Had a bit of a scare today, I was planting zucchini in the vege garden and heard the sheep stampeding. Now, a sheepalanch occurs when they run for feed, and they get a very good pace up too, but this sounded different. It didn't sound excited and happy, it sounded panicky. I don't know how to explain that running hooves can sound different even when going the same speed, but they did.

So... I headed round to see what was wrong and saw two dogs running along the fenceline. A cattledog and a black hairy thing twice the height of the cattledog. Sound the alarms !!! I called the sheep into the lambing pen, designed to be safe from dogs, threw them some grain and got DH to ring the neighbours. One also has sheep and she headed out to see if she could cut the dogs off. All that time training the sheep to come immediately when called paid off ...

While I was locking up the sheep three kangaroos came bounding out of the forest away from the dogs, followed a few seconds lated by a fourth, who took a shortcut almost within arms reach of me in his hurry to catch up with his friends !

We went up our fenceline and came across a beekeeper tending his hives over the back boundary. He'd seen the dogs come out under our fence and run off to the northeast. DH jumped in the car and paid a visit to the one house in that direction and lo & behold the dogs belonged to them. He read them the riot act and hopefully the dogs won't be back. These dogs are chained all the time and bolted when let off accidentally. Can't blame them, but having careless and neglectful owners won't save the dogs if they attack someone's livestock. The dogs will pay for their owner's errors.

Here is a shot of the pawprints of the bigger dog, next to my not-so-small foot.

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Meanwhile, back at the house, the crows were entertaining themselves. We recycle plastic takeaway bowls for feeding scraps to the chickens. This one had been emptied and was sitting on the ground waiting to be taken back inside. The crows picked it up and carried it to the birdbath and were playing boats with it. They keep suprising me with their intelligence !

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Here are a couple of shots of the wildlife. I hope to get a better one of the kangaroos soon. The one facing the camera has a joey in her pouch. You can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

These are straw necked ibis, a waterbird. For some reason these guys have suddenly started to hang out in my very unswampy paddocks.

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This is the bumpout that we've made so the cattle can be fed and groomed easily. The rented paddock is at the back on the right and the little corner is fenced with electric fence, making me a little corral so I can catch them for doctoring or putting a halter on etc.

Here are the boys in the bumpout getting supper. Ziggy on the left, Jack at the back and Edo in the centre.

It's been a long week. Still no resolution of the work situation. It's been made worse by repeated promises that information would be coming "this week". In some cases it's been "this week" for nearly two months.

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The chicks are growing fast, we now know there is a rooster and a hen. See if you can pick which is which ...

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So, for a roundup. There have been no new fox losses, and the dual occupancy of Chookmahal continues without incident.The sheep are scheduled for shearing (well, Emmaline and Cleo) and then vaccinating. The cattle are shedding out their winter coats and getting glossy. It's about time Ziggy got his new weaning ring and I got some milk ! The geese refuse to stay down at the dam for more than ten minutes while the fox is still around (can't blame them), but are very noisy and pushy neighbours.

The vege garden is still producing, though the heat and dry has some plants bolting to seed. We found shoots on three kurrajong seedlings we thought had died, but also realised that rabbits can get into the saltbush yard where they are planted and we need to get that fixed before the seedlings get nibbled ! We have finally had some rain, 5 1/2 mm yesterday and 5 mm today and still falling. This is VERY welcome.

Speaking of welcome, we had visitors from Canberra on the weekend, an old friend and her family. It was a lovely visit and a pleasure to have them :-)

Since we've moved everyone into Chookmahal we haven't lost another hen to the fox. The system of locking Brewster and his girls into their hoochie (the half tank at the back) gives Shadow and his flock a go at the feeder first. Once Shadow's flock are let out and Brewster's door opened he and his girls get their chance to eat. It's eliminated the morning scramble where Brewster (being the dominant rooster) drives Shadow's flock away from the food.

It' won't be long before Mamma Chickie and the two light sussex chicks can join the flock. They are spending their initial week with the door of their cage open and free range of the house yard. Next week the cage will be moved down next to Chookmahal and they will be free to come and go with the flocks.

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The geese are now off the nest and hogging the stableyard. I'll continue walking them down to the dam as often as possible until they decide to stay. At least the quick bath they take down there before coming back to the stable yard has made a difference to disreputable Burke.

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We are wondering what to do with Charlie. An ex racehorse formerly known as Alluvial Lass (seven starts, seven losses), Charlie is DH's girl. Unfortunately she has a permanent injury and can't be ridden, and is being agisted because she has no manners with the cattle and sheep.

