Spending some time in the woods

After many weeks of procrastination eventually I decided to crack on with a couple of jobs in the woods. It was a nice weekend which helped but mostly I was starting to get bored with my own excuses for not making a start.

Tree felling

For some time now, one of the pine trees in the woods has been leaning at a precarious angle. However There didn’t seem to be any real risk of it falling on its own because it was propped against another tree.

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Time to sort this out I think!

Finally the time had come to deal with it, partly for safety but also because I’ve had a plan forming which will use that part of the woods for pigs in the future.

It didn’t seem sensible to put in new fencing when I knew that eventually the tree would have to come down. Knowing my luck, it would probably have fallen on the new fencing just after it had been finished!

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A nice tidy cut but still not falling

I had hoped that once the trunk was cut, the sheer weight of the tree would dislodge it from the supporting tree. Unfortunately that didn’t happen but using some spare rope and a little ingenuity I was able to dislodge it with only a couple of blisters to show for the effort.

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And down it comes…

Now all I need is to get organised with chopping and splitting the wood into logs ready for storing in the wood shed.

Home-made Bench

Having recently had the electricity poles changed in our area, I made sure to keep the old one that was replaced on our land. Some of it has been kept for possible future use as gate posts but I set aside a bit to knock up a simple bench to put in the woods.

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Ideal for viewing sunsets

It may not look very fancy but I’m pleasantly surprised and pleased with the results. Especially given the fact that despite having only just installed it in the woods, it looks like it has been there for some time.

The pigs are ready and I think I am too

The traumatic exercise of ear tagging has been dealt with this morning. Although if I’m honest it was only traumatic for me in the end as the pigs barely noticed it.

All the necessary paperwork in in place and the movement has been registered through the relevant website. I mustn’t forget to take a paper copy with me though.

The trailer has been readied and loaded with straw for the journey. I’ve not had enough practice with reversing it as usual but I’m sure it’ll be alright. I even managed a dry run with one of the pigs so we know that loading shouldn’t be a problem.

We’ve managed to arranged things so that we finished the last bag of pig food today as well so there’s none going to waste. We still have something to put in the bucket to help entice the pigs into the trailer if they won’t go in of their own accord.

There was just one last job this evening but now the final weigh-in has been completed and the results are in…

2legs
1.08 * 1.02 ^2 * 69.3 = 77.9kg

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Lefty
1.06 * 1.04 ^2 * 69.3 = 79.5

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Righty
1.07 * 1.0 ^2 * 69.3 = 74.2kg

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The first pair of weaners differed in weight by 10kg or more but this time all 3 seem to be much more evenly matched. A little harder to photograph perhaps as they didn’t want to stop moving for their picture to be taken. They were either following me around too closely or chasing each other.

The larger one last time was around 80kg so they appear to be about right on schedule given the rough estimated weight. I had hoped to book them in a week later but the abattoir was too busy on that date so it’s lucky that they’re at a reasonable weight.

As a parting gift, here is a short video clip from a few weeks ago which shows how entertaining they can be… Despite the fact they sneak up behind you when you least expect it!