3 January 2009
On the morning of 30 December things were a little odd in the girl’s pig paddock. Joy appeared to be trying to build a nest but would change location each time Phyllis decided she wanted to help. Arthur on the other hand was horny as hell and kept trying to mount Joy.
So much for leaving them all to just deal with it together.
Aaron was at work and I realised I would have to attempt a solution by myself. Quite frankly the only option was to try putting Phyllis and Arthur by the pond again. I rang Aaron and he wanted them roaming over the driveway so that we would have minimal use of electric wire. That meant scrubcutting the sides of the driveway so we could see where the pigs were.
After a couple of hours my scrubcutter blade was blunt. I had a think about Aaron’s idea and realised that would mean warning every visitor to be extremely vigilant about roaming pigs when they drove in. I wasn’t willing to risk the possibility that someone might either a) leave a gate open or b) hit a pig. So instead I set up the fencing in the same manner we had done just a few days before and then when Aaron got home we opened the gate to the paddock and Arthur and Phyllis quickly ran out when we waved dinner in front of their noses. Joy on the other hand stayed where she was, which was exactly what we wanted. With all troughs full of food we quickly finished putting up the fencing wire.
Phyllis wasn’t happy. She could see her shed and Joy but couldn’t get to either. She stood by the electric wire looking longingly across the drive. And so I took Phyllis on a circuit of the paddock, pointing out the stream, the pond and various other interesting features. She dutifully followed me around. We had almost done a circuit and I was showing her a good place to wallow when I looked up and saw Arthur coming out of their new home. I called him over but he was having trouble looking over the tall weeds to see where we were. I walked over to him and he grunted hello.
There was a sudden surprised grunt behind me. I turned around to look at Phyllis. She was clearly upset that I’d walked away from her. She bolted towards me and I assumed she’d stop. Wrong. She slammed in to me and nearly sent me flying. Being hit by 200kg of running pig is a little unnerving, however, she clearly wasn’t intending to hurt me, she was just making her feelings known. She stood next to me and I gave her a hug.
Her tail was still curly so although she wasn’t happy about the move at that point in time, it was just a temporary issue and she’d be happy Phyllis soon enough.
Aaron and I had dinner and then took the dogs for a walk. We looked for Joy in the shed but she was missing. Aaron discovered her up the top of the hill scraping out a nest area in the scrub. She was panting heavily and clearly in labour. Damn. I got a bucket of apples and took them up to her and got her to follow me slowly down the hill to the shed. I poured the apples onto the shed floor. She ate them and then unbelievably turned around and staggered very slowly and painfully back to the top of the hill.
Her nest area was tiny and to my untrained eye lacked any real nesting material. I used my hands to scrape a bigger area and took some hay up to her. Aaron decided at the very least we needed to erect a tarpaulin roof to keep the sun off her.
We took tree stakes, post rammer, tarp and staple gun to the top of the hill. We worked as quickly as possible while Joy ate dinner. With tarp erected we left, feeling much better.
The light was fading by then and although I wanted to sit with her while she had the babies I decided a night out in prickly scrub was impractical. So I left her to it.
2008 Closes
The next morning after feeding out I walked up the hill to see Joy. I was shocked to discover her nest empty and then I heard a grunt. She was at the back of the scrub on open ground. My heart sank a little as I realised my interference in helping to improve her nest had actually caused Joy to reject it. Left with little time to create a new nest she had literally wandered around to the back, hastily pulled out some weeds and flopped down onto the ground.
There was a cluster of 7 piglets snuggled up to her belly and then I noticed 2 stillborns on the ground behind her. I removed these along with the afterbirth and left Joy to enjoy breakfast and suckle the little pigglies.
During the day, as the temperature rose I visited Joy again. She’d decided to return to her old nest under the tarp, presumably to get out of the sun. The piglets were still around the corner. All I could see was a line of piglet bottoms. Their heads were buried in the weeds. I picked one up and it squealed fit to burst. I raced it around to Joy and she grunted madly. I assumed she was telling me off but amazingly she showed absolutely no aggression towards me.
I went and got another 2 piglets and both of them squealed as loudly as the first. Joy grunted continuously but then I realised it wasn’t aimed at me but at the piglets as she tried to calm them down. I don’t know if it was the squealing or the grunting but the other piglets suddenly wiggled their way through the scrub to mum and I left them to it.
Aaron was home for the day so we discussed what to do with the piglets. We weren’t happy having the piglets at the top of the hill, exposed to the elements and Joy so far away from water and wallowing. On the other hand, we’d interfered so much with Joy already that we were worried that any more and Joy might get pissed off and abandon the piglets.
