Category: Nico’s Blog

Nico’s ramblings on farm life

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Nico’s blog – # 3 the new sheepie stuff …

Hi t’z Nico again… hope you liked my post about my friend Louie…he’s cool to play with. Did you see him in the ‘firebox’ photos? Mama Clare took a photo of us two playin around before the guests arrived…

My humans went out in their ‘noisy box’ (the car) with a …. wire thingie (trailer). I didn’t want to go..but I like to have a look inside the noisy box when not making a noise…

Well this mornin…we’z go n feed the sheep with the new …feed box… tiz good for the sheep cause the sheep nuts don’t go on the cold ground… an the new feeder for hay means that the sheep can eat nice warm food. I thought it was a great place to play…n I haz a look in the box but sheep eat all the nuts…

I’z a big help with the sheeps…I like to run around with them…they like me…

Well that’s my mornin…I’m off to play with Louie now…bye….

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Nico’s blog – # 2 my best friend…

I have a bestest friend called Louie…he lives in the house through the big trees. When I have had my breakfast I go and see if Louie is allowed to come out to play…

Louie’s humans are good… they let Louie out in the morning and we play – tag you’re it, paw paw through the fence, who can climb the biggest tree and other cool games…

Humans don’t like Louie going in my cat door though, they tell Louie “go find Nico”, cause I’z outside playin….

I play with Louie all day till I have ‘cat nap’ in the afternoon, my human Shepherd Clare says “I broke the cat” cause is sleep in weird positions, tiz funny.

Then we play in the evening till it’s time to go to bed…

Last night Louie creeped in through the ‘cat door’ (he is very clever…I’z still learning this) and sat on the floor while we played…paw paw and tussle on the floor….human Leigh (dats his name ‘she’ calls him) was playing with da water and eating bowls… human Leigh let Louie stay for little time before saying he must go home…(to his humans..)…Louie says to me ‘meow’ (means thanks for play Nico, I go home now..). bye…

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Nico the Shepherd’s Cat …. my story

I is Nico…..this is my story. The human mamma – “Shepherd Clare” told you how I come to live with her and other human.
https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/thebirchesspringfield.com/1483

Now I will tell you wot I do in my life on the farm as Shepherd’s Cat. My new life started when I got to the farm….oooo lots of new things to see and smells…waz a very happy kitten……I haz lots of toys…

I went outside in the ‘big world’ ….tiz huge…. has forest n (Shepherd says paddocks) grasses n mices n rabbits.

When it rains… or is cold I’z stay indoors and play…humans gives me toys…n boxes..

I start my day by helping Shepherd Clare feed da sheeps…I like to visit with them… they are my woolly friends…I’z good with da sheep…I’z help…

Iz big now and allow outside at night time…though Mamma worries when I don’t come home till late….(7pm)…

Next time I’z tell you about my best friend…Louie he lives next door…

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The shepherd’s cat -Nico out on the farm

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about Nico, our Manx kitten, so I thought I’d give you an update on what he’s been doing lately. Nico is now six months old and has adapted well to farm life. He loves to visit the flock every morning – or night – depending on who is feeding them any particular day (I feed them in the morning and Leigh feeds them late afternoon) and since there is plenty of nice grass at present we have gone to feeding them once a day.

So Nico will follow us out to the workshed to help us get the bucket and the nuts; he has to check out the workshed as well, to make sure no mice have appeared since he was last in there. The routine is then go out to the main gate and open it, call the flock by rattling the bucket (which they know is ‘nut time’) and they all come running over to the ‘breakfast bar’ (a piece of grass cut so that the nuts don’t get lost in the long grass).

Nico, as a good shepherd’s cat, either climbs on the fence or squeezes under the fence into the paddock to ‘visit’ with the sheep too. He will go right up to them and hunker down while they have a look at him and sniff him. He is very brave, as they are sooooooo big, but they are also gentle and just nose him.

He loves to walk around the paddock as I check the water troughs, fences, pick up any rubbish blown in from the main road, and generally look at the sheep and give them a scratch and talk with them. This is the time when I look at how the flock are moving, see if any of them are limping, got sores or anything; this has been a routine now for 2 years and it means I can keep on top of any unusual health issues (hopefully) before it gets too bad.

Anyway back to Nico, sometimes he will stay in the paddock for an hour or so, looking for the mice in the long grass (he caught 3 the other day) and then will come back and look for me in the garden or house.

Nico has also ventured out at night……… As a worried parent, I was not happy about this but as a cat, he thought it was his right to go out exploring, so now we let him stay out for a while after dinner. He usually comes inside about an hour after dark and then we shut the cat door for the night. He can’t get out until I get up in the morning and open the flap. I know I am a little paranoid, but we lost Pippin in the night because he crossed over the main road and got hit by a fast car/truck.

