The Pigs Have it!

Well, as predicted, Doris has put those sheep in their place - 10 beautiful piglets born overnight. And just take a look - they have spots!!! After two years of plain white pigs finally a litter that look like little dalmatian pups. Seven girls and three boys, quite a handful, but of course Doris has been there manyn times before and is a very relaxed mother. And Cuckoo, the overdue mare...? No news there, she's still as round as a barrel and clearly very uncomfortable. there's a rota of people in every night to keep an eye on her, but nothing yet - we'll keep you posted.... Dudxx

Springtime?

Regular followers must have thought we'd gone into hibernation - to be honest with those temperatures we were considering emigration. But the seasons turn and things change....

Firstly let me introduce myself, Dudley the new Duroc boar. "Cuddly Dudley" as the children call me (I prefer Dud the Stud). I have been drafted in to help with a serious lack of boar on the farm, someone to keep the sows in order and to ensure a regular supply of piglets. Well, I'm the pig for the job....

I've met Doris, the Old Spot, she's already in pig to a predecessor and I've now met Valentine and hopefully she will produce my first litter in June.




Then there's Mary and Virginia, they live just across the way so we're on nodding terms already, hopefully we'll be formally introduced before too long.








Next door on the one side there are 5 Aberdeen Angus calves, all heifers and pretty quiet on the whole. The children have been feeding them milk and they do like to bang their drinker very loudly on the gate at some ungodly hour every morning but apart from that I can't complain.





On the other side there are a pair of turkeys, Very and Lucky as they're called. Apparently they are the only survivors post-Christmas, but I'm hearing the word "Easter" being mentioned around them so I don't think they'll be a permanent fixture. To be honest they do make the most annoying noise and not just a food time. Every time anyone walks past they're off, day or night.




And as the weather started to warm up the annual cutting of the willow bed took place. The children came past with armfuls of different coloured willow sticks.

















And under the watchful eye of Norah the basketmaker, these bundles of sticks were transformed into beautiful baskets.







And of course springtime means sheeptime, all anyone can talk about are sheep and lambs. First to lamb was one of the new Cotswolds, a lovely pair of twins, already with lovely woolly coats.

















Then after a week all the others started and it was like a competition - who could produce the most lambs. Three sets of quads came in quick succession, and apparently it's rare to get one set.





Then after some sets of twins and triplets, news reached us of a set of quintuplets - 5 lambs from one ewe. I bet she was glad to give birth to them, the children had been calling her "Flying Saucer" as she was wider than she was long towards the end. Sadly one lamb didn't make it and two seemed to be struggling so they have been put in the special care unit - a box with a heat lamp!! Some warmth and regular bottles of milk and both are thriving.
It's funny isn't it, we pigs regularly produce litters of 10 or more and no-one makes a fuss - it seems there's one rule for one.....







And another expectant mother is also looking very uncomfortable - Cuckoo the mare was due to foal at the end of last week but still no sign. I've seen her walking past on her way to the field and she looks huge, let's hope she isn't having quads!!








So life as the new boar is looking pretty good, I have a splendid sty with ensuite facilities, plenty of straw for the cold nights and a lovely south-facing yard for sun bathing. The children are very good and meals are regular and delicious. And as my yard backs onto the bootwash I get to hear about everything that's been happening on the farm at regular intervals through the day, it's like news bulletins on the hour every hour.




And all around us are signs of spring - lambs in the orchard









catkins









vegetables sprouting in the polytunnel and -












best of all - blossom in the orchard - who could ask for more?
Dudx

All change

Well first of all let me introduce myself, Mary they call me, I live with Virginia and as we have been here for almost 6 months we have been handed the enormous responsibility of this blog...... We're saddleback gilts and I'm pretty sure we were called something else at our last farm, but I can't remember what now. Anyway, our names are usually accompanied by a rattling bucket and under those circumstances we'll answer to anything.

It's always hard being the new pigs on the block, everyone seems very friendly but it takes a while to work out who's who, who doesn't get on with who and who are the real decision makers. But we're getting the feel of the place now. We've met the sows, two lovely Old Spots both of whom have had several litters of piglets. Unfortunately the farm is "between boars" at the moment so we'll just have to wait a while before we can start producing.

Valentine and Doris have spent a lot of time explaining that they are "orchard" pigs and their natural habitat is under fruit trees clearing up windfalls. However we noticed that they weren't allowed anywhere near an orchard this autumn, the children harvested the fruit and in fact they held a whole day celebrating the various apples and pears found here.












Other new arrivals are two Cotswold ewes who are grazing happily in full view of their native Cotswold Hills. They have the most ridiculous haircuts I've ever seen, how they find their way about behind those fringes I don't know, mind you I guess you don't have to look too carefully to find the next blade of grass.




