Iron Maiden Visits Auckland
Aaron and I had tickets for the Friday night Iron Maiden show at Mt Smart . We fed the animals an early dinner and at 3:30 we headed down to Auckland. There were 12 of us going so it was a good crowd. I can’t remember the last time I went to a concert and despite the rain I expected it to be a good night.
It must be an age thing but I really didn’t enjoy myself. We were in the stands and quite frankly the sound quality was abysmal. I could hear noise but no words. Most of our group, including Aaron decided to join the masses on the bottom field. In fact a good 3rd of the people in the stands did the same.
Maybe I should have joined them but the thought of standing, squished in the middle of a crowd for a couple of hours lacked appeal. Aaron returned to the stand after an hour or so and tried to persuade me to join him amid the throng of fans below. I declined and he left again.
Perhaps it was the sound crew adjusting things or maybe a shift in the direction of the wind but I was actually able to hear the last half a dozen songs reasonably well. They’re definitely a great live band but all the same I feel like it was a complete waste of my money. I enjoyed them far more when I watched a DVD of their concert from the comfort of my own livingroom.
Needless to say, it is probably the last concert I will go to. It’s a criminal waste of money if it proves to be a disappointment.
Aaron on the other hand managed to get to the front of the stage and had an excellent time.
51 Departs The Block
We had decided that it was 51’s turn for slaughter. I had thought we still had to settle on a date but on Wednesday I rang Aaron from work and he told me he was walking up the hill with a bucket of offal.
“What?” I was confused “What do you mean offal?”
Aaron then told me Alec had just left with 51.
I had mixed feelings. On the one hand our relationship with 51 hadn’t been particularly great. He was a bit bolshy, prone to escape and distrustful of me and Aaron. I didn’t mind that he was being sent for slaughter. On the other hand I felt bad for not saying goodbye and for telling him I respect him.
I was a little annoyed at Aaron for not telling me when Alec was coming but Aaron knows that it upsets me. If he’d told me when Alec was coming I would have felt guilty for several days beforehand. Aaron can’t win really.
All the Chip We Can Handle
21 February 2009
Friday morning we had 20 cubic metres of woodchip delivered. Phyllis still hadn’t given birth and in fact didn’t even appear to have reached nest building phase. I’d taken the day off so I worked hard for an hour putting new chip in Joy’s paddock and outside Arthur’s house. Then when Phyllis had finished her morning sleep I started raking out and replacing all the old chip on one side of her shed.
I had just started raking the other half when Phyllis made it clear that enough was enough. As I raked she pushed the chip back and started to spread out the small mound of hay I had given her.
She even tried to remove the rake from the shed when I put it down for a minute. The nesting instinct had clearly kicked in so I stopped and left.
Iron Maiden Visits Auckland
Aaron and I had tickets for the Friday night Iron Maiden show at Mt Smart . We fed the animals an early dinner and at 3:30 we headed down to Auckland. There were 12 of us going so it was a good crowd. I can’t remember the last time I went to a concert and despite the rain I expected it to be a good night.
It must be an age thing but I really didn’t enjoy myself. We were in the stands and quite frankly the sound quality was abysmal. I could hear noise but no words. Most of our group, including Aaron decided to join the masses on the bottom field. In fact a good 3rd of the people in the stands did the same.
Maybe I should have joined them but the thought of standing, squished in the middle of a crowd for a couple of hours lacked appeal. Aaron returned to the stand after an hour or so and tried to persuade me to join him amid the throng of fans below. I declined and he left again.
Perhaps it was the sound crew adjusting things or maybe a shift in the direction of the wind but I was actually able to hear the last half a dozen songs reasonably well. They’re definitely a great live band but all the same I feel like it was a complete waste of my money. I enjoyed them far more when I watched a DVD of their concert from the comfort of my own livingroom.
Needless to say, it is probably the last concert I will go to. It’s a criminal waste of money if it proves to be a disappointment.
Aaron on the other hand managed to get to the front of the stage and had an excellent time.
51 Departs The Block
We had decided that it was 51’s turn for slaughter. I had thought we still had to settle on a date but on Wednesday I rang Aaron from work and he told me he was walking up the hill with a bucket of offal.
“What?” I was confused “What do you mean offal?”
Aaron then told me Alec had just left with 51.
