Piggies and a little surprise

On Monday we collected our three little pigs, they are Berkshires and we have two boys and a girl. We drove up to Honiton to collect them from Smallicombe Farm and once the paperwork was completed we loaded them into the trailer, they seem pretty laid back about the whole process and when we arrived home and opened up the trailer they were all snuggled up together asleep.

They soon settled into their new home.

They are quite cute really, don't think I will be naming them as they are destined for the freezer.

After shearing on sunday I replaced the neck chain on Quartz as he looks even more like Felspar now, this worked well until yesterday when I went to check on the boys, Quartz has lost his necklace. Not sure how I am going to tell these two apart now!

Like Peas in a pod!

And the little surprise!

As I said our girls are just coming up to their due period, Carla and Marietta first the Lily....so I thought. Lily is alway a little difficult she never gives clear spit offs, she was mated several times last year and I am sure she sat in late July ............. at least my records show this. So it was a bit surprising when I got back to the fields this afternoon to find a cluster of females, I thought Marietta had given birth but then I saw a head hanging from Lily.........head..... no legs! as I was there on my own I had no chance of examining Lily to see what the position was.......... Then a really strange think happened, Lily walk right up to me, sniffed around my head and hands, Lily is usually the most flighty of all our girls and would never come anywhere near. A quick call to Richard our Vet and he was on his way, just as Steve pulled up in the landrover, so with an extra pair of hands I was able to check where the legs were and managed to ease them out. Finally a large male cria was delivered, very strong and sitting up within minutes. So another call to the Vet to stop him turning up!

We had planned a picnic tea in the field with the grandchildren this evening so we spent time with them and watching the cria at the same time, the little chap was up on his feet and suckling within an hour, in fact once he was on his feet his mum took him on a tour of the field examining the rolling spots, the gateways, every corner and finally the drinking trough all this with one of lily's daughter, grandaughter and a couple of other interested females in tow (why don't I have a camera when needed) . He is the first cria we have had from our Stud male Langaton Caliban so we are very excited to see what he is like, he certainly seems to have inherited his fathers head shape and there is loads of fleece around his face. I really need to take the camera with me in the morning.

Hopefully Carla and Marietta with follow Lily's lead and give birth quite soon!