The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Rupert the bear on August 18, 2017, 10:12:13 pm
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Its been very wet here recently , I have kept a close eye on the bedding in the ark and the luckily the girls are quite house proud and only require a top up as they throw out the muddy stuff by the door ( for me to fall over in )
But today the heavy rain started at 6am and has been solid all day long , even tipping down as I type, upon my return from work and dreading the worst I went to check the girls. on the edge of the newly created lake fed by water running off the higher field and woodland is the ark ,thankfully dry as its on pallets and just above the water level but only due to a channel that had been ploughed to let the water away down hill , I didn't do it , Mrs RTB didn't either, We all know pigs are intelligent but create a drain ? or just coincidental ?
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I once had a couple of pigs who on a cold day when the wind had changed direction built up a barrier of straw across the opening to their ark.
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I once had a couple of pigs who on a cold day when the wind had changed direction built up a barrier of straw across the opening to their ark.
Meg-Pig used to construct a 'nautilus' entrance to her ark, so she was snuggled dry and warm behind a wall of straw no matter what the wind direction.
Since pigs construct wallows, it is clear that they have some understanding of how water flows. So it wouldn't surprise me if Rupert's pigs had diverted the water that would otherwise have entered their bedroom.
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Generally speaking pigs will keep their ark as dry as possible. You will find them snug and warm despite what the weather is doing to the land around them. Move them out and you can find the ark has flooded. They are intelligent animals. They make nests in the wild and presumably work to keep them in good order so they are just practicing good house keeping.
We have had lots of rain too. Now when was it we were saying "we could do with some rain". :thinking: :raining: :raining: