It's official.. pigs are noisy!

"Farmers have been ordered to wear earmuffs when feeding pigs - to protect them from 'dangerous' squealing", according to an article in a national newspaper this week. '

'An Essential Guide to Health and Safety (couldn't you just guess!) in Farming' warns that "large numbers of pigs .... can create noise levels of 100 decibles or above, especially at feeding time." The leaflet advises that farmers "Make sure any work ... is done during quieter periods."

I've always said that anyone going by our place at feeding time would justifiably think that animals were being slaughtered in cold blood! But ours are all outside and in small numbers so the sound of 400+ sows altogether indoors at feeding time must be deafening. It strikes me though that a better course of action would be to not allow farmers to rear pigs so intensively - the noise level is probably the least harmful aspect of such conditions.

Meanwhile, we have discovered a situation far worse than feed time for raising decible levels...... one of Delila's piglets, and it's not just Malibu but Sherry and possibly Whiskey too, continues to exit the pen in search of ....whatever piglets go in search of... the spirit of the woods probably. The night before last it was just before bedtime again. And again the trusty spaniels proved invaluable in helping 'round up' the offender. Then yesterday the Boss greeted me in the stables at feed time with news that "another piglet is out of the pen again". So, taking Gunner we went off to find the wanderer... who this time was frantically squealing and trying to jump up over or through, or climb under, the fence in order to get to her tea. I'm now becoming quite deft at grabbing a leg or two and swinging little swinelets back over the fence.................. which is difficult enough in itself but when accompanied (as it always is) by the sound of Samson, Precious, Delila and 6 other piglets screaming, snorting, grunting and squealing (whilst running around in high agitation) as anxiously and loudly as ever they can, it is (a)definitely deafening and (b) utterly nerve-wracking. And the cacophony continues for a good few minutes after the squealing swinelet is back with mum................

Thankfully the little Tots are to be weaned this afternoon so peace will be restored................. meanwhile, I'm off to get some super-efficient ear muffs.................

It's not all about pigs...

After a couple of hours' talk, one of our visitors staying overnight yesterday remarked that:

"It all seems to be about pigs..." which pulled me up short for a moment because of course it's not all about them at all. Just that, as I keep noticing, they do rather tend to take over!

There are other things going on. For instance, last Friday or Saturday the first swallows hatched in Ritz's stable - every morning I find him covered in white blobs from the parents' interminable journeying to supply their brood with sufficient food! He doesn't mind - it's a good excuse for having a quick brush before going out to the field for the day! Any excuse for attention, that horse!

Then this morning I noticed the big pond at the bottom of the Rectory Field is teeming with frogspawn. It's a good job they don't all survive otherwise the whole field would be heaving with frogs hopping everywhere. (Where do they all go to?) The Rabbits have been over-active too: we have more baby bunnies this year than for many a year: hardly a day goes by without The Bestest Gundog in all the World gleefully bringing me another young fluffy and we're getting quite a lot of practice 'sitting' when he flushes the big ones - as long as I'm within sight when he does so........

Then there's the cuckoo which we finally heard for the first time this year on May 20th - a whole month later than in previous years!

Apart from the wild life, we have a few more little chicks from our broody hens. The black bantam hen hatched two chicks about a fortnight ago. 'Nothing odd in that' you might think - except when she arrived here with the other bantams she was so bolshy, even taking on Louis the cockerel, that I decided she must be a 'he' and took her away from the bantams and put her in the Poultry Palace with the big birds! So I was rather surprised when she turned broody! Even more amazed when she actually hatched two chicks.... which she protects as if her life depends on it, even attacking me if I get close!

Then there's Daffodil, my oldest hen who manages to raise two small broods each year. Since the black hen was occupying the broody coop at the time she needed it, she decided to sit on her eggs in the nest box. Needless to say when the first chick hatched and hopped out last week, Daffodil was after her and deserted the remaining 5 eggs she's been sitting on! Fortunately Daffodil commands a lot of respect in the Poultry Palace, being the 'mother' of chief Rooster, Solo, and the little one has managed to hold her own against all the other birds and even at this early age shows an unusual amount of independence! So much so that this morning I 'lost' her and got quite worried that she was nowhere around Daffodil --- then I saw her having a drink down by the pond on her own....... that level of confidence probably means she is a he!

