Looking forward

 As another year ends we could review the past 12 months or we could look forward. Well, we all know what the past year has been like; the wettest since records began. The rain has sapped our strength and shaped our actions. Enough.
On the pig front it's been pretty hectic - more and bigger events and shows than in previous years and an increasing number of pigs. We are now breeding from 3 boars and 6 sows.....that means 12 litters to look forward to over the next year starting with 2 in January. Victoria, right, could be the first to Farrow in 2013. She's a daughter of Ginger and Mangal and is in pig to Banana, son of Truffle and J.D. She's due any day after tomorrow. Closely followed by Truffle.

Both will farrow indoors. For the first time we have decided that conditions outside are not suitable for piglets - influenced in part by Delila's last experience but mostly due to the incessant rain.
The Big Boss has spent the festive season planning activities for the coming months: 50 or more events are already on the cards. Farmers markets with low returns are being struck off and replaced by Game,Country and Food Fairs - many of which are of two or three day's duration. That'll keep us busy.
Away from the pigs the 'Major' activity over the coming months will be educating The Bestest Gundog's Understudy. Already Jaunty is proving to be intelligent, quick to learn, increasingly bold and cheeky. Hopefully these attributes can be channelled into something resembling the makings of a gundog! Time will tell. If all goes well he could be out for a short few days next season......
Then there are the horses to get back into shape after their long winter rest: Rocco, at 20 is no spring chicken, but Ritz is way older than that and it will be interesting to see how much he is prepared to do. Mentally he is as sharp as a knife but he has a bit of rheumatism in his hips which will define what we ask of him over the months ahead.

And, of course, there are the cats to consider. Puddy Cat, the grey, will only consider venturing outside on a winter's day if it's particularly calm and dry. Needless to say, she doesn't get out much at this time of year but come the summer (Please?) she'll be the first to sun herself on the garden bench. Waifa, on the other hand, spends most of her time outside whatever the weather throws at her. Only this afternoon, in pouring rain and driving winds, she was teaching the Pupski some of the niceties of 'huntin for rabbits'. Can see we're going to have to watch her as his training progresses......
And that leaves the poultry: what used to be the main flock - in the Poultry Palace - is being phased out; there are just 5 or 6 hens who are being allowed to see out their days with two or three cocks who take it in turns to lord it over them. Last year's M&S intake have been supplemented by Linda's motley crew who have come to stay whilst their home is being refurbished - and maybe longer. And there are three small bantam flocks who continue to multiply of their own accord - the latest chick was hatched a couple of days before Christmas......Between the lot of them we get three or four eggs a day. I Know. Not exactly prolific, but there we are. That's more than we get from the 9 call ducks. As ever, I have a New Year's Resolution to collect their eggs this coming spring BEFORE they sit on them....... We'll see if that's one Resolution I can keep!!!
So, lots of potential for 2013...... the things we already know look interesting enough, what of all those that we have no inkling of....? In 12 months from now, what shall we be looking back on or forward to.......
Who knows....
Meanwhile, from us to you - Peace, Health, Happiness and Prosperity ---- Oh, and lots of fun ---- throughout 2013....

Merry Christmas Everybody

Merry Christmas Everybody: may all your hopes and dreams come true,your wishes be realised and your friends and family live in peace.
Personally I'd like a little more work, a lot more food and a lot less puppy-pullin-my-ears.... ("Hear that Santa?").
Here's to an excitin, eventful and exerciseful 2013.....

The best Office Christmas Party ever!

Last sow loaded - almost done

 Everyone knows it's been pouring with rain since.. well, as long as anyone can remember. It doesn't really matter. Water drains away;goes down holes in the ground eventually 'cept if you're flooded, which is not nice for anyone.
Everyone knows pigs love mud ... well, mostly they love mud and eventually the mud dries  up a bit and is OK - 'cept this year. The rain's not stopped and the mud has gone from slarmy to gloopy to sloppy and our constant dilemma - well, one among many - is how to manage the pigs in the climactic conditions we are challenged with.   We have weanlings inside who

The Somme?

need to go out and pigs outside who need to go in and pigs elsewhere who need moving somewhere else again.... it goes on and on and gives some of us sleepless nights...
Anyway, today was Moving Friday - we had weanlings who needed to go out; we had a sow who is farrowing soon and - in view of Delila's last experience needed to come in - we had a sow who needed to move away from Samson and another who needed to move up to be with Samson.
We also had an extremely wet field. Up and down which we had to go a number of times with a heavy pig trailer. Undaunted, we made all the moves (thanks to Con who took over the driving - me, Coward?). The sows, bless them - Andromeda, Truffle and Delila - behaved like little lambs and moved without hesitation where we wanted them to. The little weanlings loaded on and off the trailer like angels - swam through the sloppy mud in their new outdoor pen as if it were not there.... even though they were transformed from little blonde things into mucky piggies in 0.1 seconds..... happy to be outside again (perhaps they don't think of weather like we do). It took a while and a lot of driving and slipping through the mud and by the time we were done darkness was falling and the once beautiful Church Field resembled the battlefield of the Somme..... Linda had to leap over a fence into almost bottomless gloop to persuade Andromeda to follow her feed bowl to the trailer; then she almost went head over heels leading Delila up to the trailer - in her eagerness to get to dry land(and maybe the feedbowl) poor sow almost trampled over her....... we laughed: "I've lost my gripper!" said Linda in explanation (they're things that help boots not slip in mud or snow....) - we never did find out where (yet!). By the end of it we were all exhausted but the piggies are all in the right place and no need to worry about any of them till..... well ... well into the New Year.
"That was the best Office Christmas Party ever" exclaimed Linda over a glass of Lindisfarne Mead a while later - which made me laugh out loud .......... and some of us will sleep more soundly over the festive season knowing our piggies are in the right places.
So --- Merry Christmas all and may Santa make your wishes come true....... and if you want to see the little piggies in their proper places drop in between mid-day and 3 pm on Sunday and drink to their health.... and to a dry and pleasant 2013!!!....

