This past week I purchased two lowline cows. Di and Daphne had been running with a bull for 18 months and not calved and the seller suspected his bull was a dud. They were delivered on Tuesday afternoon and seemed to settle in ok.

About the middle of Wednesday afternoon I noticed a commotion among the sheep and went to investigate.

Daphne !!

A little wet black bull calf ! I was able to watch the birth from a distance and all went smoothly until he dropped out, he fell tangled up and his head was tucked underneath him. So I sidled over and sorted him out and it wasn't long before he was up on his feet and wobbling around.

By the time he was 2 hrs old he'd figured out how to get under the rope fence behind him and (the actual smart bit) how to get back!

Here are a couple more photos of him and his mum from today. Dried off, eating well and as cheeky as you could want in a calf :-)

 

It looks like Di is also due very soon so he will have a companion to play with !

There's been a few adventures in Tassie, which I'll post about shortly.In the meantime, here are some random photos.

The mower and trailer are very handy for mucking out the cow areas. I can back them right down the concrete and flick the waste hay and manure right into the trailer. From here it goes to the vege garden to become compost.

The old plum tree hasn't died, it was later flowering than the other trees but put on a lovely show. It will be a good shade tree once the leaves come in too. And perhaps fruit ?

 

I've set up the livestock food and medicine dispensary in the old cutting room. The hanging rails are quite useful for rugs, halters and fly veils. With lights, power and running water this may end up being a cheesemaking room once the old milkroom is refitted for all this gear.

A couple of freebie dog photos...

POPPY

ALVIN

 

POPPY & ALVIN

We co-ordinated with our over-the-road neighbours for some roadworks. The little bobcat is about the most useful machine I have ever seen. Apparently you can get something like 80 or 90 attachments for it ! The experienced operator had it whizzing around like a polo pony.

26 ton of sand and 26 ton of gravel, delivered by the neighbour who works for a truck company. He emptied the back trailer first then tucked it to the side so he could empty the forward section.

The end result. The red areas are where he lifted the overgrowing grass off already gravelled areas, which were most of the shed accesses. I think there are a few more formed drives on the place so we may get him back for half a day once we've identified them. The grey sections are where the sand and then the gravel were laid once he'd graded the ruts out.

The removed turf added up to quite a pile, it will be mixed with manure and waste hay from the cowshed and used to fill the raised garden beds for veges. In the meantime, it's Poppy's command post.

A Day in the Life of...

Today I made yoghurt, baked and iced a brownie, made oxtail stew in the slow cooker, fed the kefir jar ...

Cleaned and dubbined boots ...

Picked up dog bones and mowed the back yard with the manual mower ...

As well as the usual : move the electric fences for the next ration for sheep and cattle, mucked out the cow area, 30 minutes of paperwork, mulched some more of the front garden beds, put out three loads of washing, swept out and prepped the central bay of the chook house ready for roosters, moved some tadpoles from the cow trough to the sheep trough to eat wrigglers and algae, mixed sheep snacks and answered emails.