Wiltshire Village Meats Farm Diary - April 2008 -

	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		April 2008 School visit and three little pigs tour A month on from 'Stand by your ham' we're still busy campaigning. This week we took three of our pigs on tour to Bristol and Southampton. Daisy, Dora and Dorothy, three nine-week old black pigs were collected in a specially designed trailer by the campaign team on Thursday. They had an early start to try to beat the traffic in Bristol. After a few hours in the sun on St. Augustines Parade they continued their tour to Southampton and then back home to an Uncles farm near Newbury. Pigs are very good travellers and are also very sociable so they enjoyed the attention from the public and media. We went along too and it was great to meet so many supportive people. This was the final of a week long nationwide 'three little pigs' tour (different pigs did each day) from Newcastle in the north, East Anglia, the midlands and the South. The pig industry is still in crisis, even if prices do rise it will still be on the critical list for some time to come. As well as this we recently had a visit from a local Special Needs School. Twelve young people came with their teachers and we introduced them to many of our animals and showed them what they eat and where they live. The youngsters were wonderful, full of interest and questions and were a credit to their School I can't believe snow is forecast again - the sun is warm, the trees are coming into leaf, soon we'll be thinking of turning the cows out but perhaps we had better wait for this cold snap to pass. 18th April 2008 Bluebells and Bank Managers It is spring - despite the snow at the start of the month and the biting winds this week it really must be spring. The daffodils have gone over in the woods at Crooked Soley to be replaced by wild bluebells and primroses. I have included a picture of some bluebells from the farm garden. The native wild bluebell is quite easy to tell apart from the cultivated ones. They are a very intense blue with small flowers hanging down on just one side of the stem. We have been very busy getting ready for a whole series of visits and inspections next week, the bank manager, a quarterly vet visit and a buying for one of the Countries leading quality food retailers. It's going to be an important week and a tidy-up never went amiss! Our only female cat is due to have kittens this week which is extremely exciting for all the cat lovers of the family. She is looking really well although rather large and uncomfortable. I am sure she will wait until a very awkward moment and place to have them - the bank managers bed probably! It's the first time we have had kittens born on the farm - we hope all will go well. Life in the farm office is very busy too with the end of the PAYE year, forms and maps to complete for DEFRA and fertiliser plans to finalise.
	For further information on anything on this site please contact Muriel Naughton Email: Naughton@Farming.co.uk