was always going to be exciting. We've finally admitted to ourselves that people come to Good Food events not to buy  good food but to admire it and then eat what they know. Which usually means Burgers!

Well! We don't do burgers. Which is to say, we can but we choose not to. We decided to do jumbo 'hot dogs' with spicey wedge tatoes served in our 'special' bamboo gondolas!  And a good job we did because people were definitely hungry for good food but, since they were mostly tourists, they were not into buying it to take home. The Big Boss had wisely invested in some super dooper non stick cooking pans (which yours truly has tested not-quite-to-destruction in the home kitchen) which happily churned out sausages and spicey wedges all day long. Shame the Chef got a little outpaced during the rush hour and over compensated on the second day (we are eating sausages for the county this week) but, nonetheless, it was a great success. And we love cooking good food. We shall doubtless add to the range. Visitors ate our food and then came back to buy stuff to take home -which was great.
We're eating sausage toad tonite (and sausage risotto tomorrow and sausage...? the next day) and we have a fledgeling new business model to digest as well.

PS: And today is the first day of the pheasant shooting season so certain members of the household  are getting jolly excited about the coming few months - Winter? Who cares???