Our gentle sow Nutmeg had a lovely litter of saddlebacks. She was pregnant to a boar other than our Sam-the-Ham, so we will keep one of the gilts and also a boar to provide a breeding pair for a friend. It was sad to see the rest of them go this week, but the same day we had new piglets out of her sisters Pepper and Ginger.
We also have a lot of young lambs on the farm (i am taking orders for lambs ready around december). Our new canine love, Guinness, is growing fast and learning to alert us when there is a fox around, but he is still a pup, and there is a lot of foxes around! (That’s him on the edge of the pic above trying to work out what piglets are, and below at about 12 weeks old.)
One less vixen this week though! (Those of you against guns, please note i do not enjoy killing for the sake of it – I am a farmer with a firearms licence, and foxes are an introduced feral pest. I am proud of my shot and happy to reduce the danger to my livestock – especially since Sam missed it the previous 2 nights!)
Unfortunately I wasn’t organised enough to skin it (she would have made a nice stole), but Phoenix helped me to take off the tail as a memento of my first fox. Now i just have to try my hand at tanning it!
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