For the last few months we lived across the moat from a flock of turkeys, they were living in the shed and they made the wierdest noise, until someone let them out I thought we had a shed full of puppies in there. Every morning and evening the children walked the turkeys out to graze then back to bed. It's lucky the children are so patient, those birds are so slow and not one of them can walk in a straight line. Anyway it's all gone very quiet now, just before Christmas the numbers seemed to go right down and now it's just a pair who stroll in and out.

We were just starting to feel really at home and fit in with all the routines when suddenly it all changed. We'd always lived in nice, warm pens and then suddenly we were posted out to the riverside paddock. It was lovely in the autumn sunshine, fantastic views and a really good spot to listen out for the approach of those magic buckets. And then the big freeze happened......the ground went rock hard overnight, all our water supplies froze solid and you could see your breath hanging in the air. Fortunately our shed had been well strawed out and by keeping together we could get warm, but out and about in the field trying to keep the circulation going in your trotters was almost impossible.

One morning the children read minus 10 degrees off the thermometer and bless them, they did look cold. But boy did they work, the only way to cope was to keep moving and move they did. Buckets and buckets of water were ferried to every corner of the farm. fresh warm straw beds were distributed and everyone was fed and watered on time. The cattle finally came into the barn for the winter and I have to say they looked very relieved to be inside and with a plentiful supply of hay.

The sheep are still out but they do have their woollen coats to help them cope. Even they had to have hay taken out each morning when they woke up to find their breakfast deep frozen.






However, despite the difficulties, we have woken up to some stunningly beautiful sights as each day a new layer of frost settled on the old ones. A very seasonal, winter wonderland......





And now it's all change again, the thaw has brought mud - plenty of mud. The birds have decided it's spring and have started thinking about nesting, finally the grass has started to grow again and there's plentiful water in every drinker - in fact in every hole and rut in the field. And I think you can even notice the days getting longer. Me and Virginia were getting quite excited by it all until someone reminded us that we haven't even had Wassail yet and there's plenty of winter still to come. Best way to wait for spring - a hearty breakfast then snooze under a warm layer of straw......

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness....

Yes, it's been a while, I've had so many enquiries - have I been away, travelling the World, seeing the sights, sunning myself on foreign shores? Well no, more of a "staycation" this year. Me, Valentine and Doris have whiled away the summer months in our lovely moatside paddock with glorious river views. Don't think we've been idle though, no, we've cleared back all the vegetation, created a couple of beautiful muddy wallows, done some fairly impressive excavation in the shed, and caught up on a bit of sleep while the place was so quiet.


Then before you know it, the children were back, lots of noise and activity and although our sleep is more disturbed we do get our meals on the dot. And somehow while we've been resting the summer has slipped away and those chilly, misty autumn mornings are back.













And all around the farm the signs of a bumper harvest are in evidence - the orchards are groaning with apples, pears and blackberries. The children have been busy harvesting then spend the afternoon with Mandy turning the fruit into delicious crumbles for tea.




























And it's everyone's favourite season in the vegetable garden, last week's school harvested and enjoyed eating more than 15 different vegetables over the week. The freezers are full to the brim and there is a shed-full of onions waiting to be used.





























At the end of the garden the children are also enjoying a lovely new shelter built for us by our friends from the local Severn Vale Rotary Club. They harvested the willow and built the structure around our "stone circle" (not quite prehistoric but very atmospheric). Then an expert from a local firm helped with a beautiful canvas roof and the result is a magical space providing shelter from rainstorms and shade on those hot summer days - (remember those days...?)






The shelter was officially opened and toasted by the Rotary Club and the visiting school - it's amazing how many people you can actually fit inside!














And at this time of year the local villages hold their annual produce shows and this year Saul held their first ever. With lots of classes for fruit, veg and flowers there was much gardening-as-a-competitve-sport over the summer. Cakes and biscuits were baked, photos taken, massive marrows were lovingly tended and overfed. There was a whole section of children's classes so the children of Friar's Primary spent the week leading up to their Wick Court visit painting and collaging some entries. Their creations were hung all around the tea tent and several won prizes.



The only area of the farm where the harvest wasn't quite so good was in the hay meadows. A very dry early season meant there wasn't so much grass and this year we harvested much less from the fields. However there is plenty for us animals here and some to sell, so not a disaster.


While we pigs have been relaxing in the meadow there have been a few new arrivals - the last foal of the season arrived safely and is very happy out in the field next to ours. It's always good to live close to the horses, not only do they get to mingle with all the animals, they even get to go off the farm. I'm not saying they're gossips but if you want to know anything it's always best to try the stableyard first.





