The Southerly wind threw itself at us yesterday. Spitting heavy rain in amongst the gales. Shaking the doors and windows looking to stick its long scissorhands fingers in through the cracks. The barn was easy prey for windy fingernails. It is a colander of a barn. More holes than you can shake a stick at. More whistles than a marching band. The wind warmed up a little as the day went past, but still, howling drafts are very bad for babies.
So I shifted the The Bobby and Marcel to a North Pen. Much to their surprise. 
And I brought in a barrel for Poppy my Precious.
She did not actually sleep in the barrel as expected but I am coming to realise that nothing Poppy does is as expected. She slept in the lee of the barrel with her nose under an old vest of mine that I gave her when she was feeling poorly. She still is not quite well which means that when we pick up the new KuneKune on Saturday Tima will have to sleep elsewhere until I am sure Poppy is not contagious.
You asked for a photo of Poppy climbing into my lap. But of course there was only me so I tried to take a shot myself but like a cat she Knew there was another hand that was not paying attention and it was hopeless. All I got was this. Deeply unsettling really.
Let me explain because this picture does not give you a thousand words, more like a thousand questions. Sometimes lack of focus is atmospheric, other times it is just lack of focus. In the lower left hand corner of the screen is the frayed cuff of my jacket, my hand is under Poppy’s head. She lays her head right into my hand like this so she can connect more solidly. She already has a heavy head. So, her two feet are perched up on my knees with her head in my hand. She is happiest when I take my breaks in there with her.
Yesterday I spent some time on the phone and have found a local woman who has a small feed store, out in the country not far from here, she called around for me and found a pig feed with no animal products or medications or chemicals and has ordered a couple of bags for me. She also found a corn and soy free feed for the Kune until we get some grass. (Timatanga Moana will eat hay as well – such a big name for so little a pig). The lady was also thrilled that I shall be raising Hereford pigs as she has a few friends who would like to show them and would buy them from me. But there I am getting ahead of myself again. Let’s see if we can grow Poppy first. She had no idea what a kune kune was and was confused about its no grain requirements.
Now my question for all you beef cow raisers, Queenie Wineti is due either on the 30th or the 4th. What do you think? Come on Brat. What does that kiwi fella think too. I know you don’t have Herefords. But the udder of an Hereford is VERY different from the udder of a Dairy cow. Queenie is the first beef cow I have bred and being one of a twin I am grateful we were able to breed her at all. 
Speaking of dairy cows. Daisy is now on two milkings a day and her milk is still bright white and clear of any problems. She is behaving very well, no kicking or complaining. Plus yesterday was the first day I could get the cups to stretch to all four quarters at one time. So from now on I do not need to milk one side at a time. We milk at 6am and 6pm. She gave 40 pints of milk in the morning and then 38 in the afternoon. That is about 10 gallons a day. Roughly 40 liters. Good girl Daisy. We have enough milk to start feeding the Plonkers, (feeder pigs for the freezers) just as soon as the blasted weather warms up. I had better hurry up as Sheila is sucking up the slack! She is meant to be on a diet.
I started yoghurt yesterday. Fresh cheese today.!
Soon our land will be green. I see suggestions of green in the fields already. This time last year we were having snow storms so we are not that far behind really. I am just turning into a grizzle. March is always the hardest month. We are so close!!
I hope you all have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farmy,
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
62 responses to “Green”
poppy found the best place in the world to come home too. she looks so happy!
A lap pig? Such a silly thing but lovely. 🙂
Pigs are wonderful, I hope to return to raising them again. Tamworths this time. Regarding pig feed, do you have a hammer mill? You might consider mixing your own; the grain would be cheaper and store better. More snow over night, but it’s going to rain all day today. Fine with me, it’s a bake day. It will be the middle of April before we see the ground, let alone green. Good morning.
No I don’t have a mill. When I am doing the feeder pigs I get a local mill to mix me a 1/4 ton of feed to my recipe and bag it.. I will be doing that soon.. mainly I need a well balanced clean feed to try and settle this unbalanced Poppy belly. She is doing better this morning though, I think.. c
Yeah, I hear you; enough to do without milling as well 🙂 With your feeder pig recipe, do you include rye and barley? I found my pigs did real well with it.
