While on the hunt for the missing chicken eggs that aren’t getting laid in the nest box, I came across a major problem with our dry stone wall boundary in the woods.
As far as I can tell this must have happened in the last day or two but I can’t be certain as the ground dips down suddenly here. As a result, it’s possible to go into the woods on the way to feed the pigs without even noticing that anything is wrong down the bottom of the hill.
Inside looking out
Luckily we don’t have any livestock in this part of the woods although I was considering extending the pig electric fencing to here in the next week or two. Perhaps more importantly though, it’s fortunate that our neighbour has already moved his sheep out of the field on the other side!
I’m perfectly happy to take on any minor walling repairs and I would even consider tackling a small rebuild but this is a bit more than that. After pacing out a quick measurement it seems that the main damage covers around 4-5 metres but any repairs would need to include some rebuilding on each side too.
Outside looking in
Luckily it’s clear from these pictures that all the existing stones from the section that collapsed should be reusable. We also have a small supply of extras stashed away for just such an occurrence which helps to keep the repair costs down.
It’s definitely time to get in touch with the Dry Stone Walling Association to find a professional though – not least because they’ll be so much quicker than me and besides I don’t think I can spare the time anyway!
With so much attention focussed on the livestock over the last few months, it made a pleasant change to spend some time on the raised beds were put in place after we moved here. Even though some of the results this year are not as good as hoped, the simple fact that we can eat fresh produce from the garden is still very rewarding.
This will hopefully be the last year of significant experimentation with vegetables in the raised beds. Over the past 2-3 years I’ve tried a selection of different crops and different varieties of our favourites with the idea of identifying what works best in our location.
For the second year in a row, the dwarf beans have been unimpressive and I suspect that any success in the first year was purely luck. Mostly the problem was down to poor germination but even those I’ve planted out are now looking too impressive. I think it’s likely that I’ll give these a miss for a year or two now in favour of something more reliable.
Dwarf beans and extra carrots
As reliable as ever, the leeks always seem to do well here and this year is the third different area I’ve tried them in so they must like the general location.
These will definitely be on the regular list for vegetables to grow and hopefully this year I’ve got the quantity right as there were far too many last year!
Leeks
Despite a slow start with the carrots there are now quite a few growing on in the raised beds. It was a battle early on when sowing seeds direct and as a result there aren’t as many as I’d hoped now.
However, compared to the difficulties with just germinating parsnip seeds, the carrots could be counted as a comparative success. Even though we love eating fresh, home-grown parsnip in the winter the problems with getting them started means that I may not bother with them next year.
Carrots and parsnips
After an unexpected success last year with my first attempts at growing chard, this got another chance again this year and yet again is doing really well.
Easy to grow with a cut and come again approach to harvesting plus it’s really tasty when cooked – this is sure to be on the list for future years.
Chard and self-seeded nasturtiums
As usual for me, I think I planted the first batch of courgette seeds too soon so they were never going to do well. However the second batch benefitted from my first attempts at using a heated propagator. Of course I now have too many courgette plants again this year but isn’t that obligatory if you grow courgettes?
The 2 onions in this picture were actually planted elsewhere last year but came to nothing so I moved them to an empty this spring. After a few months they’ve developed quite well – perhaps better than last years onions did – so that’s a bit of a bonus and perhaps an indication that they would do well in this bed?
Courgettes
Every year so far swedes have been the most reliable crop I’ve grown here and this year looks to be no different. I seems that nothing I do will stop the swede seeds from germinating and growing into a tasty crop!
Luckily it’s become a favourite in the kitchen too so there’s always a place for swedes in the raised beds.
It’s a little surprising to me but I’ve found that the last blog update was last posted way back at the start of June and we’re already well on the way into July! There are a number of reasons for the infrequent blog updates of late but mostly it’s been because there has been so many other things happening.
Pigs
At the start of June we were still busy trying to organise the collection or delivery of weaners as we sold all the piglets from our first ever litters this spring. In the end we sold them in 3 lots with the largest being a batch of 6 weaners that went off to Bill Quay Community Farm in Gateshead.
As might be expected, there were plenty of lessons learned when trying to load up the weaners. Our only previous experience of loading pigs here had been much larger and more tame fully grown pigs that were heading to slaughter and were happy to follow a feed bucket.
It was a lot quieter around here once the piglets had gone but I did miss them a bit if I’m honest. On the bright side, their departure did mean fewer trips to the local feed store now that we only have 2 sows to feed.
Cattle
The main task at the moment is halter training the two calves which will be essential when it comes to handling them for vet visits or, dare I say it, when they eventually head off to the abattoir at about 30 months old.
Progress with this has been good with the older calf (Oscar) already happy enough to have the halter on and to be tied up for a short period.