That's how we heard there were new pigs on the block - black and white pigs in fact. Apparently they're Saddlebacks and they're very demure and ladylike. None of the rowdy squealing and jumping up that my offspring are so famous for - pigs with table manners, who'd have thought it? The first school named them Mary and Virginia after their past and present Headteachers, it'll be very interesting to see what their piglets will look like.



I guess now the nights are closing in and the temperatures are dropping it'll be time for us to move back to our winter quarters. Valentine and Doris should both be back in pig and they'll need to move into suitable accommodation. Apparently my name is almost at the top of the transfer list, so who knows where I'll be spending the winter.... my time at Wick Court has been very special and of course I shall hand the blog over to someone else - our own correspondent.....


Borisx

The heat is on

Well doesn't the time fly ?! July already, half the year gone and the long evenings starting to slip away again. Not that we've been sitting around doing nothing, oh no plenty of goings on here. The best news is that me, Valentine and Doris have moved to our new summer quarters. It's lovely, lots of shade, a big house for shelter and grass as high as our shoulders - we're as happy as pigs in clover!


Spot was due to join us but on her first day out here she wandered into the electric fence - I always said those lop ears were a liability - now any normal pig would have squealed and jumped back from it. Not Spot, no she jumped forwards straight through the fence and didn't stop running till she got to the far end of the biggest field on the farm. Now I don't want to be disloyal, but she'd never run further than from her bed to the food dish before and no-one should attempt such a long sprint without warming up properly and some training. Once she was finally retrieved and returned to the farmyard she'd pulled a muscle so she's back on bedrest for a little while.


When I last blogged all my piglets were out and about, I do love to see them playing in the sunshine. However once they try to leave down the drive or dig up too many grass verges the time has come to pen them in. I currently have 25 of my beautiful children spread around the pigsties, still it keeps the children busy doing all that mucking out.




The first broody hen has managed to hatch 3 chicks which are now growing fast. They have their own run right at the front of the house with a very grand view - however it's not on quite such a slope as the picture implies, a slip of the trotter there.




Down in the other shed there's a whole box of broodies - how they'll ever tell whose chicks are whose if anything hatches I've no idea. Maybe they'll do childcare in shifts - not such a bad idea. I leave it to the ladies of course, but they do mention it can be a little tiring.




Every evening as we have a late night supper we watch the bats flying around the hedges and along the moat. The local bat experts have been to check on the roost and the children were allowed to see them all hanging up, (strange way to sleep but I suppose it means you never have to change any bedding) then sat in the garden with special bat boxes so they could hear them as they flew out for their evening feeding. Anyway news reached us that there are more bats than ever - 86 were counted, the 17th largest roost in the country! Lesser Horseshoe they call them and apparently they're quite special. As long as they keep flying over each evening and eating all the midges then that's good enough for us pigs.


With all the hot days the sheep were very relieved when they got taken next door for shearing, they positively skipped back into the orchard and for a while were as lively as the lambs.






One patriotic ewe was flying the England flag - however apparently it didn't do the trick....







For the rest of us the best we can do is hide in the shade during the heat of the day. The horses are gradually working themselves further into the hedge.







And when it's really hot only mad dogs and Wick Court farmers go out in the midday sun. After a hot, sweaty climb to the top of Barrow Hill, there's really only one way to get down the other side.....






The sunshine is of course working it's magic in the vegetable garden, apparently the children have already had fresh runner beans this week. Hopefully there'll soon be some that get too big that we'll have to help with.









For now we'll make do with those rather moreish pig nuts and the delicious grazing all around us.
Stay cool
Boris

It's in the air

Hi there, Gertie and Grace the turkeys here. So much happening out on the farm at the moment we're out and about all day now. Sometimes I think the children have trouble finding us when it's bedtime since we've become roving reporters. While the sun is shining and there's so much going on we have been trusted to wander the farm and keep an eye on events as they happen.

Obviously a favourite spot is the feed barn, some of these children are a little clumsy and manage to drop some feed while weighing out the rations, we're only too happy to help clean up.





We noticed a lot of activity around the tractor and after a closer look discovered a a pair of robins have built a nest in the toolbox and despite the noise and the fact their home regularly moves off around the farm, they've hatched a brood of chicks.








Other birds seemingly immune to noise are a pair of collared doves who've chosen a spot in the courtyard for their nest. we can only assume they're basketball fans as they're right by the hoop and with this lovely weather it's been in use almost non-stop.