With virtually no rain since autumn it's not going to be long until the agistment place runs out of grass and we have to find her somewhere else, or a new home.

DH & Charlie

I strongly believe that we are responsible for minimising the suffering and improving the life of the animals we as a society eat or use.

I don't believe we can't do better than factory farming. Even if you don't have a farm or know someone who does, we can all eat a little less meat or support grass-fed, free range and other humane production systems. We can insist that intensive livestock systems be designed and run with the animal in mind as a living being and not a product. We can keep chickens for eggs in our own backyard, choose to buy free range and buy from farms that raise their livestock ethically. Vote with your wallet, it's what you buy that determines what they sell.

The Make It Possible campaign seeks to change the future for chickens and pigs, check it out and think about your next shopping trip. If you can't find humane alternatives ask for them. If enough people ask they will start stocking them.

http://www.makeitpossible.com

It has been a terrible week. Either the fox that we have peacefully co-existed with for three years has had a change of heart or a new one has moved in. We lost six chooks over the course of the week, plus one died of old age. A little irony there. I had been beating myself up over getting casual about locking the lambing pen where Shadow's flock had their residence in a pepper tree. Then we lost more after we locked the gate and it turns out that the fox is either climbing through the mesh or climbing over.

While climbing into a pen full of angry ewes to attempt a lamb is probably still too much for a fox, the chooks asleep in the tree were an easy target. What is left of Shadow's flock are now refugees in Brewster's run. Once Brewster and his crew have gone to bed in their coop I shut the door on that (so he won't emerge at dawn and attack the refugees) and let Shadow and his lot into the pen around the coop. They are used to being in a tree so we've fixed up a few branches for them to perch on.

This pen has a hotwire along the top and the mesh is only two inch holes. There have been no losses since we started this. Since all surviving the first night Shadow and his hens put themselves to bed in the pen without urging. They seem to have figured out it's safer.

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No news on the goose front. We are going to start taking one egg at a time, hopefully she won't really notice and get too upset. The eventual aim is to have her give up voluntarily. 

 Burke - looking very unkempt

 Wills on her nest

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Little Edo was castrated and weighed on Friday. He was 130kg, up from 80kg when he came here a couple of weeks ago. He and the other cattle are delighted with their new pasture. Bringing them up to the fence for a brush and check over is like dragging boulders. They are about the same shape too.

Flora ... 

This should be bloat if you go by the obvious signs. Since she jogged across the paddock to get a snack I think it is merely the most full rumen I have ever laid eyes on.

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The two light sussex chicks are growing like weeds. They are starting to lose fluff and gain feathers and are in the"vulture stage".

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All the sheep have been drenched, the early rain and warmth bringing the barber's pole worm on quickly. The only good thing about hot & dry weather is that there is less of a worm burden on the pasture. Now that Cleo has finally lambed there are three more sheep husbandry operations for the lambing season. Vaccinate all the lambs, dock Ben and shear Cleo and Emmaline. Emmaline in particular needs it. She only has six months of fleece on her but looks like an old english sheepdog. I'll save her fleece and see if it can be spun.

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The vege garden is racing along with the warmth, while I can keep the water up to it. The spinach needs harvesting every couple of days and I steam and freeze slabs of it for later when it's gone to seed. The peas are also yielding beautifully, none of the pods make it to the kitchen. The peas end up in the gardener and the shells end up in the sheep tub.

Aside from all the leafy greens, butter and green beans and borlotti beans are making a good start and onions and pumpkins are well away. As yet to get the tomato seedlings in, I've been holding out for the goose nursery to plant them in. We are now three weeks over the expected due date and I'll have to plant the tomatoes elsewhere or evict the geese soon.

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This is a shingleback lizard. Also known as a bogeye or pinecone lizard. They are slow moving and while they gape and hiss at you, you'd have to be really clumsy to get bitten. Related to the bluetongue lizard, I think they are part of the skink family. Whenever I find one I relocate it further from the house so it won't get stepped on. This isn't the biggest I have moved, it was only about a foot long. They do get just a bit bigger.

Burke and Wills are still sitting. Burke is so bored he now spends his day trying to keep the sheep away from the water trough. We thought about moving Wils off the nest, but when we lifted her (at great risk to life and limb) we discovered she had three more eggs than we knew about ... and we don't know how old they are. They could very well be still good. A quandary has been entered.

