Farm cats and kittens

It certainly doesn't feel like it today, but, since Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow earlier this month, spring will be here before we know it. On a dairy farm, spring is the season for kittens. Actually, there are kittens born in nearly all of the seasons, but most litters arrive in the spring. And if all the activity (wink, wink) amongst the cats in the barn is any indication, our farm will have lots of new kittens in approximately two months.

Most of our friendly kittens are born to Mama Kitty, pictured below. She's the only cat who doesn't always hide her kittens so well that we can't find them until they're hissing little balls of fur.

Most of the time Mama Kitty delivers her kittens in unsuitable places like the manger in front of the cows or on the floor in the middle of the barn office. That's when empty paper towel boxes come in handy.

Here are some of Mama Kitty's kittens from the past six years:

This little calico kitten is known as Calico Kitty. Creative, I know. But we don't get very many kittens with bold calico coloring.

This is Pearlie Kitty.

This is Boots. He was born in the same litter as Calico Kitty and Pearlie Kitty.

Boots is quite the cat. He knows how to open the milk house hose port, crawl through and find a place to rest in the warm milk house. Even after we started blocking the hose port, he found a way to get in. (Don't tell our inspector.)

One time I caught him finishing my breakfast in the cupboard, so we started locking the cupboard doors.

Betty Kitty was named after our old house cat, Black Betty, because they look almost identical. Betty Kitty is the kids' favorite cat. And the one they think should be our new house cat.

 

Farm cats always know where to find the milk!


I'm just as excited as the kids to see what this year's kittens look like. Only 65 days to go!