As you know, yesterday morning, I was away from the property visiting with the Old Codger. John’s teenage son, visiting for the summer, a lanky young fella, went over to the big pig’s outdoor pen and found to his horror that the little piggies were both standing beside the Plonkers pen chattering to themselves about the size of the big guys. The teenager told me later that he slammed to a halt and just stared. He had no idea what to do. Then the Shush Sisters saw him, froze, ducked, stared at him for a moment, then in perfect unison turned and scuttled, cackling and squawking with excitement straight back to the barn, scattering the peacocks, 
through the big doors, round the corner past Bobby Blanc, 
..and raced back into their pen through a NEVER USED indoor gate. They were laughing at me he said. The teenager from down the road, who looks after the little pigs, was evidently having a wee nap in the hammock. We have again discussed making sure all the exits are secure!
Daisy is still not 100 percent. She still has not cleaned completely. This means that some of the after-birth has not released at the proper time. I was instructed to wait and not interfere but the vet decided that was enough waiting so I gave her an injection of Estrimate on Sunday. This should sort her out. Yesterday I noticed that she was eating less and standing around more. She was still drinking a huge amount of water though. So I made her tasty meals. Then literally stood in front of her and hand fed her brocolli stalks, and alfalfa cubes, and barley with yoghurt. I am told that this is not an uncommon occurrence with dairy cows. I will not go into the details. It is unsettling though. She does not smell like my lovely dairy cow. Anyway by yesterday evening she was out in the field munching and doing much better. This is an unsavoury side of dairying, I hate to interfere but these animals were never meant to survive in the wild. They are bred to dependence, and will always need our help. I use organic methods as much as possible but when it comes to emergency care I will take the vet’s advice. 
My Poor Daisy. She is very quiet this morning. She must be feeling more comfortable. 
Good morning. Today I am going to shift animals about the fields. The Bobby is five full days old now so he will soon be able to come out into the little field. Mama the Sheep always takes over the young animals while their mothers work, so we will have to begin introductions. Yesterday, even feeling unwell, Daisy gave four and a half gallons of milk. She must be bursting at the seams this morning. Have a lovely day. I suspect we will! It is one of those days that you would love to have if you were on vacation. But our newly planted alfalfa field is yellowing and under real stress now through lack of water. Still no sign of rain in the forecast. I have put a call in to another farmer who makes hay. We will have to buy alfalfa this year. But that is farming. We are exposed to the elements and must deal with that. And anyway who else gets to wander about the fields all day in a short skirt and a floppy hat talking to the animals and it is not even a vacation! celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
70 responses to “Teenager discovers escaped Shush Sisters”
Poor Daisy! Hopefully she can get rid of that afterbirth soon. I’m sure it has to be uncomfortable and yucky for her (and you!).
Perhaps you need a female teenager? Ha! It’s my experience from my household that the male teenagers have a harder time following directions when they’re supposed to. Girls like to please and are so different when it comes to being organized! 😉
Have a lovely day! We are finally having some beautiful weather. I’m off to hike with the dogs before it starts raining again. ~ April
The girl was the one asleep in the hammock! ah well. they just need more training.. TV and the X box has not prepared them very well for farm work!! c
Oh no!!! Did you walk by and flip the hammock? 😉 I certainly agree with your TV and X Box theory. We definitely have a country bursting with lethargic teens.
Those Shush Sisters are hilarious — and smart! Some therapy pigs they are going to make. You are clearly wearing out the teenagers with all of the things to remember, do and lift.
yes.. well i may have blown the therapy idea by getting two, instead of one following me I have two following each other, in circles.. c
All your talk about the air conditioner raised teenager makes me so thankful that I was raised a country girl. How hard it must be to be uncomfortable in the wide world of critters. And how much you miss out on!
I agree with Sharyn. The Sisters make quite a pair! Funny that John’s Son described them as laughing at him.They may become therapy pigs but Daisy is a teaching cow right now. Thanks to her, I’ve learned a great deal more about dairy farming. I hope she’s done teaching us about calf birth. We’ve learned enough and time for her to get back to 100%.
Have a great day, Celi. Today will be a beauty, tho I know you need some rain.
Hope Daisy’s on the mend. That’s what happened to Blossom’s momma and the shepherd didn’t catch it in time :-(.
Oh miserable.. I think Daisy is doing better today, .. so sad about blossoms mama but sometimes no matter what we do we miss something and get taught another lesson.. c
I remember seeing the yucky stuff hanging out of the “Bossy” for what seemed like forever !!
Of course I was 9 or 10 ! Lots of yucky things and “a long time ” might have been an hour and a half !! I hope the teens embrace the opportunity on the farmy. Get well soon Daisy !
Those little piggies..a children’s book…?
Have a great day ,Celi…’.doing a long distance rain dance !
The nanster
Morning nanster, i find myself calling daisy Boss, when I move her out of the milking parlour, ever since you said that.. it just comes to mind and seems so natural, she on the the other hand sees no need to move at all. no matter what she is called… c
You can have some of our rain – it’s still April in June 😉
We had two inches of lovely rain here while we were away this weekend. Wishing for you to have some soon. Those precocious little shush sisters…they always look like they’re plotting some fun piggy adventure, and I’m sure they were laughing at John’s son and enjoying his discomfort mightily. I hope Daisy is back to normal today, but my goodness, that was a big baby to birth so I’m not surprised she’s taking a little while to recover!
I love that regal peacock shot. Poor Daisy, I hope she feels better soon. At least she’s being attentively nursed…
Don’t you worry about Daisy a bit. We’ve had our beef cows take a while to completely expell the afterbirth. The vet always tells us that as long as the girls are eating, they’re ok. Moving around helps, so grazing outside is good for her. Keep your chin up; it’ll be ok!
Oh Andrea i am so so glad to hear you say that.. she seems to have cleaned today, well it looks cleaner anyway, and she is definitely grazing today. I was worried yesterday.. you have helped me get my chin up!! c
Those chooks look like they’re thinking things through, having a yarn – maybe about the Shush Sisters but it’s hard to tell with chooks.
chooks are sneaky! c
“They were bred for dependance” – interesting and makes sense – I sure hope that she continues to recover and is soon 100%!!
The Shush Sisters by name alone sound mischievous and keep up their reputation 😀
Too cute!
And I’m hoping all the best for dear Daisy, it must be hard for her
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Poor Daisy I hope she gets better soon! I am glad you gave her the injection – it should help. I am wishing you rain! Many of our farmers are the same…meanwhile we get a wee threat of thunder but nothing worthwhile falls. Hopefully tomorrow will find you rain soaked and Daisy dancing in the rain!
The shush sisters have a lot of mischief in them! I wonder if they just knew your thoughts were more tuned to Daisy…maybe a cry for attention, naughty girls! A very interesting statement about cows being bred to dependence. I don’t think I’d ever considered that! Hope you’ve had some time to just wander in those beautiful fields and drink it all in! Debra