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The final lamb for the season has arrived. Cleo, a first time mum, went into labour on Saturday morning and after an hour it became clear she was in trouble. All the first timers this year have had single lambs and the risk with a single lamb is that it has plenty of nutrition and room to grow. It would be better to have little, slippery, pointy headed twins.

Ben wasn't. So I straightened his front legs out and eased his non-pointy big head out and he entered the world at a great rate of knots. He was also covered in merconium, so his first experience of the outside world was a warm bath while his mother murmered sweet lamby nothings at him out of the corner of her mouth while stuffing it with sheep mix. Dorpers and dorper crosses subscribe to the "Newcastle Song" * school of nutrition.

Thankfully, he's a solid, energetic young fellow who wasted no time finding the udder and Cleo has proved to be a gentle and protective mum. A pleasing end to the lambing season.

*For the non Aussies. the chorus of the Newcastle Song goes "Don't you ever let a chance go by, oh lord, don't you ever let a chance go by"

Cleo and Ben

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The fence on the next door pasture has been patched and re-strained and we're about ready to put the cattle in. They all have collars and tags in case the unexpected happens. The paddock is about 20 acres, more grazing area than in my entire farm !

 Looking south from the wall between our two dams

 

 Taken from the same point as above, looking north

 

DH & youngest son organising a watering point for the new pasture

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In other happenings, we still have two chickies, who have doubled in size. I am still supplementing one and a half of the triplets, the vege garden is going gangbusters, the crows are taking between two and four eggs a day (grrrr) and I resisted the urge to get some ducklings while I was buying sheep nuts on Saturday morning. They were sooooooooooo cute !!

I think the chances of goslings are virtually nil, but Wills is still sitting and turning the eggs. She's very dedicated, I hope they don't start exploding under her. Burke has given up bathing and looks very disreputable. I might march him down to the dam regardless just to make him wash up.

We have lost two more chicks, down to two now. One slipped out an improperly latched door, but I have no idea how the other one was taken, and so no idea how to prevent it. I am having dark thoughts about the crows.

Ziggy is now six months old, and it's time to think about when to wean him. I wish there was better pasture. The farm next door have said yes they are interested in renting us some pasture so that might make a real difference. We might have to set up a hot wire and a watering point, but it will be cheaper than a round bale a week.

Still no action from Cleo, I think she'll go in the next fortnight. It's time to do fecal sampling, to see what the worm burdens are. If they are not too high I can go without drenching as these dry conditions mean there won't be too many worm larvae on the pasture.

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Here are some shots from the vege garden.

 Looking west from the centre of the garden (the goose area is behind the fence with the green shadecloth). On the left, the closer bed has spinach, silverbeet, cabbage and onions. The further one is comfrey and a green striped tomato. At the very end are young nectarine and apricot trees.The shadecloth along the fence rolls out over the frame to cover the plants on the hottest summer days.

 Same stretch of garden, slightly different angle. In the bed under the grapevine are green beans, butter beans, leeks, onions and asparagus.

 Facing northwest behind the grapevine in some weird sort of greenhouse is lucerne and two butternut pumpkins. The pumpkins are barely visible green blobs at the base of two poles. This area has been heavily mulched with waste hay and manure and should get some shade as the grapevine leafs up.

 Looking north down towards the centre of the garden, the point from where the previous photos were taken is just in front of the water tank. In the bed to the left are strawberries (in the cage), borlotti beans, onions and areas about to be dug in which will have zucchini.

Same point as above. In the centre bed are spinach, silverbeet, beetroot, onion, leeks, peas and a heap of different lettuce varieties. This bed gets alot of summer sun, the shadecloth on the ground will be a curtain on the frame that can be drawn over the bed if the day is going to be over about 38C.

The white sacks down the edge of the bed are potato bags, containing King Edward, Kestral and Sebago varieties. In the two double tyres along the fence are golden nugget pumpkins. Over the fence to the right are olive trees.

Still to go in are capsicums and tomatoes. I need to find somewhere that can be bird netted. Possibly the goose area once Burke and Wills give up.

It's been a couple of weeks since the last update, so I'll give a run-down of the happenings.

The geese are still sitting on six eggs. I think Burke is geting bored. This weekend was the expected due date, only a guess really. I'll wait for Wills to give up before I move them on. There's always the possibility that she didn't start really sitting until later than I thought.

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The cattle are all fat as butter and swanning around like royalty. Ziggy stirred things up last Friday by crawling under a boundary fence and forgetting to come back. There was much bellowing and galloping up and down fencelines, and in the end we had to cut the fence to get him back inside.

