Another setback

[Stonehead]

As people may have read in other threads, we were at a farm dispersal sale on Saturday and had the misfortune to have the wheel come off our livestock trailer.

We were supposed to be collecting a pedigree Berkshire boar from southern England using that trailer, but we'd kept being delayed by various breakages (Land Rover suspension, Land Rover water pump and now the trailer wheel).

But after a couple of months of delays and with news of the latest one, the seller has someone else going to look at the boar to buy it. So, there go our breeding plans for the gilts (which need to go in with a boar ASAP) and our financial plans for selling both pedigree pork and pedigree livestock.

It took a long time to find a good boar with show winning bloodlines and now we have to start again. Bummer!

I don't blame the seller at all - in fact, she's been wonderfully patient.

Ah well, the bright side is that the trailer wheel didn't come off at speed with a valuable animal on board and I now have an extra weekend free to do more planting.

I can't even begin number all the setbacks we've had in the past two years - borehole pump failed, borehole ran dry, central heating pump broke, central heating oil line leaked, Land Rover suspension failed, Land Rover water pump failed, freezer broke (was working when collected, broke with 48 hours of being put in here!), washing machine broke (twice), pedigree pig went lame (and didn't heal readily so lots of vet's bills), etc ,etc, etc.

Ah, the joys of self-sufficiency. So, I'd just ask everyone to join in with me:

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...



Stonehead

[Shirley]

I commend you for your incredible attitude in the face of all the setbacks.

What a shame that you couldn't get down for the boar... if we could have helped in any way we would have done. Isn't there a local farmer with a livestock trailer that he could lend to you for the weekend?? Or someone down there that might bring it up for you?? When we were considering whether to bring our animals up from Herefordshire there were a few farmers out there that would be happy to drive a trailer up for us (paid, obviously)

The garage at Alford has trailers for hire - not sure if they are livestock ones though and they could be expensive.

It was lovely to meet you and your family - hope that we can do it again sometime soon.

[Stonehead]

I commend you for your incredible attitude in the face of all the setbacks.

What a shame that you couldn't get down for the boar... if we could have helped in any way we would have done. Isn't there a local farmer with a livestock trailer that he could lend to you for the weekend??

Very few will help - as you saw on Saturday. Those few who might hire us one (no lending!), only have big cattle trailers. We have asked before.

Or someone down there that might bring it up for you?? When we were considering whether to bring our animals up from Herefordshire there were a few farmers out there that would be happy to drive a trailer up for us (paid, obviously)

We managed to persuade the seller to drive the boar from Devon up to Kendal so we could meet them, but that was it. I've tried a lot of livestock haulage firms, seeing if we could get a backload but no luck thus far.

We've tried quite a few trailer firms, but apart from big cattle/sheep trailers there isn't much in the way of smaller livestock trailers. In fact, we've been told most of the demand in Aberdeenshire is for horse trailers so the trailer firms don't usually keep used small to medium livestock trailers in stock or available for hire.

We could order a new Ifor Williams P6 or P8 but you're talking about £1500. We could sell a few things, abandon a few projects and scrape together about £900 for a used trailer but £1500 is beyond us.

It was lovely to meet you and your family - hope that we can do it again sometime soon.

Ditto! And thanks for all your help and support on Saturday, and for staying on so late. Linda was particularly grateful to have someone else around to share the nightmare.

Stonehead

[ina]

Oh dear - looks like I missed something! Sorry to hear about the breakages... You've really had more than your fair share of bad luck in recent years.

Do you know of any boars that you could use up here? Or AI, as a second best option?

[Stonehead]

It comes down to why we're doing what we're doing. Yes, we could bring in a non-pedigree boar of a different breed or a cross-breed boar. But the reason why we're breeding is because we want to help preserve rare breeds.

If we were just keeping pigs for meat, then we'd buy in a pair of weaners every four months, fatten them up, kill them, butcher them and eat them. We wouldn't bother with keeping breeding sows or a boar.

As we've found, there aren't that many people keeping herds of rare breed pigs in NE Scotland (or Scotland as a whole for that matter). It probably would have made more sense to run a rare breed herd in England, but then we could not have afforded the price of a house and a reasonable amount of land.

