Tima and Poppy

I am willing to bet now, that Timatanga Moana is pregnant. There is a certain angle from behind (- so rude) where you can see the  pigs belly drooping downwards with the teats quite prominent. Like a bulge. Usually looking at a gilt from behind you see nothing. Now I can see the curve of her belly sinking earthwards.
Tima

All she wants to do is cuddle. And she is not a little pig anymore. Short and small but not Light. She is a Lap-Full that is for sure.  So now I am taking both of them back to Tima’s original pen for the afternoons, so she can get used to being there again.  And if this pregnancy trend continues,in a few weeks I will separate them and leave Tima under the apple trees.kunekune boarThis is getting exciting. I don’t actually mind if the kune kune breed or not. They are pet pigs and cost so little to feed. But wouldn’t it be great if they did.  Fingers well crossed please! pig and dog

I don’t expect to see very much belly action with Poppy for a month or so yet. hay

The hay field is growing like crazy. And hopefully this week will warm up and it will grow even more.  I aim to begin baling mid May.

calf

Naomi and I are sharing milk very nicely… mainly because of her mothers lovely tight udder and this calf’s gentle nature. Dutch Belted Cow

Do you see how she has two pink teats and two black ones. Of course this means nothing at all. So far this is going very well.   Naomi is taken into the barn late morning and I let Lady A out into the Dairy Mistress field. She misses her baby Not At ALL.  In the evening Lady comes back in, I milk with Our John in attendance and then baby goes out the back with her mother. Poor old Daisy, with all her troubles, with the detached udder, chronic mastitis, teat injuries and that massive production –  she taught me an awful lot and now I am able to manage Lady  easily.  But Daisy loved me and I don’t get that from Lady.  She is a mans cow  – she loves John and if Our John stands beside her at milking time she is improving every day. Without him she is a toad!  But love is love.. I milk once a day, when John gets off work. Which is nice for us. It is good for a couple to do something together.  And I don’t mind if she likes him best. Aunty Del loves ME! The ginger cats love me Big Time! cats-005

Good morning. My guest worker weeded the entire asparagus patch yesterday then laid thick straw on top – all ready for the season. I forgot to ask him if he even liked asparagus! Now that the weather is warming up we should be able to start picking again.  Thank goodness!

I hope you have a lovely day.

Love celi

 

44 responses to “Tima and Poppy”

  1. Can’t wait for the next instalments of this long-running family documentary…. and the idea of miniature kune piggle-lets is adorable !!! they will look like wind-up clockwork toys gliding around the farmy !!!! Is a herd of pigs called a piggle ?????

    • Oh, oh, many tiny Timas and Tanes to look forward to! Valerie asks a very good question: there are several collective nouns for pigs, but my favourite is a Drift of Pigs. Timatanga is about to live up to her name: Beginning. She is going to be the piggy Matriarch of the Kune Kune Drift!

  2. It’s nice that John has someone to love him now that there’s no Big Dog. Beautiful, beautiful ginger cats!
    Christine

  3. Exciting. I suppose the kune babies will be tiny. They’re making silage here for the first cut, which is probably just as well|: the weather has been too wet to leave cut grass out to dry. So the lanes are full of big tractors and machines, which makes going anywhere a bit of a trial, but I’m thankful the farmers are doing so well. The maize is sewn and everywhere looks beautiful. I just wish they’d vary the crop, rather than growing the same old same old every year: I’m sure it can’t be good for the soil.

    Have a lovely day.
    love,
    ViV

  4. My lesson for the week – ginger cats, black coffee and laptop is a recipe for disaster. Aah well, all fixed now. I missed the farmy so much and Mr Flowers first display – he is impressive. Looking forward to all the new little piggies. Laura

  5. So exciting about Tima and the unknown-ness of her due date makes it all the more interesting. Groups of pigs seem to be called a lot of different things: A Sounder of swine, a drift, a drove, a litter of piglets, a parcel of pigs. Lovely pics today, Naomi with her ears forward. I have noticed her ears back a lot too in the pics. Her “I’m not sure about what is happening right now” look? Have a wonderful day. So glad you’re getting some help. I hope he is enjoying his stay and working on his water design. ::-) Enjoy.

  6. And how does John feel about the love of a cow? 🙂 The cats are adorable, of course. My favorite picture of the day but the piggy picture are pretty darn adorable as well.

  7. No! Surely the pink teats are for regular milk and the black teats are for chocolate milk. Please say this is so!

  8. Lady A reminds me of one of our chimps – an indifferent mother at best. When she finished nursing her baby, she would lay him on a blanket and drag him around that way. No helicopter mothering for her. Naomi will grow up to love you more than anything in the world. And no doubt, you are Sheila’s favorite.

  9. Will Tane be an involved father, or do male Kune Kune take an offhand approach to parenting? Your picture of Ton and I believe Poppy in the long grass made me laugh. From the angle of the photo it looks as if Ton is prodding that pig along with little rear end nudges saying “move along there piggy, more grass needs to be mowed over this way.”

    • Yes that is poppy, Ton seems to think she needs more minding than Sheila.. As to Tane, I think I will separate them at the farrowing then see, they are not aggressive at all but most mothers like to be left alone when feeding babies.. safer that way.. c

  10. That is a herd of ginger kitties! And I think all of the farmily loves you but John can have one that favors him more. I mean there are more than enough love to go around. 😉

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