Oh, Poppy is sooooo sweet. And Queenie looks huge, but not quite ready yet. And I do approve of Timatanga’s name!
Celi, if large breed dogs do not a lap pup make… then what are you going to do when lovely piglet Poppy is over 300 lbs. and still wants to be in your lap? Deeply unsettling? Indeed! 😯
terrifying, though as soon as she is big enough to hang out with Sheila she will no longer be lonely for company and will i am sure grow out of it, though she will always want her head scratched i think!
Head scratching = Good
Lap lounging = Bad
‘-)
I love the photo of Bobby!
Good Grief 40 litres a day!! That is what I use in about 3 years – I calculated it and checked – WOW. Queenie is not looking so boxy anymore – twins do you think? Are both the twin calves likely to be infertile usually? Just think there will be asparagus spears soon 🙂 Laura
Queenie is one of a twin and definitely fertile. But if there is a male and a female then the female is usually infertile. But I don’t think she is having twins, she is really not that big.. just awfully slow.. c
Ahh interesting. Holding thumbs that Queenie holds off till Sunday 🙂 Laura
I love that picture of The Bobby!
Last night I read we have a pollen alert for this area. That can only mean greener grass, trees budding and flowers beginning to bloom.
already? there is nothing here at all, not even a swelling bud, do you have flowers out? on the maples maybe?
We lives very near Funks Grove, which is a maple syrup company. We drive thru there on our way to horse backing riding classes, but I didn’t notice buds. However, that was on Monday and a lot can happen in 3 or 4 days this time of the year. The grass at my house is beginning to turn green and I saw the first little buds on my Forsythia yesterday. We also have a lot of robins and cardinals gracing our yard. Apparently nature is beginning to notice the warmer temperatures.
I know where Funks Grove is, we will be driving past there tomorrow, probably drop in to buy some maple syrup, are they open yet? Well i do look forward to seeing some green as we travel South.. wonderful..c
We’ve seen them out working, so I assume they are open and have syrup ready for purchase.
Don’t plan on seeing a lot more green down this way, but it’s definitely getting greener every day.
The Bobby and truck photos grabbed my photographic attention today for the lighting and composition and stories therein. Hang in there, C., only a few days of March remaining.
You are not a grizzle. Full stop. And I love the out-of-focus pic of Poppy. She must be heavy on your lap. We are still cold, but not as cold as you, so there are loads of flowers about, and bursting buds on trees.
Love,
ViV
I’m very excited for your weather to warm up. They are already predicting spring storms here next week – tornado and hail season begins anew!! It will be awesome to see your animals and fowl happily grazing outdoors, basking in the sun!
I am scouring the weather reports for some good news, but we are grey, windy, rainy and cold. Now I AM being grizzly. It IS a little warmer every week, .. I don’t know why this winter has affected me so.. c
You are not alone….most of my farm lady friends feel the same way about this winter…sigh…can’t wait til it is over!!!! uffda…
Have you run a fecal over to your vet’s? You can tell a lot from the poop! I do love Poppy.
Worms. I treated her on Wednesday. Now we will wait a week or so and check again they say. However being the smallest and slowest to thrive in her litter, i look forward to getting some good food into her. I think she is also unable to tolerate the milk, so I just drop the tiniest bit into warm water to encourage her to drink lots. I think this is making a difference too. If we could get a few sunny warm days she could get into an outside pen for some afternoons, but still too cold. She is very active and very noisy though and falls on her food with gusto. Which is good. c
Here is a little smile for you while you are dreaming about green grass and warmer weather. 😉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkDvqQKGgDA
I watched it and laughed out loud. So seldom that utube will play out here too but i am glad it did.. have shared it across to FB! thank you. c
It is spring!!! Just a chilly one… My llama girls are still Cushing in the hay around the hay ring… But last evening they played “queen of the hill” and “bounce and lope” just before teu sun went down…..these are spring frolics for llama ladies …. There is hope!! Have a good day C.
That sounds like something to see! What a wonderful sight.. c
I can just imagine Poppy the size of Sheila trying to climb into your lap 😉