Has arrived but is still in it’s box for the moment. Can you spot the spelling mistake?
We need to wait until the wound is past the cracking scab stage. Sorry to be so graphic. But the bra will push the teat sideways and I cannot risk it being pushed in the wrong direction and kinking the unprotected milk canal that I have worked so hard to keep open. She needs a little more mending first. It is risky but necessary.
However so far so good. Both quarters tested clean yesterday. No mastitis. I did a little happy dance in the the milking parlour (I only Ever dance when no-one is looking!) and now Daisy goes down to Once A Day milking. So (just quietly) Daisy is taking chicken steps forward. Now please go and knock on some wood! 
Timatanga Moana is back on the diet chain. She can eat this little pig,. Nothing can be left unattended. She is such a Pig.
I know this is an ungainly shot of our beautiful Queenie Wineti with her calf feeding. But I just loved the shadow of the tail.
After Sheila’s walk I gave her the last of the honey mead from the barrel. It was not terribly much. But certainly enough for her. She had to have a wee lie down for a while.
A long while.
Mr Pink sharing the warmth.
Good morning.
On Monday our first Woofer will be coming to stay and help out on the farm. As they are not paying guests – the woofers, who are often young people looking to learn more about farm life, and who work for room and board, will be staying in The Tall Teenagers room, leaving the beautiful Coupe for any Farm Stay people who may wish to come and visit in August and September.
The young man who is due on Monday is going to help me build the new chook house and maybe even make some inroads into lining the rat house as a winter pig house. With lots of fencing and gardening and chores. We will see how it goes.
Good morning. I have been looking at this company, thinking maybe I will set up an outside farrowing operation. So should Poppy and Tima get pregnant next spring they can have their piglets outside which is healthier. Yet still close to the house to be safe. The main concern with this will be the fencing. What do you think?
I hope you all have lovely day.
Your friend on the farmy
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
72 responses to “The Cow Bra”
Knock knock! Fancy getting our Sheila drunk what ever next ☺️ Have a happy day x
Would the farrow be warm enough if you get a cold spring? I know pigs normally live outside, but yours are used to a barn and blankets 😉
Ah ha known! X
What about getting a goat to milk for your dwindling milk supply? We don’t have a goat on the farmy!
I keep saying how goats are wonderful! And so easy to milk compared to Daisy! Lamanchas are great milkers, and just as sweet and lovable as can be! Definitely something to think about! 🙂
These look very similar to the ones dotted all over the UK countryside. Good to see guardrail to protect the piglets too. Would they be warm enough if you still have snow on the ground? Misspelt word would be the long version of vets 🙂 Laura
They look like the pig huts I knew as a child in the south of England. A bale of straw inside and the half door version should keep things toasty so long as the door’s away from the prevailing wind direction. I’m udderly impatient to see Daisy’s new lingerie, so I hope she hurries up and heals. Large chicken steps forward, I hope. And that Sheila, she epitomises ‘eat, drink and be merry’…
Must be tired this morning – it took me retyping that entire description to catch “know” . (Maybe it was the bat I got to escort from my apartment at 1:30 this morning). The pig huts are what we used on the farm for many years, but ours didn’t have doors – we put straw bales in the front if needed to block winds. The railing gives the little ones somewhere to get out from underfoot. The goats liked them also (when not being used for the sows and piglets). We used to get barrels of whey from the local cheese factory and fed it to the pigs. Pete would drink his fill and take a long nap (a lot like Sheila did after the honey mead).
Knocking on wood here and even crossing fingers and toes. Best wishes.
Best wishes for all the critters!!!! Sheila looks as if she totally enjoyed that little drink you gave her. 🙂
And a grammar mistake in the first sentence: “it’s” is the contracted form of it is or it has, whereas its is the possessive form of it, as in its. The first sentence reads: “The cow bra has arrived but is still in it’s box for the moment.” which deconstructed reads, The cow bra has arrived but is still in it is box for the moment….