In the process I noticed just how much grass the neighbours have, and I might approach them about renting some pasture for a bit.

Ziggy and Edo had leading practice on Saturday. Both survived the awful indignity. Ziggy even discovered that a good scratch under the chin could be had if one stood still long enough. Jack has also finally given in, but his sweet spot is, oddly enough, the underside of his tail. I pick his tail up and brush the underside of it and he starts weaving his head back and forwards with delight. It takes all sorts. Normally the tail is just a burr haven and they'd rather twitch it right out of your hands.

 Big Moo & Flora at the hay ring

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The sheep have been doing fine. I am still supplementing the triplets a litte three times a day, just to make sure all grow well. Min is looking a little underweight and I think I'll sneak her a little extra food to help offset the demands of those three ruffians.

We castrated the ram lambs on Sunday. Not one of DH's favourite activities, but these little guys get going so young the alternative is to wean them at four months.

Cleo is still holding out. She had about half way made up in the udder but doesn't yet have that "over it" look the ewes get when they are about ready. Once her lamb or lambs are born everyone can be vaccinated.

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The roosters, Brewster & Shadow, have started sparring, I think the spring weather has brought it on. They are very earnest about the fighting, so we have tipped both their spurs to limit the damage. The apostle birds love to dive bomb the fighting pair and they find it very hard to maintain the rage with little round grey birds swooping and jumping at them.

I brought home five light sussex chicks on Friday. We'd set Mama Chickie up in the chick run with some fake eggs the night before as she was broody and would try and return to her chosen spot unless we locked her in and got her sitting in the right nest.

When I came in with the chicks I set the carrier underneath the nest box so the peeping noises came from underneath her. Then after about ten minutes of her peering around and lifting up to look at the fake eggs I put her in the outside section of the run, stole the eggs and put the chicks in their place. She spent five minutes sitting at the top of the ramp crooning before I let her in and she took the chicks right under her wings immediately. Mission accomplished.

She's doing a sterling job, even saved four of the five from a crow attack when they got caught out in the open. She would have successfully defended all five, but just as the cavalry (DH) reached the beleaguered family one chick darted in the wrong direction and the crow snatched in and flew off at great speed. I'd been tolerating the crows stealing eggs up until now, but that one crossed a line. I think we need to take some action as they are becoming too bold.

Mama Chickie and the four remaining chicks

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The cats are all busy finding the best napping spots in the warmest ray of sun. They look so content I am very tempted to join them.

 

Tenchi scored the jackpot with the catnip I bought to plant for them.

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DH replaced the five tape gate in the forest paddock with a real gate. This should save a fair bit of time as the cattle are let out in the morning and in at night, and this meant undoing and doing up five individual electric fence handles.

In other news, we finally had some rain, 31mm. Another inch in about five days time would be really useful. The vege garden is going really well, this will be the subject of my next post.

I finally have some photos of the lambs born last Monday. So, without further ado I would like to introduce :

All five lambs and their mums

Medea & Harriet

Medea's ram lamb Zeke

Lilly, Tiger & Abigail with Min

I am milking the ewes twice a day and taking about a litre each time, to mix with the formula. Medea's lambs are drinking entirely from her and Min's lambs are getting about 50% of their needs from her. Once they can get their mouths around the second bigger teat I won't need to milk her or feed them.

Not that it takes long, about ten minutes to milk each ewe and about three minutes for the lambs to demolish their four feeds a day. They are very efficient :-) They are having alot of fun as a group and specialise in chasing chickens.

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Burke, the male goose, finally had a meltdown today. All his frustrations at having a farmyard happening around his nest finally broke loose and he attacked and demolished a plastic bucket. He bit it, and threw it, and beat it up with his wings and even jumped up and down on it with his big webbed feet. He pulled the handle off and knocked the bottom out of it and when it stopped fighting back he threw back his wings and trumpeted his glory to Wills. I hope she appreciates his bravery.

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DH and his son have been mowing more of the pastures. They have finished the first ring of the paddocks close to the house and are now down in the forest paddock doing the meadows above and below the dams. They came across the shed skin of a six foot brown snake so are watching carefully for the owner.

We also spent the afternoon direceting car parking at the caravan and camping show in town. The fire brigade does it and the show society donates a fee to the brigade, which is then used to purchase things for the trucks and fire shed.