P.S. to the previous

....And then yesterday evening, having shut all the chickens and ducks away for the night, my trusty spaniels and I were doing the usual 'constitutional' walk up the drive before going to bed ---- when suddenly Gunner darted into the copse and sparked an almighty cacophony of squealing.... like a diver coming up for air, he darted out of the wood, looked expectantly at me and then darted back in again ... provoking a repeat of the squealing, only this time accompanied by a whole orchestra of similarly agitated noises.
Going to investigate, I found a very disturbed piglet running round and round the perimeter of the pen - again - with everyone on the inside - including Samson and Precious next door, making increasingly urgent noises.
"More than I can cope with alone" I decided, going in search of The Boss....
who duly emerged in the encroaching dark with a large torch.
Not only did this illuminate the situation in the woods but it also attracted the errant piglet so eventually, with Boss holding the torch and Gundog and I cornering piglet --- and all the onlookers making as much loud noise as they could.... we caught the little blighter and returned her over the fence to her family...... who, by now were all absolutely starving following the unaccustomed evening exercise....... food was the only answer.... For all of them, of course.
I have an idea that it is Malibu who keeps getting out of the pen.... pigs being inquisitive things, she's probably off in search of her 'namesake'.........................
With sanity returned, the dogs and I resumed our constitutional and, checking piglets on our return, found JD fast asleep in the food bowl!

Precocious or what?

We thought Delila's brood were fast developers but it seems Ginger's been tapping into the grapevine and is determined to keep her end up!

I was absolutely stunned to see her little ones - well, 5 of them, gamboling around in the sunshine late yesterday afternoon....... that makes it just 5 days after they were born......the other three were curled up in the straw in the doorway to the ark, fast asleep.....

Today it's been very warm and I found Ginger this afternoon submerged in a wallow with 6 of the little ones playing over and around her. When I looked, the other two were submerged in the straw indoors, oblivious to the world!

What was really funny was, when it was time to go 'home' for tea, instead of going through the gate into the pen where the ark is (and how should piglets know about things like gates and gaps???), the piglets went via the shorter route ---- straight through the fence.... except some parts of the fence proved easier to get through than others, so there was a bit of a panic whilst they trotted to and fro looking for the right sized 'hole' to climb through..... one of them was left well behind and got quite agitated at being separated from his mates..... until he finally managed to squeeze through and dart into the ark........ Aaaaahhhhhh.

Talking about gaps in fences, when we were doing the tea-trolley bit later on this afternoon we found one of Delila's brood on the 'wrong' side of the fence, unable to get back in...... she'd clearly managed to crawl under the fence from the inside out, but with the bank and slope and all that, couldn't find her way back in....and, from the way she was anxiously running round the perimeter and the surrounding woods, she had been out for a little while.....so there was a bit of a panic until we (The Boss, The Bestest Gundog and I managed to catch the little thing and lift her back over the fence for her tea ---- a feat which was accompanied by much grunting and squealing from the rest of the 'family' on the other side......!

Never a dull moment in the countryside.....

Meet the media stars

Ginger is such a star!

Whilst we were busy delivering Nigella to The Butterfly Park on Monday, Ginger was busying herself with a Very Important Delivery of her own!

We left in the morning giving Linda specific instructions to ring that nice young film-man (we'll get round to him soon) if Ginger showed any signs of farrowing..... none of us actually believed that she really would but since her habit is to give birth when we are not around we thought we'd better just cover that eventuality.

Imagine our incredulity when, arriving back home, we walked into the kitchen and found a concise note from Linda on the table: "Ginger delivered 8 piglets this afternoon: all captured on film". We half thought it was a leg-pull----- but Linda wouldn't joke about such a serious matter....... The Big Boss stopped by Ginger's pen after putting the car away and confirmed that such a cacophony could mean only one thing; Piglets had definitely arrived!

