This little piggy was castrated?

Well its been a busy few week and I know I have been AWOL. Mostly due to entertaining our visitors, but we have had a few things that should be discussed.

As I have managed to post our piglets are doing really well, and growing fast! The little girl and (possibly) the ginger one have homes. And as we’re planning on keeping “Berky” the white faced male, we just have the 2 black males still for sale. This in itself did provide a problem… castration. As I mentioned we are keeping “Berky”, and even though I have named him, he is intended for pork. However we didn’t “nut” him, as he was ours and personally I don’t believe “bore taint” affects the meat, most are killed for meat before they are mature anyway. So I see it as an unnecessary process. But for our bores to be “saleable” the others needed “nutting“.

Initially we caught the piglets using a landing net. This allowed us to remove them from the pen; and Mum, with little distress. She was not so stress free when I returned her piglets to her, minus a few bits!

We did use this opportunity to let our visitors hold the piglets.

After this we called in assistance. I am afraid I could not hold the piglets steady enough for Matt to perform the “surgery”; some thing he was not too confident in either. So our friend came to help. He said he had performed this, but on older animals. However our research indicated the younger the better. The main thing I want to stress is that all the boys are well and recovered exceptionally quickly! Some Matt said would have taken him far longer to get over.

Part of the reason for “nutting” the piglets younger was so their recovery could be assisted by them suckling. As the saying goes “breast is best” this accounts for animals too. Although as I mentioned I don't really understand the "reason" for doing it at all.

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Well its been a busy 2 weeks! My family have now been here 10 days, and yes we’re even still talking ;)

But in the time they have been here we have seen 7 new arrivals.  Which I was so excited to share with them, especially my six year old nephew. His favourites so far are the  2 chicks; Wellsumer-Sussex crosses, so gorgous fluffy yellow balls. From our stint of changing over of our roosters, for our not so successful meat bird program. Ronnie just is not quick enough, or have the dominance over the laying flock. He impatiently watched the eggs all week and was in ore as they hatched, desperate for them to dry enough to hold. He then helped build their nest in the brooder box and set up the lamp. He now checks on them daily.

The incubator is still full and we are counting down to our next hatchlings, due this weekend.

More exciting (for me at least), was the arrival of our 5 piglets on Thursday (four boys and one girl). All are fit and healthy and feeding well. Our sow delivered all naturally, on her own. As they were not there when I fed them in the morning, but were happily snuggled up in the shed in the evening. And in fairness she has been a very attentive Mum, but not too aggressive.

Even my sister who is (a self confessed) “not an animal person” was excited by their arrival. I think the novelty has warn off slightly with my nephew, as he has not yet been able to get close enough to hold one. Something that we will hopefully get to do this weekend, before we have to castrate the males that are for sale (we are not “nutting” our own bore). I say I hope he can hold them then, as I have a feeling Mum will not be so relaxed about letting me in the pen afterwards.

I will try and post about our success with this process soon. Especially as it is a first for us too. Though a friend (who has some experience) has agreed to lend a hand.

 Also this weekend is D-day for the turkeys ready for Christmas dinner. Which in itself had raised a few interesting conversations with my nephew. As whilst my sister or parents have not hidden the facts of where meat comes from, I guess he has never really been confronted with the direct association. But he appears to be taking it all in his stride. Even asking me to put the rooster in the pot, as he had kicked and scratched his arm.

Pig update

Still no piglets so far. She's now looking as if she's ready to feed. So hopefully we'll have piglets soon

3 weeks til Christmas, 3 days til family arrives

OK so it has been pretty hectic here, though we haven’t got around to half of the things I had hoped to blog about! We have had a ‘heat wave’ it officially reached 34 degrees (here on the coast, it was higher inland). Which doesn’t sound that hot, but when you consider the humidity is about 90%... it hot! So many of the jobs I had intended to get done are less than appealing during the day. And morning and evenings are very short. And as for rain, we had a thunder storm Tuesday, that was more of a light show than anything- 1mm of rain!

I have begun weeding, I at least have the path done and looking neat, just the herb garden, landscape gardens and veggie patch to do (probably early tomorrow). I did however start some seedlings, and they are doing quite well in the shed. I just hope I have more success when transferring them, than I have in the past.

Today is actually my last day at work for 2012, though Matt doesn’t break up for a few weeks. I must admit it feels weird, but as my family arrive in 3 days, I will be grateful for the extra time to get all the things done that I had hoped to in the past few weeks- nothing like organisation! I haven’t even posted my cards and gifts for those who are not coming... just hope the make it in time!

My family actually leave their homes tomorrow, even though they arrive here Sunday. I admit it’s a long trip- not something I look forward to. But I am looking forward to seeing them!

