Cat Cow Pig Chicken Dog

Animals have been working hard at keeping warm the past couple of months.  All are good at finding the best place to either sit in the sun or cuddle up on bedding.  We have only one cat left on the farm and she tends to stay in the milk house.  There are plenty of ways for her to get in to hide from the dogs and out to hunt.  I haven't seen many mice in there since the cat took up residence! Usually all we see of her is a streak of black and brown running to hide when we walk in.  I found her sitting on the shelf watching us yesterday. 

Young cattle are separated from the cows and the bull right now.  My big girl Blossom (one with the yellow ear tags right in front) is between the groups in age so she is the boss cow of this group.  When all the cattle went down to the pasture in the summer, the calves would congregate around her.  She is either the "cool kid" or the babysitter, we are not sure which. 

Pigs are separated into three age/size groups right now: sows and boar, butcher size feeders, younger piglets. They are all growing fast, we had to cut back the feed for the sows and boar because they seemed to be getting a little too big. Butcher pigs are getting fat quickly.  They will be ready to go in to the butcher soon.  Little pigs are eating like crazy! It feels like we fill their feeder all the time. The little pigs are all close in age but they grow at such different rates.  Some piglets in the little pigs pen are more than twice the size of the others.  I should take a video next time we throw cornstalk bedding into their pen.  They run around like crazy and make all sorts of noise!

Chickens are hanging on but I don't think they like the cold too well.  They seemed to go through a molt at the beginning of winter complete with patchy feathers and a halt in egg production.  Everyone looks better and back to normal now with their thick winter feathers.  Up until this week, we were only collecting one to three eggs per day.  Production is going up a little bit though, we got four for a few days and, wait for it, seven yesterday!  I have been buying eggs from the store to keep up with demand in the house but maybe soon the chickens will be earning their keep again.  38 birds should be able to produce enough eggs for five people. 

The dogs sleep in the front porch year around because they bark all night and I'm worried that they would get lured away by coyotes. They stay inside more when it is cold outside, I will sometimes leave them inside when I go to work if it is below zero.  We have four dogs now, Gunter joined the group this summer.  He is a cattle dog and will be so helpful in the coming years.  He already knows how to herd cows in the direction we need him to but often will herd them when we are just going into the cattle pen to do chores.  Hopefully he will learn more discipline as he gets older.  It is fun to have a puppy again, he has so much energy and is always trying to get the other dogs to play with him.