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While the boys were mowing I spent a day juicing oranges and freezing the juice (from the little tree in the goose yard which has borne quite heavily) and steaming and freezing flat packs of spinach, and freezing big rounds of surplus sheeps milk for making cheese later. We have three freezers and they are all full. I think I need to plan some meals to empty them out a bit.

Was going to do an update last night, but I've been way busy !

Yesterday we had five lambs born, to two ewes. Medea had twins, a boy and a girl. Min had triplets ! Two girls and a boy.

Medea's pair are big and sassy and the only problem there was that they both wanted the same teat. So I milked out the other teat until one figured out there was dual service. My beautiful Medea let me milk either eating or just standing. She is so tolerant :-)

All that colostrum came in very handy as Min's three are teeny tiny and can't get their mouths around her big teats yet. Her bag is huge and it needed milking too so we don't get a repeat of last time's mastitis. Between the two ewes and the cow colostrum I froze from Big Moo I had enough to give all three lambs four feeds of colostrum. That has to be a big help.

Both the girls have switched to making just milk now, so there have been two feeds of straight ewe milk and now I am shandying 2/3 ewe milk to 1/3 formula. I'll go to 50/50, and then when the lambs start to take the milk themselves I'll just supplement the smallest lamb.

I'll try and get pictures tomorrow. Medea's two are Harriet and Zeke and Medea's are Abby, Lilly and Tiger.

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DH got a look at the goose nest last night while Wills was having a bath. She is now sitting on six eggs. This knowledge cost him a goose-bite on the leg, from Burke of all things. Maybe he just likes me more than DH.

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DH finally fixed the ride-on mower. I've been asking for two years, but he was worried the tyres would spread cathead burrs. I think mowing the first half of the inner paddock ring for a fire break with the push mower weakened his resolve.

The mower is named "Methuselah" because it's as old as. But it goes like the clappers and really chews up the dense tussock grass. It does not have anything remotely approaching suspension so the trick isn't so much steering as staying on. I had to learn to brace with my feet and not my hands on the steering wheel or I'd have had horrifically sore arms and shoulders.

This mowing has three advantages. 1. It's a much needed fire break between the tree line and the house. 2. It will bring the green shoots on really well IF it ever rains again. 3. It will discourage snakes from coming up to the house.

I spotted and relocated three shingleback lizards and let a blue-belly black snake relocate itself.

Boof managed to get an ockie strap hooked into his ear. I think he must have been trying to wriggle his way into the chook pen for the scratch mix. It took a bit of wrangling to get it out without hurting him, but he is now hook-free. On his first night here, three years ago, he managed to get his head stuck in the base of a wheelbarrow. One of the legs the barrow rests on. Getting that off him was an adventure too...

As he was already crabby he wasn't going to back down when Flora decided that sharing with sheep was beneath her. Never having seen sheep or chickens she's trying to assert her place on the farm. The chickens sqawk and flap and scatter. The ewes can't be bothered with all the fuss and just melt away in front of her and reform behind her. Boof was in the mood for a fight and I think it came out a tie.

Edo is proving to be a delightful boy. He's up for a scratch and brush and likes to lick your face in appreciation. Given that a cow's tongue is like a giant cat tongue in texture it makes for a very exfoliating experience !

I was patting him in the stable yard this afternoon, where he had been entertaining himself by stirring up the geese through the fence. I heard a cow come into the yard behind me making "ello ello ello, what's going on here ?" sounds and expected to see Flora coming to see what was going on with her baby. Instead it was Big Moo ! She ordered Edo to follow her back to the herd and he meekly trit trotted off behind her. Not sure what that was all about.

This is Min in "anytime now" mode. One thing you do alot of when raising livestock is look at behinds. Are they scouring ? Are they making up an udder ready ? Are they on heat ? Are they getting floppy ready to lamb or calve ? Are you following them waiting for a fecal or urine sample ? Do they have mastitis ?

You might glance at eyes and ears and noses and teeth, but the real business of life and death happens at the padded end of the animal. I can tell the sheep apart as easily from behind as in front !

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The geese are now about half way through their sitting. Burke is deeply committed to honking at anything in the general area of the nest, but remains a gentle goose at heart and only bites watering cans and sheep's noses. Wills, on the other hand, will not only bite, but will hang on and shake the bitten appendage. Ask me how I know...

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The chickens are laying well, several of the pullets have come online and are laying cute little beginner eggs. I suspect the crows are getting a couple of eggs a day, but I am not sure which nesting site they are stealing from. They are taking my fake eggs too. These are used to encourage the chooks to lay in a particular place, as they notice when all the eggs disappear from a nest all the time and deem it a bit unsafe. Leaving a fake egg reassures them.