For those who have been following, we have been counting down to another arrival, due shortly. So penning off the pregnant sow, was not a job we could put off any further. So last night we built  a pen around their main shed.  I am just wondering how much trouble she will be, as she has never been an easy animal. And pigs are social, we wouldn’t have done it unless we felt it was necessary- we penned her off for her own health and that of her impending litter. We had hoped she would have started farrowing and we would have just built the pen around her chosen nest. But as with everything else since we have had this one, nothing come naturally. So we have used the main shed, and she has her own water tank... but she was not happy. See whether it is all still standing by the time I get home from work! 

Another issue we had prior to my family’s arrival, was our ever increasing flock. We did process our roosters and a few ducks last weekend, so our freezer is looking rather full now; in preparation for the extra mouths. Although we also acquired 2 more Rhode Island crosses from a friend of a friend. They were from the batch we hatched for the initial friend.

Unfortunately we have also ‘lost’ a few others. I found one duckling tangled in some of the fencing- as they wander where veer they feel. It couldn’t have been there long, but apparently it was long enough for it to die- think it broke its neck. Another just vanished last week, so we are now down to 8.  I know we had intension of reducing our numbers, but this was not what we had in mind.

On the opposite vein, we had limited success with crossing our Indian Game rooster without laying stock. After a week we candled the eggs in the incubator all of the other rooster over the few hens appear fertile; whereas Ronnie only appears to have had success with one. I just don’t think he has the dominance or the speed and agility. So we have put in another batch from Rocky (our Sussex rooster), now he is back with his girls. Mainly as I wanted chicks whilst my nephew was here, we also had a few duck eggs, so they went in too... so we will check them this weekend. 

Christmas is coming

Well the festive season is in full swing (already). This weekend was relatively quiet farm wise, as we joined in the merriment of the festive season. I can not believe next week we will be into December, and that there are less than 4 weeks til Christmas and only 5 weeks left of this year!
So with our both of our work Christmas functions being on Friday, we are pretty much celebrated out now, so can focus on our pending deadlines.
My family arrive in under two weeks; meaning we still have tidying to do- few things around the garden. And most definitely shed. Along with sorting a few last minutes (or should I say, shouldn't have been lat minute) things. Such as a booster seat! Since my nephew will be 6 years and 9 months when he comes, and you have to have one for children under 7. Only a booster seat appears really hard to find.
Other than that I have a bit of spring cleaning; wash and freshen the bedding in the spare rooms and put the Christmas decorations up!
In farming deadlines, we are on count down to P-day... PIGLETS! So this coming weekend we shall separate her; since she still hasn't begun to nest in either shed.

Also we set a batch of eggs in the incubator. So by the weekend we should know whether any are fertile. These are for our 'meat brid' experiment. Though we only had one egg from our Indian Game hen, so comparisons maybe hard. We had also set them as we want chicks whilst my nephew is here. So if they are not showing signs this weekend, we have time to collect another batch; now we have returned our roosters to thier original stalking grounds.
Rocky instantly stamped his authority on the laying hens, "doing his rounds". Whilst Ron appears much more comfortable in the smaller pen, not having to move too far, or contest for food. 

And my garden in looking a little more green thanks to the 16mm of rain we had Satiruday night... unfortunately so are the weeds. So full steam ahead this coming weekend.

Poultry progress... let the egg tally begin

The geese have settled in well. And the ducklings are growing in both size and bravado! They still manage to squeeze through the fencing, so they wander freely around the front garden and hel themselves to the Indian game’s food supply.

As for the chickens we will be collecting eggs this week for our ‘meat bird’ program; as we swapped our roosters around a few weeks back now. And they should have settled into their new homes and be ‘working’ sufficiently.

As I have explained in the past, most commercial ‘meat birds’ are bred from, or variations of the Ross cob. This cross was bred for its mass, weight gain and appetite.  However I struggle to rear these birds due to their rapid growth and appetite, limits their natural behaviours and their quality of life is affected.  Struggling to stand or walk, sitting in their own mess, eating! We even had to remove their food at night to stop them eating constantly... and ended up rehousing them in a shelter with bedding on the floor, as they could not manage ramps or steps; but then this increased their risk to predators.

Young Indian Game's

So we made the decision to breed and rear our own table birds, that will hopefully be capable of laying eggs. Similar to that of http://castlefarmeggs.co.uk/?page_id=787 . In the hope that they would be able to free range better and have a longer, better quality of life. The idea being we cross a good dual purpose/ or larger breed layer, such as the Sussex or Australorp x’s we already had with a game bird. We have had an Old English Game rooster cross with our layers, and the roosters from that combination carried a fair amount of quality meat for their size. However they also carried the athletic and aggressive traits of the rooster; the same reason we no longer have him. However these are also supposed to be a good free ranging layer. So I still have hopes for the few pullets we have raised. 

