In the 80s I had bought a pre 1600s farm house to renovate along with the old farm I bought a few acres of land where we ;- me and my wife decided to do a bit of farming first came a couple of pigs good rooters as long as they come with no rings in the nose, they cleared the land of unwanted weeds such as nettles dock etc, then we bought a guilt in pig this was a rare breed oxford and sandy. but she was all black and the reason we got her at a reduced price, we named her dolly and she had several litters of 12 piglets and she only lost one the reason!! dolly decided she did not lik being inside from the day she had her first litter, we as her adopted parents went by the book and made here a very comfortable furrowing shed with a rail so the piglets as the book said had somewhere to escape to when mummy lay down to feed, but dolly after 2 days of looking after her brood wanted to go out. one reason was she had already made her litter bed in what we called the shelter. this consisted of a few bales of straw and hay and an old oak beam across the ground entrance and this is where dolly spent her day with head resting on the oak beam . surveing all she owned when not digging up what she owned, and this beam was the blame of dolly loosing one piglet her second litter the first one out was against the wood it was too deep for such a little thing to climb back in to the forrowing nest and the evening frost killed her, now we humans think our piggies and other creatures have no think brain., dolly never laid back to the beam again while furrowing, neither did she eat her dead offspring.
the shelter had a fine view of the fields. and mum and dad when it was feed time, we had goats, wild mallards that we inherited with the farm, and all manor of breeds of hens geese and ducks. that all needed feed, dolly would wait until after the goat milking when her meal of home ground corn and ground maze was mixed with the milk. and she had taken her litter to her own made home. and nothing we did made her go back to the fancy furrowing shed, the piglets had the run of the farm untill they became to big to get between the gate bars, much to their disslike. and they would squeal" stuck in here" anyway the reason for this blog post. our first xmas on the farm we bought a turkey from one of our pig breeding freinds, a rather expensive bronze turkey but very nice it was too lasted all the festive season and only too right at 26 lb in oven weight.
in spring we had all manor of poultry chicks for sale, and was offered a swap of 3 bronze turkeys for some harlequin ducks. ooh yes we said with glee. thinking how much we paid for our festive turkey,
What a mistake we made knew nothing about the turkeys upbringing ready for the xmas ahead and sell the others. one drowned itself in the drinking water tray, did not know that did you said the vet, they are proned to commiting suicide have to have a special water feeder. and he said yo had better
get The drug Dimetridazole to be used in the drinking water or feed, black head my freind
Histomoniasis,
bloody hell we said . as they already had the desease as chicks, and died within a few weeks,
and here in Egypt the bloody things are everywhere, what about
histomoniasis I ask ,? what ?
black heads. you think my turkey has got zits?
an all male group no wonder they all came flocking over to me
'
then later as the sun was about to come up. I got a night shot of the harvest moon
'
.
In the 80s I had bought a pre 1600s farm house to renovate along with the old farm I bought a few acres of land where we ;- me and my wife decided to do a bit of farming first came a couple of pigs good rooters as long as they come with no rings in the nose, they cleared the land of unwanted weeds such as nettles dock etc, then we bought a guilt in pig this was a rare breed oxford and sandy. but she was all black and the reason we got her at a reduced price, we named her dolly and she had several litters of 12 piglets and she only lost one the reason!! dolly decided she did not lik being inside from the day she had her first litter, we as her adopted parents went by the book and made here a very comfortable furrowing shed with a rail so the piglets as the book said had somewhere to escape to when mummy lay down to feed, but dolly after 2 days of looking after her brood wanted to go out. one reason was she had already made her litter bed in what we called the shelter. this consisted of a few bales of straw and hay and an old oak beam across the ground entrance and this is where dolly spent her day with head resting on the oak beam . surveing all she owned when not digging up what she owned, and this beam was the blame of dolly loosing one piglet her second litter the first one out was against the wood it was too deep for such a little thing to climb back in to the forrowing nest and the evening frost killed her, now we humans think our piggies and other creatures have no think brain., dolly never laid back to the beam again while furrowing, neither did she eat her dead offspring.
,
.