The Breakroom > The Water Cooler

What Keeps Me Out of the Workshop

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awemawson:
Well Pete it will be treated exactly like the current one. Every morning at 7 am I sweep up the pig poo and shovel it into a wheel barrow conveniently placed behind the enclosure, sweep any still good straw back into the sty while they are eating the food I've just dished up. And every few days I rake out the sleeping quarters and install fresh straw.

In the tank I mentioned the base is very rough concrete and a swine (!) to sweep out, whereas the Pig Palaces have smooth concrete and it's an absolute doddle.

Spurry:
Andrew
I had to ask, as our current abode was an old pig farm, and the two remaining pig sheds have 6ft high doors, as well as smooth concrete floors, so it would have been an easy task, I assume, to clean them out. Even two of the old pig barns we demolished had single sloping roofs about 12ft on the higher side and were at least 6ft on the lower eaves.
Keep up the good work.
Pete

awemawson:
Pete that sounds like a proper commercial finishing unit where the poor things stay indoors all the time. Although ours are certainly not pets, and are raised for food, we are just small time and enjoy having the animals in nice surroundings. They also offer an interest and entertainment to our guests in our holiday cottages

lordedmond:
Yep Andrew it a easy job if the roof is high enough.

My grandad used to keep three gilts collect the swill from the nearby houses boil it up ( you had to have a licence to do it) the police would come round to check out things .

Two problems I have had with sows  first one sows back was two inches higher than my crutch I must have been about ten the darned thing ran between my legs there I was riding the pig backwards around the sty , as you know it's not good to be on the floor with pigs around.

Second at the iron works farm ( yes we looked after the electricity for them ) ask the farmer is the sow locked up yes he says now this is a 20 stone plus monster , I am up the ladder pigs out chopping on the rungs of the ladder  I was not impressed.

My grandads brother was a farmer so as a youngster I spent a lot of time on the farm with most type of farm animals learnt to drive on a Fordson major tractor . H and S you say never hear of them open flat belts flapping all ove the place no guards machines repaired with binder twine . Give you a idea of when we had a reaper that had been converted from horse drawn to tractor . Then the pink thrashing drum turned up more flat belts and boiling over tractor
Great days I really enjoyed the time spent down on the farm

I commend you on the way you treat your animals it's a credit to you , ok they are for food but they have a good life while you have them , don't eat meat but that's my thing

Stuart

awemawson:
I've not had bad tempered boars or sows I'm pleased to say - and although I say it myself I think it's down to the way you treat them. A few years back I had two sows, Martha and Margaret. Both were amiable, if anything Margaret was better tempered than her sister. So when the friend of a friend wanted to buy one he had Margaret. Within six months I heard he'd shot her as she was so bad tempered. However he had kept her indoors, never socialised, and I heard that he'd been kicking her to move her. What did he expect  :bang:

I kept Martha for years, she presented me with several litters, and I only ended her time when she miss-carried and became infertile. She was tractable and like Blossom my current sow, enjoyed having her ears tickled and on a hot day lying down on her back and letting me spray her with the hose.

Even Robert, the boar I borrow, who is absolutely enormous and has big scary tusks likes his tummy scratched  :clap:

Before Robert I used to use Moe, also rather large - here he is with Martha doing what comes naturally :

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