Driffield Show

Clearly here in East Yorkshire the Driffield show is the highlight of the Agricultural year and one I felt compelled to take part in. I dropped the kids at school and arranged them to be picked up so I could stay late and headed to Driffield. Of course my main area of interest was the pig show. I wanted to see the different breeds of pigs and talk to the breeders about selling me a couple of weaners (piglets).

As you can see there were some pretty cool pigs. These were all bigger than we would get, but gave me an idea of what we would be getting. With them living outdoors we need to be careful to get ones that aren't prone to sunburn. When I wasn't chatting to the breeders about pigs they were out in the ring showing their pigs, which was quite a sight to behold. They hand a board and stick and tried to guide a relatively uncooperative animal around a show ring. Some were a lot more successful than others and it made a great spectator sport. See below for the sort of idea (not my picture).

To get in the spirit of being at the agricultural show I also bought myself a waxed jacket and tried to show an interest in combines and other large agricultural machinery, although I did find the Barley to Beer educational tent a more interesting place.

On the smallholding it has been more of the usual strimming, building, clearing etc. I need to start on clearing the pig area and getting that prepared for pigs. They also need huge amounts of water so I need to start some sort of plumbing project linking the spring in the cellar to a big tank in the field that can then water the plants, pigs and chickens. I am hoping to be ready to have home grown pork for Christmas dinner.

We had our first fire over the weekend. So the Fire pit in the centre of the field was christened. We had a good one as I found it still going strong the next morning. I am still working on setting up the smallholding as a place where other locals can come and join in and grow things and care for the animals with us. I have been building a website that outlines our plans so those that are interested can join us. That is nearly up and running (I need Zoe to do some proof reading). Once it is going then I'll start putting leaflets up in the village and local area and see who is interested. So plenty to do for the week ahead.