Our New Life in the Country: Population Explosion!!

Tuesday, 2 August 2011

Population Explosion!!

Yep....we've had a populaton explosion on the farm, all thanks to Maud who has just finished giving birth to 15....yes that's right 15 babies.

Up to now all are doing fine but whether they will continue to do so we will have to wait and see, she only has 12 teats so they will have to learn to share if they are all to survive. We will step in and help a bit if necessary but she seems to be coping at the moment.

Most were born in the early hours of the morning without any trauma, but I had to step in and help the last one who came out with the afterbirth and was struggling to escape. Now Mum and babies are all fast asleep and the gentle snores that are drifting over the orchard seem to have sent the farm into a relaxed mode.

My lovely parents who have been looking after the farm in our absence were thrilled to see some piglets born at last, they've always just missed the births before now. This morning they packed their bags ready for the journey home, and while Dad settled down to his breakfast .......

..... Mum ensured he couldn't have seconds by giving the chickens the rest of the box of cornflakes!!

A HUGE thank you to both of them for coping with all the adversity of the weekend (we ran out of oil and so the Aga went out) with grins on their faces and a twinkle in their eyes.

It was lovely to see Jessie again and as soon as we are pig free we will be able to visit her much more often, now if only we can stop Maud producing babies!!

Sue xx

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This was my Blog, just me writing about our day to day life learning all about and then living the smallholding life. First we started on a farm in Oxfordshire, then we moved to a smaller place in Berkshire (both in England) and then we found a place of our very own at the bottom of a hillside in North Wales. Along for the ride were all our various animals, and we ended up with just our dogs, Suky and Mavis, our cat Ginger .... who secretly thinks he's one of the canine gang, a sheep called Ethel who wandered in off the road and stayed... and a roving band of egg laying chickens that live cheek by jowl with the local wildlife.

We grow our own fruit and vegetables, selling surplus plants and edibles at the gate. We sell the eggs the chickens lay, we reuse, recycle and rethink ... and life ticks over at a pace that suits us.

It was simply the wild and wacky ramblings of a 50 something townie turned country girl called Sue, who lost her heart to a sailor and started a new life in the country .... many years ago. On a path that took us from Cumbria to Oxfordshire, to Berkshire and then we found our home at the bottom of a wet and windy Welsh hillside by a busy main road.

Pull up a chair, grab a coffee and relax into a world of dogs, cats, chickens, polytunnels and veggies with the occasional grass munching sheep thrown in for good measure.

Sue xx

Disclaimer

Our New Life in the Country is my blog.

I use it to chart the day by day, week by week, year by year goings on in mine and Lovely Hubby's life. In it I also express my views and opinions, and say what I do and occasionally how I do it. I am hoping that this will prove to be a useful reminder for myself of how we did things, as we continue in our learning process.

If you chose to follow my practices it is assumed that you will do so with care and consideration, and question where necessary any methods or techniques I use to your own satisfaction and match them to your own circumstances.

The pictures in each blog post are taken by me unless otherwise credited, and as such should not be borrowed and used elsewhere without my consent.