Well that’s the adventures of Nico for today………….. come back and visit soon, and I will have more stories to tell…………………………

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Day 7 – first week with Nico

At first I thought this blog was going to be about our sheep, our experience with the farm and about our life that has changed – for the better – I believe. Well that is of course true but what I didn’t know was that life with a kitten that has a unique personality was about to change our knowledge on cats dramatically. It’s a bit like having a ‘baby’ in the house, all cuteness and cuddles, but also teaching and training, the question is who’s teaching who?

I have to tell you all about our wake-up mornings; Nico sleeps under the bed in his own private ‘cave’. He is very quiet and sleeps right through till about 7.00 am. Then it’s all stealth and quietly climbing onto the bed to see if the ‘humans’ are awake.

This morning was quite unusual though. I am asleep, I hear a purring and open my eyes to see him looking at me. He started purring louder as he can see I’m awake. I whisper to him, ‘I’m not awake yet’ and close my eyes again. He pads his paws (without claws thank goodness) over my eyes, very gently ‘ pad pad’ like he’s saying ‘wake up’, I ignore him so he then puts his nose on my nose and carefully pads pads with his paws again on my eyes. Well I gave up sleep at this point and got up; mmm now I wonder if I’m being trained to wake up when he wants me too?

But isn’t this face cuteness in the extreme?

I am impressed though, with the learning going on in this little mind. He knows now that the ‘scratch post’ is the only place to rip into with his claws, not allowed to do that on the sofas, that the benches and table tops are Not the place for kittens to sit, that he is allowed to sit on the sofa cushions and look out the window at the birds and rabbits outside, and that outdoors is a good place to run and climb up trees.

Pretty good learning for a week in the new residence.

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Day 5 at the farm …

Nico’s introduction to sheep and trees

My, what a busy life Nico has. He has now been introduced to the great outdoors and it’s all about ‘oooooh what are those BIG things’ and ‘how high can I climb’!

First it was the introduction to the sheep. He was very curious but decided that his side of the fence was the best option.

Next it was learning to climb trees; ‘ooo love this, tiz fun’, and for the next 20 minutes it was up and down, higher and higher.

A bit about Manx; these cats are very good at climbing even though they do not have a tail. These are not cats that have had their tails removed, they are born with a specific gene. To compensate for no tail they have extremely powerful back legs, long than the front legs which enables jumping, climbing and balance.

And sheep introduced to cows …

The neighbours dairy cows were put onto our paddock to help eat the long grasses. The cows are most interested in the sheep (but as they have 2 sheep in their own paddocks across the road, are not concerned about them).

Our mob on the other hand are …..’ ‘Maa baa, what are those BIG things, wez don’t like them’.

So a lot is happening here at present, watch this space for more antics from sheep and kittens. See you again soon.

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Day 3 with Nico …

We are adjusting to life with our kitten, Nico and he has bonded quite nicely with Leigh and me. His favourite place is either on the computer desk with me or on Leigh’s computer desk.

We took him go outside for the first time on Sunday as it was such a beautiful day, weather wise. He only explored to the extent of where we were standing and would chase leaves, do lots of sniffing and walking through the ‘jungle’ (the garden has lots of tall plants as you know).

After an hour though, it was nap time – ‘tiz very tiring being a kitten’. We will not open the cat door yet but he seems content to go outside when we do and come back inside when we have chores to do.

I am very impressed on how quickly he is learning ‘our routine’. Sleeps all night under our bed and is very quiet, gets up only when the first person rises. Follows either one of us around most of the day and naps nearby whatever we are doing.

The other ‘learning’ is to push the boundaries; “I can walk on the table, I can jump onto the bench” all no-no’s in this house – with a ‘no’ and distraction to something more interesting such as a ‘ball’ to chase, he is learning quickly.

It will be interesting to introduce him to the sheep but that will be much later. Well time for me to return to chores while ‘Nico’ has a nap. See you again soon.

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Our newest member the family …

Remember back in December I said that we were going to get another Manx kitten; well he’s finally arrived. We have named him Nico (said as Neko, a Sicilian name). As cute as a button and already making sure we are ‘his family’.


Tired from the long trip (to Hamilton airport at 6am to Christchurch airport by 8am then home to Springfield 9.45am. and running around getting familiar with his surroundings in the house, he finally went to sleep about 3pm (just like having a baby around again).

‘The Manx cat (/ˈmæŋks/, in earlier times often spelled Manks) is a breed of domestic cat (Felis catus) originating on the Isle of Man, with a naturally occurring mutation that shortens the tail. Many Manx have a small stub of a tail, but Manx cats are best known as being entirely tailless; this is the most distinguishing characteristic of the breed, along with elongated hind legs and a rounded head. Manx cats come in all coat colours and patterns, though all-white specimens are rare, and the coat range of the original stock was more limited. Long-haired variants are sometimes considered a separate breed, the Cymric. Manx are prised as skilled hunters, and thus have often been sought by farmers with rodent problems, and been a preferred ship’s cat breed. They are said to be social, tame and active. An old local term for the cats on their home island is stubbin. Manx have been exhibited in cat shows since the 1800s, with the first known breed standard published in 1903.’

Wikipedia.