Not to be outdone.......

If Little Ern can do it, so can Delila and Scratchy..... Linda had read the appropriate chapter in the book by the time she turned up. The sun was shining. D & S were looking energetic - much energised by the fruit and veg. she'd brought with her..... So after a few practical tips from the Big Boss it was down to business. Stick and Board to begin with....

Being naturally inquisitive, Scratchy was fine with that and Delila was happy to learn by watching, ---- closely.... but not so close that anyone could claim she was being in the slightest controlled by either stick or board. But she enjoyed observing........ until she got distracted by the dogs and started chasing them up and down the fence.

Another couple of lessons though and Linda and Scratchy will be ready for the showring.

So it was time to move on to leading the piglet. Again, it was Scratchy who volunteered - sort of. Delila once more decided to learn by watching and trying to chew both harness (a horse's headcollar, slightly too large.... but the piglet will grow into it) and leadrope whenever she could... and chasing him around when she couldn't.....

Gunner and Lancer were thoroughly bemused (confused?). and a great time was had by all, especially young Scratchy who seemed very proud to have bagged a human........ and then it was all too much and, deciding he'd had enough, he collapsed in a heap by the water bowl........ "'I've had enough.. please take my harness off" he seemed to say so Linda duly obliged - not without a bit of a struggle cos he was lying on the vital buckle!

Well, it's a lot for a young chap to take in. His very first lessons. And it was a long session for a small head..... all needed to be cogitated and ruminated and slept on.

Bet it won't be long before the local residents are treated to the sight of piglet, with or without dogs, walking through the village en route to collecting the papers..........

Crazy? Us? Noooooo....

Little Ern and Jen go walk-about

My Mama used to so look forward to the weekly letters when her youngsters were away at school. We're beginning to feel that way about our 'little ones'.

On Monday it was the escapees at Woodlands Farm and today we received these wonderful images of Little Ern taking Jen, his new 'Mum' for a walk around the countryside.
"He just loves it" we're told "gets all excited and skips around like a puppy when he sees his lead" (a one-time horse's headcollar and rope) "but quite settles down once he's on the way". As we see in these photos.

We understand, furthermore, that he is the most demanding piglet Alan and Jen have ever had; apart from constant attention and his walks, Little Ern just loves listening to Classic FM.

A discerning pig? Perhaps

And as if that were not enough, he can also carry fresh eggs around in his mouth without breaking them until he is ready and would make a first-class footballer.

Sounds to me like he is just being spoilt rotten. He must feel he has landed in Pig-heaven........

So tomorrow, the task for Linda-who-loves-pigs is to train Delila (and possibly Scratchy

- depending on how things progress...) to walk to heel also....

Watch this space........

The shooting season gets ever closer....

The excitement is mounting. Shooting season is not far off - starting dates seem to vary but sometime in the 3rd week of September seems to be typical. Apropos of which one of the local Gamekeepers has been contacted and we have signed ourselves up for 'beating'. I got the impression that not too many people offer themselves up for this most menial of sporting tasks; I could swear the chap almost dropped his phone in surprise when I said what I wanted! Anyway, I've offered to go a couple of times without the The Bestest Gundog in all the world - so that I can learn the ropes, so to speak - and then we'll see about taking him. And we'll work from there.....

In the meantime, as instructed, I am nagging The Trainer to get us down to beat on another local shoot.... we could be busy enough come winter....

And so yesterday, after a 3 week break, it was back to school for T-b-g-i-a-t-w. The lessons are getting more difficult (for me, if not for him.....!). We know that he will retrieve anything from anywhere, whether or not he has seen it drop - as long as the handler's instructions are accurate and clear! Rory-the-trainer is impressed that he will go into the thickest nettles, brambles, thistles etc

So what we are to teach him now is to leave the retrieve he is en route to fetch - i.e. the pheasant he has 'marked' - and go off in a totally different direction after a retrieve he has not seen. In practice, the latter will be a wounded bird which is able still to keep running. The job of the dog is to collect the 'runner' and bring it back. And then the dog is sent back to fetch the original retrieve that he marked.

Really simple stuff.

We'll let you know next time how we're getting on. The initial attempts yesterday were full of promise...... and just a little bit of willfulness because (I think) of the number of mice in the long grass.........

Wanderlust!

We always enjoy hearing news of our pigs from their new 'bosses'. The other day, on his return from holiday, Andrew Dennis (he of Woodlands Farm) was in touch. It seems that two or three days after our visit over there his two pigs took themselves off on a bit of an adventure. It was probably mid-week when things were a little on the quiet side!

Perhaps we shouldn't have mentioned the dyke and the orchard to them. Whether or not it was anything to do with what we'd said, they took themselves off - through the tall fence alongside their feed bin, along the dyke beyond that, through a tunnel under the road and up into the field on the other side. Such a gay time they must have had. I could just imagine that they planned it all out very carefully..........

Nobody knows how long they were 'gone'. But they were spotted! ("Good Lord! Do you think those pigs are supposed to be wandering around that field?" someone must have said in passing - and alerted young Mr Dennis!)