So what's the nice young film man got to do with anything? Well, he is involved with making a film starring two or three of Ginger's latest brood, which will chart their lives from tummy to table. In the next few weeks a well known star of TV and Radio will come and select her piglets and, when they are weaned, they will move up to her farm in Yorkshire where they will be filmed at intervals throughout their lives. When the fateful day finally arrives the little media magnets will be prepared and served up by one of the most famous chefs in the country. The resultant film is to be broadcast on national TV !

The film obviously starts with the birth of the piglets. And that was the trickiest part to schedule. Since our pigs are free range it is very difficult to predict precisely when the sows will farrow. In order not to miss the Big Day, therefore, the nice young film man had, last Thursday, billeted himself at a local (and very nice) B&B which we recommended to him. It's only about 10 minutes drive away from here. He was prepared to stay there for as long as it took and The Big Boss warned him that it could be anything from 4 to 14 days! (keeping fingers crossed that it wouldn't be the latter - or later! )

"Not to worry" said the NYFM "I've brought plenty of work to keep me busy".......

On Tuesday when the Big Boss spoke to him, though, he was really thrilled that it had all happened so soon and so smoothly and that he had captured the whole one and a half hours on film.

Meanwhile, the little stars are blissfully unaware of the spotlight that has been cast their way.....

What's going on now??

It was 'Open Day' again on Sunday..... not so many people but then it was raining and cold and there was a show taking place at Woodhall Spa... However, we had plenty of food to eat and sell - including, for the first time, bacon, chops and joints of pork - and when all that was done and everyone gone home we settled down for a chat with the film-man (of whom more later) before going out to load up Nigella for her move to join Delia and Ainsley at the Butterfly Park.


Needless to say, the horses all came galloping over to watch:

"Gosh what's going on here now?" they all seemed to be saying: horses are big on nosey.

Whilst Ritz cozed up to the Film-man (more of whom later) Rocco busied himself sticking his nose in the back of the trailer and then examined it closely from the front.... Eventually we had to banish them all to the Rectory Field so that we could get on.......

It took just a little while to persuade Nigella that she really did want to leave her mates and go into the trailer but she couldn't contain her curiosity for ever and soon followed Linda (and maybe the bucket) into the trailer where she slept overnight. After breakfast this morning we took a leisurely drive down to her summer home. We wondered if she'd remember, or be remembered by, Delia and Ainsley. We'd hardly drawn up alongside their pen when the most tremendous snorting and grunting assured us that everyone remembered everyone and all were dying to catch up on the gossip ...... don't know why we ever questioned it.

No sooner was she unloaded than Nigella was given a guided tour of the whole pen; up and down and round and round and then again.... Then they all posed for one final photo before we left them to get on with it with that nice Mr Crosse saying how lovely it was to have another curly coat to amuse the children and grown ups...

The piglets seem to thrive on the attention and, by all accounts, provide great entertainment value........ "OOOhs" and "AAAAhhs" really get them going....... they don't realise how lucky they are to have such a wonderful summer home.....! Bet they think all pigs live this way.....

A Minor Miracle

I think I've mentioned before that bantams are by far the most stupid of chickens... not a single brain cell between the flock.....

We've kept a few for some years. Around this time of year, for the past three or four, the hens decide that motherhood is where it's at. I don't like to be mean and keep taking their eggs away, so after a while, when one or more has decided to go broody, I end up leaving the eggs with them.

Net result each year so far has been weeks and weeks of really stupid birds making a real hash of trying to incubate eggs with a totally negative result. Lots of tatty looking birds end up wasting lots of eggs -often 35 or more.

But I am not in this for the money... their happiness is far more important than my frustration!

Imagine, therefore, my sheer amazement on opening up their house this morning and seeing - wonder of wonders - a real, live bantam chick....... as you can see from the photo, mum gave up after hatching the one..... and was really head-nodding mad at me for taking the picture!

The scene in another corner of their house is far more familiar: two hens sitting on a whole box full of eggs - which, of course, they have no hope of hatching cos there are just too many for two - quite often arguing with each other - little hens to keep consistently and constantly at the right temperature.

But who cares: today a bantam hen has produced a little chick. That is a minor miracle. I am ecstatic.....!!!

What's on the agenda today?

This is the first question every morning. Just so we can get ourselves and the day organised and know what needs doing. Usually there's quite a lot going on but yesterday the answer was "not alot" - so we planned for a quiet day.


