Where are the pigs bowls…

Sheila my big fat pig still picks up her pigs bowl and takes it to bed with her.  Hiding them. By the time I find it – it is buried in the straw in her hut. Her version of breakfast in bed. It means that at least once a day I have to crawl into her hut and retrieve all the eating vessels. Both she and Poppy find it very amusing when I am down on my hands and knees grabbing all their bowls at speed lest I get blocked in there  by these two big pigs.
pigs-bowls-003

Her right eye is kind of puffy – can you see? This shot catches it mid blink so it looks worse than it is, and the other eye has a black mark around it  but I looked at it and could see nothing wrong but best I keep an eye on it. Sometimes the sun  and the angle makes one eye look puffier. She prefers to have her photo taken from the other side!

Aunty Del came across to join Lady Astor yesterday. Now that Lady is settling into a routine it is Ok to have another animal in the vicinity and Aunty loves babies.  When she rests it is always in close proximity to one of the calves.Unlike  Naomi’s mother who will go to sleep in another field!
ayrshire heifer and dutch belted heifer

She really is an Aunty bless her. It looks like Elsie’s new home is ready and so she and Potter will be off to graze on a new farm on Monday.  I have told her new owners very clearly not to turn their backs on Elsie. That she is an anxious cow, which makes her unpredictable. So they are fully informed. Dutch Belted Cow

Lady A  was very relaxed yesterday.  Her baby was in the barn with me all day and Lady Astor just wandered off and grazed down the back for the day. I fed Naomi at lunchtime. And after Lady was milked in the evening, out popped her calf like a cork out of a bottle.

cows

Aunty could not take her eyes off her.

Aunty Del

There will come a time when Naomi is too big for her mothers udder then I will wean her and milk twice a day.  Hopefully this coincides with piglets. That is the plan anyway.  But you know that they say about women planning and God laughing!

I hope you have a lovely day.

Your friend on the farm

celi

41 Comments on “Where are the pigs bowls…

  1. Del is unrecognizable! She’s thickening up and squaring out, no more gangling calf. Now it’s Naomi’s job to be the resident gangling, bouncing calf.

  2. That does like a sore eye, maybe she is coming out in sympathy with me! 😉 I am glad the move for Elsie & potter will happen on Monday, I dread the thought of you being injured.

    • There is always the chance of being hurt when working with any animals really. I keep thinking my most dangerous move is climbing up the vertical ladder to the loft to feed the peacocks.. with water and feed in my hands..it is quite the performance.. I try to keep lots of straw below in case I fall as it will be a nasty one.. c

  3. Nice long weekend this side. Sheila’s eye does look owey, hope it gets better soon. Laura

  4. Just love the first shot of TonTon with Sheila! He is so wonderful!!! As is Sheila, of course!!! xo

  5. Poor Sheila… I hope her eye mends quickly. How funny to visualize you crawling into the pig hut to fetch bowls!! I suppose animals have their games – and truly that is a rather clever one if you ask me! Aunty Del is just stunningly beautiful. Her red coat reminds me of the wild animals coats this time of year. The deer and foxes lose their winter hair and that beautiful red summer coat fills in.

    • Her eye is fine this morning, I guess with such a deep bed there is always the possibility of dust in the eye.. Aunty is a beautiful girl and very friendly.. a lovely animal to have around.. I am excited about Daisy Deer – when do you think she will have her fawns?

      • She delivered in early June her first twins, and her second set (last year) were late May. We can tell when the udder drops it won’t be long. 🙂

  6. Oh heavens, that’s hilarious, that a piggie takes her food bowl off to sleep with her. Say, maybe that’s why they are normally fed from a trough that can’t be dragged off?
    Aunty Del is so sweet to keep an eye open for Naomi. And Naomi is just beautiful; I love the blue-blackness of her coat. She almost looks like a polished ebony. Her mother doesn’t though. It’s hard for me to absorb the fact you get two gallons of milk from LadyA daily and that’s actually less than half of what she produces. That is one awful lot of milk! Well, hope she continues to 🙂
    You have a lovely day too and thank you for the smile! Mame

  7. Beautiful animals, the lot of them. Could you chain the bowls to something, like the biros in the Post Office? I don’t like the idea of Sheila being a cork in a bottle stopping you coming out!

    My bread wasn’t marvellous, first try with the machine. Practice makes perfect, they say!

  8. We had another wowzer of a thunderstorm in the early morning hours, a huge clap of thunder woke me up about 4:00am. There were tornadoes south of here and I heard hail coming down too. Spring weather. Aunty Del is gorgeous and looks so healthy and grown up. She will be a good mother. Those silly pigs. Playing hide and seek with C. Perhaps Ton could learn to go in and get the bowls.

  9. Such a beautiful life! I can only imagine how hard you work, as I grow a lot of our food but have no animals other than two love-sponge dogs. I really appreciate the art with which you share your life with us.

  10. The bowl-carrying behaviour is also shown by some dogs. One of ours would hide it after dinner. A current one carries bowl, food and all, to another spot before eating, no matter where it is put. Being ‘otherwise’!

  11. Love to hear the antics of animals. Doesn’t Sheila toss her bowl out her window when she’s through eating? Or pick it up and hand it to you for seconds? Seems to me she did that in front of the man who was amazed by her. I guess that’s only when she’s bedded down in the barn.
    Plus isn’t it almost scary to live with a dog as smart as TonTon?

  12. Poor Sheila is terrified that famine might strike in the middle of the night. She has to make sure there are emergency rations on hand… A traditionally built pig needs to maintain her figure, you know! ANZAC day holiday on Monday, hurray. The ceremonies this year have been especially moving, as it’s the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings. Huge turnouts yesterday for the Dawn Parade everywhere.

  13. I fully understand Sheila: I always eat breakfast in bed 🙂 ! Well, I do clean up after myself !! Could someone not take a photo of you in retrieval mode please ? [naughty me!!] Yoicks what one learns on a US blog as far as Down Under is concerned . . . . since Saturday was an official Public Holiday in all my news Monday supposedly was a work one . . . thanks Kate and I had just finished a list of about 20 business phone calls I had to make early in the day!! Obviously a country girl I am . . .

  14. Sunny would give me not just his dish after being fed he would also get Charlie’s and Smoky’s too. He just simply started doing it one day and didn’t stop till he was too sick to do it anymore. He was a very smart dog, missed his calling being just a house pet, he could’ve been a rescue dog, or a police dog, but he was happy and i was happy and that was enough. I do miss the help with the dishes though.

  15. Love to see photo of your rump emerging from pig hut..what a corker that would make for next years calendar

  16. You could try putting the peafowl’s feed and water in gallon jugs or in buckets and drawing the feed and water up into the loft with a rope once you are up there. When you are done, just lower the containers and the rope will be ready for next time.

  17. Hopefully this is a sign Aunty Del will be a good mama.

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