A person cannot herd pigs. We nudge them and entice them but they do nothing in herds. Once released they scatter.
Today is the day for the most recent plonkers, a group called The Charlottes, to be loaded into the stock trailer. They leave early tomorrow morning. And I do not load just before they leave. Too much can go wrong. I prefer they take their time. So I load the day before.
And they have quite the walk before we get to the trailer.
I will create a few pretend fences to keep them walking in the right direction. I will feed Jude and FreeBee down the back of their field. Tima and Wai will be locked out of their little field. The big hogs will (hopefully) walk through their field and into Tima’s field (I shut the first gate as they go through so they cannot go back) then after a while they find the open door on the far side and go through that door into the barn. (Then I will shut that door behind them). They will walk hesitantly through the milking parlour into the cows bedroom, (no cows, then I will shut that barn door behind them), through another gate into the dark north pen, (shut that gate) through another gate into the big south pen (shut that gate) where the trailer will be waiting in the barn entrance. Once the last gate is shut they are secure from escape so they can take their time loading themselves with a little encouragement. There will be food in the trailer and hopefully they will go through that gate and into the trailer and I shut the big trailer door behind them.
This can take hours. Or minutes. You just never know. The fact that they are all moving together may or may not help. Because they may or may not move together. Sigh.
Hogs cannot be herded they have to want to get into the trailer. If they spook at all we are sunk. So that last step is always the tricky one.
I just wait. Ready to leap for the door the moment the last one is through.
So if all goes well they get to sleep in the trailer overnight. They will be tucked up with heaps of straw and a big bowl of water in the corner.
And leave at dawn tomorrow.
Here is some more autumn colour.
The fields are empty. Soon a guy with a plough will gently turn some of this debris in.
In the meantime Wai and Tima and the chickens are foraging out there.
The chook house is waiting.
For the first of many loads of autumn leaves. The leaves become their litter and egg box liners for winter. In the spring the bedding will be brought out and added to the compost heap. The chickens love it!
Ok! Good morning!
Have a lovely day.
By tomorrow morning the summer animals (all but one cow that leaves next month) will be gone.
Then we can turn our eyes to winter. You never know about life. Anything can happen – best to be prepared to pivot. Winter feels like a slow motion pivot.
Take care. Talk soon.
Celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
14 responses to “The Charlottes Have Their Day”
Beautiful pond picture.
I hope it’s all stress free.
Best to you C as the Charlotte’s move themselves along without incident. I know what the thought of winter means to you, it is not a favorite, but I do like the idea of the settling in time, the preparation for what is to come and the closing out of a good and productive year on the farm.
I hope all goes well, and as Mad says, stress free. We have massive quantities of leaves here, but have never used them in the chicken house. Do you chop them up first, or shovel them in whole? It sounds like a great plan!
Sending good Charlotte herding thoughts from another Charlotte, though not of the pig variety. Haha. I am, as always, so impressed with the way you do things. And I can’t wait to read the report tomorrow!
Hope the meandering Charlottes are agreeable and all goes well with the journey from the field to the waiting trailer. I would think that the approach of winter would be something of a relief for you with fewer animals to deal with——-maybe a time of semi-rest for you.
Gusty winds today and as a result leaves flying everywhere. Guess the time to get out and rake the pine needles has arrived—most of them are down. Best to get them tucked away (to be used as mulch here and there) hopefully saving time and energy to deal with the leaves once more of them are down.
A major move
You have such a thoughtful way in moving your animals around. So much better for them to be stress free and enticed by food. I hope you have a lovely day and enjoy the leaf colors while they last.
Huge good luck and fingers tightly crossed for today and tomorrow. I’m sure your amazing attention to detail and care for the Charlottes will pay off. Here’s to the next stage on the farmy especially if it gives you a vert well earned stage of a SLIGHTLY easier time for a while.
I hope that went well, and quickly. I love the reds of autumn. 🍂 Have a lovely day! Patti
I love that you use fallen leaves for litter and egg box liner and then compost it… even without the chicken coop stage leaves are a valuable resource in the garden. We use cedar leaves and it saves a reasonable amount of money and effort bringing in mulch. We rake them up and toss into a big bin made from a round of spare chicken wire mesh. We leave leaves on the ground around edges and corners as they suppress weeds and provide habitat for beneficial insects, and particularly Christmas beetles & fireflies.
Those autumn colours are spectacular. What a show. Hope all goes smoothly and without stress.
I envy you your fallen leaf compost. We don’t get much, not enough to be useful, and at this time of year it’s better on the ground protecting the soil from being baked by the sun. Bring on the Wet, all the grass is brown (I refuse to water it unless I’m grazing chickens on it) and everything is dusty. I’m glad the swineherding went well. The Farmy is truly seasonal, emptying itself for winter.
Unlike you we have had only a paltry 3 months without rain – you will know the dust from harvested fields – my face is dusky with dust by the end of the day- I pretend it is a facial scrub but there is rain in the forecast tonight! So let’s hope that comes through.
Fingers crossed for something to damp the dust and freshen the breeze.