You are entirely welcome to tell me where to go, if you wish. 🙂
An interesting catch. The nuns taught me that it’s (with the apostrophe) is a possessive. The cow bra belongs to the box. It has taken me years of error to untangle this one. Modern English begs to differ with the nuns. In the very old days dog’s bone and it’s bone was accepted. In modern American it is not.(Though The Constitution is peppered with it’s) And yes I know you are speaking UK English so it is probably wrong there too now. When you read very old documents ‘ it’s ‘ were more prevalent. And now it IS time for me to have my coffee. Then i will come back and see what our other scholars have to say on the matter.. This is why I love the Lounge of Comments. We will NEVER tell anyone where to go when there is learning to be had!! Morning Misky.
We need Viv. She’s the expert, and I’d always yield to her opinion on such things. 🙂 Enjoy your coffee, darling.
Yes, Viv is the one. Though you are right of course. That is the rule. It is just the history of it that interests me. Now we have to toss up as to who writes to the Cow Bra people about their grammar. !.. c
I envisage Sheila managing that task quite well.
Ah yes, of course! I shall consult with her immediately.. c
LOL!
I am honoured, Misky! It’s definitely it’s for IT IS. The possessive of IT is ITS, ie NO apostrophe – an exception, like YOURS. But CELIE’S wonderful blog has an apostrophe to indicate the possessive. Sorry Celie. Yes and the other mistake was know for known. But whose counting? Not me.
The idea of the farrowing pen in the rat house: Knowing the propensity of your flerd members for breaking fences, I reckon you’ll need to line it with a stone wall!
Just been for a hearing test: two aids needed at the price of a newish second hand car! They’d better be good.
But whose idea was it to ask “who’s [who is] counting”… 😉
I’ve no idea but an apostrophe in an awful lot of cases implies a missing letter, don’t you know, so I reckon it was someone with writer’s cramp!
I wish my husband would consider a hearing aid. It would make my life easier if he didn’t mistake words like wine for time or heart for fart or lunch for punch … And the telly is so loud that I’m apt to go deaf.
Exactly. Actually Jock is nearly as deaf as I am – just won’t admit it!
oops! Who’s
How about this? http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/its-or-it-s I think I’d better get on with my chores. 😀
I love Us, we have such fun with words!!. c
Well, I thought “it’s box” in this instance was the possessive form, i.e. the box belongs to the cow bra. Very long time since I was at school though. I thought the mistake was at the end of the information label. It should read “known” instead of “know”. And you can both tell me where to go if you like 🙂 Joy
You beat me to it by 3 minutes. Joy
LOL! Too funny, Joy.
‘know’ was the one i caught first Joy. That is an error they should have picked up on! Enjoy your day… c
I knocked on my old wood table. I’m sorry, I know nothing about raising pigs, I will ask my neighbor in the village.
Here is a link for Kochkäse and other cheeses: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/articles/detail/kochkaese.
I never made Kochkäse, I buy it when I’m in Germany and love it.
Thank you Gerlinde, I will read it and see if I can make it. c
I am glad to study the link you included for the porta-huts; especially the pasture farrowing. We are trying to learn more about that approach. Thanks C!
You are welcome, am still trying to find a dealer close enough.. and of course then there is the No Truck problem, but i do have a trailer!.. c
I was taught that it’s implies “it is” and I always have to say “it is” in my head to see if it is right or at least right based on what I was taught. I missed the know/known. It was spelled correctly and I haven’t had my full caffeine intake yet. Good on Misky for noticing. I like the little farrowing hut, but the company does not know you obviously as it says: only 145 pounds weight, PORT-A-HUTS can be handled by one man. Made me made to read that, but I am sensitive that way. phfft
Have a wonderful day!