The focus now is to get the other, younger calf (Elvis) comfortable with the halter because in the next week or two we will need to get the vet in to castrate him. This could not be done when he was younger because he was a little under-developed but on the bright side he was born polled (without horns) so we didn’t need to do any disbudding at all.
Elvis doing well on the halter
Obviously we need to make sure that we can restrain all the cattle properly for everyone’s safety but particularly Elvis during the impending “procedure”. The purchase of a few proper cattle hurdles (10ft wide by 5ft high) has helped this work greatly and luckily the calves can’t normally shift these… unless the mood takes them and they can get a run-up!
Barn Conversion
After a final burst of energy (and finances) the self-catering holiday let in our barn conversion opened to the first paying guests in the middle of June. Since that point the bookings have flooded in and at this point the barn is almost fully booked right through into September which is encouraging.
Living area and patio
Our guests have come from a range of countries including Australia, America and Belgium as well as the UK and each group is different so it’s turning into a fascinating way to experience the outside world.
It remains to be seen how much interest there will be through the winter months but with some glowing reviews from all guests so far I have high hopes for more bookings to come in the future.
Even now I occasionally find myself thinking of our smallholding as the “new” place but it’s been 3 years since we moved here so it’s time for the third anniversary blog update.
The various blog updates certainly make for some interesting reading and it’s at times like this when this blog really proves its worth. Sometimes it’s good to be reminded of the highs and lows, the lessons learned and above all else the enjoyment gained along the way.
Looking back now that seems quite a list to cover in such a short space of time, particularly while also running the smallholding and working full-time so I’m understandably happy to have them out of the way!
Hopefully we can start to enjoy the fruits of all this hard work just a little although I’ve already learnt that there’s no time for a quiet, restful day on a smallholding. There are always more jobs to be done and plenty of future plans to be made.
Cattle
Just a year ago was one of the lowest points in our time here when the cows arrived and promptly jumped 2 stone walls before disappearing into our neighbours field. It was around 2 weeks before they finally decided to come home and settle down.
One year on from the relative disaster of their arrival, our efforts are really paying off and the cows actually seem to like us. Their calves are completely calm with us and sometimes even happy to get a scratch or to give us a friendly lick. More recently the sight of a hose filling up their water is enough to bring them over to “help” as we fill their bucket.
Just a hint of a smile?
We have to remember that getting beef is a longer term plan because Dexters are a slow-growing native breed which develops over about 30 months. That’s quite a wait for a steak or a beef burger but I’m hoping that they’ll be the best I’ve ever tasted.
Pigs
Over the course of our 3 years here we’ve gone from novice pig keepers raising our first ever weaners to produce pork for our own consumption through to becoming fully fledged pedigree Tamworth breeders raising our first 2 litters.
Weaners eager for breakfast
After a few false starts it looks like the majority of the piglets from our first 2 litters will now be sold and should leave in the next week or two. I’ll be sorry to see them go but happy to cut the number of trips to buy pig feed.
Currently the plan is to rest the sows (and the land) a little through this year before the process starts again in autumn ready for weaners to be available early next year.
Chickens
Despite our best efforts, the white chickens that we inherited on moving here continue to thrive while laying just enough eggs to convince us to keep them on. Over the course of recent months our last remaining “pet” chicken – Adele – and the 3 rescue hens that we took on a couple of years ago have gone to meet their maker but I like to think that they all enjoyed their free-ranging outdoor life with us.
Eventually we’ll have to restock and at that point we can consider getting some Cream Legbars or similar so we have different coloured eggs just for some variety.
Has it been worth it?
The journey thus far has been everything I’d hoped for but at the same time it has involved a lot more expense than originally expected. The plan was always to spend the early years setting things up for the longer term so it probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
There have been a constant stream of new experiences – some better than others – and much there was a lot to learn along the way. Of course, that was the whole point of taking this on in the first place and I’m not really interested in a quiet life.
The initial work inevitably means that there would be a steady stream of sizable bills while we get everything just how we want it but there’s a good reason why you never see a wealthy smallholder!
Now that the weather seems to have settled down a little I can safely think about doing a “Spring” update here. We’ve had a bit of everything from the weather over the last week or so – snow, hail, rain, sun, cloud – but the forecast for the week ahead seems to show a more appropriate rise in temperatures coming.
Cattle
After the novel experience of calving over the winter, the routine for the cattle has settled back into something more normal. We still need to book a visit from the vet in due course to deal with the castration of the second calf. It just wasn’t possible to do this as we had planned at about 1 month old but on the plus side this calf was born without horn buds so there was no disbudding needed!