I spent the morning painting the post and rail fence opposite the shed. The diesel oil paints on so nicely and I assumed I’d finish it in no time at all. However, as always, I’d under-estimated the time it would take. I wanted to be as quick as possible though as I needed the diesel to dry before the boys got out of bed.
It wasn’t to be though. At some stage Aaron came down the hill with the dogs and yelled out hello to Spotty. Spotty and Stanley came running across the paddock towards the shed and shoved their snouts through the fence rails. Their snouts and foreheads were instantly covered in diesel oil.
I had no choice but to stop my painting and walk away so that the boy’s would lose interest and wander off back into the paddock.
Aaron spent the morning building gates for the new duck and orchard paddocks. With only a couple of weeks before their arrival we need to make sure their entire area is properly fenced and gated.
Aaron came up with an excellent gate design using fence battens but although battens are fairly cheap each gate uses 11 battens and there’s about 9 gates in total to be made. I wasn’t relishing the spend but then Bev at Muriwai Valley Farm had a post and batten fence replaced and she let us take as much of the old fence away as we wanted. It meant hours of cutting away barbed wire from each batten but we won’t complain if something’s free.
Early afternoon the temperature was soaring and I went up to see if Joy still had water in her bucket. She’d tipped it over and was lying under the tarp clearly panting from the heat. Unable to leave her babies I went and fetched 2 more buckets of water and a towel. She drank heavily then lay down again. I spent the next 15 or so minutes continually wetting a towel and draping it over different parts of her body. Eventually she cooled down and stopped panting.
Mid afternoon Frank and Marge came over to see the piglets.
They dropped off fresh and smoked fish, stayed for a beer and then left. I went and gave Joy another towel bath.
Late afternoon the clouds started to roll in. Rain was predicted.
Aaron and I sat inside out of the heat eating smoked fish and drinking strawberry daiquiris.
As we started on our 2nd litre of daiquiris the heavens opened up and our block was battered with torrential rain. We stood on the deck discussing whether our tarp would stand up to it and what would happen if a tarp full of water collapsed on Joy and the piglets.
In my decidedly inebriated state I admitted I was having great trouble forming intelligent thoughts. Neither of us could come up with a plan for making a more stable roof that could be erected with ease within a couple of minutes so as not to upset Joy.
Did we dare try taking the piglets down to the shed and hope that Joy would follow? It seemed like a disaster in the making. Surely it would be taking our interference just a step too far?
As we discussed things the rain eased off and so we debated whether it would be better to leave things as they were. Aaron had checked the forecast and rain was predicted through the night.
And then the rain started again, just as torrential as before. I was pissed off at being so mentally challenged at that point. Aaron decided we had to move the piglets to the shed.
We headed down the drive in the pouring rain. I was feeling less than confident about my ability to get up and down such a steep hill in my condition. Undeterred Aaron picked up a large vegetable crate and a bucket of apples and we made our way to Joy’s nest. Aaron started feeding the apples to Joy and sent me in to get the piglets. The first step in to the nest and my feet went out from under me and I landed with a thud on my back. Although I managed to miss squishing the piglets it was less than an ideal start.
As soon as I picked up the piglets they squealed horrendously. I fully expected to be attacked by an angry Joy but instead she watched and grunted and when all the piglets were in the crate Aaron carried them down the hill and I walked Joy down with offers of apples.
When we were inside the shed I took each squealing piglet out of the basket and they ran rather clumsily to the back of the shed.
Joy meanwhile instantly started creating a hollow in the chip. She grunted continuously at the piglets and eventually she lay down. With some encouragement from me the piglets were soon snuggled up with mum.
I couldn’t believe the move had been so easy and without animosity from Joy.
As night arrived we knocked back more daiquiris. The 3rd litre proved to be too much for me and Aaron had to finish it. With only 10 minutes until the New Year I decided I needed to go to bed and lie down.
Aaron wasn’t far behind me.
2009 Begins...
The next morning after feeding out I walked up the hill to see Joy. I was shocked to discover her nest empty and then I heard a grunt. She was at the back of the scrub on open ground. My heart sank a little as I realised my interference in helping to improve her nest had actually caused Joy to reject it. Left with little time to create a new nest she had literally wandered around to the back, hastily pulled out some weeds and flopped down onto the ground.
There was a cluster of 7 piglets snuggled up to her belly and then I noticed 2 stillborns on the ground behind her. I removed these along with the afterbirth and left Joy to enjoy breakfast and suckle the little pigglies.
During the day, as the temperature rose I visited Joy again. She’d decided to return to her old nest under the tarp, presumably to get out of the sun. The piglets were still around the corner. All I could see was a line of piglet bottoms. Their heads were buried in the weeds. I picked one up and it squealed fit to burst. I raced it around to Joy and she grunted madly. I assumed she was telling me off but amazingly she showed absolutely no aggression towards me.
