We spend many hours each day outside doing “stuff”. Sometimes the stuff is just the “must do” things like feeding the animals and filling water troughs. Some days, we have a few extra chores to do like grinding feed, unloading hay or straw, stacking wood or a multitude of other things that must get done frequently on a farm. There are also those days that have less frequent things that need doing that must get done. Putting up fences (ok, we seem to do way to much of that and way to frequently!), moving sow houses around (rotating our piglet pastures), dragging feeders to a drier location, dismantling the old hay pile which is mostly fully of old hay that has wet spots in it and is too icky to feed to the horses.  Whatever it is that we are outside doing we almost always have a phone in the pocket which means we also have a camera in the pocket. I took a few pictures of some of the critters a few days back when we were out doing “stuff”.

That hay stack that I mentioned in the first paragraph got mostly tossed over the fence into what we call “The West Field”.  (it’s on the west side of the driveway.)  It didn’t take long for the ladies that reside there to do a bit of housekeeping (bed making would be a better term) and then they all hopped in for a good snuggle.

And that feeder I mentioned needing to move? That is it, there by Jackson, who we generally call “The Dirty Hog”. OMG he is always such a mess. I swear I have more pictures of him covered in mud then all the rest of the hogs put together.   What makes it even more fun is that he is a very friendly, interactive boar, so if he sees you in his field, he comes struttin on over and pretty much demands to be scratched. And when 750 lbs of muddy boar (he is our smallest Red Wattle boar)  demands to be scratched, you had better either do it or get out of his way quickly.

On another part of the farm we have Dolly, a sow who is getting ready to have piglets. Dolly loves her house. Actually she loves it so much that she refuses to leave the area. We tried to put her back out with the main breeding herd, she refused. She would not get in the crate (which we often use to move full sized hogs around, so they aren’t able to wander off), she would not leave her pasture, she just wants to stay there. Now, “there” is actually a field that is supposed to house a boar, Dolly was merely a guest that we dropped off for breeding. I guess she decided that private accommodations are a great thing and now she has declared it “HERS”.  Geesh. To that end, because she was fast approaching her due date, we actually had to take the boar out and give him a new home.

And a few other random pictures from the day.

And I leave you with this picture. Because I find it so funny and cute. This is “Pigette”. Some of you  know her from our Facebook posts. She was a house pig last winter.. and then a yard pig and then a barnyard pig and now a real pig out in the field. She may live out in the field with the big girls, but she always considers her real place to be out, free in the yard to do thing like a proper yard pig would do. (you know. climb the porch steps, chase the dogs, eat the garden. that sort of stuff). Pigette is always following us around and giving us that sad sad face that says she wants to be out in the yard.  This is that face.