I had mixed feelings. On the one hand our relationship with 51 hadn’t been particularly great. He was a bit bolshy, prone to escape and distrustful of me and Aaron. I didn’t mind that he was being sent for slaughter. On the other hand I felt bad for not saying goodbye and for telling him I respect him.
I was a little annoyed at Aaron for not telling me when Alec was coming but Aaron knows that it upsets me. If he’d told me when Alec was coming I would have felt guilty for several days beforehand. Aaron can’t win really.
Iron Maiden Visits Auckland
Aaron and I had tickets for the Friday night Iron Maiden show at Mt Smart . We fed the animals an early dinner and at 3:30 we headed down to Auckland. There were 12 of us going so it was a good crowd. I can’t remember the last time I went to a concert and despite the rain I expected it to be a good night.
It must be an age thing but I really didn’t enjoy myself. We were in the stands and quite frankly the sound quality was abysmal. I could hear noise but no words. Most of our group, including Aaron decided to join the masses on the bottom field. In fact a good 3rd of the people in the stands did the same.
Maybe I should have joined them but the thought of standing, squished in the middle of a crowd for a couple of hours lacked appeal. Aaron returned to the stand after an hour or so and tried to persuade me to join him amid the throng of fans below. I declined and he left again.
Perhaps it was the sound crew adjusting things or maybe a shift in the direction of the wind but I was actually able to hear the last half a dozen songs reasonably well. They’re definitely a great live band but all the same I feel like it was a complete waste of my money. I enjoyed them far more when I watched a DVD of their concert from the comfort of my own livingroom.
Needless to say, it is probably the last concert I will go to. It’s a criminal waste of money if it proves to be a disappointment.
Aaron on the other hand managed to get to the front of the stage and had an excellent time.
51 Departs The Block
We had decided that it was 51’s turn for slaughter. I had thought we still had to settle on a date but on Wednesday I rang Aaron from work and he told me he was walking up the hill with a bucket of offal.
“What?” I was confused “What do you mean offal?”
Aaron then told me Alec had just left with 51.
I had mixed feelings. On the one hand our relationship with 51 hadn’t been particularly great. He was a bit bolshy, prone to escape and distrustful of me and Aaron. I didn’t mind that he was being sent for slaughter. On the other hand I felt bad for not saying goodbye and for telling him I respect him.
I was a little annoyed at Aaron for not telling me when Alec was coming but Aaron knows that it upsets me. If he’d told me when Alec was coming I would have felt guilty for several days beforehand. Aaron can’t win really.
Sarah Stays for a Couple of Nights
19 February 2009
Little sis Sarah arrived last week for a visit and a break from Auckland. Having just been knocked back for a job she desperately wanted and back living at home until she can find a job she’s feeling just a little frustrated.
She stayed for 2 nights and cooked our dinners and did our dishes. It’s such a wonderful feeling to be able to just relax in the evening and be looked after. I think maybe I’m starting to get a little bit too used to guests looking after me.
Sarah left on Thursday. Who knows when we will see each other again. She has plans to go back overseas in a couple of months and it is unlikely she’ll be back anytime soon.
The New Orchard Paddock Awaits
With Phyllis due to give birth on the 20th we needed to move Joy and the piglets up to the orchard. The intention is to turn the big pig shed into a maternity suite as there is less chance of piglets being rolled on.
Wednesday afternoon Aaron attempted the move alone. Joy followed him up the drive no problem but the piglets were too scared to leave. When I got home it was raining and after an hour alone in her new paddock Joy was clearly not very happy.
Aaron and I took the car down the hill. The plan was I would catch the piglets and hand them to Aaron through the gate. I tried over and over but kept letting the squealing, wriggling, slippery piglets go. Finally I managed to catch one and hand him to Aaron through the gate but his ear-piercing squeals over excited Coppa and he raced up to the gate and lunged forward as though to grab it. I was horrified. Aaron dropped the piglet, yelled in fury at Coppa and aimed a boot at the backside of a quickly fleeing dog.
I called a halt to the proceedings. I was literally covered in mud, the piglets were running scared and I was not prepared to risk Coppa biting a piglet.
We returned back up the drive. I suspected Joy had heard the piglets squealing as she was doing her best to rip up the sheep netting. The fence wasn’t designed for a full on pig attack. We let her out and she raced back down the drive. We opened the gate to the paddock and the piglets ran out and raced towards the front gate. Unbelievably I’d shut the gate when I got home (not my usual practice) and the piglets came to a halt. I couldn’t believe my luck. I herded them back the other way but then Joy had her own plans to go exploring and a good 10 minutes was spent trying to encourage mother and children back into the paddock.
We’d had enough.
We trudged back up the hill and collapsed on the sofa. Sarah had dinner waiting for us. Bliss!
More CouchSurfers
Kate and Rhiannon arrived Friday afternoon. From England and Wales they have just started a year’s O.E. in New Zealand.
They’re a lovely couple with an interest in tattoos, piercings and rugby. I think Aaron was the perfect host for them to pick in that respect. They were only staying the night, with an early start the next morning but as so often happens their morning drifted by and they left closer to lunchtime.
We enjoyed their company and there’s a possibility they may come back up for a visit at the end of their tour. It would be good but such is the nature of travel that I suspect they will probably have other places to check out.
The New Orchard Paddock Awaits
Saturday morning arrived and it was Aaron’s turn for a sleep in. I had other plans. The piglets needed moving and I wasn’t doing it alone. Breakfast time was the perfect opportunity. I made Aaron get up and promised him we would both sleep in on Sunday. The animals would cope with a late breakfast for one day.
We got up and fed Stanley and then we took Phyllis and Arthur’s troughs and breakfast into the bottom paddock so they wouldn’t be a distraction to the piglets.
We then opened the gate to Joy’s paddock and out they all ran, bar 1 piglet who was back up by the wallow. It didn’t take him long to sprint around and through the gate though. With breakfast in a bucket by my side the pigs trotted at a very fast pace up the drive and into their new paddock. It was as easy as that.
What can I say? A pig struggles to focus on anything but food at mealtimes.
The pigs ate breakfast in their new home and then all piglet attention was focused on Stanley who watched excitedly from the other side of the fence. They were fascinated and the feeling was mutual. With so much excited grunting Joy stepped in and she and Stanley had a long conversation involving a lot of grunting, snout touching and high pitched squeals. Goodness knows what was said but perhaps as they have met before it was a catch up on what had happened in the last 5 months.
More Guests
Aaron’s cousin Tracey arrived with 3 kids in tow on Saturday afternoon. The kids spent much of their time entertaining themselves, which is always a good thing.
It was a rainy afternoon so they all ended up getting a bit wet when we went and fed out the pigs and ducks and Josh required a change of clothes. We hung his wet ones on the clothes drying rack and they hang there still. I’m not sure when they’ll be collected.
It’s a common theme. I swear nearly all our guests leave stuff behind!
Saturday evening was pleasant enough and we did end up going to be a bit late. No worries, Aaron and I would both get a sleep in on Sunday morning. It was not to be though. Marty sat outside the bedroom door at 6:30 and crowed and crowed and not long after that we could hear Josh racing up and down the hall. We gave up on sleep and got up.
Phyllis Moves to the Maternity Ward
Sunday afternoon we moved Phyllis into Joy’s old paddock. She wasn’t entirely happy though. We hadn’t yet managed to get hold of new woodchip for the shed and she didn’t seem to like the smells in there.
For 3 nights she slept outside. In the meantime I kept spraying the old chip with white vinegar with a few drops of eucalyptus oil added. Eventually it seemed to do the trick and she moved into the shed.
With her due date tomorrow I was more than a little worried that we’d have a repeat of Joy’s outside birth.
Kate and Rhiannon arrived Friday afternoon. From England and Wales they have just started a year’s O.E. in New Zealand.
They’re a lovely couple with an interest in tattoos, piercings and rugby. I think Aaron was the perfect host for them to pick in that respect. They were only staying the night, with an early start the next morning but as so often happens their morning drifted by and they left closer to lunchtime.
We enjoyed their company and there’s a possibility they may come back up for a visit at the end of their tour. It would be good but such is the nature of travel that I suspect they will probably have other places to check out.
The New Orchard Paddock Awaits
Saturday morning arrived and it was Aaron’s turn for a sleep in. I had other plans. The piglets needed moving and I wasn’t doing it alone. Breakfast time was the perfect opportunity. I made Aaron get up and promised him we would both sleep in on Sunday. The animals would cope with a late breakfast for one day.