Well... worryingly we have had another maiden ewe miscarry. Emmaline lost a little ram lamb.

I had to help her, as he was coming "top of the head" first. It took me a while to figure out what part I was seeing, as I've never heard of that before. Once we got the legs lined up he slipped right out, and it became obvious he'd passed away some days ago. The smell was really bad...

So she's got antibiotic shots once a day for five days, which neither she or we are loving, but she seems to be ok physically. I left the lamb with her for a while so she would figure out he wasn't going to get up, but she's spending her time camped as close as she can get to the lambing site, guess she's still grieving.

Jack, the lowline steer, freaked right out and hid in the bush all day. I had to go and find him and bring him in that night. He doesn't handle the smell of blood or death at all well. I wonder sometimes what happened to him before he came to us, as the other cattle couldn't care less. He spent the next 24 hours watching for lions and jumping at any noise.

We still have three ewes left to lamb, it's now looking like Min is well and truly in the family way. Min and Medea are experienced mothers, so I'm not too worried there. Cleo is the last of the maidens left and I will be watching her like a hawk.

Sometimes it's hard not to take the losses personally. "These things happen" just doesn't cut it when three out of five maiden ewes have lost their lambs this year. I would dearly love to know why.

We went to the Narromine Show on Saturday, where Little Moo was making his debut appearance. We missed his class, as the cattle went through faster than expected, but by all reports he acquitted himself well. He didn't win a ribbon this time, but fingers crossed for his next outing !

Flora is the cow I have just purchased. I will be picking her up on Wednesday.

Here are some photos of the girls and their charges. I won't name the girls for their privacy, but the three are not part of a formal school cattle handling program and are learning on their own time.

 Little Moo wins a heart

 Ruby - Mary : a half grown red lowline heifer 

and Little Moo's new girlfriend.

 Flora : a four year old lowline cow with her bull calf

 Edo : Flora's six week old calf

Little Moo pauses for a moment with his handler

Little Moo has settled into the new location, after initial galloping and wild mooing he discovered a red heifer about the same size as himself and they are now buddies. Ruby might go to the show with him, as she has been trained to lead in the ring. This would suit him, he is very definitely a follower.

The herd seemed small without him tonight. I guess he is 25% of the population...

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Here we have goose eggs and goose digs.

Two goose eggs hidden under the mulch. Wills was sitting on them this afternoon, jury is still out on whether she knew where they were all along or stumbled on them while poking around.

This is the new paddle pool in the goose "hoose". While there are steps (how thoughtful am I ?) Burke spent the afternoon clambering over the edge to get in and have a bath. He had four or five baths, and splashed alot of water around. The little orange tree is really going to like this. Wills is yet to try it.

Little Moo went to Boot Camp today. He's gone to the lowline farm in Trangie to room with the other little steers and get primped and preened and practiced for the Narromine Show next weekend. No, it's not the Hoof & Hook competition, he's just going in the led steer class for the kids. He's very dubious about the whole thing, but has a six week old calf buddy to show him the ropes.

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Burke & Wills have now laid four eggs up in their new digs. One got frosted and one broken, the other two appear to be hidden under a pile of hay. Either they got careless and lost them or geese cover eggs to keep the temperature stable. I don't know enough about geese to venture a guess either way. They are not the brightest of creatures, it will be interesting to see if they manage to hatch a clutch.

At least they now have a paddle pool in their quarters, which should keep them out of the stock water tub. Burke got stuck in it yesterday and I had to dump 50 litres of water to clean it out.

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Big Moo has made a bit of  a mess of her ear. She popped her white NLIS tag not long after she moved here and I replaced it with an orange secondary one. Last night she caught the orange one on the round bale holder while trying to walk it across the paddock and it didn't come out as cleanly as the other one. There aren't any flies around yet, but I'll keep an eye on it.

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DH is out at the moment  mopping up a grass fire. It seems that some kids on motorbikes lit it up around dusk. There's so much moisture around at the moment that it had sputtered out by the time the fire truck got there. It'll be a different story in summer though.

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I've chosen the bull that I'll be using to AI Big Moo and my new purchase, a five year old lowline called Flora. Flora and her current six week old bull calf will come here in the next month, the little guy will go back to Trangie when he is weaned.