The last market of the year

Blown away in Horncastle

That's it then: the last market of 2012 is over and done.... it was, precisely, the Horncastle Christmas Cracker... "Gosh you've got a windy spot!", "You gonna take off any minute now?", "It's not this windy round the other side!"people kept saying. Just what you want to hear when your carefully hung tinsel's going skywards/westwards/northwards/anywhere followed by strategically placed signs, labels and even the new "three tier point-of-sale" Piper's Crisp Stand...... followed by the 'New!' Piper's Chorizo Crisps...... Take my word for it, it is not fun! Nor is it easy maintaining a professional demeanour. But it could have been worse: it could have been (also) raining/sleeting/snowing and compared with the previous weekend it was positively balmy! (Well, almost). Climate apart, the atmosphere was cheerful and seasonal - lots of Christmas music, Santa on his sleigh to-ing and fro-ing (along with some rather suspect elves and reindeer) and enough people to make the place heave. What's not to like?
Best of all was the phone call this morning: "I bought half a pork pie from your wife at the Christmas Market yesterday" a chap said to the Big Boss. "It's the best I've ever had; where can I get some more? Solved my present dilemma: Thought I'd give everyone a pork pie." So he's coming to pick them up at the Open Day on the 23rd!
Occasions like that make everything worthwhile: all the getting up early on a frosty foggy morning; all the standing around in the freezing cold for hours on end; all the ... well everything really. A good end to the market season. We'll not be back till end February/ early March 2013. So time to rest, recuperate and regroup......

I'm not sittin around out here in the cold for a minute longer

On a lighter note- I've been running a series of tweets from Barton-on-Humber farmers market each month - the "Benson's of Barton dog of the day". My stall is opposite this illustrious "Quality Family Butcher" which is clearly held in high esteem by discerning dog owners - my market day is punctuated by the antics of culinary canines sending their humans shopping in the butcher whilst they supervise from outside the door. Some woof commands, some whine with frustration that the job's taking too long, others simply fall asleep in boredom. This chap last Saturday took the biscuit though; having stood still for minutes he clearly decided "enough" and slowly meandered off - who needs meat anyway!
Actually, that's what a number of people at the Christmas Cracker also appeared to have decided........ but it was still a good day. So a big "Thank You " to all our customers - see you all next year (and bring your friends/families/neighbours/dogs.........)

Update

"We're back at work I'm pleased to say - though it all seems a bit odd cos there are often big gaps between the days out and the days off. She Who Must be Obeyed tried to explain to me why we are not seeing some of our old friends so regularly but it don't make much sense to me. I just go where she takes me and get on with the job - I'm not too fussed about who else is there really. I had a little lump taken off my leg before we started work again and it gets sore every time we go out: She worries but it don't bother me - it's not like it stops me running or anything. Humans just fuss too much.

Waiting for the 'off''

She put a bandage round it for the first few working days but that didn't really work cos the brambles and bushes kept pulling it off, so now we don't bother any more.
We have one or two little disagreements out in the field; this is my fifth season and I know my job inside out but She will keep insisting that I do it Her way and, quite honestly, She is not always right. After all, if a bird is shot and I see where it falls the sensible thing is to go and fetch it straightaway whilst I'm on the case - someone (probably me) has only got to back for it otherwise. But She will insist that I leave it till all the banging's stopped. One day even, when I had a clear view of all the chaps shooting, she kept me on my lead; there were birds falling everywhere but she wouldn't let me fetch a single one! How silly. Then yesterday there was an old boy who told her he'd dropped 5 or 6 and would Her Hound (!!!!) be able to find them for him. Well, I tell you, I found two very quickly but there wasn't another bird anywhere but she told me to keep looking. I told her there was nothing there but the old boy insisted so she made me look for long enough to persuade him that he'd better go ask another dog! Some people are so rude!

Meanwhile back at home The Understudy is coming along nicely. I wish he wouldn't keep pulling my ears but apart from that - and the fact I'm not allowed to eat all his food - he's not to bad. Lucky for him he learns quite fast cos Pilot is a bit of a pain and wants to push us around and grumps very seriously if we get in his way. I try and keep out of his line of sight but the little one is still learning that lesson. He got beaten up a couple of times and now he's more wary but every now and then he forgets and rushes into Pilot's space. The Big Boss even re-hurt his very poorly arm - bashed it on the door one morning when he was trying to keep them apart. Set him back a few days that did. She doesn't fuss too much - just puts Jaunty back in his cage and he's back to sleep in no time. Come to think of it, he sleeps a lot. Mind you, when he's awake he makes up for it. He keeps discovering new Favourite Things - like leaping in hay nets or up on to stacks of sacks or doing vertical take-offs from the bales in the barn and running circles round piglets.

Making sure the piglets, not Jaunty, eat their breakfast

I don't think I was as excitable as him when I was young but he does listen - like the other morning when he kept jumping in with the piglets to pinch their food - She told him not to but he didn't really understand what She meant till I showed him. He's learned a couple of other things from me too, like going straight back to Her when She whistles, and sitting down to wait for his dinner. I taught him to leave some food in his bowl as payment for the teacher but She won't let me have it and just puts it up on the table where I can't reach! Really mean that is.  Will have to think of something else...... meanwhile I feel a bit of breakfast coming on so better go...the Bag is out so that means we're off to work again today.....good job we don't have to take the little pupski with us - ------!"