What makes a good mother? I have long pondered this question, especially since being on the farm it seems the way that we judge most of our female animals... obviously with me being terribly anthropomorphic and therefore more forgiving than James... Anyway, after being sure that Winnie was going to farrow for many many days, we missed it. She has had a bunch of 'ferals' (the name we give to the piglets born in the sow field who run merrily about and evade capture for as long as they possibly can). I thought you would like to see her nest. Note many large branches and the occasional log. Clearly this kept her busy for a while. Some of our sows spend many hours carrying mouthfulls of grass back and forth until they build a softer bed than even our straw could provide. These girls must be a bit like those Mum's who seemed to effortlessly cope with everything (and probably never had to use newspaper as a nappy wipe..). I can see that Winnifred was clearly just exhausted with the whole process and felt that she had better go through the motions but do it quickly. She looked at me when I saw the piglets as if to say "I know, I know but f**k it, its looks fine ALRIGHT" (language, I know but she had just had 9 babies). Last month Leanne had to be moved because something went really haywire with her mummy instincts and she filled her hut so full of branches and logs that lying down was a tricky business. Bless.