Pigs named during kitchen incident...

I hesitated at the point of electing to use the word “stoic” whilst typing the last blog because I’m always aware of when I might be tempting fate. Its a sort of superstition thing except you can’t avoid it like a ladder or salute it and therefore make things ok because you’ve already done it, said it, or typed it in this case.

So, perhaps as a result of my choice of vocabulary last week that following the spectacular pig naming extravaganza the extremely charming, domesticated and now famous Penelope was eaten by a fox! This is not uncommon. It is in fact, more common than ever because foxes are essentially a semi-protected species. You can even buy fox food in pet shops. You can guess my attitude to fox hunting. You can probably guess what I might feel about a nationwide cull too. Poor old Penelope, my favourite ever hen.

So despite some bushy-tailed, mange-riddled, vulpine murderer eating my favourite bird we finally managed to get the pigs named...and what fantastic names they are too (not). See it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a340buyAamo

Well done to Katie’s daughter Lola for Oink-Oink on the left, and to my friend Marisa who lives in Madrid for Antares on the right of this rather sweet little piggy pic.

   

Also...

We moved around some animals at the end of last week. I wanted to get the mother of the stillborn out in the fields with the others. So out she went, happy to be in the open with some company to take her mind off things. Her two companions remain in the yard and will do so until they calve as we have to closely monitor their behaviour at all times. I also separated three steers for “finishing”. This means they will now get access to some rolled barley in addition to grass and some extra silage in order that they fatten nicely. This is important for the marbling process in addition to adding bulk to the carcass and resulting in a better price at market. This last stage of a beef animal’s life is crucial to the final eating quality of the meat and is something of an art. You don’t want them too fat, nor too plain, however, given the inherent qualities of South Devon as a breed you are at an advantage from the outset due to their fantastic natural marbling traits.

Finally, it rained yesterday! It rained today too. It rained overnight as well. I haven’t been in such a good mood for ages. This is great news. I’ve already sectioned off a few of what I call “buffer fields” so that the moisture can take effect and the grass can recuperate un-trodden. It also means that the silage cut, which will take place in a week or so, will be better than we thought. We were kind of down to the bone as far as grass is concerned and so this change of weather has really helped us and many other farmers, although some crops will have suffered permanently as a result of the lack of rain until now.