Wiltshire Village Meats Farm Diary December 2007

Wiltshire Village Meats Farm Diary - December 2007 -

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Welfare - free range sows and piglets - Quality
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Walter Rose and son Family Butchers

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FARM DIARY
THE EVERYDAY STORY OF LIFE ON A WILTSHIRE FARM

Cows at Bishops Cannings shortly before being housed for the winter

Alasdair helps move a sow and litter

Daddy pig - as featured in Goldilocks and the three pigs

Mummy pig - who was very big and scary!

Garfield and Hamish camoflaged in the hay-rack

December sunrise - West End Farm

Jed enjoys a frosty walk

Grace and the fence she decided to get stuck in on Christmas eve

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December 2007
Goldilocks and the three pigs, and the Pigometer

We ended November taking School assembly at our village School with the 'fairly, scary, fairy story' - Goldilocks and the Three Pigs. This told the tale of a visit by Goldilocks, her brother Thingummy to Crooked Soley to see how Daddy pig, Mummy pig and Little pig lived! It was well received by the children and was lots of fun to do. I haven't worked out quite why they found these pictures of a boar and sow particularly funny!

Thank you Bishops Cannings Primary School for being such a good audience!

We begin December with a visit to Bristol on Monday with a giant wooden pig featuring a thermometer showing how much the British pig industry is losing each week currently. This has been organised by the Meat and Livestock Commission and should be featured on ITV West news on Monday.

Meanwhile, real life farming continues in the rain and mud with staff struggling with colds and flu. To help cover some of the absences we have another relief pigman coming on Sunday to help for a fortnight until Stewart returns. Never a dull moment!

12th December 2007
Glorious sunrises and frosty fields

After the gales and rain of last week it is a real pleasure to enjoy beautiful sunrises and fine frosty days. However, we don't want too prolonged frosts or else the water pipes freeze at Soley and we have to water-cart water to the pigs every day - this is obviously very time-consuming. So long as everyone keeps warm and dry it is great working conditions.

This morning was so beautiful that I took a diversion across the fields on the way back from School and Jed obligingly posed for some photographs in the frost.

Back in the office work continues with yet more inspectors due next week and various management plans to update before January. There are new food chain regulations for moving pigs due in January which requires a new registration process. Three census forms from DEFRA and one for farm-saved seed and just in case I'm bored I need to get the accounts finished and to the accountant ASAP! I had better get on with it all!

24th December 2007
Happy Christmas!

Well it has been an exciting couple of days leading up to Christmas. We had a power-cut on Saturday morning as a power cable came down in one of our fields - presumably due to a build up of ice from freezing fog - we had no wind. If we have a prolonged power-cut we have to use a tractor-driven generator to run the computer that feeds the pigs that are housed in barns at West End. This is always a fairly nerve-wracking procedure, this time it worked fine and the power was back on by lunch-time and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Until that is the next feed wouldn't run - turning off the generator had blown something in the feed computer. Fortunately an exceptionally kind engineer drove up at 9.00pm that night from Chard in Somerset, through the fog and managed to repair the problem. I call that service - we are very grateful Ian - thank you.

Today we had a little Christmas-eve excitement, on returning from our traditional cycle round the village to deliver Christmas cards, we discovered Grace, Rachels sheep, with her head stuck in the fence. Fortunately wire cutters were to hand and it only required one strand to be cut to free her. Rachel did her best not to panic, telling Grace to be calm and good and she would be alright. Fortunately she is unharmed so all is well - a sheep tragedy on Christmas eve would have been very unfortunate.

This Christmas is a particularly busy one for Cameron. He has been working all weekend, Christmas eve and Christmas day until about 5pm. There are about 40 sows farrowing this weekend and all the stock need as much care and attention as they always do. Everyone wants some time off so unfortunately the boss gets the least. However, the Christmas story is centred around the birth of Jesus in a stable surrounded by animals and shepherds and I always think there is something quite special being with the animals on Christmas day - I hope Cameron does too! So Christmas dinner (Woolley Park Farm goose) in the Naughton household will be in the evening when all the work is finally done.

