Molly and Poppy
The two sows seem to be living together quietly now that I have locked Molly and her brood even further back in the barn. They have no shared walls now.
And with the weather being so miserable and cold the piglets spend most of their time sleeping under their light – so it really is not too noisy in there.
Though Molly is still jumping on the gates to see what is going on.
We have received our delivery of all the milking paraphernalia for another season of milking Lady Astor, all rubber parts that have been in contact with milk are replaced every year. So the kitchen table has been taken over by taken apart machinery.
Welcome back to the milking pump. Greased and primed and hopefully ready for another season. I need to make it a new cover before those barn roosters perch all over it.
The company I bought the pump and all my milking gear from (who has not paid me to endorse them or anything) actually called me yesterday to say that the milk hose they had sold me this week was not up to standard and they were sending another at no charge. Their quality control people had shown this batch of hose to be more brittle than usual or something. Anyway there was no recall, just a free replacement to be delivered poste haste – no charge. They were actually personally calling everyone who had bought from this batch of hose to tell them. Amazing. I love the Parts Department.
Milking of another description. Below is Poppy’s udder – she is ready to farrow. Soon I hope. The ‘Sty Camera’ (thank you for the great label, Spike) enables me to see that she is standing and walking about all day. It was my turn as Head Chef – we seem to be morphing from Kitchen Mama to Head Chef – so I was in the kitchen most of the day dealing with rhubarb and making shepherds pie and winter cakes, with the Sty Camera as company. Poppy did not lay down at all yesterday. Probably too uncomfortable.
When she did sleep in the night she lay on her belly with her head laid on her feet, her ears flopped over her eyes like blinders. She spent the night fast asleep and un-moving. She is up now though – staring at the door, waiting for me to come and open it.
A perfect bovine line-up.
Time for me to go open the sows door and let her go for a wander in the field. I hope you have a lovely day.
celi
Friday 05/05 10% / 0 in
Mostly sunny skies with gusty winds. High 62F. Winds N at 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
Friday Night 05/05 60% / 0.06 in
Cloudy with showers. Thunder possible. Low 43F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
33 Comments on “Molly and Poppy”
Leave a Reply
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER:
DO A LITTLE SHOPPING:
Thank You So Much For Your Kind Help with Maintaining This Blog
thekitchensgarden 
Hopefully before new babies come, the better weather will proceed it. I think it’s just wonderful you can “monitor” what’s going on in the sty and still get your work done. Head Chef sounds much more gender neutral. We’ve just had 2 of the warmest days this year with yesterday being 86 degrees. It’s coming your way. Have a wonderfilled day.
I think the new piglets will come straight into the coldest stretch so far – but there you are – we will manage.. c
Looove Molly’s piggy nose picture! 💕💕💕
That little snout is so endearing isn’t it.. c
Is that Txiki looking so disgruntled in the bovine line-up? Oh dear is Poppy planning to deliver over the weekend when you are on skeleton staff 🙂 Laura
Yes that is Txiki – she has a face like her mother that one. c
What a great company, it’s so refreshing to still have such businesses around. Poor Mollly sounds like any day now! Have a great day.
Poppy – yes, she is probably going to farrow within the next 24 hours – pretty close now.. c
Ohh sorry Poppy!
Another name I came up with for your Sty Cam, is “The Eye in the Sty”. Great photos of your pig family.
hahaha… made me laugh. And first thing in the morning that’s quite an accomplishment; well done!
LOVE that name.
Perfect!
wonderful arent they. STY TV!! we could go on and On! c
So glad you all have come up with another name. ‘Pig TV’ is what my John calls what’s shown on the ‘adult’ cable channels! Hardly in line with the farmy.
I am very impressed with that kind of customer service. You are fortunate they have your back!
It is lovely to be able to say something positive about such a good company – I would recommend them – very no nonsense.. c
Head Chef sounds like a promotion, even if it is the same job 🙂
Yes – it does doesn’t – well that clinches it – Head Chef it is – c
What a lovely row of spigots has Miss Molly. Impressive. I feel for her at this stage. I remember it well. (Love “Eye in the Sty”. Very funny.
Eye is the Sty is great! c
Spike is coming up with all the good names
I wonder why Poppy lies on her tummy; it must be horribly uncomfortable and I would worry about her piglets in there. It would seem to me to be much more comfortable if she were to just lie on her side. Those floppy ear blinders are a feature of those two girls that I’ve long loved… the flop gives them such a youthful appearance, even now they’re full blown matrons.
Your parts supplier sounds like a keeper for sure. There aren’t many businesses left these days with such a high level of ethics and customer service, so it’s very encouraging to hear of them.
Hope you have a great ‘mostly sunny skies’ kind of day. A little break from the rain. Not here, we’re in the middle of four days of rain and my daughter tells me that 80 mm. of rain is expected before it’s done, which is just a little over 3 inches, so a lot of rain. Never mind, brighter days in the near future. ~ Mame 🙂
She has always slept on her belly – the piglets are in two tracks on either side of her so lying on her belly might be more comfortable..
Sty Camera! Perfect name for such a wonderful farm camera! Have a lovely day.
Can’t wait to meet Poppy’s new family. Piglets grow so fast!
Have a wonderful day, Miss C!
They do – we just spent half the morning rounding up Mollys lot – they are escape artists of the highest order! c
Ohmygoodness! YES! Escape artists every one! It must be built in their DNA. We are having similar issues. I just need to keep our fatties safe at the same time keep them from damaging too much. What a wonderful problem!
Its the snout that defines a pig I think and you pictured them so well 🙂 I think I missed an announcement about Lady Astor, must go back and read some old posts.
I think it’s important to praise good service as well as moan about the bad ones, so bravo the Parts Department, and I hope they win new business because of your enormous readership. That Spike, what brilliant names. I can only add to the genius by suggesting The St-Eye….
Good, caring, thoughtful service leaves a nice imprint that lingers and we return to rather than that nasty crawl of negativity and disregard that we shrug off but never forget.
Have noticed this specifically during the past few difficult months: Same good, same price but a personalized warm and caring service, especially if there is a laugh at the end, beats all competition! Happy babies to come!!!!