22nd April 2014

There were big crowds again today. I failed completely at the first hurdle when I realised my pad/pen/bidding card were not in the car! A little perseverance and half hour later I was sorted though. There were quite a few pens of pigs, around 20. A friend pointed out that one of the cages contained a mum and young babies, and another had a couple of very tiny babies with her. As you all know, I'm not in favour of buying animals that are getting bids from decent looking people, but in this case there was no way I was going home without those very young babies. There was one such pen, which turned out to contain semi adult sow with two babies that didn't appear to be hers, and should really have still been with their mum. They cost me just shy of £15. 

The other, a mum, two tiny sow babies that are perhaps a week old, and a heavily pregnant sow as well, set me back £25. Having handed them over to Avalon, I am sure we did the right thing, even if it meant a good bit of cash disappearing. It's not right that a sow so close to delivering should have to go though the market experience. 
Also coming home to the rescue today were three mixed age sows, and a handful of boys, some crested and some long haired. I was horrified to find the amount added up to over £60 once the commission was paid, but I stand by the decision to get each and every one of these animals. I would have paid that alone to bring those two black and white babies home, they were terrified. I know they will get the best of treatment at Avalon, and they will have a promising future.