We got up and fed Stanley and then we took Phyllis and Arthur’s troughs and breakfast into the bottom paddock so they wouldn’t be a distraction to the piglets.
We then opened the gate to Joy’s paddock and out they all ran, bar 1 piglet who was back up by the wallow. It didn’t take him long to sprint around and through the gate though. With breakfast in a bucket by my side the pigs trotted at a very fast pace up the drive and into their new paddock. It was as easy as that.
What can I say? A pig struggles to focus on anything but food at mealtimes.
The pigs ate breakfast in their new home and then all piglet attention was focused on Stanley who watched excitedly from the other side of the fence. They were fascinated and the feeling was mutual. With so much excited grunting Joy stepped in and she and Stanley had a long conversation involving a lot of grunting, snout touching and high pitched squeals. Goodness knows what was said but perhaps as they have met before it was a catch up on what had happened in the last 5 months.
More Guests
Aaron’s cousin Tracey arrived with 3 kids in tow on Saturday afternoon. The kids spent much of their time entertaining themselves, which is always a good thing.
It was a rainy afternoon so they all ended up getting a bit wet when we went and fed out the pigs and ducks and Josh required a change of clothes. We hung his wet ones on the clothes drying rack and they hang there still. I’m not sure when they’ll be collected.
It’s a common theme. I swear nearly all our guests leave stuff behind!
Saturday evening was pleasant enough and we did end up going to be a bit late. No worries, Aaron and I would both get a sleep in on Sunday morning. It was not to be though. Marty sat outside the bedroom door at 6:30 and crowed and crowed and not long after that we could hear Josh racing up and down the hall. We gave up on sleep and got up.
Phyllis Moves to the Maternity Ward
Sunday afternoon we moved Phyllis into Joy’s old paddock. She wasn’t entirely happy though. We hadn’t yet managed to get hold of new woodchip for the shed and she didn’t seem to like the smells in there.
For 3 nights she slept outside. In the meantime I kept spraying the old chip with white vinegar with a few drops of eucalyptus oil added. Eventually it seemed to do the trick and she moved into the shed.
With her due date tomorrow I was more than a little worried that we’d have a repeat of Joy’s outside birth.
How Hot Is Too Hot?
11 February 2009
Summer is wonderful. I love summer. Sunny blue skies, trees in full leaf, ripening fruit, birds singing, animals frolicking, and wonderfully warm days.
But something’s gone wrong with this summer. The temperatures are soaring. It seems to me the average daily temperature for the last couple of weeks has been about 30, with the highest being 34 last Sunday. 34?!? What the hell? Throw in humidity between 80 and 100% and just the act of sitting becomes exhausting.
I wouldn’t have a problem with it if I was living in the city and spending my days at the beach. I’m not though. Instead Aaron and I are trying desperately to get through our summer task list and finding ourselves collapsing with exhaustion after just minutes.
The sun is fierce and unrelenting and despite lashings of sunscreen I’m burning. I try to cover up in a desperate attempt to fend off any future skin cancer episodes but I overheat so much I end up making myself feel sick. Sunstroke and heatstroke are becoming familiar companions.
There’s so much to do and I feel slightly panicked as we get further and further behind.
Trying to get up early is all very well but when the temperature’s in the mid 20s by 9am and there’s no cloud in the sky I can see my day slipping by with little progress.
The pigs have been spending virtually all day in their wallows and the sheep and cattle just sit under trees for hours on end.
Last Thursday Aaron noticed Joy only ate half the dinner he’d prepared for her. The piglets on the other hand have well and truly adjusted to solids and leapt into the troughs on mass, gobbling cheese and fruit as fast as their little mouths would allow.
Perhaps the piglets were less interested in their mother’s milk and so Joy did not feel the need to eat so much?
Thursday morning I fed out Phyllis and Arthur. Joy was strangely quiet, usually she grunts madly at me to hurry up and fill her trough.
I went into Joy’s paddock and put food in the troughs. The piglets appeared out of the darkness and leapt into the troughs. Joy on the other hand wandered slowly down from the back of the paddock, sniffed the food and just stood there not doing anything.
She walked shakily over to the water trough and took a couple of sips and then shakily walked back to the troughs. She didn’t eat and only grunted lightly. I tried giving her a light body massage but she moved away. She wasn’t well. My first thought was Erysipelas.
