Poppy Comes Home
I THINK. (Emphasis on the Think) – that Poppy is indeed pregnant. Her first due date was actually yesterday but her udder might be changing and I think I felt a piglet kick from within her belly.
So I took advantage of having my lovely Student Farmers still here and John having the day off and even though yesterday was Workers day off we piglet proofed the big outside field and moved all thirteen of the piglets into there. This in itself was a bit of a mission, pigs do not move as a flock and there was lots of laughter as I caught and carried the stragglers across to the field. The moment you pick up a piglet she will scream at the top of her lungs.
But eventually everyone was in the field with their big girls wallow and using my big truck John hooked up the stock trailer for me to drive across.
Poppy leapt into the trailer without a second thought and I drove her back home where she puddled into the farrowing pen glad to be back home. Moving a trained animal is so much easier! And I even got some practice reversing the big trailer with my new truck – I am not very good at backing up so that was a slow process. But the whole reason for the new truck for me is so that i can be independent. Today I will finish turning Poppy’space back into the farrowing pen again. If she is pregnant I am thinking that we might be looking at piglets in about three weeks.
Time enough for her to get settled. We will know for sure within the next week I would say.
Manu, the boar, is left behind but has a gate between him and the Dexters so he is not completely alone. I have left the cow’s outdoor gate open so they can come into the barn at night and keep him company.
Good morning. Sunday today. John and I are tilling the big beds and then we are sowing oats as a cover crop for the winter. Nature and I hate soil to be left uncovered but we had so much rain for so long it was hard to get back into the fields with the tractor. Today we can rectify that.
All the late summer greens and beets and cabbages have sprouted under their peacock proof covers. Though I might have to get the peacocks in for a few weeks to give the plants a head start.
I have discovered a wound in TonTons throat that he has been licking and making worse (in fact there is a lovely shot of Ton taken yesterday on my Instagram feed) so it looks like Vet day for the dogs in Monday. Also on Monday we take in the broilers and roosters, and all the cages fit perfectly into the big truck too so I am more than happy with addition of The Boat as a farm workhorse.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
23 Comments on “Poppy Comes Home”
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The farmy is about to get REALLY busy again. As if it were sleeping until now. HA!
Fingers crossed Poppy 🙂
Is it me, or does Poppy look a bit round-sided? It’s nice to see her back, and those piglets of her are enormous now – hard to imagine they ever came out of Poppy’s belly.
Yes, she is definitely looking bigger.. c
I should have said, Poppy’s grand-piglets, because of course the latest batch are Molly and Tahiti’s – who are themselves quite huge!
More piglets…how wonderful…There is nothing I love as much as a piglet unless its Sheila or Poppy….Poor TonTon..how did he get injured? good job he is off to the vets…My Charlie dog is going on wednesday to have three front teeth out and the rest detarred..he is getting so old..just like the rest of us. have a good day ladies…love to Miss C
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2016 at 2:41 PM
Sorry to hear Ton has a hotspot owie, hope it heals soon. I wonder if Poppy will produce 12 piglets like her daughters, or keep to her more sedate numbers? Laura
Yes it is rather a lump – a bit of a worry!. c
I hope everything turns out well for TonTin and Poppy. Reversing a truck with a trailer, that’s pretty good Miss C,
Silly question….while looking at the photo of all those well rounded rear ends, I got to wondering. Is the curl to the right or the curl to the left of their cute little pig tails a permanent thing, or can they change it up at wil?
They wag their tails like dogs – especially when they are eating so I guess it can end up on either side! c
Fingers crossed for TonTon and Poppy.
Nice to have Hop and Pop back on the home farm! Hopefully she has matured and settled a bit being away, and will be a good girl while home! Hoping all is well with Ton-Ton! He is such a love! xo
oh poor TonTon…..and look at all the piglets you have! My best to you and all your helpers!
Good for you backing up the trailer! I have never mastered that art, although I kept at it when we had the trailer. Thinking good thoughts for Ton and Poppy!
While I was trying to learn to back a trailer, you could have sold tickets 🙂 Good luck, practice does make perfect!
Poor TonTon, I’ve had a few wounds to deal with over the years with my dogs. It seems no matter how careful you are somewhere along the line they manage to hurt themselves.
Backing a trailer is a bit of a trick. I’ve done it, not often and certainly not often enough to get good at it, but I’ve done it. I miss my big, old, black and silver 1989 Suburban, “Mariah”, we traveled many miles in the years I had her. I got her in 1994 used and she went to the junker in 2015 but hadn’t been driven in several years. Great for long road trips and with the furthest back seat taken out and the middle one folded up it was as big as a double bed (I did sleep in her a few times, much nicer than a tent, especially if it rained).
Nice to see Poppy back, she does look rather round. How are the kunekunes doing? I miss seeing Tima and Tane. That rooster is a handsome fellow, he knows it too.
Hope you have a productive day.
Kunekune are fine! Though Tima needs her nails trimmed – they are waiting for the fields to be harvested so they can roam free again!..
It’s like a constantly changing rubik’s cube…getting the right animals into their right places at the perfect moment!
I like to practice my trailer-backing skills when I’m alone. I still do not understand how FD can just back right up to the hitch! I miss it by a long shot. That is so frustrating to me!
Just one wish – that Ton’s wound is innocent and self-healing . . . . and just bet Poppy was glad to be back from ‘Siberia’!! I hate to think of the moneys people spend in attending ‘exercise classes’ – would it not be much more productive and fun to race after squealing piglets . . .
I’ll second that suggestion about chasing after piglets being an excellent form of exercise. Alas and alack, I have no piglets so I have to figure out my own forms of exercise. Much love, Your Gayle
Good luck with TonTon. I’m terrible at backing too! And I’m with you ..soil needs to be covered.