Morning roll call for the Dexters
They are now getting a little fed up with the feed we give them and are eager for any scraps of fresh grass they can get at. A couple of bags of lawn grass cuttings were happily munched last week but I’m told by others that this is not a good idea because the cows will start noisily demanding more even when we aren’t cutting the lawn!
Chickens
Yet again we’re already well into the “egg hunting” season with one or more of the white chickens deciding to sneak off and find a quiet spot to lay in the woods. It can be frustrating to search high and low but find nothing and then suddenly find a clutch of 8-10 eggs under a well hidden hen.
The odd one out
As for chicken numbers, we have 10 white ones (including a cockerel) that were mostly hatched in our first year here. We also have just remaining one brown chicken – an ex-battery hen – who seems unphased by being the odd one out and is usually happiest wandering around with a single white chicken for company.
Pigs
The pigs seem to be really enjoying their time in the woods and our two sows have done an excellent job of raising their respective litters. It’s been quite an eye-opening experience to have this many mouths to feed and to see how quickly they can get through the pig feed.
First litter at about 2 months
A definite plan for the future is to look into other alternative sources of feed for the pigs. We can get occasional waste fruit and vegetables from a local shop but this number of pigs get through a lot of feed and we need to keep up a good balanced diet to sustain decent growth rates and to maintain their general good health.
For my own reference in future, I have decided to note down what I can remember of the overall sequence of events surrounding the farrowing for both Sissy and Esther. Looking back now it’s a little bit of a blur mostly because it was our (and the sows) first time for farrowing. I can imagine I’ll forget something crucial which would be helpful for the next time so it’s good to have this noted somewhere.
Despite having a good plan in place in advance, the reality was that there were minor differences between each of the pigs which were dictated by the circumstances at that time. This was not entirely unexpected as many of the books and information about farrowing contradict each other to a certain extent which makes it hard for first-timers like us.
The first litter will be ready to go in a week or so with the second litter ready about 3-4 weeks after that so if you’re interested in supporting a rare breed and would like to produce your own pork then you can’t go wrong with a couple of Tamworth weaners! Click here for more details
Pre-farrowing:
About 1 week ahead of time we prepared the shed and moved both sows indoors together so they could keep each other company. We decided to farrow them inside as being nearer the house would make the job more manageable for us and besides the weather was too cold to leave everything to nature outside.
Rigged up a heat lamp in a corner of the shed and blocked it off with a sheep hurdle to give the piglets somewhere to get away from their mother
Set aside all the bits and pieces in readiness for farrowing – iodine spray, cloths/towels, bucket for warm water etc.
Farrowing:
We were on-hand for the first farrowing (Sissy) between 5pm and 11pm on Thurs 25 Feb with only 5 born and all survived. The first piglet arrived a little unexpectedly so we had to hurriedly move the other sow (Esther) back out to the woods so that Sissy could have the shed to herself.
Second farrowing (Esther) eventually happened in the early hours of Mon 18 Mar with 8 surviving out of 10 born when we checked at about 7am. That includes one piglet which needed some intensive care at the beginning and at one point we almost gave up on it but he had rallied around a couple of hours later and is now indistinguishable from the others.
Post farrowing:
The piglets had limited interest in exploring for the first couple of days and were just happy to suckle and sleep. The heat lamp worked really well and it only took them a day or so to realise it was a good spot for snoozing
By the end of the first week they are getting much more inquisitive and exploring the shed until a human appeared then they’d scuttle back to the heat lamp corner.
After 2 weeks they were fully active and investigating their surroundings (and mothers food)
By 3 weeks they should be getting at least some hard feed as mothers milk production will peak around that point and then starts to reduce over time.
Both litters were moved out of the shed and back to the woods somewhere around 3 weeks old
Outside living:
It was always planned to move each little back to a prepared pen in the woods, partly to clear the farrowing shed in time for the second farrowing but also so that the piglets get used to electric fencing at an early age. If necessary we could move the piglets back into the shed in preparation for selling them once they are ready to go.
We moved Sissy and her litter by leading her first and returning to carry each piglet in turn (with 2 people). The piglets were between 2 and 3 weeks old so carrying was the safest and quickest option.
We moved Esther and her litter by herding all of them together (with 3 people) because the piglets were a couple of days over 3 weeks old (due to other commitments elsewhere).
Esther and her litter
Initially a creep fender was used in the woods to try to contain the piglets until they were used to their new surroundings which worked well for Sissy’s litter for a couple of days. Unfortunately Esther’s litter were that little bit bigger and had jumped the fender within an hour or two on their first afternoon in the woods so it was removed completely in the end.
Once they are all in the woods, the only problem we found was that we needed more buckets as the each group had differing quantities of feed plus each group had a ration of sow rolls for the mother and also another ration of smaller pellets for the piglets. Keeping each to their own feed was eventually only partially successful but so long as everybody ate something I was happy!
