Finally out of the mud????

At last we have had a run of fine dry windy days and the pigs' quarters are beginning to look 'normal' again.
Throughout the worst wet winter months they tend to resemble something more like I imagine the battlefields of the Somme might have looked. Yet the pigs don't complain or show any signs of 'minding'. We have the odd grumble and 'noisy night' if we omit to check that their arks have plenty of dry flooring - I'll go out last thing and hear a lot of loud grumbling as the one at the bottom of the pecking order gets shuffled along to the draughtiest or dampest spot!

That's a sure way to secure some fresh straw the next morning! Which, in turn, is guaranteed to cheer pigs up on a cold wet winter's day - they just love tossing it around and making a cosy nest. We could just give them all some clean straw each day but we've found they don't like too much - they just push or carry it back outside!
A continued wet spell is our worst scenario. As the pigs wander in and out of the ark all day long they each 'drag' gooey mud in on their trotters which can quickly turn the cleanest bed into a soggy mess. Of course, lots of rain makes everything else gooey too so we find ourselves slip sliding around with feed, vegetable and water containers - all of which get well clatted up with mud - much of which ends up all over us. There is no way of staying clean when the pigs think nothing of jumping up against the fencing and welcoming us with a shake of their curly heads! Add to that the fact that our little tractor and trailer become unusable in really wet slippy conditions and it is no surprise to learn that we become exceedingly good-humoured when "dry" is the adjective that most readily springs to mind.....