Phyllis’ piglets are proving to be miniature versions of Phyllis. Joy’s piglets were very laid back, just like her but Phyllis’ lot are on the go constantly. They are small enough to go under most of our fencing and would appear to do so quite regularly.
A couple of times Aaron or I have gone down the drive to give them dinner only to have them shoot out under the fence and trot down the drive with us.
Paul and Nicky arrived for their seasonal weekend away just this Friday past. On Saturday afternoon Nicky joined us as we fed out. The routine is usually to feed Stanley, then Arthur then Phyllis and then to carry on out our drive and up Gary’s driveway in order to walk the dogs. This we did and then as we came back and passed Arthur’s house, piglets suddenly appeared on the drive. They shot past us and under Arthur’s wire, where they all proceeded to run off in different directions.
Arthur was a safe distance away in his wallow and hadn’t noticed but then he looked up and saw me and started wandering over.
Oh shit! How could I round up all the piglets and then get them out of there before this huge 300kg boar saw them. “Here piggie, piggie, piggie! Here piggie, piggie, piggie!” They ignored me completely of course and Arthur appeared around the side of his house.
I had absolutely no idea how I was going to save these tiny little piggies from giant Arthur. And then to my absolute horror they raced on mass up to Arthur. He lowered his head to sniff them and they all squeaked and grunted excitedly and then Arthur just watched as they raced around his legs and under his body.
And then realisation dawned in my brain “Bloody hell. This is not the first time they’ve visited Arthur is it?”
This was no “Wow! Who are you?!” Piglet excitement. This was more “Hey dad, how’s it going?” type conversation.
I looked up at Phyllis and she was just calmly watching them from her side of the fence.
Not for the first time I found myself a little gobsmacked at this turn of events.
Of course now that I know what’s going on it’s become quite apparent that these piglets go anywhere and everywhere they feel like. The only thing stopping them disappearing is their frequent need for mother’s milk. I am grateful that by the time they are weaned they will be generally too big for escape. However, I suspect we will have slightly more breakouts with this lot than we have had with Joy’s.
Joy’s Piglets Seek Adventure
Speaking of breakouts, that’s exactly what Joy’s lot did on Thursday. Their little paddock is almost completely stripped of kikuyu on one side and I suspect they’re getting bored. Judging by the state of the fencing it appears that some time on Thursday, while we were at work, the piglets launched themselves at the fence and pushed and squeezed until they got their fat little pukus through the sheep netting and then took off down to the duck pond. At some point Joy has either heard them or noticed their absence and has literally ripped the wire away from the fencing staples on one of the posts and has gone and joined them.
The ducks, both indignant and frightened hid in the grass up the bank and the pigs have proceeded to make a nuisance of themselves digging, pulling out and eating spring-planted seedlings and pugging up the edges of the pond.
The sound of Aaron up by the troughs later that afternoon brought them back quick smart. Aaron then hastily erected an electric fence around the perimeter and then fixed the fencing.
A New Arrival
A couple of Friday’s ago Aaron drove down to KatiKati with an empty stock trailer. He arrived back home on Saturday lunchtime with a 3-year old Wessex Saddleback sow named the “Old Tart”. She was anything but. In fact she is absolutely beautiful. She is so pretty and so gentle that Aaron named her Mabel. It’s the perfect name and it turns out to be Aaron’s great aunt’s name. Great Aunt Mabel was in fact Grandma Phyllis’ sister and according to Lynn, a fan of pigs. I am very happy with the choice of name.
An Abundance of Eggs
In the last week some of our ducks have started laying eggs and our chickens have been laying virtually daily. Typical. After a couple of weeks with stuff all eggs I bought a dozen free range from the supermarket. Now we’ve got so many I’m thinking omelette might be on the menu a few nights this week.
I’m stoked the ducks have started laying. That means we definitely have some females and that they’re aged 6 months or less. We should have at least 7 females, so we anticipate ending up with roughly 6 duck eggs a day in the not too distant future.
The ducks are actually very comfortable now in their home and although they spend time as a group, in the last week they have separated into pairs and threesomes.
They have also started exploring their entire paddock in search of food and it’s not unusual for them to walk the fenceline along the front of our house. They seem to hunt for food as a group in the mornings and as they do they talk constantly. It’s quite amusing to hear a sudden “Quack, quack, quack” like raucous laughter just outside the kitchen window.
The dogs have been great, they just sit on the verandah and watch. They seem to realize these ducks have been granted pet status, and are therefore not for hunting.
