It was early morning Sunday and I was wandering around the section checking out what those “lovely rabbits” had nicked during the night when I saw what appears to be the neighbour’s cat. Nothing unusual in that as there are a couple of them that come by from time to time looking for an early morning snack of blackbird or thrush.

The low hanging tree branches hampered my view but something appeared rather odd about this particular “feline”.

Then it spotted me and like Usain Bolt, it raced off up the fence line in the opposite direction.

‘Wow” Rodney, that’s no cat, not running like that … “that’s a pig”, yes a runty weaner pig of all things, I’m was gobsmacked, couldn’t believe it, amazing.

Usually I’m grumbling about stray dogs, rats, thieving  rabbits and pukes, but pigs, unreal.

Eleven years we’ve been living here and not so much as a whiff of a pig.

Now the story becomes interesting as I then had the task of catching this little critter before he discovered my scrumptious veggies that lay less than 40 meters away. I tried not to appear too concerned but inwardly I was becoming more agitated by the minute.

Based on the ground he’d already rooted up, my vegetable garden would’ve been a walk in the park for this cultivating machine as there were no rings in it’s nose to slow it up. I imagined that the previous “city farmer” owner would have known zilch about this.

When I was a boy on the family farm we kept pigs so I know how they operate and have seen large vegetables gardens completely destroyed within a space of 20 minutes. Can still hear my mother yelling “which of you kids left the gate open?”.  She didn’t quite say it like that but you get my drift.

This little guy was small but he could have become my worst nightmare.

After several hours and some help from one of the neighbour’s teenage children my endeavours to catch this little pig had come to naught. It was time to devise a better plan.

With some well placed food scraps hopefully I could get porky to enter a trap made up of a garden cold frame.

Several hours later it was getting dark and our elusive friend was still on the loose.

It was time to call it a day.

I was finally in bed at midnight but couldn’t sleep as I kept visualising a certain little pig rooting up and devouring my potatoes. At 1.15 a.m. I was out to the garden again to erect some make shift fencing. Once completed I headed back to bed for a few hours sleep. It was about that time when I began to really resent this pesky porker.

Monday morning and I was fed up with trying to catch the pig, so I rang the local council to see if they could help. The nice lady on the phone wanted to know how big it was and if it was pink. Whilst trying not to laugh, I was tempted to say yes and that it had two wings and a BNZ logo on its rump but I refrained.

An hour or so later Fay the animal management officer arrived to assess the situation. The pig was nowhere to be seen so I was given a card and advised to ring again when he reappeared.

As I made my way down to the rear of the section I feared that another day would be wasted trying to catch “this pig”.

Little did I know that my luck was about to change for the better.

There right in front of me was the culprit and it was right under the cold frame eating the scraps I’d put out the day before. Slowly I made my way down the hill to retrieve the rope that was the means of operating the trap.

My first attempt was dismal as there was too much slack in the rope and the frame stayed put. Upon seeing the movement in the rope my cheeky little friend looked up and upon seeing me ran from under the trap.

I was so annoyed with myself as this had been by far my best chance.

Hang about, he was heading back towards the frame. At this stage I was statue-like with rope in hand and heart racing.

Right do it now!

I yanked on the rope and “YAY” at last I’ve got me a pig, what a relief.

My vegetable garden can continue to flourish. After almost a day and a half this troublesome pig looked really wonderful behind all this wire.

After taking a few photos it was time to say goodbye and pass “my friend” over to the animal management staff.

They assured me that if the previous owners didn’t lodge a claim a good alternative home would be found. A little part of me was sad to see this cute pig go but realistically we don’t have enough land to keep livestock.

Don’t you love an animal story with a happy ending.

With this in mind we recently set about planting this seasons crop.

The seed potatoes were purchased about a month back and have been sitting on trays developing sprouts. The eight rows planted are made up of two varieties namely Ilam Hardy as an early crop and Rua as the main.

The early ones should have been in a month ago but the garden has been far too wet. Its not really a problem however they will not be ready in time for Christmas lunch.

As a child I remember my father ploughing what seemed to be endless furrows for potatoes which were an major part on our diet back them. My eight rows pale into insignificance compared to the huge area he would plant. I still love potatoes.

The area I’ve used was dug over back in April and has had several loads of horse manure and compost added but its still a little on the heavy side. As nothing has been grown here before the potatoes it will hopefully improve the soil and make it easier to work.

Normally I would digs furrows but due to the tacky ground digging individual holes proved to be quicker and less effort.