We have looked into AI, including going into detail with our vet and a veterinary nurse who specialised in AI on a large pig operation. While it could be a fallback position, amateurs generally don't get good results with AI and rare breeds. Also, we'd still have to find an unrelated boar at some point.

What we would have had without all the problems would have been three gilts from one female line, a boar from one male line (and unrelated to the gilts's female line) and another in-pig gilt, possibly two, from a third female line and in-pig to a boar from a second line. That would have given us a good foundation for a closed herd, without the need for further new stock for a few years with careful management.

However, our problems on top of the dearth of rare breed pig breeders up this way, the lack of shows with pig classes to market the breed and our herd, and the lack of services for small scale pig breeders in the NE is starting to make the situation look unfeasible.

We're luck to have a vet with pig expertise, but it can be very difficult getting pig items over the counter in many of the farm stores. Yes, you can buy online but courier costs are high and sometimes it's good to see before you buy.

These issues are not insurmountable in themselves, but with all the others setbacks we've had and my huge workload it starts turning into overload.

The other half and I have been talking about it tonight, possibly with a view to changing to pedigree Hebridean sheep and either selling the gilts as breeding stock or eating them. If we go to sheep, then I'd like to act soon and get six to eight ewes with lambs at foot, then expand more later.

The problem is that I'm not a huge fan of sheep. I certainly enjoy eating them, but I don't get the pleasure out of them that I get from pigs (or chickens and bees for that matter).

Decisions, decisions! The main thing is to stay positive and keep laughing. After all, things might be bad now but there's a good chance they'll get worse so we might as well enjoy what we've got while we have it. Enjoy the now!

Stonehead

[nick]

Maybe a far-fetched idea, but if the breed of pig is that rare, could you find out who purchased the boar, compare bloodlines and maybe come to an agreement to borrow him to cover the sows in exchange for one of the piglets.

[Stonehead]

Maybe a far-fetched idea, but if the breed of pig is that rare, could you find out who purchased the boar, compare bloodlines and maybe come to an agreement to borrow him to cover the sows in exchange for one of the piglets.

We're at opposite ends of the country, so they're about 950-1000km away and as my Land Rover is a slow old diesel, we're talking 12 hours plus driving time to get there and then the same back.

Stonehead

[glenniedragon]

Its rather early in the morning to be talking about things like this but.....is insemination an option? I must admit to being in the dark a bit with pigs, but I remember being involved in this with a rare breed cattle herd in my teenage years (don't ask).

kind thoughts
Deb

[albert onglebod]

Stonehead,do you frequent the downsizer forum?
I think some of the folk on there have pigs , maybe someone there could help.

http://forum.downsizer.net/index.php

[ina]

We have looked into AI, including going into detail with our vet and a veterinary nurse who specialised in AI on a large pig operation. While it could be a fallback position, amateurs generally don't get good results with AI and rare breeds. Also, we'd still have to find an unrelated boar at some point.

I thought that AI would possibly give you a bit of time to sort out all the other problems - if you can get suitable semen, that is. Or even just any old semen (sort of) for now, to keep the sows going and at least produce some meat, until you've got your boar and can get started properly, with a bit of delay!

Its rather early in the morning to be talking about things like this but.....is insemination an option?

Deb, AI stands for Artificial Insemination - sorry about these unexplained abbreviations (oh I hate them myself!)

[Wombat]

Bummer mate,

please accept my moral support, things will get better!

Nev

[Stonehead]

Bummer mate,

please accept my moral support, things will get better!

Nev

Ha ha! My philosophy is "laugh and enjoy the moment, because things are only going to get worse".

Stonehead

[Tigerhair]

Can you make a list of the things that did work out for you guys?

I also listen to Monty Python songs in the car if I am depressed. Sometimes I get some funny looks in town if I play the CD too loud....

"Isn't it awfully nice to have a p...."

ROFL

[Shirley]

"Isn't it awfully nice to have a p...."

ROFL

PMSL just napstered it - I've been a big fan of MP but have to confess that that one passed me by... Nearly choked on my wine

Downloaded now :)

[Tigerhair]

Glad to make you giggle darling! One of my faves. Also adore Eric the half a bee and the Galaxy song which has the BEST last line ever in history... ever...

(sorry Stonehead for taking over this thread!)