New arrivals – an animal update (105 days to go…)
by Max Akroyd
Sunday was a sneak preview of Spring. Doors of barns and other animal accommodation were thrown wide-open to let the warmish air reach into their foisty interiors. Working on the field, I felt humble and (even after the rigours of winter) a bit unworthy in the presence of the aching vernal beauty all around.
Yesterday was different. If you’ve ever spent time in the Lake District you develop a dread of rain setting in. I fed the pigs and, by the doleful look in their gentle eyes, it seemed like they were reluctantly planning a day indoors too. I opened their doors a bit – just in case – and happily a watery sun emerged and we could all set off for work in the field after all. While I planted trees and prepared the beetroot bed, they worked dutifully, turning the new turf in their enclosure.
The pigs are split into three teams and work three different locations. They are all one family, though, and I don’t see any prospect of introducing new blood this year. The ‘piglets’ – now strapping adolescents really – will keep us in pork all year and when they’re gone the other two teams will be reunited and Mummy pigs and Daddy pigs can live up to their names again!
It’s all change on the fowl front. I acquired six new ducks last week. They are presently encamped with my surviving goose, all learning to love their fox-proof home. I’m going to buy a drake and a gander very soon so the farm’s reputation for feathered fecundity can be restored – and the record for longevity improved!
No such luck for the goats, sadly. They will remain as maidens until their next season arrives in the autumn. They are going to be re-housed, though, to make way for a much-postponed influx of meat hens and some additional layers. I can only face the prospect of a year of self-sufficiency with equanimity because plenty of eggs means lots of cakes!
Oh, and I’m going to get some more guinea fowl too. If nothing else, this will ensure that the average I.Q. of the farm animals will be dragged down below my own again…
It’s comforting to realise that the animal aspect of this project will amount to just more of the same really. A good continuation. As opposed to the fruit and vegetable production which always feels like starting from scratch. Again. I’ll be recording progress so far in these areas in my next post.
Hi Max,
your comment re the intellect of guinea fowl reminded me of a message in a leaving card of a friend who was emigrating (I won’t say to which country. It read.
“Eric’s, leaving the UK to live in X, will no doubt raise the average IQ of both countries”
S.
Evening Simon,
Since reading your comment I’ve been wondering which country it was… every guess of mine merely confirms prejudices I didn’t realise I had!
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I know what you mean about the vegetables and fruit feeling like always starting over. I’m excited for spring to be on the way to get started again, yet it is strange to think the only ‘progress’ that has been made from last year is in my own knowledge and experience, while in the vegetable world it is a pure cycle – not a spiraling upward but an actual circle with the waning matching the waxing every year.
It is a marked difference from the kind of monetary wealth we are used to pursuing, where one can hoard away (invisible) wealth, with the feeling one is also accruing security. In the peasant world, each year and each season is as fragile as the next and can be dealt a blow by unfortunate weather or pests. And one only produces what one can consume in the near future – overproduction merely means waste.
Hi Laura,
Thought-provoking and agreement-inducing stuff!
There is one aspect of vegetable production which is perennially advantageous, though. That’s the benefit of well-cultivated soil passed from one year to the next.
In fact, one of the justifications for moving here was the notion that I might hand on cultivated ground to my kids. Given the rigours I’ve experienced in the breaking of new ground, I’m only just appreciating the generosity of this legacy!
That’s a very good point – good stewardship improving the quality of the soil for future generations, rather than depleting it…
Pigs….. the best workers on the farm…..they don’t answer back, just push you into the mud when they get truly fed up!!
How have you got your working teams split at the moment?
Sue xx
Hello Sue,
I’ve got one really lazy pig, I must confess. She’s always the first into the trough and the last out onto the field to work. This kind of intelligence will not be encouraged in the gene pool!
The piggy teams are split into Daddy pigs, Mummy pigs and the four piglets. I dread having to reconfigure them – it’s always chaos!
We also enjoyed a glimpse of spring at the weekend whilst working preparing the garden. The scale is different but the connection with nature and its cycles are the same. I love your blog and am looking forward to the year of self-sufficiency. We think of owning a smallholding one day, and it’s blogs like yours that give an insight into what it is really like – rather that the image you get from the gloss on TV. Best regards, David (City-Smallholder)
Hello David,
Thank you very much for those generous words.
The TV take on smallholding is pretty wretched isn’t it? There’s a programme on later this evening where people compete to be a farmer. For a year. I watched the first show of the series and thought it brilliantly encapsulated the complete opposite of everything this should be. Horrendous!
I hope you will get your smallholding in the not too distant future. Small-scale farming needs people like you.