Blog – Page 8 – Small Plot, Big Ideas

Second litter of the year

Despite getting up bright and early last Saturday morning, I was still caught out by the slightly early arrival of Sissy’s litter. According to my calculations she wasn’t due until that night at the earliest but apparently she had other plans and had done most of the hard work by the time I checked on her at 6:30am

First arrivals safely under the heat lamp

However when I first tried to open the shed door I could see there was a single tiny, cold piglet well away from the heat lamp and blocking the door from opening. Luckily we have another entrance to that shed so I was able to get in and check whether it was likely to survive. At first glance I didn’t hold out much hope as she was hardly moving but being a lifelong optimist I felt we had to try.

The almost lifeless piglet was immediately named “Sick Note” and put into intensive care using our previously successful methods. It’s nothing fancy and doesn’t involve expensive equipment, just an insulated bag with an ordinary hot water bottle wrapped in a towel at the bottom because the most urgent thing is to warm up the piglet. If you can get that far then the next step is to get the newborn to suckle from the mother so they get the best start possible.

Within about an hour she was very obviously recovering and must have been stronger than I had originally thought when I first found her. Before long we were able to put her back in with the others under the heat lamp and by midday she was happily suckling alongside her litter mates as if nothing had happened (on the right below)

In the end it was a smaller litter than we had hoped with only 5 alive and 2 born dead but with pig breeding you have to take the rough with the smooth sometimes. Having saved one this time around I realise that it’s important to recognise the successes because they definitely help when dealing the inevitable tougher aspects.

Oh good! East wind and more snow

After the big snow fall a couple of weeks ago we thought we’d probably had the last of it. However as is often the case, there is generally a late burst here which catches people out. Even though the current snow isn’t as bad this time around, it would certainly qualify as a significant amount for any other winter that we’ve had here!

Our neighbours here in the North Pennines haven’t started lambing yet but it’s not far off so I’m sure they’re hoping that this is last of winter for this year. In our case, the Dexter cattle calve in late Spring/early Summer and the pigs usually farrow in a shed so there’s less worry with the weather.

Just as the snow started on Saturday, I decided that it was better to bring Sissy indoors a little early rather than wait then find it was too difficult due to drifting snow. There’s one good decision that I can be happy with at least.

This morning the feed rounds included a short burst of snow clearing as well just to get to the various sheds in our courtyard. Thankfully the snow is dry and powdery at the moment so any drifts are easy enough to clear with the snow shovel.

The problem is that the strong gusty winds just start to drift the snow again so that within 10-15 minutes any tracks I’ve made are already starting to disappear. This means there’s little point with making any major efforts to clear the snow until the wind dies down later today.

The prevailing wind here is generally from the west so this recent bad weather which features strong winds from the east is proving to be very challenging. Unusually for us, the east facing outbuildings have been getting snow blowing round the doors and drifting inside.

When feeding Esther with her 2 remaining piglets in the woods, it was clear that the drifting snow was causing problems. Their pig ark is carefully positioned to protect them from the prevailing winds but that means it faces east and the current snow can blow in.

New bedding needed to beat the blowing snow

The addition of another half bale of straw makes all the difference both for their comfort and apparently for entertainment value too.

The benefits of keeping native British breeds is never more clear than at times like these. They really don’t seem to mind the snow and cold wind just as long as we give them decent shelter with water and food at regular intervals

Weaning the first litter

About a week ago we brought Esther and her litter of 9 piglets into the pig shed to start the weaning process and in preparation for collection. At this stage they were just over 7 weeks old and had been on hard feed for a while so it was a good time to start.

This can sometimes be a tricky procedure once they’ve had a taste of life outdoors in the woods but this litter seem to be better behaved than some of our previous ones.

The initial batch of 4 piglets were collected first which left 5 piglets in the pig shed and therefore a bit more room at the trough for mealtimes. It can be very crowded around feed troughs with 9 mouths to feed even if we split the food between two troughs.

The remaining 3 weaners that we had sold were picked up a couple of days later and that left us with 2 to raise for pork ourselves. This was pretty much as we’d hoped before Esther had farrowed but you can never be sure in advance exactly how much interest there will be in weaners.

Esther and the remaining 2 that we’re keeping as meat pigs could then be moved back to the woods. This was very much appreciated by everyone because it means we don’t have to muck out the pig shed and they prefer live outside anyway.

There is no time for us to rest though because we have to clean out the shed ready for the next litter which is due in a couple of weeks. I’m pretty sure that Sissy will be very glad to get indoors for a few weeks given the muddy state of her current pen

Time to move out to the woods

A little later than planned but eventually Esther and her litter were moved out to their new pen in the woods last weekend. Originally I had planned to do this when the litter were about 3 weeks old – by this time they’ve usually started showing a good interest in hard food and are drinking water for themselves.

However the weather forecast for last weekend was just a little too cold, particularly overnight, and I didn’t have the heart in the end so the piglets got an extra week in the relative comfort of the farrowing shed.

By about 3 weeks old the piglets have developed an interest in eating hard food and the first signs of this are usually when they try to steal some of their mothers meal. She doesn’t often let them get a look in but once the piglet food is put down she will often ignore hers until she’s hoovered up any spare piglet food.

