Run-aways
We have not had an escape for ages. Everyone seems to be happy where they are. But when I went out to do the afternoon chores yesterday and saw this –
– in front of the barn, I knew that somewhere was an escaped pig. I looked first into the bedroom of the little pigs and found Tima and Tane. Something very wrong with that picture. Instead of seven little Hereford pigs there were two old kunekune pigs in there.
Looking further I found all seven of the little pigs, upon being set out on their adventure by Tima, had gone through the barn overturning everything and looking behind everything else then erupted out into the corridor paddock and were busy trying to make friends with Sheila through the fence.
And digging holes in the field. Which is why they do not live in this field! They have their own backyard to dig in.
It actually took some time to sort this out. Tima and Tane wander free in the winter – kunekune don’t dig holes in the soft grass so I don’t mind them wandering through the gardens doing winter house-keeping. Apparently Tima had found a way to open the little pigs door. Then threw all the little pigs out and she and Tane proceeded to eat all their food. Of course the little pigs were thrilled. And Sheila was glad there was a fence between her and a gaggle of screechy piglets.
I was not too worried – they all come when they are called – but I wanted them out of that little field as soon as I could before they dug it all up. At least they did not end up in the kitchen like Poppy that time.
The Cadet, wearing her grand-dad’s gloves and her own getting-too-small gumboots came for a visit and helped me get all the pigs back in order and then we shifted the little chickens in with the big chickens and we started to catch all the wild chickens, mostly Leghorns who lay big white eggs all over the place, so we can get them all into the Chook House together. The Chook House door has to be shut for a while now to teach the little chicks where their home is. So we may as well have all the chickens in there at the same time now that they have begin to lay. The space is pretty big and being so warm I have opened up their wall door so they will have plenty of natural light in the day.
Things get a bit loose in the winter, especially with gates and chickens and pigs apparently. But soon there will only be roosters roaming free eating pig food and getting fat for the first spring cull.
There is hope for a little sun today and if the sun does come out I will make the new electric fence for the Middle Sized Pigs. I need them to dig up one specific area that will be a new vegetable garden this coming summer. Of course I can do this job in endless cloudiness but I want sun. And I see no reason why I cannot have sun if I want it. So.
I hope you are going to have a lovely day or at least find some loveliness in your day.
Love celi
78 Comments on “Run-aways”
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thekitchensgarden 
Good to catch a glimpse of The Cadet again. Do you see her very often anymore?
She is a teenager so she just pops in when she has time.. c
How funny! It looks like Sheila might have been talking to the piglets from the safety of her own field… 🙂
She did not seem too upset about it – not nipping at therm or anything.. c
She probably tipped the girls off about keeping their virginity and becoming pet pigs 😉
I wonder how much time Tima and Tane had before you discovered them. I can just imagine Tane having just hauled himself in there only to find he was busted!
Poor old Tane – I let him have a rummage about for a while before ejecting them – he is a pretty belligerent chap when asked to move too.. so it was a bit of a scene! c
The piglets are darling. They remind me of naughty children that make you laugh but you mustn’t let them see you laugh or else they’ll think it’s okay to be funny in that naughty way forever! So you turn your head and hide your laugh with a very serious cough. The Sun better obey if it knows what’s good for it.
Still cloudy but there is the promise of a little sun.. c
We had sun for a few hours yesterday and today! We WOKE UP TO SUN! AND IT’s still shining. Hope is on it’s way to you! Life is wonderful within sunbeams!
Linda
Most days I have to chuckle at the antics of your “critters.” The entertainment on my little fsrm seems mundane. Maybe I should get a piglet ot two to redig my overgrown garden and eat the high quality chicken food that I bought one day when I was being lazy, and the chickens won’t eat. They went on strike until I started making my own again. What do you do with 8 gallons of quality layer pellets that no one wants?
Aren’t chickens funny- what do you put in your own special chicken mix?
My mix most of the time is 16 c Black Oil Sunflower seed, 12 c Whole Oats, 16 c Wheat Berries, 6 c Whole Corn, 8 c split peas or lentils (can use soy but I don’t), 2 c flax seed, 3/4 c kelp powder, 2 Tbs Olive or coconut oil. I mix this up in a 5 gallon bucket and grind in my Corona mill as I use it. My layer flock gets 3 c + 1/2 c freezedried mealworms per 8 birds. When I am really lazy, I go to Tractor Supply, a feed store and buy their Dumor 5 grain scratch, beef it up with the sunflower seed, peas or lentils, flax seed, kelp, and oil, but since the scratch is cracked, I don’t grind it and I supplement it with a full cup of mealworms and a little layer pellets. I also give them gifts of fresh caught mice when one gets in the house or car and gets caught and most kitchen scraps except banana and avocado peels.