She slowly staggered off back into the darkness.
If it was Erysipelas we had just the day to take action. I had to go to work, there was no choice with Friday being Waitangi Day.
I arrived at work sick with worry. It was 2 hours before the vet opened and all I could do was wait.
I took half a day’s leave and met the vet at home at 1.
Our homeopathic vet had the day off so we had to get in a standard vet. He arrived and stayed for maybe half an hour, taking her temperature, listening to her heart and stomach, checking her gums, etc. It wasn’t erysipelas but that was all he could tell me. And therein lays our frustration with vets. They don’t know pigs. No one it seems actually knows pigs.
He could give her general antibiotics but he wasn’t prepared to do that unless she was tied up or in a crush. We didn’t have a crush.
Alternatively I could do it myself if I wanted to. I ummed and ahhed and felt quite unsure about the situation. Tying Joy up was absolutely not an option. And antibiotics? Well, my views on antibiotics are not exactly positive.
The vet suggested she may have a stomach upset. Her tummy was gurgling and her stools were soft.
I was worried she had heatstroke but with ready access to water, wallow and shade the vet wasn’t convinced.
I ummed and ahhed some more and then decided to use the wait and see method. If she wasn’t about to drop dead on me I’d leave things as they were and call in the homeopathic vet if things didn’t improve. The vet left.
Call me stupid, but if I was struggling with the heat surely it wasn’t unreasonable to assume Joy was suffering from heatstroke? When I think about how I feel when I get heatstroke Joy was displaying some very similar symptoms. I’m not an expert though so it scares me to make a diagnosis. Even scarier is that my knowledge of pigs seems to be more advanced than the average vet.
Still, sometimes you just have to trust your instincts. With the vet gone I poured buckets of cold stream water over Joy until she got annoyed with me.
She seemed to perk up as the day progressed and ate some dinner. By Friday evening she was back to her normal self but then Saturday morning she seemed off colour again.
Monday night we experienced 100% humidity and Tuesday morning all but the piglets were disinterested in breakfast and even Coppa refused to eat. Phyllis and Arthur had spent the night submerged in the pond.
That was enough evidence for me.
At work several staff suggested I either put a fan next to my pigs or turn on my garden sprinkler for them to play in. While these were both excellent ideas I’m not sure how I was meant to achieve either of these in the paddocks they currently reside in. Where did these people think I kept my pigs? I was afraid to ask…
As of today the pigs all seem fine.
Rhooky and Sarah Visit
Waitangi weekend Rhooky and Sarah cruised up North for the long weekend, returning Saturday to spend a night with us.
We enjoy their company a lot and each time we meet Aaron and I can’t help think what a shame it is that we moved north and they moved south. Still, the move away from Auckland has done us all a world of good so I shouldn’t complain.
I decided to try out some new vegetarian recipes on them and they seemed to go down well. Who knew potato and pea croquettes could be so tasty?!
Sunday morning Rhooky helped Aaron put wooden barriers around our fruit trees. We needed to put Joy and the piglets in the orchards and the last thing we wanted was for Joy to dig all the trees up. And so the boys hammered and sawed while I scrubcut paths through the waist high kikuyu.
Rhooky was forced to stop when he got to the plum tree as a German wasp flew inside his singlet and started to attack. I had noticed wasps buzzing around some of the fallen plums. I felt a bit bad, wasp stings aren’t unusual on our block, although to be fair, it’s usually paper wasp stings and Aaron and I are usually the recipients.
Rhooky doused himself with vinegar and Stingose but he still had to deal with 2 big, burning welts on his side.
Too Much Testosterone
Ever since Whisky and Coppa turned 2 back in October their testosterone levels seem to have hiked up a level. We were used to playful fights for dominance but now it’s turned aggressive, resulting in at least one vicious, snarling attack a week. It can be started by either one of them but while Whisky is all for a quick fight in which Coppa quickly submits, Coppa now has other ideas and pretty much loses the plot.
We usually know it’s coming as Coppa nearly always starts growling and glaring at Whisky. That often gives us time to grab a dog each and shut Coppa in the bar to calm down for 5 or 10 minutes.
