Grim weather and Great Escapes

Yesterday began cold and blustery. Sprinkles of rain but nothing to write home about. This morning is more of the same.

I hate to say it but winter is coming. Yesterday I miserably hunted out my winter jacket shook the spiders out of it and put it in the washing machine. John has sown the new fall grass seed in the  fields but I am yet to get the ground cover oats onto the  big gardens so I hope I still do have a month before the bad frosts come.  I am about a month late because of rain and poggy fields and now here is more.  Loud SIGH.

Poppy’s udder continues to drop but her belly really is not large, I am re-guessing that she may have a smaller litter. Let’s hope so. She had a small litter last time (five) .. but a small litter can mean big babies and big babies can be hard to give birth to so I am encouraging her to walk lots and eat more grass and people food rather than grain.

Molly is back in the barn.

Sheila just will not let Molly settle, still attacking her at every chance and Molly is losing weight and carries small wounds from Sheila, superficial but enough that I have decided to part them.  So Molly is in the barn now the pen with the small outside run but lots of inside space, one pen across from Poppy and  with lots of people company. Molly has a sweet nature and I want to keep her sweet. She will go back to live with Manu at the end of November.  Sheila really does not like other pigs and is only happy alone.  Cantankerous old pig!

I took my Pig Lady into the fields to see the piglets and could only find three because the piglets had executed their first great escape,  streamed out through a hole and into the asparagus  then off into the wild grass down by the Creek that is really a Ditch and right into coyote country. They all ran back in, then back out again honking with delight when I calledd, So  my friend was abandoned and Nick and I quickly electric fenced their field then buckets in hand gently called them all back in again and put on the power. So now they are locked in until they work out their next escape. Luckily they are all trained to their call.

Good morning. It looked to me like Aunty Del was coming  into heat last night so this evening the Lady Vet will come out to breed her.  Let’s hope it works as it is getting late in the summer for breeding.  The later she calves next summer the longer I have to milk into the winter.  While she is here we will  take blood from Lady – hopefully she is pregnant.

OK! I had better get up and get going. Time to milk the cows.

Have a lovely day

celi