I know people have posts called Wordless Wednesday, and really it is Saturday though we are commenting on Friday, and I am never short of words but sometimes short of photos so it is Photo-less Friday on a Saturday. It all gets so confusing. Poor us living in the past with our pleasantly addled brains.
But Friday was grim. Dark gray all day. Heavy frosted clouds. Cold. Windy. Flurries of snow that went nowhere, not settling, or floating, just falling. I don’t know why it is called a flurry, because there is no flurry of activity at all, just the little snow, like icy air, flying at your face. It is so dry that I am getting electric shocks off everything. Even people. Today there is meant to be more snow, we will see.
But I must rush. Sheila has a date TODAY! With a lovely Berkshire Boar.
The Berkshire breeder is going to put her in a pen in his warm barn between two boars and this should bring her into heat, it will take a few days though, maybe even a week or so, then he will open her gate and let her into the corridor and when she looks like she wants to fraternise he will let the boar out behind her. Then you and I are going to close our eyes and give them some privacy. But he does this often and has a good system. So I am expecting that Sheila will do well. Plus it is only 10 minutes away. And her temporary bedroom will be heated!
And if all goes well we should be able to raise a bunch of Hereford/Berkshire plonkers next summer. They are not an uncommon cross so I have read.
So now, I must go and see if I can get Sheila to go into the trailer. And all the gates are either frozen shut or have snow in the wrong places for the trailer so I am going to have to lead her through the barn and out the feed room door and into the trailer that way. She often follows me about but not through the feed room and never into the trailer, so it should be an interesting exercise! First I will restack the hay to make a corridor for her. If she cannot see anything tempting she will walk past nicely I hope.
She is going to be mad at me!
Have you remembered that Daisy is due to calve in the middle of March? Under two months now. I need to start looking about for a new milking pump.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farmy
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
56 responses to “Photo-less friday and Sheila has a date.”
My poor addled brain is so addled that it never knows which day of the week it is, so to have Wordless Wednesday on a Saturday using Friday’s post seems perfectly logical..I ythink.
Anyway back to Sheila..two hogs! Isn’t that asking too much of any young lady…sounds more like gang rape! Let us hope that it is successful and that in a few months you will have baby plonkers trotting around…Don’t think I envy Sheila!!!!! I would rather make my own decision about if I did or didn’t
No dear, they only have a Boar on either side so she is surrounded in their scent, she will only be visiting with ONE.. her job is to have piglets for me to trade, so i can pay for her feed and the feed of the pets that seem to be accumulating..c
Oh Sheila! Your maidenly status is over. No more lying in on cold mornings. You’re going to have a squeaking litter of little pink wriggly piglets waking you up early, demanding attention. No more pulling the blankets over your head and ignoring the world. Poor Sheila….
Have fun, Sheila
I know she is going to enjoy the lovely heated barn he has!! and the company for a while.. c
So. She’s taking a gilt trip is she? Hope all goes according to plan and you have plenty of plonkers for the next season!
HA!
This is wonderful news!! Good luck with the many steps to success.
I think she’ll probably follow you anywhere Celi! Especially if there is a tasty treat at the end of the walk. She’ll do just fine! Very exciting! And about Daisy too! March is just around the corner!!!
She was perfect and is settling down in a very lovely pen, with a good solid house at one end.. they have a lovely set up over there.. c
should’nt be hard to load shelia, a trail of rose petals,sing the bibbibity bobbity boo song,from cinderella movie, tell her she gets to meet prince charming[s]
pig size glass slippers may be tricky to come up with on short notice
worked like a charm!! esp the rose petals.. c
even grey days result in much work being done on the farmy. May today there be sunshine and a willing Sheila to enter the trailer without a fuss.
Hope Sheila has “fun” on her date!
Best of luck Sheila – you have a lot of people rooting for you. I hope you enjoy your small vacation and come home with a special ‘gift’!! How long is the gestation period for pigs? Obviously she will have them in warmer weather, which must be a bonus as she likes the warmth!
Hugs, Lyn
Three months, three weeks and three days.. or 114 days.. So if she is bred by the end of this month she will farrow in may.. a nice month.. c
“Sheila has a date TODAY!” – bless, how romantic 😉
I will miss Daisy’s due date. I’ll be playing with my grandchildren on a beach in the warm sunshine. Assuming that I don’t drown where I stand right here first. Good afternoon, c, and good wishes to Sheila … and good luck to the boars.
Oh I hope the beach is in that lovely warm country!.. May? you will be away in May?.. c
March.
Hope Sheila’s date goes great! 🙂 And by all means, I will close my eyes. Wouldn’t want to intrude on the magic that we all hope happens.
I’m excited to stay tuned for Sheila’s big adventure!! Too bad she can’t write her own story and feelings… I wonder what her thoughts will be at every turn of this grand journey!! Oh, and I love that you take your own road, photo-less Friday on a Saturday! You rock, my friend!
There is one problem with sending Sheila off to a nice, heated bedroom … 😉