The problems start when it’s just me around and I have to separate them by myself. Not only are they heavy but I worry I’ll accidentally get a hand stuck in the middle of the fray. My best option is to grab Coppa and drag him kicking and snarling away while Whisky stands and tries to look intimidating.
Monday, at home I heard Coppa growl. I rushed outside and for some reason grabbed Whisky. Coppa launched his attack as I ran inside with Whisky. It was all so quick and as I started across the livingroom floor I felt an intense pain in the back of my thigh. I dropped Whisky and the 2 dogs ran outside and fought. I grabbed Coppa and dragged him through the house into the bar and shut him in.
I checked my thigh. There was a massive purple bruise already with 2 puncture wounds in the middle. I was shaking, a mixture of rage and relief I think. It was bad, the pain was awful, but it could have so easily been worse. I covered the bite in antiseptic ointment and then sat down and tried to calm down.
The problem is obvious, we have 2 unneutered male dogs. What to do? The idea of neutering makes Aaron squeamish and we wanted to breed from our boys, but dogs biting humans wasn’t acceptable. The bite wasn’t aimed at me but that’s not the point, if it had been a guest or a child in my place we would be in a much worse situation. As we made the decision not to neuter I have to accept the blame for this accident but can I honestly expect someone else to feel the same?
I’m torn. We got good pedigree dogs so we could breed and recoup our costs. Now what?
Aaron and I talked it over and we’ve decided we need professional advice. If we can neuter just one that will be the best option. The dogs are due a vet visit so we’ll ask then.
The sun is fierce and unrelenting and despite lashings of sunscreen I’m burning. I try to cover up in a desperate attempt to fend off any future skin cancer episodes but I overheat so much I end up making myself feel sick. Sunstroke and heatstroke are becoming familiar companions.
There’s so much to do and I feel slightly panicked as we get further and further behind.
Trying to get up early is all very well but when the temperature’s in the mid 20s by 9am and there’s no cloud in the sky I can see my day slipping by with little progress.
The pigs have been spending virtually all day in their wallows and the sheep and cattle just sit under trees for hours on end.
Last Thursday Aaron noticed Joy only ate half the dinner he’d prepared for her. The piglets on the other hand have well and truly adjusted to solids and leapt into the troughs on mass, gobbling cheese and fruit as fast as their little mouths would allow.
Perhaps the piglets were less interested in their mother’s milk and so Joy did not feel the need to eat so much?
Thursday morning I fed out Phyllis and Arthur. Joy was strangely quiet, usually she grunts madly at me to hurry up and fill her trough.
I went into Joy’s paddock and put food in the troughs. The piglets appeared out of the darkness and leapt into the troughs. Joy on the other hand wandered slowly down from the back of the paddock, sniffed the food and just stood there not doing anything.
She walked shakily over to the water trough and took a couple of sips and then shakily walked back to the troughs. She didn’t eat and only grunted lightly. I tried giving her a light body massage but she moved away. She wasn’t well. My first thought was Erysipelas.
She slowly staggered off back into the darkness.
If it was Erysipelas we had just the day to take action. I had to go to work, there was no choice with Friday being Waitangi Day.
I arrived at work sick with worry. It was 2 hours before the vet opened and all I could do was wait.
I took half a day’s leave and met the vet at home at 1.
Our homeopathic vet had the day off so we had to get in a standard vet. He arrived and stayed for maybe half an hour, taking her temperature, listening to her heart and stomach, checking her gums, etc. It wasn’t erysipelas but that was all he could tell me. And therein lays our frustration with vets. They don’t know pigs. No one it seems actually knows pigs.
He could give her general antibiotics but he wasn’t prepared to do that unless she was tied up or in a crush. We didn’t have a crush.
Alternatively I could do it myself if I wanted to. I ummed and ahhed and felt quite unsure about the situation. Tying Joy up was absolutely not an option. And antibiotics? Well, my views on antibiotics are not exactly positive.
The vet suggested she may have a stomach upset. Her tummy was gurgling and her stools were soft.
I was worried she had heatstroke but with ready access to water, wallow and shade the vet wasn’t convinced.
I ummed and ahhed some more and then decided to use the wait and see method. If she wasn’t about to drop dead on me I’d leave things as they were and call in the homeopathic vet if things didn’t improve. The vet left.
