Farming update
It’s been an eventful year so far on Hathor Farm and it began with lambing in the snow. It was hard work for some of the older ewes. We had to deal with some problematic births and a rejected lamb. Thankfully, after being reared in our back garden it’s now happy and healthy and back with the flock.
It was not such a happy ending for the piglets, unfortunately. One of our sows crushed almost all of hers when she rolled on them. It happens. Luckily the survivors are all doing well and I’ve sold a couple of my young sows (called ‘gilts’) for breeding from my rare bloodline, ‘Golden Harvest’. This has almost doubled the number of sows for that bloodline.
The hot weather is getting to us now. The stream has run dry so I can’t pump any more water to the pigs. I’m doing it by hand, bringing water from home in 100 litre containers and then refilling them from the lake. Each day I need to carry 250 litres of water.
The lack of rain also means that the grass isn’t growing back and the sheep are running out of food. Luckily I’ve found some more land in Waldron where I can move them. I’m hoping to convert that to organic grazing, too.
The charcuterie business is expanding. I’m planning to collaborate with the Sussex Kitchen Bakery – we’ll be building our own barbeque/smoker to do events and setting up a curing room above the bakery shop.
The chickens have taken a bit of a back seat, though they’re still laying lots of eggs. I lost five hens and a cockerel in the latest fox attack, so I’m planning to move the flock nearer to the pigs. I don’t think foxes like pigs very much.
Overall it’s been a positive year and the farm is definitely growing. I have 60 ewes and lambs, three rams, a boar, four sows, two gilts and 25 young pigs.
Now we’re just praying for rain, so things can get back to normal.
