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Pig day






Today has been the first day where when outside for a while feeding animals you think "oh its a bit chilly today" still not wearing a coat* cold hands and other extremities were felt this morning. It was a dampish, fogyish kind of day, a day for moving pigs.

The five pigs in questions time is up, time to come down from the hill to the bottom enclosure where one by one they will leave this life for cuts of pork with crispy crackling, sausages and bacon. It always takes a little time to move a pig from their enclosure, trained to stay in electric fencing the pigs find it very difficult to go past the line where the gate once was. Being intelligent animals once zapped by the fence they learn to stay away from it (most of the time) so trying to get them to walk through the space that once had electricity running through it can take a little time.

Patiences and a lot of bread, once one goes its not long before others follow but then there is always the last one who just will not move. This happened today, although it took all morning to move four (we left them in the alley way up the hill while we had coffee in the hope they would find their way to their new enclosure as we were running out of bread, they didn't but on our return and after a warm up we got them in) the fifth however didn't budge. It stayed up the top of the hill while we had lunch and again a warm up to then move that pig, for it had to be moved today.

After many a piece of bread thrown, the pig getting so far, eating the bread and then retracting its trotters to the safety of home desperation was setting in. Farmer J got a feeder put its food in it and dragged it down the hill with the pig following, finally being reunited with its mates.

As it is on the cards for getting colder this week bedding was given to all pigs as well, hay that the cows will not eat is now in each hut to keep the pigs toastie apart from Sandy who each time new bedding is given ends up going bonkers throwing up in the air, where a great deal goes outside. some pigs are good bed makers, others not, Sandy's bed making is not her top skill.

* coats were fetched for when it started to rain, cold rain, the kind of rain you don't want to be in when standing still waiting for pigs to move.
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