laundry day for the pigs bedding!
This weekend Sam and I decided we needed to spend some quality time with our boys and give the pig run a good going over. So along with the usual morning feed they had a lot of scratching and play time with us, we cleaned out all the food bowls, cleaned and refilled the water trough, cleared away yet more pig poo and then decided it was time for new bedding.
The old bedding has been in place since we first got the piglets, its been topped up with fresh straw on a few occasions but pretty much looks after itself. The pigs have squashed it to suit where they like lying best and as they never ever go for a wee or a poo anywhere near their house, it doesn't smell or even look dirty. We use some great stuff called easibed on the bottom that helps soak up moisture and has some antibacterial properties, and then cover that with chunks of the massive straw bale we got from our local farmer. But the vast vats of mud around at the moment have made the bedding get a little dusty as the dried mud falls of the pigs as they sleep, so it was time for a clean sweep.
With everything being so wet and muddy, we decided the best place for all the old straw was in the corner of the pig run, where it should mulch down and provide a bit of fibre in the soil. So we started by raking it all out and dragging it to the edge of the run.
Minty thought this was a hilarious game. He was in the house, he was treading on the rake, he was out the house, he was running around full pelt as only an overexcited pig can do, he was back in the house looking at us like we were mad then back out again to the growing pile of old straw, chucking it in the air with a quick flick of his head.... Not very helpful but very amusing!
He was even more intrigued as we put the new easibed back in, he stood in the house trying to eat the woodchips with a look on his face that clearly questioned where all the nice straw had gone and what was this rubbish in its place.
Meanwhile Gary was trying to eat the plastic food sacks we'd used to bring some of the straw down with, and was spilling the straw all over the place.
Eventually we managed to move the pigs out of the way for long enough to get all the new clean straw into the house, and all the bags and rakes etc back out of the pig run.
As we left to go back to the shed, the pigs were both in the house, scraping the straw about with their little trotters, Minty was lying on it to flatten it to his liking, and you couldn't even see little Gary who we presume was somewhere in the mound of straw at the back.
And I thought putting a new duvet cover on was tricky.
The old bedding has been in place since we first got the piglets, its been topped up with fresh straw on a few occasions but pretty much looks after itself. The pigs have squashed it to suit where they like lying best and as they never ever go for a wee or a poo anywhere near their house, it doesn't smell or even look dirty. We use some great stuff called easibed on the bottom that helps soak up moisture and has some antibacterial properties, and then cover that with chunks of the massive straw bale we got from our local farmer. But the vast vats of mud around at the moment have made the bedding get a little dusty as the dried mud falls of the pigs as they sleep, so it was time for a clean sweep.
With everything being so wet and muddy, we decided the best place for all the old straw was in the corner of the pig run, where it should mulch down and provide a bit of fibre in the soil. So we started by raking it all out and dragging it to the edge of the run.
Minty thought this was a hilarious game. He was in the house, he was treading on the rake, he was out the house, he was running around full pelt as only an overexcited pig can do, he was back in the house looking at us like we were mad then back out again to the growing pile of old straw, chucking it in the air with a quick flick of his head.... Not very helpful but very amusing!
He was even more intrigued as we put the new easibed back in, he stood in the house trying to eat the woodchips with a look on his face that clearly questioned where all the nice straw had gone and what was this rubbish in its place.
Meanwhile Gary was trying to eat the plastic food sacks we'd used to bring some of the straw down with, and was spilling the straw all over the place.
Eventually we managed to move the pigs out of the way for long enough to get all the new clean straw into the house, and all the bags and rakes etc back out of the pig run.
As we left to go back to the shed, the pigs were both in the house, scraping the straw about with their little trotters, Minty was lying on it to flatten it to his liking, and you couldn't even see little Gary who we presume was somewhere in the mound of straw at the back.
And I thought putting a new duvet cover on was tricky.
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