Sam's girl friend Sally arrived today
After a quick inspection of the cow field she followed the bucket into the large pig field. She has over an acre to herself at the moment. When the ginger pigs leave for the abattoir on Wednesday Sam and Sally will be let out together into the big field. She is a lovely looking pig with a short nose and floppy ears. She has a wobbly belly unlike or other pigs but has a great nature.
23rd April Last Minute reprieve for Sam
Having failed to find a girl friend for our lovely large Black boar he was due to go to the abattoir this week. However we are buying him a lovely Large Black lady friend who hopefully will arrive this weekend. She is traveling form Wales after she has rested from her journey they will be introduced through the fence. The beginning of a fruitful relationship!
2nd of April
Smallholder's where are you?
We have been hoping to start a smallholding group in the Biggar area for some time. The usual excuses of broken fencing and other things that just won't wait for attention have caused us to delay. However if you are in the Biggar area (or anywhere else) and interested in getting together initially socially then who knows what will follow. Please get in touch with me by email and we will get this thing of the ground. You need not be a smallholder or have any animals just a general interest in any of these things.
The program for this summer looks like this;
31st of May Basic Sheep Husbandry
A talk and demonstration by a retired vet on sheep care including foot trimming, tagging, and ringing tails.
29th of June Smallholder sale and BBQ
We have been invited to join the Scottish Smallholders in Minishant for a smallholder’s sale of spare or redundant tools and equipment, books, clothing, plants & produce followed by a barbeque.
30th of July Pig Keeping
An evening talk and tour hosted by one of our members who breeds rare breed pigs and runs Pig keeping courses.
30th August Fencing and gate hanging
A local fencer will demonstrate the techniques required to put up a stock fence and hang a gate.
If there is subject you are interested in which is not here let me know and I will try to arrange it in the future.
pauline@deanbank.org.uk
We currently travel through to the Scottish Smallholder's in Ayrshire when we can. The support and advice we have received is invaluable but the journey is awful. We miss out on the opportunity to get physical help and to club together with others to reduce prices through bulk buying or to share equipment.
I have a list of ten interested people. Please come and join us the more the merrier.
30th March The first Lambs arrived today
Spotty has delivered two lambs one boy and one girl oops..... one tup and one ewe lamb. the boy is little bit wobbly so we will keep an eye on him. Photos soon.
Piglets hundreds of them
Matilda has had her piglets. She had thirteen but one did not survive the night. To our surprise the piglets are all completely black and seem to have the floppy ears, characteristic of large blacks, which made their Dad so irresistible.
After three days there are only eight piglets left. Things seem to have settled down now and Matilda and her new brood are happy to have visitors.
More piglet pictures....
Foxes in Quothquan
As world book day approached there was an increase in fox sightings in Quothquan. These photos show Fantastic Mr fox and his darling wife. the fox cubs cannot be far away. So far there is no sign of Bogus, Bunce and Bean.
6th March
The expectant parents
Matilda looks like she may farrow any day. The children have decided she will have 22 piglets as they have counted 22 teats. I hope they are wrong!
As Matilda does not like to be on her own we are checking her three times a day to see if she is producing milk. At the first sign of milk production we will take her off to the maternity field. She will no doubt ignore the clean straw and shelter provided for her and make her nest in the wettest place she can find. This worked for her last time so who are we to interfere.
20 February 2008
The Weaners go on Wednesday
The last of Matilda's piglets aka the seven dwarfs are booked in to the abattoir on Wednesday. The last of the first batch we have looked after all the way. I think Matilda will be glad to see the back of them as she is getting bigger every day and the next batch cannot be far off.
Matilda's piglets
Last January we borrowed a Tamworth boar from a local farmer and waited fingers crossed for him to do the deed. We saw no evidence of any action but decided to trust in nature and wait and see. The boar went home coaxed into the trailer very calmly by me after the boys (three of them) tried and failed to bully him into doing what they wanted.
Three months three weeks and three days (or there about) later Matilda built herself a cozy nest outside ignoring the shed we had built. Early one morning she delivered 9 piglets all by her self. I stood and watched and gave moral support of course which I am sure she appreciated. Paddy missed all nine births despite visiting between number 6 (who we thought was the last) and number seven.