I just assumed that they meant one man could pull only ONE. Whereas any woman worth her salt would pull TWO, one with each hand! laugh!! morning kim darlin’ c
The Port-A-Huts are a quality product. Definitely get or make the bumper rail as momma pig is big, the hut interior is cozy and the little pigs are slow at first. We used a larger version as shelter for the weaned steer calves we raised up to feeder calf weight. The huts are sturdy and stood up to calves banging around them. Our’s had a flap in the back that you could open to increase ventilation. It wasn’t enough in the winter so my husband cut some slits in the roof so that the mixture of manure pack fumes and hot breath air could rise out . Until he did that we had many come down with a cough. These huts are the right size that you will be able to disinfect them easily and tip them over for the sun to do its part in the disinfecting process. My only concern would be is Tima big enough to fend off a couple of minks if they decide baby Timas look like a tasty meal option? Poppy should have no trouble handling the minks. She is really maturing into a nice looking gilt. Hard to believe she was so sickly as a baby. Oh I vote Brown Swiss for Daisy’s replacement just so I can see lovely pictures of her every week.
I did wonder bout the ventilation in the heat of the summer. You are right though I would worry about Tima’s miniature babies out there, they will be so tiny and there is never a problem with these wee pugs smothering babies, we are going to be working on lining the rat house and getting that mink proof – for her I think.
A Brown Swiss, I have read about them and they appear to be a good sound cow, do they do well on grass only?, sounds wonderful, but where, oh where could I find a bred heifer out here? Thank you for your input on the huts, I shall call them and ask them a few questions.. c
I think that Tima should have her piglets in that TV room. She is used to being in the house and you could make a little pen. Or how about your enclosed porch? That way all the babies could be socialized and you would not have to sleep with one ear open listening for minks attacking them. The thought of Tima in your bedroom crossed my mind, but even for me, it was over the top.
Don’t tell anyone, but if there are very terrible severe storm warnings and the alarms go in the night, I bring her inside and she sleeps beside my bed next to Boo. She is good as gold too.. . sshh though, c
My lips are sealed, lol
But smilie sealed! (Good Tima…and Boo)
You are gonna be sorry you asked about Brown Swiss. lol They would do well on a mostly grass diet, (I could show you pictures of some that were on a mostly grass diet and they would put Sheila to shame). Swiss are a thrifty cow, they seem to adapt well to their conditions. They are large and can be bull headed but not any different than you describe Daisy being. They do seem to have a well developed sense of how things should be and they don’t like change and will let you know it. They are as big as a Holstein but more people friendly. You need to watch out for poor udder attachment (like Daisy) and especially feet and legs. Nice tight feet (no oversized toes or splayed out hooves) and not too curvy (sickle hocked) legs or too straight (posty) legs. They range in color from a pale cream/white to a black brown, all should have a white ring around the muzzle, no white spots above the floor of the belly (breed standard it doesn’t affect the cow’s milking ability) and no white hair in the tail. As for breeders, there use to be one of the best herds in the state just west of Pontiac ( Nolan’s). They have a bull stud now I think and they do still have some cows and heifers but I don’t know how big of a herd. There is a breeder around Bloomington and another close to Peoria . If you go north towards Wisconsin there many more. The National Ayrshire Assn. and the National Brown Swiss Assn just had their National conventions in Peoria at the end of June. They did a combined convention. Another nice thing about Swiss is they cross breed with beef bulls very well. Calf often comes out looking like the bull colorwise usually, although with a bit of a brown tint. Brown Swiss were originally a dual purpose breed (dairy & beef). They have a high butterfat content to their milk. I could go on and on. ;o)
I went and looked online. http://www.illinoisbrownswiss.com is the state association website. Steve Fluty, the president, is the breeder from Bloomington I listed above.
Goodness, i had better print this out and take it with me. Thank you.. I have written to mr fluty and we will see what happens.. I have always quite fancied the brown swiss.. c
Cecilia I wouldn’t rule out an older cow. One that might not be producing quite as well as the dairyman would like but is sound. it might work for your purposes. I think Flutys were in Peoria with a show string for the Heart of Illinois Fair last week, so you may have a little wait for a response since they might be on the county fair show circuit this summer.
ah yes.. and the pontiac fella is someone I have bought semen from.. so have sent him a message too.. I am not clever enough about cows to risk an older one, I would have to trust the seller, you know what i mean.. c
So many things about Sheila make me laugh. Sleeping off a slight boozy treat is definitely one of those things…:)