I Should have KNOWN!
Guess who has begun to show an udder? Go on GUESS! After all this backwardsing and forwardsing and shilly shallying about – it looks like Lady Astor is developing her udder for real. I am fairly sure now. And just before I was about to call the vet out too. With eight days to go before her triple checked due date. She is looking pregnant.
Maybe, if all goes well, there is going to be milk this summer. 
Actually she still is not looking that pregnant, I think she must be growing a cat in there but her udder is definitely swelling up.
She has been very quiet lately and dropping a few short mucusy strands every now and then. Which I thought may have been heat. But there you are – it looks like she is starting to store milk in her poor old beleaguered udder.
So I called the Parts Dpt my favourite no nonsense go to milking equipment store. A real man answers, knows how to milk cows, knows the gear and – here is the best bit – he looks up what I ordered last year and runs through it with me, so I get everything exactly right. (I replace all the rubber or plastic that has had a seasons milk running through it). Then he might suggest a gasket or something and then he gets it all in the mail THAT SAME DAY! I had to buy a new bucket this year which is expensive but there you are. He even put me on hold while he ran out to the warehouse to check the new arrivals, making sure they had the new buckets. Anyway – that man makes my life easier. And I don’t get junk emails with Specials!! And everything is on its way now. And of course he is not paying me to write this. And if I am not right I can send it all straight back. And, well, there you are.
Now we need to go out and clean that milking shed up again.
Lady Astor is awfully calm. Ah well. Maybe no summer off after all. 75% sure now. I will be 100% sure when I see that calf standing on the ground. I still have no sense of him in there.
It is still cold and very windy. The wind was so strong yesterday and so constant that we were all discombobulated by it. We had to shout at each other to be heard. Smiles were grim and a little short. Though Poppy had a lovely day in the fields.
This morning is only slighty less windy and overcast and cold. But hopefully the wind will drop by this afternoon.
love celi
Weather forecast:
Tuesday 05/02 0% / 0 in
Cloudy skies. Windy this morning. High 54F. Winds W at 20 to 30 mph.
Tuesday Night 05/02 10% / 0 inPartly cloudy skies. Low 38F. NW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph.
38 Comments on “I Should have KNOWN!”
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ah -ha!
She looks quite content lying in the field – obviously she’s enjoying keeping you guessing 🙂
I was calm like that when I was pregnant too. Just chewed my cud and kept’em guessing.
Hahaha! Oh Miss Cure! That is HILARIOUS! Didn’t we all just lay around chewing our cud while growing our babies?
You never know until it actually happens!
Ok so now perhaps we need to consider if Carlos did breed her 3 weeks later than Dr Straw? What I really thought you were going to say is that Poppy decided to have her litter of 14 before you had fully moved Molly and her mob out 🙂 Your milk parts man sounds like a keeper, personal human service!! Laura
Hopefully she goes another day or two – we will be moving Molly this afternoon – I hate to do it but these piglets are getting really big! c
Whoa! The ‘is she or isn’t she’ game is finally coming to an end!!! Yeah!!! And she IS!!!!! Yahoooooo!!!!!
If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was looking rather smug… She’s going to keep us guessing till the last moment, isn’t she?
I laughed at your “growing a cat in there” sentence. Funny mental picture. I hope everything goes well with her delivery. Fingers crossed.
That was my reaction too… although nothing would surprise me 😲
That’s customer service at its best, as it should be.
Yes – wonderful service! c
Her udder looked very filled out in those pictures you posted the other day-the size comparisons of Lady, Sheila and Ton…but then what do I know about cows.
from the side you might have that impression – but from the back (where you judge these things) she was crinkled up like an old concertina, her teats turned inward and crossing. Not a pregnant udder by any means. Now the back is losing its tissue paper look – fast. Interesting that she left her run so late.. c
Oh my- I certainly hope that you didn’t tell Lady just how crinkled up she looked- poor thing might very well have been offended 😉
oh my….sneaky Lady Astor! Good thing you have such a great milking advisor!
One mystery solved..now l got to find what discombobulated means…what a lovely word
Thanks for the link. Need another milking bucket. Good luck with the birth. Gonna go with she’s pregnant and there will be a calf.
Great – tell him Cecilia sent you – you know you will say – the one with the accent!! He might remember..
Kudos to the personal service gentleman. The Lady Astor mystery is partly solved but what is going on in there? Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to put on your X-ray glasses? Positive thoughts for all the pregnant critters.
Maybe the Tiny part of Carlos makes this calf so small it’s barely detectable. 😀
Poor Carlos the Tiny! It will be a toss up whether it is his calf or the AI – we shall soon see – hopefully
Finger crossed for Lady Astor. What a wonderful sky!
Hopefully you will feel life inside her before too long. (Rather than the other that you thought might be so in a post several days ago). The green of spring is beautiful, isn’t it?
One way or the other I hope she delivers ok.. c
I hope all goes well, and I hope it’s a little girl 🙂
AHA!! You peeked! Described my udders to a T !! Sorry, but I have no calf to offer – chuckle – just concertina-like old udders!
Any chance you would share your milk equipment source? Always good to have some options!
It is called the Parts Department – they are wonderful and very fast to deliver – any problems just call them and they fix it.
Oh this is a down to the wire situation. Like everyone else I’m hoping for the very best outcome.
I suspect you have a half Dexter heifer in there. Small calf so not much shows. In the photo a couple days ago where Lady A is facing you it sure looks like her right side is just a tiny bit larger than the left and a tiny bit lower. Regardless, you’ve got more babies coming, whether bovine or porcine, in the very near future.
*smile* I live on junk emails with specials – especially the latter: don’t think I have paid full price for anything for years. Have a ‘needs’ list and when something comes up, mostly around 10-11 pm at night, I do pounce!! Must have been all my previous business trips to Hong Kong, Singapore and the rest . . . bargaining is an art and huge fun actually: and there is quite a bit of it in this country these days . . . but have to admit I do like to speak to a ‘real’ person if available . . . [Oh had a huge ‘contents insurance’ bill a few weeks back: did a bit of talking about moving my account elsewhere and promptly got over a hundred dollars off for the same policy] . . .
Now focussed on a healthy delivery… Best xox
Oh good news! Love those photos of the skies.
J & D > An occasional discombobulation is good for re-setting our sense of self-worth. A sort of re-calibration. We’re always told that only the US knows how to do customer service: now we know it’s true!
Oh best of luck with Lady Astor. I just love the green in your photos Celi .. 😃
Described my udders to a T ! !