Should've known better.....


Taking Gunner & Pilot for their routine morning walk, luckily (?) decided to go via the pigs to the Church Field. Mistake. Noticed an extra large - and very recent - wallow in the corner of the Little Chefs' pen. On closer inspection discovered the reason was they had demolished their automatic water drinker.... consequently water was spouting out horizontally at the rate of a bucket per second.... nice wallow-machine! "Thank you" said Mangal who was benefiting from the overflow...
Close inspection failed to discover the missing parts - metal and plastic bits either swallowed in the wallow or by the Chefs.
Nothing for it but to dispatch Big Boss to purchase replacement spares. When they arrive, one part is not exactly same size so have to dismantle one of Lily's drinkers and then repair Chefs' supply.
One hour later...... all restored to normal. Except now Clyde decides to take on Hugh through the dividing fence - not a good idea since Hugh is 4 x Clyde's size but of course the little one doesn't know cos he's always been the only boy in the playground. He got a few mean nips and eventually - thankfully - gave up.
Meanwhile DHL deliver the new Tennessee Smoker. Easy to assemble so the Boss can smoke his own bacon, sausages, ham etc.
Two hours later....... and we still haven't managed to secure the thermometer "with the clamp supplied". The whole thing was made in China so I guess that's their bit of fun - a Chinese Puzzle for the customers.
Luckily the large Igloo cooler which arrived in the morning needs no assembly..... this we need, I understand, because we are now going into local deliveries and - with the prospect of a blisteringly hot summer which we have been promised -we need something to keep all the pork victuals cool en route.
The end of the afternoon in sight and the (for the third time) promised ark delivery not materialising I decide to take a shower whilst the Boss attends to the piggies. The chap from Channel 4 TV rang again about the film (more of which another day) and I thought, eventually dripping out of the cubicle to answer, that the Boss was taking an inordinately long time... shortly after, a voice calls out from downstairs -- "I say, have you got a moment? Clyde's gone through to Mangal's pen...."
So, from Shower to Pigs in 25 seconds....... give Mangal more food to distract him, hop over gate into his pen and diplomatically (the only way with bumptious piglets) persuade Clyde that he really does want to go back to his sister through the gate which the Boss is holding open before Mangal finishes his dinner and comes to investigate...... Not that Mangal is in the least bit nasty but his tusks are now of a size where they are very much to be respected......
Breathe sighs of relief as everyone is safely back in the right place. Secure holes in fence and gates ... pop in to Poultry Palace on the way past and smile at the sight of the first duckling stumbling around...... Aaahhh
Unfortunately not there the next morning..... but Gunner brings me a fledgeling thrush instead. I put it back by its nest: he retrieves it again. Now it's in Max's stable and I'm running out of places to find worms and bugs to keep it growing till it's strong enough to fly away.....
Never a dull moment......

Rare Vintage

After four or five litters of piglets we still manage to be surprised!

The Little Tots have exceeded every previous 'benchmark'.

Starting with being born at super speed, they hit the ground running - literally, with the first one dodging round the ark within just a few hours.
They've continued in the same vein. They were the earliest in leaving the safety of the ark - the first ones emerging within 5 days compared with about 8 or 9 for Bonnie and Clyde and two weeks for previous litters.

Then, whereas most piglets don't get interested in hard food for at least three weeks these chaps were climbing into mum's bowl within two. Perhaps they feel they need it because they are merrily scampering about the woods regardless of whether they're in Delila's pen or in with Samson and his new 'amour' (Precious). They are nothing if not adventurous.

And then there's Big Ears - a.k.a. J.D.: he really is something else. Not just a good looking chap and the only boar amongst the girls, but he has the biggest ears ever seen on our piglets (a good trait since the original Lincolnshire Curly Coats had large floppy ears and he clearly inherits these from his maternal grandfather - Mangal - plus he is also blonde, which the original curly coats were too) - and he's developed this neat trick of checking into the bar whenever Delila (not to mention the other piglets) is busy having her dinner.

Smart or what?

He could go far..........