You can check out his scores here : Bull Proof

Hawthorn Grove Zeus

The catalogue says "Zeus daughters have exceptional udders and very desirable temperament. Excellent Somatic cell score, OAD index along with A2A2 status should make this bull desirable to Jersey farmers or anyone looking to cross breed."

He has the best udder index in the catalogue and the best temperament scores. He also throws small framed cows, all good ingredients in a house cow. The somatic cell scores mean they are less likely to get mastitis and the A2A2 means the proteins in the milk are the newly popular A2 which is supposedly more digestible, the same proteins that are in goat milk instead of the ones in modern commercial cow milk.

Wills the goose laid an egg today, in the hay mulch of the orange area. She and Burke the gander are a little protective of it, but will probably get far more defensive when she start to sit seriously. She left it sitting for a few hours while they grazed, I assume it's like chicken eggs and is "on hold" until she gathers a clutch. I was worried a crow might take it, but it's probably too big a load for even a crow,

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Swapped Medea and Max between flocks today. Max has put on enough condition to run with the main flock as they have access to the round bale all night. Medea is close enough to lambing to warrant keeping a close eye on her.

The sheep are used to being moved in and out of groups and all get on well enough, but the swapees are always confused for the first half day or so. Medea does love being in the house paddock though, lurking by the yard gate for treats and scratches.

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Ziggy had another halter lesson today. He's not hard to handle, and has mostly figured out not fighting the rope. Leading is another thing altogether, he's much less interested in walking that in standing quietly. I handled him all over and brushed him, and fed him a treat once he was relaxing. He still doesn't feel I have anything he really needs, as his mother provides all.

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Today's eggs

The white one is from the spanish hens, the green one from the araucana/wyandotte cross, the dark ones from black barnevelders and the speckled from brown barnevelders. The paler ones with a pink tinge are from the rhode island red, the cream one from a wyandotte and the soft brown from the australorpes.

I sell the eggs for $3.50 a dozen at work, it helps buy the scratch mix and they are half the price of (alleged) free range eggs in the supermarket. The buyers like the rainbow cartons best :-)

Moved Burke & Wills today, back up towards the house. They've been trying to nest, but each night a fox is harrassing them until they run to the water and he steals that days egg.

They've been making it clear that they are feeling very insecure and wanting rescue, even going so far as to march all the way in with the sheep at the end of the day. I haven't had anywhere safe to put them that isn't going to be in the middle of all the activity, no place to try and raise goslings. Until today. I had a brainwave ! While the majority of the vege garden is off limits (geese may not scratch like chickens but they enjoy eating leafy greens) the small area with the orange tree is perfect !

I did a bit of tidying up before I moved them in, chair out to under the grapevine and a small gate installed. The orange tree has had a much needed prune, the spiky shoots from below the graft have been removed and there is now a two foot clear zone underneath. That end has been weeded and mulched like you can see in the pic of the eastern end. The area is maybe 10 feet by 25 feet. I've also put in a sheet of plywood leaning at 45 degrees against the wood fencing at the eastern end so they can have some rain protection as well as the shade from the orange tree.

The western end

 

The eastern end

Like most of the contruction that was here when we moved in, the garden is pretty makeshift, but I think this will be an ideal nesting site and night pen. The outer gate (behind the seat in the western pic) opens into the stable yard, which has a good cover of soft new grass for grazing. I don't know if they have any eggs left or are going to make another attempt at sitting, but this might just be the best solution short of an island in the dam.

Phew, big day !

First, a lady who'd been recommended to me for house cleaning came to discuss doing one day a fortnight. DH & I decided that him paying for a couple of hours cleaning to assist me was preferable to either a) me doing all the housecleaning by myself or b) me nagging him to do his share. If's he's willing to cough up some cash to save himself some work I am more than happy to let the professional do the job. Likely she'll be faster and better anyway ;-D

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Then the lady who owns Ziggy's dad came by to show me how to start Ziggy under halter. There were some theatrics and some sulks, but in the end he stood quietly while tied and did a reasonable approximation of walking in the right direction when lead.

Little Moo had some "show leading" lessons and apparantly aquitted himself well. Big Moo was simply grouchy and unco-operative, but she came into heat today so that's probably to be expected.

L - R Big Moo, Ziggy & Little Moo. 

 Jack is off to the left with his head in a feed tub.

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Once the cattle lady left we whizzed over to the fire shed for monthly training. Today we pored over maps and aerial photos of the brigade's territory and then went for a drive to look at the same places from ground level. There are some roads we won't be driving down if there is a fire coming ...

