It’s hard to believe but we’ve now been on our smallholding for 7 years. These days it’s much harder to picture our old suburban house or even the work involved in packing up to move here in May 2013 Hopefully we are becoming better custodians of this place as we go along but there was …
Continue reading ‘Seven years in and loving (nearly) every minute’ »
One of the reasons we originally decided to get pedigree Dexter cattle was because they are a native UK breed. This means they are well suited to the British climate and able to live outside all year round even here in the North Pennines. However, as they’re always outside that means they have to calve …
Very reasonably in my opinion, Fifi farrowed during the afternoon on Sunday 8 March which definitely beats sitting up all night for a 4am farrowing as we’ve had quite often in the past. She produced 9 lovely Tamworth x Berkshire piglets (8 boars and a single gilt) with very little trouble. From that point right …
Continue reading ‘First litter for Fifi – from start to finish’ »
The past weekend has been a major entry on my calendar for some time because a number of fairly big events were scheduled. However looking back on it all now, I realise I hadn’t fully appreciated that nearly all stages of pig breeding were involved – artificial insemination on Sissy plus a new litter for …
Continue reading ‘All stages of pig breeding in one weekend’ »
This weekend was weaning time for Sissy and her small litter of 2 piglets so the farrowing shed became the piglet shed just for one night. In the morning Sissy moved back to the woods for some peace and quiet while the piglets enjoyed a hearty breakfast without having to share it with mum They’re …
Now that some time has passed since my initial worries for Sissy during the first week or two after farrowing, it seems a good time for me to summarise the events for future reference Sissy farrowed in the early hours of a Monday but seemed to have a difficult and long-winded farrowing with only 2 …
After an unplanned year off during 2019 for Sissy with litters, she finally delivered again in the early hours of Mon 13th Jan. As usual I can’t help wanting to be there when it all happens but that always means a lot of lost sleep. This time she ended up with just 2 live piglets …
This time around I’m a lot more confident that Sissy is actually in-pig and is due to farrow in a little under 2 weeks. I’m very aware that I’ve said something similar before but all the signs are there so far. When I look back on blog updates from this time last year I’m can’t …
Continue reading ‘Farrowing preparations for January 2020’ »
Today was a special day which normally gets overlooked in the mad rush before Christmas so this year I’m quietly pleased with myself for marking the special event with a blog post It’s hard for me to believe in a way but our 2 main Tamworth breeding sows – Sissy and Esther – are 5 …
I’m trying not to take it for granted because each time we have to move pigs around and it goes really well then I could easily become over-confident. It’s probably wise to keep reminding myself that it can easily and quickly go wrong at times. This past weekend was weaning time for Esther’s latest litter …