Pigs really are very mischievous!
It is their best! c
Those piggies 🙂 There Sheila was minding her cows when somebody let the whole excited kindergarten loose on her! So pleased to see the Cadet lending a helping hand again. Laura
Hi Laura, yes it was nice to have her round again.. c
Nothing like ‘runaways’ occasionally to keep you on your toes!!! 🙂
You know it!! c
The coloring of your pigs is mighty confusing, a city-boy like me might mistake them for beef-cattle. 🙂
And this pig breed is called Hereford too, so you could be forgiven for the city boy confusion! c
I say my beagles are “head down, brain off” when they are on a trail, I think we can apply this to pigs also. The flash back of Poppy in the kitchen made me smile – as does remembering the turkeys running amuck in the house. Oh the adventures you do have!
HI CADET!!!!!!!!!! Nice to see you again!
Yup – it is a bit like that! Certainly the brain OFF thing.. c
Sounds like those pesky pigs are going to give you a run for your money. They do keep you on your toes. They look adorable out for their visit with auntie Sheila. It’s good to see you with a second pair of hands doing all those chores. We had lovely bits of sun last week during our too cold to breathe spell. Now a week of rain followed by a glimmer of hope for some gentler weather and maybe a peak at the sun. Hope you see it shine on you today. With all those characters on your farm, you never have need of a television set for entertainment. Have a wonderfilled day yourself.
Nope – never felt a need for a television at all..c
Ha ha piglets on the rampage….love em all. Xxxx
When they are happy they dance around in a circle and wack at each other with their heads, if they happen to get my leg instead it is a reasonable thump. c
The mud is more fun on the other side …a mischievous bunch always looking for fun….and the games once you discover them.
We humans are all pretty sick of the mud this year
Yes, it is getting past a joke now – especially with dogs
Ditto here, too!
Snorts with piggy laughter. It was the great pig escape…. not that I have ever done anything like that in my oinker life… nope not at all. XOXO – Bacon
You never would!! Good wee piggie like you
Looks innocent. Surely I would not. It was a ninja that broke into the Hotel Thompson and snuck into the freezer eating ice cubes. Scouts honor… XOXO – Bacon
You have no snow! A foot or more deep here but a long thaw coming. You as well it seems; http://cci-reanalyzer.org/wx/DailySummary/#T2_anom
We have only had a little snow. hmm that is an interesting site, if I could work out how to read it, lots of warm colours.
Sorry I’m late. On that sight I look mostly at “Today’s weather” and on that page I watch primarily the Temperature Anomaly and the Jet Stream. So for today fully half on North America is way above average temperature for this time of year. It’s a good site to determine what weather is coming and how long it will last. Last year at this time we were just starting a period of very cold temperatures that persisted for weeks.
Sheila is not impressed! 😂
“We are not impressed,”she said into her double chin wobbling. c
Delightful tale!
I was interrupted when leaving my response. Hence, the one-word reply!
What I wanted to add was wondering how you find the time not only to run everything but also to publish such interesting posts every day!
I have a system – actually i am like a cow – I find the routine of posting every day easier than posting every now and then.. c
Now that I emphatise with. But taking and including all those photographs is still very impressive.
heh heh… you do use some great words. (i.e. after creating havoc in the barn they “erupted” outside — I can really picture it) Wow, the Cadet came for a visit! That’s lovely. Hope you told her we’ve all asked about her from time to time and so nice to hear of her again now. That was a funny story about Poppy in the kitchen but verging on even funnier is the thought of poor Manu hiding from her.. hahaha Well, hope the sun does come out and pour it’s brightness upon you. ~ Mame
That sure was a funny day – Poppy was quite dismayed at how her day was turning out
oh those little pigs are mischievous! Naughty naughty but oh so cleverly cute! I am sure Sheila was glad to be on the OTHER side of the fence!
Have a lovely day yourself- Cheers!
Sheila is not a girl who likes to be mobbed so it was lucky she was on the other side.. c
What a farm you have.
Yes – it keeps me on my toes!
Having been raised with all sorts of creatures, I am loving your blog. Reminds me of our pig who used to meet the school bus at the edge of our yard. Much to the dismay of my trying-to-be cool little sister.