Call me stupid, but if I was struggling with the heat surely it wasn’t unreasonable to assume Joy was suffering from heatstroke? When I think about how I feel when I get heatstroke Joy was displaying some very similar symptoms. I’m not an expert though so it scares me to make a diagnosis. Even scarier is that my knowledge of pigs seems to be more advanced than the average vet.
Still, sometimes you just have to trust your instincts. With the vet gone I poured buckets of cold stream water over Joy until she got annoyed with me.
She seemed to perk up as the day progressed and ate some dinner. By Friday evening she was back to her normal self but then Saturday morning she seemed off colour again.
Monday night we experienced 100% humidity and Tuesday morning all but the piglets were disinterested in breakfast and even Coppa refused to eat. Phyllis and Arthur had spent the night submerged in the pond.
That was enough evidence for me.
At work several staff suggested I either put a fan next to my pigs or turn on my garden sprinkler for them to play in. While these were both excellent ideas I’m not sure how I was meant to achieve either of these in the paddocks they currently reside in. Where did these people think I kept my pigs? I was afraid to ask…
As of today the pigs all seem fine.
Rhooky and Sarah Visit
Waitangi weekend Rhooky and Sarah cruised up North for the long weekend, returning Saturday to spend a night with us.
We enjoy their company a lot and each time we meet Aaron and I can’t help think what a shame it is that we moved north and they moved south. Still, the move away from Auckland has done us all a world of good so I shouldn’t complain.
I decided to try out some new vegetarian recipes on them and they seemed to go down well. Who knew potato and pea croquettes could be so tasty?!
Sunday morning Rhooky helped Aaron put wooden barriers around our fruit trees. We needed to put Joy and the piglets in the orchards and the last thing we wanted was for Joy to dig all the trees up. And so the boys hammered and sawed while I scrubcut paths through the waist high kikuyu.
Rhooky was forced to stop when he got to the plum tree as a German wasp flew inside his singlet and started to attack. I had noticed wasps buzzing around some of the fallen plums. I felt a bit bad, wasp stings aren’t unusual on our block, although to be fair, it’s usually paper wasp stings and Aaron and I are usually the recipients.
Rhooky doused himself with vinegar and Stingose but he still had to deal with 2 big, burning welts on his side.
Too Much Testosterone
Ever since Whisky and Coppa turned 2 back in October their testosterone levels seem to have hiked up a level. We were used to playful fights for dominance but now it’s turned aggressive, resulting in at least one vicious, snarling attack a week. It can be started by either one of them but while Whisky is all for a quick fight in which Coppa quickly submits, Coppa now has other ideas and pretty much loses the plot.
We usually know it’s coming as Coppa nearly always starts growling and glaring at Whisky. That often gives us time to grab a dog each and shut Coppa in the bar to calm down for 5 or 10 minutes.
The problems start when it’s just me around and I have to separate them by myself. Not only are they heavy but I worry I’ll accidentally get a hand stuck in the middle of the fray. My best option is to grab Coppa and drag him kicking and snarling away while Whisky stands and tries to look intimidating.
Monday, at home I heard Coppa growl. I rushed outside and for some reason grabbed Whisky. Coppa launched his attack as I ran inside with Whisky. It was all so quick and as I started across the livingroom floor I felt an intense pain in the back of my thigh. I dropped Whisky and the 2 dogs ran outside and fought. I grabbed Coppa and dragged him through the house into the bar and shut him in.
I checked my thigh. There was a massive purple bruise already with 2 puncture wounds in the middle. I was shaking, a mixture of rage and relief I think. It was bad, the pain was awful, but it could have so easily been worse. I covered the bite in antiseptic ointment and then sat down and tried to calm down.
The problem is obvious, we have 2 unneutered male dogs. What to do? The idea of neutering makes Aaron squeamish and we wanted to breed from our boys, but dogs biting humans wasn’t acceptable. The bite wasn’t aimed at me but that’s not the point, if it had been a guest or a child in my place we would be in a much worse situation. As we made the decision not to neuter I have to accept the blame for this accident but can I honestly expect someone else to feel the same?
I’m torn. We got good pedigree dogs so we could breed and recoup our costs. Now what?
Aaron and I talked it over and we’ve decided we need professional advice. If we can neuter just one that will be the best option. The dogs are due a vet visit so we’ll ask then.
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