Veg plot

All winter i planned my veg plot, the pigs lived and pooped on it for a year.... we added huge amounts of farm yard manure... in spring i bought loads of seeds ready to plant, I also planted some out in a cold frame... which was very warm, i bought sad veg plants to revive, chitted my potatoes, all nicely ready to plant.... and  my veg plot... mmm well, it looks very green, its self seeded a lovely bumpy lawn.. I'm soo sad about the state of it, i nned help preparing it and digging it, it still isn't ready to plant up... so yesterday i fed the pigs most of the chitted potatoes, and officially gave up.. but i cant, i kept some to plant some where, who knows where.. i decided today , never give up, when i get the poly tunnel up then i can catch up and keep on going through winter... am i delusional ??? mm don't know just cant give up yet, am considering moving the pigs back on and clearing it so as to plant up in autumn ready for next season.. so that's the latest mad plan.....

Also i've discovered how to check who is reading my blog... its real cool in the 1st hour of posting earlier i had 9 vews from the UK, 5 from USA. some from Mexico, France and Germany... so i hope you readers return ,, maybe i should carry on my warbling on, or just take a look on my face book the welsh small holder page and comment just say hello please so it will be a bit more real.... bye...  so Bonjour, GUtten targue, Hey there , and Buenous noches!! excuse all those awful spellings please.... xx

ABATTOIR CRUELTY

HORROR & CRUELTY AT THE LOCAL ABATTOIR....

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ABATTOIR HORROR. the other week we took 2 pigs in to bishops castle.. DAYS DROVE.. we watched as the farmers pigs in front of us were kicked & booted severely by the ab man, he at 1 point held on to the roof bars in the trailer back &  booted with 2 boots.... he then picked up the back of 1 and thew him out of the trailer... I tried to film it but didn't do good job, so.. we gingerly unloaded our friends precious piggies that we had given him 4 xmas...  escorted them in & they ran very willingly, 1 dared to go in the wrorng directon where upon he kicked her in the face.. I nearly killed the man, put in huge complaint, they say its not regular practice.... 

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IT IS UNACCEPTABLE>>>> they have given the guy final written warning and say it will never happen again, they have sent him 4 training .& said he had a bad weekend after being robbed, they phoned me to discuss it seriously & made every attempt to put it right... 

i paid £116 to get the meat back &  unsure if they can be trusted ... I told them if i was to use them again, i would take my pigs in & not allow there staff near them &  i would also be there at the end inspecting there handling, they say they are happy to accommodate me..... i will leave comment 4 u..

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Free range eggs... The super market way.... not my way...

Egg laying madness, the free range dream, of the big super markets!

IS time to tell you what I think of the super markets free range well all the big names too... We went to a very clean and new looking barn, in the middle of the country side surrounded by fields, 10,000 birds were housed here... all down the one side of the barn they had a metal slatted area, about 15 foot wide, then they had electric fenced off and netted small paddocks, all had no grass on, just dirt and stones with shelters on for rainy days, the chickens all hung out on the metal slats, mostly..outside they had a large metal cattle trailer that was stuffed full of birds, we started to load them, I couldn't believe the birds were in the condition they were, bald and patchy, totally anemic looking, with most of them having no colour to there combs, a lot had, bleeding and saggy vents..~(where the egg come from) one had a slice radiating out from hers, it must have been so pain full to lay, just like an appeasiotamy.. I also have never seen hens bleeding from there vents, and grazed from there too...they were bleeding from being attacked by each other, they were so stressed and panicky... the lady explained they were 12 mnths old, and have to be culled or rehomed at that point due to not being able to carry on.. i thought only battery hens would look so ruff after a period of intensive laying, not, free range birds, I'm not implying there was any cruelty to the birds, just the system I believe to not be as it should...

So what shocked me????

Well meaning, ethical shoppers are being duped into a false sense of security and helping this continue!!! What I imagined free range to be and what the super market reality is is quite another... the birds legally have to have 1square meter of land each, could this include the metal slats and the barn?? I wonder!! To me free range is exactly that.. free to range, my hens are free to range, whether that be, on my field of lush green grass, dust bathing under the hedge, or being brave, crossing the road and going onto the neighbours open moor land, being free to scratch the grubs up in my veg patch to be... or going into the forest on safari, hiding under the old roots and laying in peace and quiet... these birds looks tooo tired and stressed, living on there nerves, imagine living with 10,000 panicky women, living in terror, if one became scared the others all followed, they behaved as one...

I wouldn't be surprised if a) they used a light at night to trick them into a 2nd lay thinking thy had had 2 days!! and b) that most of the birds never saw the outside due to be unable to get through the congestion at the metal slatted area... only the brave ones may have fought there way through!!! so I suggest you post and repost this and ask your friends please support your local small holders, buy from the farm gates, there free range eggs, as in my eyes, this practice afore mentioned, is not free range, and should not be supported... Also I went into Tescos yesterday and took a look at there free range eggs, look at the lovely ideal picture on the box, a lovely fluffy, full feathered, non bleeding hen stood free ranging on deep lush grass.... what an ideal... but oh not a reality, yes in reality you can't farm 10,000 chickens on a piece of land and keep it lush and green and expect them all to access it... I am tempted to go back and buy another 100 or so, as Wednesday they are all killed for pet food, Joe's comment.... he said , you know whats the most shocking and upsetting part???? the fact that in 1 month, when they have disinfected and scrubbed the whole unit down, for that is how long it takes... the whole process happens again, and another 10,000 birds will live the free range night mare again!!! Please stop supporting this sham... Please search out your local farmer with truly happy free range birds.. PLEASE.. xx I'm off outside to talk to the girls, to see how many eggs they have given me.... and for there future what lies ahead??? well... I am not going to give them layers pellets, for a few weeks, I wont them to rest, I don't want to force them to lay, I will provide them with grit to help harden the egg shells that they are laying, they, will relax and free range on my farm then i will rehome, them in small numbers to responsible people for £ 5 or £6 each, when they look happy and feathered... i am rehoming some of my original flock so I can keep these new girls as one unit, to avoid any possibility of cross infection, Oh one other note.... I asked at the farm weather they fed antibiotics as a norm to prevent illness, she replied she hadn't had to yet, but that they had them should they need them... I will next post you my experience of visiting a real pig farm who supply Tescos and you will then see the relevance of the anti-biotics issue!! please post and repost.. oh by the way, the ladies that ran the farm, were kind and gentle, they wanted to rehome as many as poss before they were all culled, they showed kindness in all there contact i witnessed with the birds, gently handling them etc, its the big picture i'm angry with, the system, not the individuals who are running it with in the guide lies the RSPCA and others have given them.... and the industry standard

TO SEE THE PICTURES LOOK ON THE WELSH SMALLHOLDER FACE BOOK PAGE and look for the artcile