February's new arrivals
Marilyn Keymer • 26 February 2018
Two litters arrived in February
We had two litters during February, a bit of a struggle this time but both litters and mums are fit and well. Had one failed litter in that the sow had not held, but now have 15 piglets, most of which were already ordered. I have my eye on some of the best ones for showing and moving on for breeding stock.
Tentrees Namatjira - Ash , qualifier for Pig of the Year and reserve male in Champion of Champions. Tentrees Stonebow - Luna , reserve female in Champion of Champions, as well as taking a number of first prizes. A successful year with our show team, with the members either stopping in the herd for breeding or moving on to new homes as breeding stock.
We have selected four boars and four gilts as part of the Show Team for this year. These will be the core of the team, two sows and some commercial pigs can also be added, space in the trailer allowing. The shows we will attend are South Suffolk, Nottingham, Suffolk, Norfolk , Wayland and possibly Gransden. Pig of the Year will be at Yorkshire, Young Pig of the Year will be in Malvern, Berkshire Champion of Champions will be at Penistone for this year, it would be great to be at any of these championships.
I had a litter of cross breeds in May this year, as I bought in a new breed line to add to my herd. They are really chunky little chaps and very demanding, but mum is very patient. They are gloucester x berkshire, and this seems to be the colouration with this cross.
Another wet winter, so the breeding herd is in to rest the runs and allow a bit of drying out. Three of the girls seem to be in pig, and hopefully being on solid ground will make sure we have a complete set of litters. They came in just after christmas and seem to be enjoying the change so far. It entails alot of cleaning out, but better than trying to struggle through the mud.
Very excited that we are seeing alot of our three young owls on the owl cam. Thought there was only two to start with, the youngest seems to have fallen or was pushed out of the box. Mum contiued to feed it on the floor and now it has made it back to the box.
Clover farrowed yesterday, with no problems. All got through the night OK, a feisty bunch. There are few gilts this time which is good news, I'll be looking for some breeding stock as they grow.
The autumn 2019 show team have now been dispersed to their new homes to produce some litters of their own. Looking forward to this years September litters for next years show team.
Spotted this chap sunbathing on a log in the yard. I wonder if this is the same one I had in the garden eating a frog a couple of years ago, if it is then it is so much bigger.
It looks as if we have Barn Owls instead of pigeons nesting in our owl box. I had a wildlife camera for my birthday so will be able to track the progress. It started with a battle between the pigeons and owls which the owls won, displacing a squab from the box, it was about ready to fledge anyway. Very exciting.
My girls produced 3 litters during March and April, all really nice looking piglets, but nearly all boars! They arrived just as the conditions improved, which I appreciated, though the ground is really hard now and the reseeding of outside runs is struggling. The show season has been cancelled, so I have some super breeding stock for sale earlier than usual, these are some of best stock I have bred. There is another litter due towards the end of May, and possibly a second if my prize winning older lady holds her litter.
