Mud. Has evolved in uses - from mud huts, to modern construction. From mud pies to mud wrestling to mud baths and mud beauty treatments. I have become as close to mud as I care to get outside of The Sanctuary, Covent Garden, courtesy of Spot and Stripe.
What was their grassy area is now about a foot sunken and is the gloopiest, sloppiest mess you'd ever seen. S&S sure are happy though. It gets everywhere - the electric fencing is caked in it, my boots are caked in it, their water bowl has to be scrubbed out twice daily. I can't even escape it when not on the field as when DD goes to school she's dropped off on the school playing field which is so muddy my winter tyres suck up about half of it before depositing it back onto the main road a la tractor style! Anyway, the pigs are getting really rather big and I really ought to tag them soon and they really do have some biting teeth about them! They are 4 months next week and we (DH) must weigh them soon which I am reliably informed (by my DH from his non muddy desk) is done with a tape measure down their spine then round their shoulders. Apply a quick formula and hey presto! count down to crackling begins!
Denzil is denzilling around though he is out of favour all round as his exuberance appears to have injured Dors who is badly limping at present. He's also quite the brute at feeding times butting the girls out of the way to grab as much food. Still, he clearly has the impact bad boys have on most women as they still moon after him and follow where he leads. Minty in particular from the other field has been outrageously flirting with him, the hussy, and it's led me to question; a) do sheep jump? and b) is impregnation possible through the fence?! I read at the weekend in the Mails You magazine (it wasn't my house I swear!) an article by Kate Humble who informed me that once a ewe is pregnant the ram won't go for her again. My god! This is amazing stuff! A male who is in tune with his females...!! Maybe Denzil does have a softer side after all...
Interesting visit last week from Defra/Trading Standards who rang up out of the blue (allegedly) and turned up the next day. DH and I didn't get off to a good start when we were told we were being visited as we were 'high risk' HIGH RISK?? It then came to light that the reason we were high risk was simply because as a 'new' smallholder (only had the land 18months+...) we hadn't been visited yet. Now I know what you're thinking, we thought it too. Wouldn't it be more sensible, efficient and fairer to the smallholder to click 'add column' into their spreadsheet and title it 'Not yet visited?' It could even be shortened to 'NYV.' Apparently not. There was form filling, tickboxes and flow charts galore. Checks of licenses and all sorts of paper pushing. No visit to the actual land mind you, maybe that's not their division... Through the post a few days afterwards appeared reams of booklets and paper records. Seriously. In this day and age of the computer, email, online access etc and in times of saving money and costcutting none of it was necessary had they put the information online. I'm not going to start a political hot potato on the public sector (moi? Trouble maker? Noooo!) but anyone with half a mind on organising and time management and budgeting could see the obvious improvements here.
Well, off now to consider pig feed costs (Guards Chapel Westminster yesterday, pig feeds today) do a spot of xmas wrapping and diarise the 72 hour slot I'll need to read through the literature received from Trading Standards... Oh, for anyone wondering, we are, of course, A-OK!
Take care all - last minute xmas shopping can turn nasty, ugly and not done with much 'goodwill!" Or maybe I can look into opening the outdoor mud treatment experience...
Mx
Weather: Cold but better than most of the UK. Preparing for gales - not as bad as most of the UK. Can't complain really, just hating the dark! 13 degrees and sunny currently.