Musical pigs

When the wind blows hard in the Wolds it can blow very seriously indeed. It can, 'they' say, do strange things to people. As it did to the Big Boss on Friday last. On a day when most of us had our work cut out just trying to stand upright, he declared 'Pig Moving Day'.

This is serious stuff and requires a good deal of planning and preparation - which work had all been done earlier in the week; moves have to fit in with each other, as well as with those which are going to happen in the near future - some of which may well be critical. Therefore, there was no chance of putting events off until the weather became a little more obliging.

Gale or no Gale, pigs must move.

First up, Bonnie and Clyde had to be weaned away from Precious. They shared a last morsel with mum and then, one by one, were picked up and walked down to their new pen next to the 3 Little Chefs in the field, leaving Precious behind to load calmly into the trailer to be taken to her new 'home' in the woods with Samson.

That was the script.

The reality was that it took the best part of 30 minutes to 'grab' the piglets from under Precious's increasingly agitated snout and move them: made all the worse because Clyde was easily caught and moved and, catching on, Precious refused to let us near Bonnie. Left alone for the first time in his life poor Clyde started squealing for all he was worth and that just fuelled Precious's resolve .... and our frustration.

Finally Linda made an heroic lunge for, and caught, Bonnie... passed her quickly to the Boss who, fast as he could, made off to the pen where Clyde was in danger of squealing himself to death.

And then Precious got really annoyed! For another half hour she led us a dance around her pen, snorting and grunting for all she was worth.

In exasperation, we called in reinforcements. Con has a way with pigs. After a further few minutes of pig-headedness, Precious capitulated and walked calmly and obligingly out of the gate, along the path and up the ramp into the trailer.

"Just as if she had to make her point and prove herself the aggrieved mother" said the Boss "before she was willing to get on with what we had in mind".

That's pigs for you.

All this was watched over by the latest arrival at Rectory Reserve: a day old chick venturing out into the world for the first time. Witnessing such drama so early in its life almost guarantees that it will grow up to be the most neurotic of chickens ---- which will take some doing!

After a short journey, Precious was quite happy to walk out of the trailer and into Samson's quarters in the woods - until he did what boars do and made it quite plain that he was the boss and quite put the wind up her sails! There followed another half hour or so of grunting and snorting and head butting and chasing and barging and squealing -just to make the point that she was not going to give in too easily - and then all of a sudden it was peaceful and quiet and they were cozing up to each other like any young lovers while Delila watched on from next door until tea arrived -- which was far more important than anything Samson and Precious could possibly be doing......

And what of the two weanlings meanwhile? Did they miss their mum?

Not a bit of it.

They very quickly introduced themselves to Auntie Ginger and Uncle Mangel and then spent a pleasant afternoon catching up on all the gossip with the Little Chefs ...........

Shy Guys

There is only a very small herd of Mangalitzas in the country (c. 150-200) so we need to be careful to mix up the gene pool as much as possible and avoid in-breeding.

Much thought and forward planning goes into this (it is a major occupation of The Big Boss). If the opportunity arises we import fresh blood to bolster our own herd. Hence the arrival 10 days ago of two blonde male weanlings - Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

These guys are certainly of different blood. Whereas our homebreds are bumptious and energetic, 'Dum and 'Dee are very shy and withdrawn: we have to be very quick to catch them up and about. Most of the time they just sleep.

Now - it could be that since they were born (on 23 February in Staffordshire) they have led a very hectic life so are relieved to have the opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep. Or it could be that they are just totally overawed by their arrival in the wild and windy Wolds of Lincolnshire...... (we can understand that) or maybe they just miss their mummies (they are from two different litters)..... whatever, they are without doubt the quietest pair of piglets we have ever had. They have not even shown a particular interest in food ------!!!!! Although special treats like eggs seem not to hang around for very long.......

Today is the first time that we looked over their door (they are in quarantine quarters for 3 weeks) and found them on their feet - twice.

So perhaps things are looking up. We'll be weaning Bonnie and Clyde this weekend so when the quarantine period is over 'Dum and 'Dee will be out in the paddock with them .... that'll perk them up!!!!!

Meanwhile, we are still waiting anxiously for Lily to deliver her litter but she really does not look like obliging. Unlike Ginger who is looking positively matronly.......... More of which anon.......

