Up to the Yards
Once again the cows have been brought back up to the yards though the concrete yards are not much drier at least the cows cannot pog holes in them with their cloven hooves. We had two inches of rain in an hour at milking time last night. So often the rain is at milking time, have you noticed?
Our land is old swamp land, drained by John’s great grandfather (or is is great great?) anyway this is how the creek was turned into a ditch, but in the rain it reminds us of its swamp qualities. Great land, just wet. 
And we have had so much rain this summer that the mud is legendary. The pigs wallows are sky filled. My boots are heavy with muck and the areas around the gates are a true mess with churned quick sand like mud, I worry for the calves walking through.
When the rain is on its way and the thunder and lightening get close Molly lumbers up out of her garden followed by her eleven piglets and they take shelter in the barn. I take this opportunity to lock the gate then, the coyotes do come pretty close at night.
Like I have said before – focus isn’t everything!
The sick Rescue Piglets are getting stronger in small increments and the two strong ones are getting stroppy and piglike. They are endlessly play fighting knocking down the precarious ones who then lie on the floor and scream like something out of a medieval lunatic asylum. Today I am putting the bigger of the crippled ones in a sling so she can stand up for longer periods, her feet just on the floor. If left to herself the littler one can walk unaided for a few minutes. But both hold their heads at an odd angle as though they have a crick in their necks.
The runt baby who we call The Paperweight because of her very dry skin is still very tiny but still doing ok.
I continue with the Piglet Physio for the ones with leg trouble, every couple of hours and we will see. Night-times I feed them every three hours now. If it weren’t for the immobile ones I could leave them for much longer. I have a goats bottle in a holder secured in a bucket at their level and the others just help themselves. The pig saver has been retired. It kept the milk hot but in this weather the milk needs to be freshly made more often. So they are now drinking unheated milk but the milk is remaining stable longer.
They are throwing dry baby pig food about and drinking water too.
We are watching for some dry weather to make hay in. Not only do we need to dry the hay but first we need to dry the land before putting a tractor on it. Maybe next week it will start to dry out.
I am not complaining though, merely recording. I would rather rain than drought.
Have a lovely day
celi
27 Comments on “Up to the Yards”
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No doubt the big pigs will love the mud when the rain stops. Fingers crossed for the little piglets 🙂
Your wee Paperweight is what at home we’d have called the Tantony: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-tantonypig
I’m just lost in admiration that you’ve pulled these littles through (so far, anyway) and am fascinated with the idea of the Piglet Sling – like some sort of baby walker?
Can you get some Aloe Vera gel, it has good anti-sun in it and mixed with coconut oil should protect the babies skin? I sure hope some of that precipitation is going to visit the Southern Hemisphere this summer. Still holding thumbs for the rescues. Laura
I, too, would rather have rain than drought. Everything is green and lush. The beans are taller than I ever remember and corn isn’t roiling it’s leaves like it usually does in August. It’s hard to believe Autumn is knocking at our doors.
Oh goodness, don’t rush autumn in so quickly! Still school summer holidays up here in Canada until Labour Day and then summer doesn’t officially end until 21st September, a whole month from now. It’s just our winters are so long and harsh that to even suggest autumn at this point sends shivers down my spine… lol Although I did read a report of snow predicted in Montana for this weekend! Imagine, in August! Horrors!!!
Yes, I’d rather have the rain than drought as well, and we’ve had lots and lots of rain this summer. It’s affected the garden, with much splitting and rotting of tomatoes, and lots of foliage on the beans and squash, but very little fruiting. Out high hopes for putting ups lot for the winter are slowly diminishing. We are getting in the fall garden now thouh, so have our fingers crossed for it. 🙂
Celi,
Do you still have your goats? I haven’t heard about them for a long time. Goats, notoriously, do not like rain…just wondering how they are doing in all of that water.
No I sold the goats last year – they are living up on the ridge with the goat lady and happy as clams by all accounts.. c
That’s awesome!! They are quite different than cows and pigs….more like mishaving dogs. Hahaha
Nice Cecilia…
I feel your pain as far as rain. We are in MS and got a lot of that rain that flooded Louisiana. It rains at our house and not further towards Jackson (30 min. north of our home). We have had rain everyday and sometimes every evening or night. We get it even when my co-workers get none.
We need to get our hay done in our field and a co-workers field who we are cutting this year.
Glad the rescue babies are getting better. I love pigs and want one. But, the hubby grew up eating what he raised. So everytime I say I want a pig. He says “bacon, bacon, bacon”.
Happy weekend.
My Greek friend sings “Mary had a little lamb” when his non-Greek friends (or wife) are at his family table…… Doesn’t bother me but his wife will NOT eat lamb. Sad – it is a lovely meat and as “Americans” we do not appreciate it enough.
Love the rooster in the hay car….. That is a laugh this morning. Rain – we are getting too, but in August in Texas – that is once a decade type of thing. Poor baby pigs…. Do you even thing the small ‘not just right’ ones will even be viable for table if they survive?
That was quite an impressive rainstorm. I love the top cloud photo with the anti-crepuscular rays. Kind of a rare sight.
Good work with the weak piglets. I am also impressed the original 11 are still 11.
Molly has turned into a cracker of a mother. But it’s marvellous what you’ve accomplished with the little survivors. And you manage all that and still take great photos.
Wish we could swop weather for 2 or 3 days. Everything is so dry here, the fields and grass are yellow and even the big trees are drooping.
your care for the wee little pigs is awesome- you are amazing!
I love your cloud photos also, and the header one is really a beauty. Skies like that always make me feel very reverent.
Your description of the poor screaming piggies had me laughing out loud. It probably shouldn’t have, poor babies, but I couldn’t help myself… lol What a lot of work you have put into those poor creatures. I hope they have a chance to have some good life before it must come to an end. I’d suggest they are very lucky to have you, especially you, on their side. Hope you have a lovely day too! ~ Mame 🙂
I can mirror Kate’s sentiments. I also would rather have rain than drought. We are dry and too hot right now with not a drop in sight anywhere. They can globalize everything else. We need to find a way to save all the floodwaters and sent it off to places facing drought. The run pipelines for oil and some for water from north to south but so much more could be done. I know there is a smart engineer out there somewhere. 🙂 Hang in there, Fall is right around the corner. Though I know you need to get more done with the summer.
Up here in Minnesota, we’ve also had an incredible amount of rain.
It has been incredibly dry here. We finally have rain. Today was the first day all summer that it was overcast in the morning. That’s so hard to believe.
I’m sending blessing and grace and peace and strength in my prayers for all animals and especially for you. Sometimes the care givers get overlooked. Come on little piggy!
Medieval lunatic asylum….HAHAHAHAHA
I would rather rain than drought. So true.
You are an amazing girl .. Wish I could help you. I know I would learn a lot! Hugs C
I love the images of the rain pelting down and the mythic mud. Not that I wish any of that on you, but I love seeing it in all its reality.
Oh how I salivate over those rain images… just a few DROPS would be welcome here!