Even though the larger sow rolls are a little too large at the start that doesn’t stop the piglets from trying which is always entertaining and they eventually learn to go for the smaller broken bits first.

There was a minor false start because Esther immediately wandered off to the woods on her own and apparently wasn’t bothered about leaving her litter behind. Needless to say, without their mother to lead them it was impossible to herd all 9 of the piglets in the same direction at the same time even with the help of the current guests in the holiday let.

Once we’d brought Esther back again and reunited her with the litter things went more smoothly and, despite one piglet initially preferring to stay behind, we eventually got them all moving in the correct general direction.

Having taken their time wandering through the first section of woods and into the enclosed area containing the new pen, there was just the small matter of directing them through the opening left in the electric fencing. It’s not that easy to spot the gateway section and Esther seemed to remember what the fence could do so she preferred to keep away from it at first.

The piglets are none the wiser about it (yet) and at first they’ll no doubt rush in and out of the electric fenced area because they’re still quite small and simply push through when zapped. Over the next few weeks though they’ll get bigger and learn to keep back once they respect it more.

Although not all pig keepers uses electric fencing, I prefer to get our litters used to it at this early stage because it just makes life easier when we sell the weaners to others who also use it. Also, the ones that we keep on to raise for meat will have to deal with electric fencing for at least part of the time so it pays to get the practice in now.

Finally mother and litter had explored their new pen, tried some of the food and water that was left out for them and then made a start on rearranging the straw in the house. Even the piglets like to have a go at this and it might be just instinct but I think they’re also copying their mother who loves a bit of fresh straw the rummage around in.

First time for hoof trimming

Last weekend was a short notice visit from the hoof trimming man. We only have the 2 Dexter cows (plus calves) so we had to fit in around his other workload with larger, commercial herds of cattle.

As usual when doing anything with our cows, my first concern was whether I would be able to pen them all safely in preparation for the visit. I’ve definitely learned that if you don’t get them all into a pen at the first attempt then the job immediately becomes considerably harder. It’s even harder if they sense that someone new has arrived because that makes them even more cautious!

Luckily we have fairly well-behaved cows when it comes to moving them around and they happily followed me between fields and straight into the pen before the hoof man arrived. Although I should confess that this wasn’t so much my handling skills as the fact that their breakfast was waiting for them in the pen and they were hungry.

Our Dexters were certainly overdue for this work because we kept putting off the job for the past few months. Originally they were too close to calving but then the calves arrived and we didn’t want to add any stress. After that the bull was visiting during the tail end of summer last year and before you know it we reached December and the hoof man was busy anyway.

I think it’s safe to say the cows just about tolerated the inconvenience and discomfort with good grace. There were a couple of times where each of them decided to thrash about a bit but that’s when decent cattle handling equipment comes into its own and they soon calmed down again.

The actual hoof trimming only took about 30 minutes, it probably took longer getting setup in the first place and then packing up again afterwards. Luckily the cows soon got over the indignity of the whole episode and they seem to have forgiven me now.

First litter for 2018

I was a little over-confident on Saturday but I learned my lesson (yet again) after staying up most of the night waiting in vain the first litter for this year to arrive.

Over the last few weeks I had been convinced that Saturday would be farrowing day mostly because her last litter came after just 112 days. However Esther had her own ideas on the subject and decided to hang on a little longer this time.

As a result she was quite a size by Sunday morning so I knew it couldn’t be too much longer.

Just before 11pm on Sunday night she finally delivered the first piglet with the others coming at various intervals over the next couple of hours. In some cases they appeared in quite quick succession before we’d managed to properly check and clean the previous one. Luckily that didn’t happen very often and having 2 people on hand during this part made all the difference

There was a brief period at the start where just the single piglet was suckling which was a strange sight but it wasn’t long before the others turned up.

Eventually we ended up with 10 healthy looking piglets under the heat lamp while we waited for Esther to settle down. Even though the piglets should ideally suckle as soon as possible, the best approach for me is to dry them off and put them under the heat lamp out of the way. This helps to prevent any unfortunately accidents or losses which can be really hard to take.

There was a slightly nervous 2 hour wait after the last live piglet appeared but that was eventually ended by the arrival of a stillborn piglet.

Two of them were just a little smaller and seemed to be struggling as first which is always a worry. They immediately went into a warm place which unlike last year was not the oven! This time we used an insulated bag with a hot water bottle and within an hour or so they were much more lively. Definitely something we will use again as it means you can keep all the piglets in the same place rather than dashing between the farrowing shed and the house to check on everyone.

In due course a few of these will be for sale as weaners but this year some of them were reserved in advanced and we also need to consider if we are keeping some for meat ourselves. I’ll also keep an eye on the calendar too because Sissy will be due to farrow a couple of weeks after these piglets have left.

For the moment though we can just enjoy watching their progress over the coming few weeks.