But in our quest for a table bird we decided to try them with our resident Indian Games, or Dark Cornish. This breed is heavier, carrying a lot of breast meat and although still flighty, they are far less aggressive... though the females can be pretty feisty when protecting their nests. Matt says they look like a roast chook with their feathers on. And I must admit they do have that neat shape, so hopefully a cross between these birds and the layer may work.

We are unsure which will work better; the Sussex rooster over the game or the Indian game over the layers? I have read a few things that suggest Sussex over Indian game produces a better table bird, though the productivity is likely to be less as Indian game hens produce fewer eggs per annum. Though the layers produce more regularly, there may be issues in regard to whether the Indian Game rooster is capable of servicing the females sufficiently for a good fertility rate due to his stature.

We know both roosters ‘work’ as we have had a few batches of layers from Rocky and we currently have 9 young Indian Game pullets and roosters from Ronnie. These birds have gorgeous patterns and colours through thier feathers- something I hope will pass to thier young, even when crossed.  

We are hoping that these birds will still produce relatively productive layers. As when it comes to maintaining our laying flock, we obviously generate a supply of roosters. Therefore the most efficient format would be to have a single strain of birds that we could raise the females as layers and the males for meat.

So this week will begin collecting for incubation. I will be marking the eggs as to their source (which rooster over which females). So we can assess the virility of the roosters and the success of the resulting offspring as either layers of table birds. So expect a regular egg collection report, this probably wouldn’t hurt so we know when the Old English Game cross pullets and Sussex and Sussex-Australorp cross pullets begin to lay.

Veggie delights (or lack of)

Like many in the tropics my veggie patch is looking quite sorrowful at the moment. It is coming toward the end of the dry season and the hot, humid climate is intolerable to many plants. To be honest the garden, lawn and paddock are looking brown and is desperate for actual rainfall. A storm had been prodicted over the weekend but until last night we were still waiting. We did have a light show and a shower last night, but this morning the rain guage read 1.5mm. Barely enough to dampen the paddock. Which suprisingly is looking greener than anything- though this may not last now our cows are restricted to just our plot (the neighbour has separated his to worm and feed up).

But the veg patch beside being brown, is looking tired and bare. The last batch of lettuces bolted, and has taken weeks to seed. The basil has finally seeded, so these will all be pulled and dried this weekend, leaving a few ‘pre-eaten’ cabbages along with a waning brussel sprout plant in the basilica garden. I have a few bean seedlings sprouting and the odd ripening strawberry, along with the last of the beetroot and fennel bulbs  in between the bamboo supports of the bean garden. Whilst the third raised patch is bare. The pallet gardens have barely been started- since none od the seeds sown came to anything. The most vibirant area is the the ‘vine garden’, which is largely self propagated plants such as pumpkins, tomatoes and eggplants (aubergines).

Seems strange to see the garden looking lack luster through the summer, as I always remember my grandparents gardens (Bamp on my Mam’s side and Nan on my Dad’s) gardens flourishing through this time of year...And we reaped the rewards come autumn. But then we don’t really have 4 seasons here either. So I just have to learn to adapt and grow what will sustain the heat and in a few weeks the wet too.

So, having had little success from planting seeds direct last month. I returned to planting seeds in trays last night; in the hope that these maybe transplanted in a few weeks. Though I think I may need to sow the next months before transplanting these out. So will need to source some more seedling trays and bases to stand them in (for water). I had read something recently about using toilet roll tubes as starter trays. I think I will look into this, as with a full house over Christmas (us and 7 guests) we may go through a few. Am guessing that either the roll would decompose, or could be cut off, so the transplanting process would be less stressful to the seedling- Something that I haven’t had the greatest success with to date. So can only be worth a try.

Well, as I explained the warm and humid, wet conditions of the Queensland summer does limit what plants will survive. But it doesn’t mean my garden has to look as for lone as it does. Pretty much, as my ‘vine garden’ is testament to; anything vine based will thrive. So pumpkins, zucchinis/courgettes, tomatoes, eggplant/aubergines, chillies, capsicums/peppers. I also planted a few summer lettuces (not all varieties will thrive at this time of year but a few can), a few containers of Asian vegetables, as these should with stand the conditions. A few heirloom carrots and radishes, so hopefully they will produce. But also a couple of unknown, they will apparently grow through these summer months, but as I haven’t eaten either Ceylon spinach (a vine variety) or okra, let alone grown them. It maybe interesting to see the results.