So they were - easily, we're told - enticed back to their own quarters with a bucket of pig-nuts. No doubt they were tired by then and in need of a bit of a siesta to mull over the experience!

Since when an electric fence has been erected around the inside of their pen! But I'm sure they'll work that out if it all gets a little too quiet.............................

Another photograph? Well, OK

Yet more photographs!

A certain Mr Phipps, a butcher of much renown in these parts (even having featured in Country Life for his craft) has penned a piece about the curly coats (focusing on the charcuterie angle) for a forthcoming edition of a County foodie magazine. Needless to say, this requires accompanying photographs of said curly coats. So it was that yesterday, just before the storms broke, the good now-retired butcher turned up with a professional photographer.

"I'd just like to get a few close ups if that's possible" he said "then I'll do a couple with you Eric". Well, he didn't know what he was letting himself in for. These piglets have been photographed since day 1; they come from a line of much-photographed-piglets. Easy to get close ups.

Add on another hour to get them away from the lens....

Nearly 2 hrs and some 500 photos later the photographer felt he had enough material.
"I'll wittle them down to about 10" he said "and the Editor will choose 1".

Wish I could be so ruthless with my snaps, I thought!

Anyway, it was all too much for young Delila; she just had to retire to the water bowl to cool down..... she used to be able to get all four feet in, but now it's just the front pair...... Ahhhh the traumas of growing up......

Can I come & stay again?

Returning home on Sunday evening we find a 'phone message:

"We've booked another week's camping holiday later this month. Can Jemima possibly come and stay again?"

Clearly the answer is"Yes". We've quite missed the old bird. I suspect the Morris's have worn themselves out trying to accommodate Jemima's increasing demands and just need a break! Perhaps they have finally dug that pond she demanded???? However, we'll be pleased to see her again.

The three orphan ducklings are now quite grown up and two of them have entered the competition for "prettiest duck in the pond". It's a close run thing. The 'Prettiest Duck we've ever had' is in danger of being outshone by these two but, actually, the PD appears to be developing into a Drake so maybe it's no bad thing. If all the Pretty Ones mate together we should have some stunners next year!

Other news from the Poultry Palace is that Daffodil has gone broody again. She accumulated a clutch of 28 eggs in her nest box before I moved her out to the broody coop. It'll be interesting to see how many of them hatch. Since she's only been able to count to 3 in the past, I don't hold out much hope for a big brood! In the nursery loft we have 5 one week old chicks who hatched in the incubator. They're at the 'just discovered food and squeaking like hell' stage and won't be ready to move down to the nursery pen for a few weeks yet - particularly if it keeps raining.

Out in the pig's domain life has settled into a fairly quiet routine since only 2 of the 7 piglets remain with us. With Mangel and Ginger reunited, Delila and Scratchy have taken over the field paddock - where one of their most important tasks would seem to be keeping the horses (particularly Ritz) entertained. They missed their brothers and sisters for a few days, judging from all the noise they made --- at one point they upset Mangel and Ginger so much that we feared the latter would break through their fencing. We only lost a few hours sleep! A week later and they only make a particular noise at feeding time --- but we'd think they were ill if they didn't!

Never far from the public gaze, they've been invited to another show - a relatively small Country Day affair at Walcott - over the Bank Holiday weekend so that'll be fun for them. Always assuming they agree to load into the trailer of course........ but they enjoyed the adulation at Heckington so I doubt they'll cause a fuss..... .... ...... !

Butterflies & Birds do it - so why not pigs?

No effort is spared in finding salubrious settings for our curly coats! So it should be no surprise really that 4 of Ginger's last litter have literally landed in clover... and grass as tall as they themselves. A fitting reward they probably think for behaving so impeccably at the Show!

Their new home, The Butterfly & Wildlife Park (http://www.butterflyandwildlifepark.co.uk/), is at Long Sutton in the South East of the county. It's a wonderful setting and just chocabloc with Interesting Things to Do - for Piglets and People.

Their arrival was much heralded: their new boss, the charming Mr Crosse, was interviewed by Radio Lincoln before the piglets arrived - and again, for good measure, afterwards! The staff were all agog and the crowds enjoying an extremely un-English hot Summer's day got an unexpected bonus.

Even the Llamas and the African Sheep stirred from their slumbers-in-the-sun to watch the new arrivals.

And what a spectacle they provided! If there's a camera or a bunch of people in sight they instinctively know what to do. Gallumping to and fro, rushing up to Rose and Neil (their new 'slaves'), dashing off to investigate the new sleeping quarters - and finding, Oh Delight, that's where the food arrives - charging from one end of the pen to the other in order to find out which were the 'most entertaining' people to watch..... All such fun! In return for providing such amusement they have been allocated a truly wonderful and just-made-for-piglets paddock (the Pygmy goats didn't really mind moving elsewhere...) complete with large and small trees, banks to roll down and - when it rains - a natural pond to paddle in! What more could they ask?

All we expect in return is that, in view of the wonderful array of Butterflies and Birds of Prey they find themselves now sharing - almost - a home with, they should learn (or are taught by Rose!!!) to fly. Well - that's not much to ask is it??? By Christmas....... no pressure....