That is the sweetest image – your poor sister having a grunting pig meet her.. c
Lots of excitement at the farmy this morning!! How wonderful that the little piggies come when called. I remember when one of our smaller pigs got out into the barn and we had a heck of a time getting him back in. it sure was an exciting morning and it seems the little piggies – who are CUTE AS HELL – had one hell of a good time!! ; o )
They are easier to move as a group too – one on its own would need different tactics.. c
Those piggies are just like bored children, eager for any excitement they can find. I’ve quite fallen in love with their antics.
They certainly take full advantage of a crack in the door! c
[D] This is what we’ve come to expect from the little piggies! BTW, is that a Belted Galloway I see on the right of photo 4?
That is the son of Lady Astor my big old milk cow- he is a Dutch Belted steer.
I just found a bit of loveliness by stopping in here, you always cheer my morning!
Miss C, those are some darling piglets, If I lived close enough to you, I would buy my growout piggies.. they look so healthy and happy.. love it.. wet muddy feet and all.
Bad wee barn pigs helping the hoard get out and play.. but I know what you mean.. here is the snow drifts.. I have some area’s that are three feet at least of drifts and when the fences are 5 and few inches high, suddenly that is only two feet worth of fence left.. Hubby had dreams of babies last night and I smiled as he got up and put on layers and boots and climbed though new drifts given to us overnight to check the big barn and the sheep flock to see if there was a wee lamb out there..
I know that the first are not due for a week or two year but many of the girls are due in Feb.. its coming soon.. I will like you.. hope for sunshine.. at the moment, another storm.. grey, cold and gritty snow..
A farmer once told me that there was a series of huge snow storms here one year and it banked up behind his shed, storm after storm, packing down and one day he realized that the cows were perilously close to be able to climb ONTO the shed. nothing to do about it – he had to shift the cows and wait for the melt! Imagine. Hope your lambs start soon and I hope it is a good season – c
I’ve been missing the Cadet!
She is a teenager now and busy with other things bless her.. hopefully she is on a roll and will come again.. c
What a delightful post today! Haven’t we all escaped at some time in our lives? Didn’t we all join in a little mischief? And haven’t we all been herded back to where we were supposed to be… only to delight in another escape when no one was looking? That fourth image is flat comical… piglets in the wrong place with Sheila on the other side of the fence and other obvious onlookers doing nothing but gawking! I LIKE IT!! ha ha!
gawking – i love that word! c
Your tales make my situation dim in comparison, Ceci! The kitchen faucet sprung a huge leak. Had to turn the water off yesterday to replace it, but needed to make a 100 miles R/T into the city to get parts. Have been washing dishes in the bathroom sink! Oh, a most interesting life we lead on our little place! At least the roof doesn’t leak any more. Please tell your Cadet it’s good to see her face again!
Oh how BORING! I hate plumbing problems! c
I’d like some sun too if you can spare a little!
None came – did you get any!? c
Sorry, sorry everyone. We’re getting all your sunshine Down Under. Can we work out some sort of trade agreement where you take 10°C of our heat, and we’ll have some of your cold weather? Temps for the Mackay region in Queensland are forecast to be from 36°C – 46°C (97-115°F) for the next couple of days, and we’ve had a couple of heatstroke deaths already…
Those photos make it clear how majestic Miss Sheila really is. Stick a longer pair of legs on her and she’d give the steers a run for their money, size-wise.
She has some serious SIZE that pig.. c
Something about this post reminded me of a long forgotten memory of my Grandfather, gone for 50 years now, calling his pigs ‘Soo Pigs, soo pigs, soo pigs’. They came. xx
What a great memory Ardys.. c
Too funny, those little pigs. Percy can be quite belligerent when he doesn’t want to move too. I find placing both shins on his behind and kind of walking him works well though he does not like to be yelled at when he’s being grumpy either. We had a couple hours of SUN today and what a wonderful difference that makes. Of course it wasn’t enough to dissolve all the skating rinks we have, one of the chickens did a ten foot slide after hopping out of the coop. I am purely tired of walking like a penguin. I find I’ve developed a dreadful fear of falling. I hope you get your sun, it always makes things at least seem so much easier.
Pigs! you got to love em. The list of jobs to do if the sun shines is getting longer here, but I don’t mind 🙂
Never a dull moment on the farm and still a lot to do in the winter. I just love your Hereford pigs!!!
Oh dear! And I think if you want sun, you most certainly should have some 😀
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