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Monday, April 20, 2009

Three little Pigs



Three little pigs have taken over our lives. It’s not good enough that I feed them separately, give them special treatment or let them spend the first few weeks of their lives in the nice warm house – now they have thrown the dog out of her bed. Every time we go outside they come running out from the shelter looking for food. They follow the Cook around like puppies and it drives her nuts.

This morning I had to feed them under the trailer because Maya the pony was trying to nick their breakfast. When I reappeared to do a couple of chores the three of them where sound asleep on the dog’s bed, poor old Shadow was lying on the cold concrete.

The Cook and I took a quick trip up the gully last night to check out one of our project areas. First we had to escape the piglets, and then George chased the car along the track for about three kilometres. He kept up well; he did better then the dog. He stopped at the dam and waited for our return, Shadow kept following us at her slightly slower pace. After a bit of an inspection and a wander about we headed back. At the dam, George leapt out in front of the Jeep and wouldn’t let us past. The Cook decided to get out and opened the back of the Jeep and both of them jumped in – if I ever doubted he thought he was a dog; I don’t now.

I was going to collect acorns this weekend but the weather was less then favourable, so looks like next weekend.

I finally finished the chicken’s fence on the Saturday with the top row of wire going up. I put over 1000 wire clips on the fence with pliers – and have the blisters to prove. Hopefully this will stop the fox for a short time.

We had another visit from the wild pigs on Friday night. At about 9:30pm I heard a sudden eruption of pig noise come from the river side of the pens, I raced out and grabbed the spot light from out of the car but by the time I got to the paddock all I could hear was a pig yelping down along the river. I wasn’t sure until the morning exactly what it was, I had a dreadful thought that maybe a piglet had been taken by a fox. But after roll call at breakfast I had accounted for all the piglets. I think what I heard was a wild pig that unexpectedly hit the electric fence.

Next week I’ll need to finish the pig houses. Drainage is going to be the next little problem I have tot deal with, and I need to build up the floors in the mother’s shelter.
Then I’ll have to think about putting in another fence around the river side of the pig yards.

2 comments:

Liz said...

Sounds like you guys have your hands full. Little animals tend to end up taking up all our time. I've just put my last hand raised calf into the paddock weaned her some time back but we couldn't put her in with the rest until now. The word moo just won't cut it with her. She wants to stay where she can see us 24/7. Blisters on the hands end up as callouses. I ahve a few so I won't be making wonderful hands of the year any time soon. Hope the rain is going your way. We've finally had the decent stuff today after nearly 4 weeks of nothing. Well have fun with the piglets.

Liz

Lindsay said...

Good for the piglets - although hard work they sound as if they give you a lot of pleasure. I do hope they do not end up in the jaws of foxes or wild pigs!