We currently have a total of 13 weaners for sale from our 2 pedigree Tamworths.
These are good hardy stock and they are quite happy to live outside in the woods all year round. If you want to help support rare breeds and also would like some great home-grown pork for your freezer then these come highly recommended.
The 1st sow farrowed on 25 February and the litter consists of 2 gilts & 3 castrated boars. At the moment they are all outdoors with the sow and will be available around 21 April.
1st litter enjoying breakfast
The 2nd sow farrowed on 21 March and the 3 gilts & 5 castrated boars will be available around mid May. They are currently still inside and will be moved outside when they are around 2 or 3 weeks old.
2nd litter
PRICE: £50 each – if interested please use the contact form below to get in touch
We are based near Allendale (North Pennines) and all the animals can be viewed on request. Delivery may also be possible for a nominal extra amount to cover petrol. All buyers must have a CPH number
With the clock ticking and the due date for Esther, the second pig to farrow, rapidly approaching, it was time to rearrange the pig housing. First on the agenda was to move Sissy and the first litter out to the woods where a new pen had been setup on some fresh, clean ground.
While the move was pretty simple for Sissy, it was a little more traumatic for the piglets (and us) but eventually they were all caught and hand carried round to the new pen. They quickly settled into the pig ark and burrowed around the straw but it took them a little longer to adjust to the outside space they can now access. However on such a nice day I don’t think they were complaining about the chance to get some sun.
Taking stock of the new surroundings
It wasn’t long before they convinced Sissy that it was feed time again, even though she was enjoying the chance to wander around outside at her leisure. Once this final step was underway and I knew the litter were settled enough to feed, I could finally relax and Sissy continues to prove what a great mother she is.
Normal service has been resumed
Once everything had settled down in the woods, it was time to clear out the “farrowing shed”. Not the best task but at least the weather was good with a light breeze to take away the worst of the smells!
A proper clean out including a full jet wash for the floor and everything was almost ready for Esther, the second pig to farrow. There is just the small matter of a few barrow loads of clean straw to put in there and then she can take up residence. Her first job will no doubt be rearranging all the straw because no matter how nicely I get it set up, it’s never good enough for the pigs!
Okay, so it may not be a major new bestselling novel but it’s always nice to see the results of my efforts in print again. In this months Home Farmer there is a smallholder directory feature based on the smallholder group listings that I maintain on this website.
Extract from Home Farmer, April 2016
Any non-subscribers to Home Farmer can read the relevant pages by downloading from the North Pennines Smallholders website and you could always subscribe to the magazine anyway because it’s only £40 per year!
It somehow means much more to me that this is something tangible and that might explain why I’ve never really got into the whole e-Reader/Kindle thing.
On a purely technical level I can see the many advantages of electronic publishing and I’ve tried reading a few classic books on a “generic fruit-based device” but in the end the physical book wins for me every time.
I can remember thinking at the time I did the AI on the pigs that the gestation period (roughly 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days) seemed to be such a long time. Despite the apparent success of my first ever, amateur efforts I still somehow couldn’t imagine that the end result would actually be some healthy, active piglets one day.
As it turned out, my early planning and preparation for the event particularly relocating them both to an outbuilding near the house well before the due date really paid off. Yesterday (a few days ahead of schedule) the first pig – Sissy – got down to the business of farrowing with no encouragement from me.
Settling in to the farrowing shed
In the time it took me to do the rounds of a few mole traps (no moles were hurt!) and get back to the house, she had already produced the first piglet. Although there had been no obvious signs immediately beforehand, the piglet was fortunately spotted wandering among the straw so I could move the other sow back to the woods. This allowed the new mother (and me) the space to ourselves so we could concentrate on the task at hand.
This first piglet arrived at about 5:15pm and we eagerly waited to see more, expecting them to arrive at roughly regular intervals. However despite lots of huffing and grunting the minutes ticked by until a couple of hours had passed with nothing appearing so we started to fear the worst.
Obviously the first one piglet wasn’t aware of this concern and it must have thought that 1 piglet to 12 teats was a pretty good deal!
Free choice at the buffet
Thankfully around 2 hours later, nature decided it was time to get things moving and she eventually delivered 4 more piglets between about 8pm and 10pm. All were delivered with no help from me apart from a quick wipe with a towel and a spray of iodine on the navel just to be safe.
In no time they were all clamped on to the “milk bar” and a little peace descended interrupted by the sound of wet sucking noises and contented grunting from the piglets. Equally important to me was that the mother has handled her first litter well and seems to be providing for them while staying calm with me bumbling around in the background.
While I might have liked to see a few more in the litter, I’m happy that all 5 were born healthy with no problems and everyone survived the first night. They probably got more sleep than I did…