I went and got another 2 piglets and both of them squealed as loudly as the first. Joy grunted continuously but then I realised it wasn’t aimed at me but at the piglets as she tried to calm them down. I don’t know if it was the squealing or the grunting but the other piglets suddenly wiggled their way through the scrub to mum and I left them to it.
Aaron was home for the day so we discussed what to do with the piglets. We weren’t happy having the piglets at the top of the hill, exposed to the elements and Joy so far away from water and wallowing. On the other hand, we’d interfered so much with Joy already that we were worried that any more and Joy might get pissed off and abandon the piglets.
I spent the morning painting the post and rail fence opposite the shed. The diesel oil paints on so nicely and I assumed I’d finish it in no time at all. However, as always, I’d under-estimated the time it would take. I wanted to be as quick as possible though as I needed the diesel to dry before the boys got out of bed.
It wasn’t to be though. At some stage Aaron came down the hill with the dogs and yelled out hello to Spotty. Spotty and Stanley came running across the paddock towards the shed and shoved their snouts through the fence rails. Their snouts and foreheads were instantly covered in diesel oil.
I had no choice but to stop my painting and walk away so that the boy’s would lose interest and wander off back into the paddock.
Aaron spent the morning building gates for the new duck and orchard paddocks. With only a couple of weeks before their arrival we need to make sure their entire area is properly fenced and gated.
Aaron came up with an excellent gate design using fence battens but although battens are fairly cheap each gate uses 11 battens and there’s about 9 gates in total to be made. I wasn’t relishing the spend but then Bev at Muriwai Valley Farm had a post and batten fence replaced and she let us take as much of the old fence away as we wanted. It meant hours of cutting away barbed wire from each batten but we won’t complain if something’s free.
Early afternoon the temperature was soaring and I went up to see if Joy still had water in her bucket. She’d tipped it over and was lying under the tarp clearly panting from the heat. Unable to leave her babies I went and fetched 2 more buckets of water and a towel. She drank heavily then lay down again. I spent the next 15 or so minutes continually wetting a towel and draping it over different parts of her body. Eventually she cooled down and stopped panting.
Mid afternoon Frank and Marge came over to see the piglets.
They dropped off fresh and smoked fish, stayed for a beer and then left. I went and gave Joy another towel bath.
Late afternoon the clouds started to roll in. Rain was predicted.
Aaron and I sat inside out of the heat eating smoked fish and drinking strawberry daiquiris.
As we started on our 2nd litre of daiquiris the heavens opened up and our block was battered with torrential rain. We stood on the deck discussing whether our tarp would stand up to it and what would happen if a tarp full of water collapsed on Joy and the piglets.
In my decidedly inebriated state I admitted I was having great trouble forming intelligent thoughts. Neither of us could come up with a plan for making a more stable roof that could be erected with ease within a couple of minutes so as not to upset Joy.
Did we dare try taking the piglets down to the shed and hope that Joy would follow? It seemed like a disaster in the making. Surely it would be taking our interference just a step too far?
As we discussed things the rain eased off and so we debated whether it would be better to leave things as they were. Aaron had checked the forecast and rain was predicted through the night.
And then the rain started again, just as torrential as before. I was pissed off at being so mentally challenged at that point. Aaron decided we had to move the piglets to the shed.
We headed down the drive in the pouring rain. I was feeling less than confident about my ability to get up and down such a steep hill in my condition. Undeterred Aaron picked up a large vegetable crate and a bucket of apples and we made our way to Joy’s nest. Aaron started feeding the apples to Joy and sent me in to get the piglets. The first step in to the nest and my feet went out from under me and I landed with a thud on my back. Although I managed to miss squishing the piglets it was less than an ideal start.
As soon as I picked up the piglets they squealed horrendously. I fully expected to be attacked by an angry Joy but instead she watched and grunted and when all the piglets were in the crate Aaron carried them down the hill and I walked Joy down with offers of apples.
When we were inside the shed I took each squealing piglet out of the basket and they ran rather clumsily to the back of the shed.
Joy meanwhile instantly started creating a hollow in the chip. She grunted continuously at the piglets and eventually she lay down. With some encouragement from me the piglets were soon snuggled up with mum.
I couldn’t believe the move had been so easy and without animosity from Joy.
As night arrived we knocked back more daiquiris. The 3rd litre proved to be too much for me and Aaron had to finish it. With only 10 minutes until the New Year I decided I needed to go to bed and lie down.
Aaron wasn’t far behind me.
2009 Begins...
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