However out in the garden it seems we birds are not so welcome, 3 scary figures have appeared guarding the new seedbeds. Obviously we're not worried - we saw them being made, but some of the small, wild birds seem too scared to get close.









































Down at the pond Sid and Lucy are still attacking anything that moves, Lucy has started to sit at last so you never know, we might here the patter of tiny webbed feet yet.....







And the first hen has gone broody. They tried to get her to sit on goose eggs but they were just too big and she kept wobbling off, so now she has a nice clutch of hens' eggs and a lovely quiet shed to sit in.






Out in the meadows the wildflowers are changing almost daily. Anyone walking through comes back with yellow feet or wellies from the buttercups. To be honest it's getting so long now we have to be careful we don't get lost out there. But from our eye level it's amazing how many different plants are out there, in some places you're hard pressed to find any actual grass.














The sheep are very happy out among the flowers. The lambs are all in training for the next Olympics, racing round and round while their mothers grab the chance of a little snooze in the sun. And of course it's the only time of year when you can use the word "gambolling" and get away with it. Only a couple of weeks and the shearers will be in to remove those woolly coats. Well it is getting very hot during the day now, you should try black and bronze feathers, they just soak up the heat.


We've been watching the trees and this year it was definitely "oak before ash" so if all goes to plan we should be in for "a splash", after the past few summers being a complete "soak", that would be very welcome indeed.







And after their extended holiday, the horses are back at work again. With the sun and the flies they're quite glad of a shady stable during the day then a stroll back to the field in the evenings.








And, we can't avoid mentioning those pigs, here in piglet city where everywhere you look there are gangs of small, pink creatures running, sleeping, digging, trying to get in the garden and sampling everyone's food. After a busy morning getting up to mischief they flop down in piles to sleep before waking up to start again. Wherever you go there's a piglet or two to trip over.













And after a hard day's reporting maybe we can try for a lift home tonight....

A Vote for Ducks

Well that's enough of the porcine view of the farm for a while, to be honest this was turning into Pig Breeders' Weekly. As this week's school travelled all the way from Aylesbury to see us, we have been feeling very special so it must be our turn to blog....yes, hello, Aylesbury ducks here.

It's been quite a week, first we were moved in next to those geese - they never stopped, every time someone or something moved anywhere near them they were off hissing and honking - so who's great idea was to put them right by the main entrance of the farm? After a couple of days to get used to our new quarters we were allowed through to the moat - after the initial shock (it was cold) well we loved it, we never came off the water for 3 days we were having such fun. Then Sid and Lucy discovered a new game - sneaking up behind us (quietly for once) and trying to drown us. Well, we love the water but that was no fun at all.

Fortunately for us someone was watching and before they could hiss or honk the geese were quick marched up the track to the solitary confinement pond. To be honest I think they're very happy up there, we've heard word they've managed two eggs in a week which must be a record.


So now we find we're living in "Duck Heaven", just us and the Khaki Campbells, and they're as good as gold, never hear a peep out of them. It's given us a chance to explore, well it's like living in Venice, hidden waterways that stretch in all directions, and yet all within easy reach of the duck house. In fact wherever you are, if you hear the feed bin lid go you can be back by the trough before the children get there with their buckets.



While exploring this week we met our first mallard ducklings, the adults are a right pain, always trying to steal our food then flying off to help themselves to the pig's food for afters, in fact they eat so much I'm surprised they can still get off the ground. But you can't fail to love the brown and yellow ducklings, and then we met the first moorhen chicks of the season, small balls of black fluff following their mothers around the moat. We tried to get some photos but we weren't allowed to take the camera into the water!




























































Away from the water signs of spring contrinue. Gertie and Grace are getting very brave, even venturing in with the cows.








The bottlefed lambs are growing fast, they have the most amazing bodyclocks and go off on the dot three times a day. A good drink of warm milk and they're quiet for the next few hours.






After the white perry pear blossom the apple trees are catching up with their pink flowers. Which will it be this year - a good one for apples or a good one for pears? Looking at the healthy state of the trees, who knows it might be a bumper year for both.






And behind the old cowshed there has been much activity, Jacob Sutton who has been on and off Artist in Residence here since before Christmas, is putting together an art exhibition to raise some funds. We love to go past and see what he's working on next, Frampton Village Hall is going to look amazing once the exhibition is hung.






Anyway, sun has appeared so it's time to get back to the bank for a snooze.

The Aylesburys





PS Ok for those of you who were hoping for pig news, here it is, Doris has produced 10 piglets, she farrowed mid-afternoon and an audience of children didn't seem to put her off. Everyone was amazed, last time she farrowed she managed 2, and this time it was well known that a similar performance could end in sausages. Fair play to her, she's pulled out all the stops this time, 10 healthy piglets and no-one's using the "s" word now. She has literally saved her own bacon.