Roll on next year!

Don't really like to be wishing the time away but with the Test season now finished for the year we have so much to work on and so much enthusiasm that we (Gunner and I) can't wait to try again!

The Penny finally seemed to drop yesterday and Gunner was far more at ease with the whole notion of hunting in front of strangers in a strange place.

Our Third Working Test was held in the glorious woodlands of Clumber Park and 18 assorted Novice and Open spaniels turned out to display their skills. It was a bit cool and blustery out in the open, but conditions in the mixed woods were as near perfect as anyone could have wished: acres and acres of ideal hunting ground with dense, heavily scented cover crying out for bold hunting dogs.

And there were some glorious hunting dogs out yesterday - fast (Ferraris compared to my 4X4 companion!), furious, keen and beautifully trained to their work. It was a pleasure to watch them.

The Bestest Gundog showed tremendous improvement on his previous form. We were third 'to go' so didn't have to wait long for our turn. He couldn't wait to get his nose down to the smells in the woods - eagerly to-ing and fro-ing - so much so that when the pistol (caught us unawares, used as we are to guns!) was fired and the dummy thrown he had his nose deep in a very interesting smell with the result that what was supposed to be a 'seen' retrieve was actually a 'blind' retrieve. Infuriatingly, the smells were so distracting that it took some effort to focus on finding the dummy. It didn't take too long but we'd have lost a bundle of marks for that. Then he flushed a pheasant off her nest and was so surprised (I think!) that he stood absolutely rigid when she flew off (full marks) and then went off at - for him - super speed to look for another!

"That's got him going" remarked the judge (did I detect a slight hint of relief?)

The second run in front of the other judge was back to his usual high standard on the retrieving side of things but his hunting was now so eager that it required rather more whistle and he didn't keep as tight to me as the judge would have liked (more marks lost). In truth, I was so relieved to have him hunting that I decided it was the lesser evil to let him have his head a bit rather than control him too much and risk blunting his new found enthusiasm.

We came away with a consolation prize - a box of dog biscuits (much appreciated by him!) and a new lead (much appreciated by me, as they tend to lose themselves all too easily during a working day) - unfortunately won in the raffle rather than the competition. But 'onwards and upwards' and next year we'll show them!

We may not have the speed to win but I refuse to believe that TBGiatW is not worthy of a Certificate of Merit. And for a dog who has not been trained specifically for Field Trials (as the others have) I think he's a star!

The naming of piglets..

Some time later.. and Linda-who-love-pigs and husband Nick who-is-not-a-rustler and sister Sammy-who-doesn't-drink-red-wine found themselves down their Local. The naming of piglets had been on everyone's minds for the past week: The Big Boss thought that, since they'd arrived in the world concurrent with the latest batch of marmalade, they should be named after types of marmalade.
How many types of marmalade can you think of?
Quite.
There are, however, 7 piglets requiring suitable monikers.
So, Linda (being Delila's 'Person') was consulted.
Somewhat unsurprisingly her mind turned to football - again....
Naming piglets was not proving very easy.
Somewhere into the 2nd glass of red wine (which she doesn't drink - usually) Sammy perused - for whatever reason.....??? - the wine list.
"Here's the answer" she mused.... "All these drinks ... possibly ideal?"
Next thing we know, Linda has sent through an e:mail.... relates the circumstances and adds...
"So, how about J.D. (Jack Daniels for the boy - there is only one) and, for the 6 girls, Sherry, Malibu, Whiskey, Bailey, Bacardi and Brandy."
Sheer Genius.......
So there we have it, 7 Little Tots - to go with the 7 Little Chefs....
And this afternoon they've been telling Dad all about it....
Ah, yes.
That's another story:
Samson's tunnel under the dividing gate has proved to be another touch of genius. The wee tots have been scampering to and fro between Mum and Dad .... shows how dumb we are: we thought Samson was digging the tunnel to get through to Delila - but no, it was so his first offspring could get through to him...... and don't they just love him.... and if Delila gets anxious she just gives a low grunt and they all go scampering back under the gate......
Perfect!
Oh to be a piglet........