Whenever and whereever you have your Christmas meal we wish you a very happy and peaceful Christmas

For further information on anything on this site please contact Muriel Naughton
Email: Naughton@Farming.co.uk

	Wiltshire Village Meats Welfare - - Quality		In association with Walter Rose and son Family Butchers
NOV 2008 OCT 2008 SEP 2008 AUG 2008 JUL 2008 JUN 2008 MAY 2008 APR 2008 MAR 2008 FEB 2008 JAN 2008 DEC 2007 NOV 2007	FARM DIARY THE EVERYDAY STORY OF LIFE ON A WILTSHIRE FARM
	Links to other pages HOME FARM SHOP FARM SHOP - Greeting Cards WALTER ROSE ABOUT OUR FARMING FARM DIARY RECIPES QUESTIONS CONTACT US	December 2007 Goldilocks and the three pigs, and the Pigometer We ended November taking School assembly at our village School with the 'fairly, scary, fairy story' - Goldilocks and the Three Pigs. This told the tale of a visit by Goldilocks, her brother Thingummy to Crooked Soley to see how Daddy pig, Mummy pig and Little pig lived! It was well received by the children and was lots of fun to do. I haven't worked out quite why they found these pictures of a boar and sow particularly funny! Thank you Bishops Cannings Primary School for being such a good audience! We begin December with a visit to Bristol on Monday with a giant wooden pig featuring a thermometer showing how much the British pig industry is losing each week currently. This has been organised by the Meat and Livestock Commission and should be featured on ITV West news on Monday. Meanwhile, real life farming continues in the rain and mud with staff struggling with colds and flu. To help cover some of the absences we have another relief pigman coming on Sunday to help for a fortnight until Stewart returns. Never a dull moment! 12th December 2007 Glorious sunrises and frosty fields After the gales and rain of last week it is a real pleasure to enjoy beautiful sunrises and fine frosty days. However, we don't want too prolonged frosts or else the water pipes freeze at Soley and we have to water-cart water to the pigs every day - this is obviously very time-consuming. So long as everyone keeps warm and dry it is great working conditions. This morning was so beautiful that I took a diversion across the fields on the way back from School and Jed obligingly posed for some photographs in the frost. Back in the office work continues with yet more inspectors due next week and various management plans to update before January. There are new food chain regulations for moving pigs due in January which requires a new registration process. Three census forms from DEFRA and one for farm-saved seed and just in case I'm bored I need to get the accounts finished and to the accountant ASAP! I had better get on with it all! 24th December 2007 Happy Christmas! Well it has been an exciting couple of days leading up to Christmas. We had a power-cut on Saturday morning as a power cable came down in one of our fields - presumably due to a build up of ice from freezing fog - we had no wind. If we have a prolonged power-cut we have to use a tractor-driven generator to run the computer that feeds the pigs that are housed in barns at West End. This is always a fairly nerve-wracking procedure, this time it worked fine and the power was back on by lunch-time and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Until that is the next feed wouldn't run - turning off the generator had blown something in the feed computer. Fortunately an exceptionally kind engineer drove up at 9.00pm that night from Chard in Somerset, through the fog and managed to repair the problem. I call that service - we are very grateful Ian - thank you. Today we had a little Christmas-eve excitement, on returning from our traditional cycle round the village to deliver Christmas cards, we discovered Grace, Rachels sheep, with her head stuck in the fence. Fortunately wire cutters were to hand and it only required one strand to be cut to free her. Rachel did her best not to panic, telling Grace to be calm and good and she would be alright. Fortunately she is unharmed so all is well - a sheep tragedy on Christmas eve would have been very unfortunate. This Christmas is a particularly busy one for Cameron. He has been working all weekend, Christmas eve and Christmas day until about 5pm. There are about 40 sows farrowing this weekend and all the stock need as much care and attention as they always do. Everyone wants some time off so unfortunately the boss gets the least. However, the Christmas story is centred around the birth of Jesus in a stable surrounded by animals and shepherds and I always think there is something quite special being with the animals on Christmas day - I hope Cameron does too! So Christmas dinner (Woolley Park Farm goose) in the Naughton household will be in the evening when all the work is finally done. Whenever and whereever you have your Christmas meal we wish you a very happy and peaceful Christmas
	For further information on anything on this site please contact Muriel Naughton Email: Naughton@Farming.co.uk