After applying a liberal dose of blood and bone and general fertiliser the seed potatoes were covered over. No lime was used as this part of the garden has received several good applications previously.

Job done or so we thought, but we hadn’t reckoned on the rats!

What I discovered the morning after we had planted the potatoes not only surprised me it but made me a little grumpy, hopping mad to be honest.

As I do every morning I wandered around the garden to check things out and was greeting by a dozen potatoes lying on the surface of the garden. Upon closer inspection I could see that some critter had dug them up and had left what appeared to be teeth marks in most of them.

Intruders that cause the most grief in my garden are usually rabbits, rats or pukekos. This crime scene looked very much like the handiwork of pesky rodents.

After determining where the potatoes had come from I set about replanting them and over breakfast devising how to put a stop to these shenanigans.

The plan was very simple and final.

The unwelcome rat was able to eat the peanut butter off this trap but unfortunately went on to check out the second trap.

The moral of this blog post is, don’t take vegetables from my “veggie patch” without asking.

With Easter fast approaching my timing is spot on for writing about cute little bunnies like this. This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago when I discovered that “Peter Rabbit” and his two siblings had taken refuge under our front deck.

Unfortunately for this trio I wasn’t the only one observing their comings and goings.

Not long after the rabbits first appeared our neighbour’s cat started making regular visits. Every afternoon like clockwork he would saunter across to find a good vantage point from where he could check out the young rabbits. After about ten days his visits ceased therefore I assumed his mission had been successfully completed.

I’m told he likes young rabbits but probably doesn’t have the speed to catch the bigger adult rabbits which is a pity. Our neighbour was concerned that we would view their cat as a nuisance but to the contrary I’m always pleased to see him as I have no liking for rabbits, be they cute or otherwise.

They’re fine in a stew … really!

Over the years I’ve shot hundreds but that’s no longer possible as our lifestyle block is in a semi built up area. Some months ago I made a humane cage trap for catching rabbits but to every ones amusement I’ve only caught hedgehogs and birds.

Strangely rabbits don’t cause too many problem in the garden as there is always plenty of fresh new grass to feed on but they ruin our lawn with their continual digging.

The first known release of rabbits in New Zealand was by Captain James Cook on Motuara Island in Queen Charlotte Sound in 1777.

Rabbits were brought to New Zealand as early as the 1830s for food and sport. Their introduction proved to be disastrous as their numbers quickly grew to plague proportions and has cost the country many millions of dollars in control costs and lost production.  Rabbits are still a major threat to New Zealand’s farming industry.

Some quick fire rabbit facts.

• Common name – European rabbit.
• Scientific name – Oryctolagus cuniculus.
• From the Leporidae family.
• Worldwide there are over 50 species of rabbit.
• Rabbits are herbivores – eats grasses and plants etc. (eg my lettuces)
• Rabbits are nocturnal and spend most of their time underground venturing out at twilight to feed which can continue for most of the night.
• They are capable of living above ground.
• Females are called does, males are known as bucks.
• Young are born blind with no fur.
• Rabbits are prolific breeders, a single female can produce as many as 50 offspring in a year.
• As many as 7 litters can be produced in one year with a gestation period of 28 to 30 days.
• Newly born rabbits are called kittens.
• Does are able to conceive within 12 hours of giving birth, hence the expression “breeding like rabbits”.
• A group of baby rabbits is known as a kindle.
• Litters range in size from 3 to 7.
• In ideal conditions rabbits can breed all year round however the main breeding season is spring to early summer.
• Sexual maturity is reached at about 3 to 4 months.
• Rabbits can breed at 5 months of age.
• Life expectancy is approximately 18 months with mortality usually due to disease or predators (that includes me!)
• 10 rabbits can eat as much as one ewe (sheep).
• Annual production losses due to rabbits have been estimated at $50 million.

In 1900 6.5 million rabbit carcasses were exported from New Zealand to the United Kingdom. Rabbit skins peaked at 20 million in 1924. By 1946 there were 100 rabbits boards throughout New Zealand involved in their control. These boards were disbanded in 1989.

Today individual farmers are responsible for controlling rabbits, the costs involved can be in the hundreds of thousand of dollars.

Many urban New Zealanders have an image of rabbits as cute cuddly bunnies snacking on carrots in a back lawn hutch. This is far from reality, just talk to any farmer from central Otago or come check out our back lawn.

Favourite Quotes:
Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen. John Steinbeck

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