Apparently it’s the year of the pig ,and February it seems is definitely the month of the pig here at a Grobdale !

We had felt for a while that Nora needed some help on the fertility front, she wasn’t showing any signs of coming into season so AI (artificial insemination) hasn’t been an option ,

We needed a real man ..

We have found Social media to be a powerful tool and I’ve used it to sell and source all kinds if things including this time ,a loan Tamworth boar .

It took just over a week of messages and phone calls  .. on the journey I found her brother and her parents !

 

Third time lucky I discovered “Boaris “ and no he doesn’t have a blonde unruly mop ..

I took a lovely drive over to the Scottish
Borders one Sunday to collect our loan boar . It seems he has very good bloodlines and has been a hit with his ladies .He was also very lovely to deal with, not at all brutish.

 

So best knickers on Nora we would like some piglets please x

 

On another vein,we had our tenth visit from our besties this month , we do miss them so it’s great they make the journey so regularly . preparations start early , never mind bed making

The purple wrapper is a must ! 

We love our visitors and try to make sure everyone enjoys their stay , but  this trip seemed to be all about Alex, lovely , as she’s just finished the rather stressful mocks (pre A level exam trial runs before actual A levels , where good results mean good university choices .. nerve wracking) anyway..

This is our physics and maths geek, learning to use a plasma cutter !

 

we hope we detangled her brain a bit .. 

Other than our visitors we have been a  bit baby mad this month, making piglets ( hopefully) and also scanning the sheep to see if we have lambs coming .

I gatecrashed my neighbour Ian’s scan appointment (even he’s, just had a baby , or rather his wife has :), He  has a lot more woolybacks than me so can justify getting a scanner over. btw I did ask first so

I had a date with a man in a van to scan the ladies .. 

Scanning the sheep tells tell’s us who is in lamb and whose not , but also if we have any multiple births. This enables me to feed the twin or triplets more than the singles or empties.

If the sheep carrying just one is fed too much, the lamb can get bigger than is safe to birth, and  a sheep with a multiple birth going on , needs more food to ensure each lamb grows as it should.

Lots of reasons to get giddy

with a bit of spray ..

(No not us getting arty .. the man in the van sprays each sheep with a certain colour to mark how many they’re carrying.) Green is a single lamb, nothing is twins . We scanned 6 singles and 5 sets of twins .. result ! 16 lambs on the way to doubling my flock woohoo x

Back to pigs ..

Nora met Boaris two days before Valentine’s Day and quite frankly she wasn’t that enamoured ! A rather coy game of hide and seek lasted all that afternoon I think she was playing hard to get ..either that or she hadn’t come onto heat yet .

So quite a bit of coaxing went on for the next few days ,and eventually a week later Nora gave in to his charms , pig porn ensued .. proper full on actually so piglets we hope beg June .

16 lambs due in May and hopefully lots of piglets in June !

 

Other than the animals, our outbuildings were a big priority. We had employed a builder at the beginning of the month and plans got under way to put the drawings into reality . Exciting and nerve wracking times ahead it seems ..

And not a Kevin Mc loud in sight .

last but not least , and back to pigs, the  little piggies were growing fast .Loving their new patch down by the loch eating all the vegetation (note grass is now a mud bath )and gaining weight beautifully, time to think about bacon.

Mmmmm maybe roast pork for Easter .

 

 

Half pigs will be on sale around mid April Time, let me know early if you want to stock up I’m on a mission to see them sold before they leave for the chop (sorry couldn’t help it)