Milk Fed Bottoms
The Three Little Pigs are growing at a cracking rate. They get a lot of milk and they love it. Look at their fat little bottoms with those curly tails.
Molly and Tahiti on the other hand are on a very lean diet just in case they are pregnant. No-one can say for sure.
Sheila is having a hard time in the heat. It has been in the 90’s each day and the humidity is high. I give her a huge water barrel so she can stand in the water but she just knocks it over. I am not even sure if she has a drink first.
She prefers to drink out of a tiny little bowl so waits there for me to fill it as often as possible then drinks.
The little boy pig lives in a field next to Tima and Tane and seems happy but we cannot have him impregnating the girls. So he has to have fence in between. In fact he has the best wallow and is in a very social corner so he gets lots of visitors too.
I have taken Aunty Del’s baby into my corner. Aunty does not give enough milk for her so I feed her some of her Mums milk and top it up with Lady Astors. Aunty’s udder is still very small and flat like a table with tiny legs. I think some of this is swelling which is normal. We will see – she is still standing beautifully to be milked. And the milk I white and clean. But I think it is best if baby is trained to a bottle.
I also weaned Bobby T this weekend – he is getting way too big for his mother’s rather lop sided udder. He is two months old and huge. If he was on a bottle he would be weaned about now. He has literally yelled himself hoarse keeping everyone awake last night. He is quieter now though and I hope the worst is over. He will shortly go over to the other side with the other steers. The new field is almost finished over there.
I hate weaning time but it had to be done – Lady A’s older udder has had enough of that big boy. Aunty Del has not made a peep about her baby going into the nursery. I am not sure she realises she had a baby frankly – luckily I milked the colostrum for her when she was born so she got a good start.
Aunty LOVES being milked and actually pushed past Lady to be first in yesterday evening. They raced each other through the door way, getting stuck then getting free like a comedy. The door jamb creaking. Then I had TWO of them crammed into the stanchion. I had to get one cow to back out of the milking shed. There was no room left to turn. That was interesting.
Sundays are hard work for me. I have no workers at all on a Sunday – though the Frenchmen did go across to work on their fence.
I hope you have a lovely day. We have another hot one today too!
Love celi
21 Comments on “Milk Fed Bottoms”
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They all look like such happy animals!
Dairy Maid is well to the fore in your job titles just now, isn’t it? I can hear your love for the Milk Bar ladies in your comments. Hoping for more Talia shots soon, and how are Tima and Tane doing?
Tima and Tane the old bickering marries couple are fine and dandy – they sleep under the pine trees all day.. c
You certainly have gone from one extreme to the other with the Ayrshires, and it looks like Alex is our #1 Mom so far. Kisses to cheeky Txiki too. Laura
Yes – and would much rather be on the small side.. c
Ah yes, weaning. I hope the Bobby calms down and gets through the night without his mama tonight. Best wishes for little Talia as well! We have had sheep and goats who really seemed very unaware that they had given birth. Something just doesn’t click until the second time around.
Piggies raised on milk are the best. And yours are looking extremely healthy!
You certainly have your hands full. I am busy giving lots of cooking lessons to tourists at the moment. South west France regional cuisine, so lots of foie gras, duck, seasonal veggies and great fruit tarts.
Bobby T will be fine, as he’s had such a great start. It will be fascinating to see Talia grow with the different regime. Your wonderful helpers make such a difference for you that I’m not surprised you’re really sad when they have to go. I wish you all good luck, good weather and happy days.
love,
ViV
It is amazing how social pigs can be! We let our huge boar, Jethro, join Ellie Mae and his three babies after being apart for months, and I swear, he had a huge grin on his face! The piglets were dancing and following his around, as was Ellie Mae. Very Cool! I’m guessing that Ellie will finally stop nursing her babies (after 4 months!) and get serious about romancing now!
FOUR months! merciful heavens. Jethro is such a babe.. c
Piggies – squeals! You know I love to see the piggies… you know for obvious reasons. Snorts with piggy laughter. Hope you have a wonderful day sweet friend. XOXO – Bacon
oh my goodness- all those babies and also very well fed! Have a lovely day and do stay cool!
Laughing hard at Aunty pushing to be milked first! What a circus. Cheers ~ Laura
Circus is exactly the right word. Lady did not even bother trying this morning – just let Aunty go on ahead.. c
Is getting a cow to back up as difficult as it is to get a horse to? It seems so. I’m sorry that Sheila is having a rough time with the heat–and that you are too–trying to refill her tiny water bowl constantly when she could cooperate and use the barrel.
She got up thank goodness. c
You’d think Lady A would give the greedy gaffer a kick when she had enough. Why do the pregnant pigs get a leaner diet? Why not all the same? Curiousity.
Fat piglets cause birthing difficulties.
What a delightful learning experience as far as cows . . . and piggies . . . is concerned!! Both physical and mental!! Lordie – we shall be accomplished to give just a tad of advice re birthing and udder size and milking and bovine characteristics . . . . when I came to have cups of morning tea at the farmy, I never thought I this was on the cards . . . now I just have to visit the farmy personally and ‘for real’ and say ‘hello’ to all!!
I wish I was there to see all the cow commotion! It would have been quite the laugh
I enjoyed reading about the dairy antics even if I am a day late. I seem to be unable to get back to my regular routine of blog reading.