Phyllis’ piglets are proving to be miniature versions of Phyllis. Joy’s piglets were very laid back, just like her but Phyllis’ lot are on the go constantly. They are small enough to go under most of our fencing and would appear to do so quite regularly.
A couple of times Aaron or I have gone down the drive to give them dinner only to have them shoot out under the fence and trot down the drive with us.
Paul and Nicky arrived for their seasonal weekend away just this Friday past. On Saturday afternoon Nicky joined us as we fed out. The routine is usually to feed Stanley, then Arthur then Phyllis and then to carry on out our drive and up Gary’s driveway in order to walk the dogs. This we did and then as we came back and passed Arthur’s house, piglets suddenly appeared on the drive. They shot past us and under Arthur’s wire, where they all proceeded to run off in different directions.
Arthur was a safe distance away in his wallow and hadn’t noticed but then he looked up and saw me and started wandering over.
Oh shit! How could I round up all the piglets and then get them out of there before this huge 300kg boar saw them. “Here piggie, piggie, piggie! Here piggie, piggie, piggie!” They ignored me completely of course and Arthur appeared around the side of his house.
I had absolutely no idea how I was going to save these tiny little piggies from giant Arthur. And then to my absolute horror they raced on mass up to Arthur. He lowered his head to sniff them and they all squeaked and grunted excitedly and then Arthur just watched as they raced around his legs and under his body.
And then realisation dawned in my brain “Bloody hell. This is not the first time they’ve visited Arthur is it?”
This was no “Wow! Who are you?!” Piglet excitement. This was more “Hey dad, how’s it going?” type conversation.
I looked up at Phyllis and she was just calmly watching them from her side of the fence.
Not for the first time I found myself a little gobsmacked at this turn of events.
Of course now that I know what’s going on it’s become quite apparent that these piglets go anywhere and everywhere they feel like. The only thing stopping them disappearing is their frequent need for mother’s milk. I am grateful that by the time they are weaned they will be generally too big for escape. However, I suspect we will have slightly more breakouts with this lot than we have had with Joy’s.
Joy’s Piglets Seek Adventure
Speaking of breakouts, that’s exactly what Joy’s lot did on Thursday. Their little paddock is almost completely stripped of kikuyu on one side and I suspect they’re getting bored. Judging by the state of the fencing it appears that some time on Thursday, while we were at work, the piglets launched themselves at the fence and pushed and squeezed until they got their fat little pukus through the sheep netting and then took off down to the duck pond. At some point Joy has either heard them or noticed their absence and has literally ripped the wire away from the fencing staples on one of the posts and has gone and joined them.
The ducks, both indignant and frightened hid in the grass up the bank and the pigs have proceeded to make a nuisance of themselves digging, pulling out and eating spring-planted seedlings and pugging up the edges of the pond.
The sound of Aaron up by the troughs later that afternoon brought them back quick smart. Aaron then hastily erected an electric fence around the perimeter and then fixed the fencing.
A New Arrival
A couple of Friday’s ago Aaron drove down to KatiKati with an empty stock trailer. He arrived back home on Saturday lunchtime with a 3-year old Wessex Saddleback sow named the “Old Tart”. She was anything but. In fact she is absolutely beautiful. She is so pretty and so gentle that Aaron named her Mabel. It’s the perfect name and it turns out to be Aaron’s great aunt’s name. Great Aunt Mabel was in fact Grandma Phyllis’ sister and according to Lynn, a fan of pigs. I am very happy with the choice of name.
An Abundance of Eggs
In the last week some of our ducks have started laying eggs and our chickens have been laying virtually daily. Typical. After a couple of weeks with stuff all eggs I bought a dozen free range from the supermarket. Now we’ve got so many I’m thinking omelette might be on the menu a few nights this week.
I’m stoked the ducks have started laying. That means we definitely have some females and that they’re aged 6 months or less. We should have at least 7 females, so we anticipate ending up with roughly 6 duck eggs a day in the not too distant future.
The ducks are actually very comfortable now in their home and although they spend time as a group, in the last week they have separated into pairs and threesomes.
They have also started exploring their entire paddock in search of food and it’s not unusual for them to walk the fenceline along the front of our house. They seem to hunt for food as a group in the mornings and as they do they talk constantly. It’s quite amusing to hear a sudden “Quack, quack, quack” like raucous laughter just outside the kitchen window.
The dogs have been great, they just sit on the verandah and watch. They seem to realize these ducks have been granted pet status, and are therefore not for hunting.
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