Stock check to start 2018

With the Christmas and New Year period very quickly becoming a distant memory, it seemed a good time to post a quick update as a stock check for the coming year. Things have a habit of creeping up on me and getting out of hand if I’m not careful so it’s probably best if I have this summary to look back on before that happens.

Cattle

As it’s a quiet time for the barn conversion holiday let at the moment, I took the opportunity to put the cows out in the front fields last weekend if only for a short time.

This helps to rest the back fields which are their normal winter home from time to time. Plus they love the change of scenery and the open space.

They can’t stay there too long though because we need to keep them away from guests cars. Apparently some people don’t like having their car windows and tyres licked clean by a cow.

Pigs

With farrowing getting ever closer, last weekend was also the best time to bring the pigs into the shed closer to the house. It will be Esther who farrows first this time but we bring them both in together as a way to ease the change of surroundings.

As always they happily followed me across the fields without any problems and after a night together in the shed, it was no bother to move Sissy back out again to a new pen in the woods.

Chickens

It’s been a very slow start for the newest egg layers that we bought back in October last year but over Christmas one of them finally started laying. On a good day we can now get up to 3 eggs a day and it won’t be long before the others join in as well.

When they all get started I’ll have to work on my quiche recipe but there will always be some to leave for arriving guests in the holiday let. Of course I don’t really mind it when the inevitable egg glut happens because that means that spring is get closer too!

The white chickens are the last remnants of the original flock that we inherited when we bought this place back in 2013. As far as I can tell these must be the last 3 from the eggs that were hatched during our first summer here and they’re given special dispensation from egg laying – I hope they’re enjoying their retirement.

Settling in to the winter routine

There’s no escaping the fact that winter is here with the short days and cold temperatures but it’s even more obvious this evening because the snow is falling. The waterproof trousers are always at the ready just in case and I’ve already found out which pairs of wellies have holes in.

The cattle are happily working their way through the hay we made back in September. At the same time we’re adjusting after sending our first steer off for beef.

By reducing the numbers in our Dexter herd ahead of any really bad weather, we’re hoping that the fields will cope slightly better this year.

It’s unusually quiet down with the pigs now that it’s just the 2 sows left and they’re enjoying a change of scene while we rest their usual pens over the winter.

After sending off the last 3 meat pigs, the 2 sows seem to have become friends again and now share the same ark most nights. The straw is regularly monitored though because as it gets colder they’re bound to need a top up from time to time.

The first sow (Esther) is already in-pig and due to farrow in mid-January while the second AI attempt with Sissy is currently underway – the first one was slightly mistimed I think. Before we know it there will be some more piglets so we’ll need to get everything prepared over the Christmas / New Year period to make sure we’re ready in time.

Meat sales

Our first efforts with selling the Dexter beef have gone really well. The best approach all round seems to be to sell it primarily as beef boxes but individual cuts are also an option once the initial rush dies down.

The same goes for the pork boxes which have sold very well again this year. There were concerns originally that we had too many meat pigs this year but that hasn’t been much of a problem in the end.

Autumn 2017 – Dexter cattle and beef boxes

As well as selling the pork from the last of our Tamworths this month, the time has now come to start thinking about selling our grass-fed Dexter beef for the first time as well.

It’s been a tougher time than I’d expected but our first Dexter steer went off to slaughter at the start of November. The difference with keeping cattle is that they are around for much longer than with our pigs and as a result there is more time to get attached to them.

Despite this we knew what had to be done and a plan eventually came together. The first one had to go off this year which should help to reduce the damage to the fields over the coming winter with one less set of hooves out there. Our second Dexter steer will be kept through until late spring or early summer next year which helps to prevent overloading our freezers with too much meat at once.

The Dexter breed is a native breed which is quite happy with the British climate so ours live fairly naturally and are not housed over the winter. It’s reassuring to know that they have not had (or needed) any special feed or antibiotics during their lives – just grass or hay plus our North Pennines spring water of course.

We have high hopes for the results as we have been told by many people that this will be “the best beef we’ve ever tasted”. This will have quite a lot to live up to though because our pork has got some excellent feedback this year but I’m expecting the beef to be just as good if not better.

The beef will be back by the end of November and, as with our Tamworth pork, the plan is to sell beef selection boxes in 2 different sizes.

Autumn 2017 – Tamworth pigs and pork boxes

Somehow time has just shot by in recent weeks and I realised (yet again) that it’s been far too long since the last blog update was posted. However, even though the updates have been few and far between, that doesn’t mean nothing has happened.

The biggest topic over recent weeks has been the pigs with those we kept for meat going off to slaughter in 3 batches during the summer and autumn. We raised a total of 7 meat pigs from the two litters this year but we also sold another 9 piglets as weaners to other people.

Our first batch of 2 pigs went in August and I was pleasantly surprised to find that nearly all the pork sold out fairly quickly. The second batch was also 2 pigs that went off in October and again we found that the vast majority of the pork sold very quickly.

So eventually we get to the final batch (3 pigs this time) which went off to slaughter last week and the pork is now with the local village butcher for cutting/packing.

Luckily we have a number of very happy customers who have placed second (or third) orders and all the feedback has been positive with the roasting joints (and crackling) coming in for some special mentions.