DH and his youngest son spent a couple of hours mowing the pastures around the house to make a firebreak. The tree line is well back, but the long dry grass can carry a fire to the house. Especially the long steep slope to the northwest. Keeping that grass down this summer will be a priority.

I was finally signed off on my qualifications and went to get my PPE. Trousers, jacket, helmet, flash hood, boots, goggles and gloves. All nice and shiny new, I'm going to stand out like the proverbial at my first fire unless I can find an old pile of ashes to roll in !

Speaking of fires, our next door neighbour had their chimney catch fire on Monday night. They rang 000 then went outside to watch (they assumed) their house burn down. We got the alert and DH was over the fence and there as fast as he could run, and had the fire out before the trucks reached the house.

They weren't short of assistance, five trucks and two utes showed up. The sheep all lined up along the fence to watch the blue and red lights and listen to all the radio chatter. Once the guys in the breathing apparatus had made sure there were no lingering sparks in the ceiling DH cut out the burnt wiring and rewired the house circuits so they could have the power back on that night.

Yesterday the home-owner bicycled over to give DH a box of chocolates and a gift card to say thanks. He was quite tickled :-)

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The two ewe lambs are coming along boistrously, and have been named Salome & Sukie. DH and the farmer looking after Dave have now attended to Dave's testicles and our next sheep-operation will be vaccinations.

The ups and downs continue...

I went to milk Molly on Thursday and found one teat hard and swollen. My heart sank... mastitis and she has twins. What now ? So I slathered the teat in honey and cayenne pepper for the night and figured I'd call the vet in the morning for some antibiotics.

Thankfully by morning the teat was less swollen and the lambs were drinking from both teats. Both had honey and cayenne pepper on their noses so clearly it didn't deter them from looking for breakfast ! I'll continue to monitor the situation, but she's a healthy girl and the lambs can keep the milk moving so I have my fingers crossed.

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Big Red, the rhode island red chicken, wasn't so lucky. I missed her at afternoon feeding on Friday and on recollection couldn't remember seeing her for breakfast. Big Red has always had a gammy leg, she walks like Quasimodo and runs like a boat on a big swell, but she's a real sweetheart and a good layer and her rooster makes sure the guinea fowl don't get away with harrassing her, so he must be fond of her too.

Well, I found her on her side under the shipping container, wedged where she couldn't get her feet under her. She was cold and had lost feeling in both legs and wings, and I was suprised she was alive. There was one egg behind her so she could have been there at least 24 hours, maybe up to 48.

I took her back to the house and cleaned her up and gave her food and water, which she devoured eagerly, and she started looking alot more cheerful. She came inside for the night, feet tucked under her in a basket lined with towels in the hope that warmth and proper position might help.

By morning she had regained the use of both wings and one leg, so I found a nice sunny spot and set her up with food and water in the hope she'd start to work on the other leg. Unfortunately it became clear the leg was gone. I guess it was one stress too many on legs that had never quite worked properly to begin with.

A chook that can't walk is the proverbial sitting duck. Raptors, crows, ants, foxes, blowflies, even other chickens. She can't even move away from her own waste, and she would have developed sores on her paralysed leg. So, tempting as it was to try and set her up in the house yard in a moveable cage, it was better to end it quickly for her than come home some time in the next few weeks and find her suffering.

RIP Big Red, I hope both legs work really well for you where you've gone and the grasshoppers can't outrun you  now.

More good news today ! Star has lambed, a little ram lamb that has been named Dave. Only one, it seems all the young ewes have carried singles. Here they are in the stable yard of the farm where the girls are based for the time being.

He was born about 8.30 am we think, as he was mostly dry and was walking around. She was licking him and loving on him, she talked to him and he talked to her. She wasn't so happy about him looking for food though and was spinning round every time he went looking for the udder. We were worried we'd have another rejection !

We put some food in a corner and (since she is a dorper after all...) managed to show Dave where the teats where while she ate. All that work getting the girls used to their udders being handled while they ate paid off as he was able to get a couple of short drinks.

By late afternoon he was still bouncy and didn't look sunken so we had to assume he was getting some milk here and there, and finally we saw Star stand and let him drink. Not a long drink, but the main thing is that she stood. My friend will check on him before bed tonight and again first thing in the morning, and if he's a little weak we can give him a drink to tide him over until they work it all out, but with some luck it's all good from here.

I suspect Medea is pregnant, but could be more than a month away, so that's all the action over for the time being.

It's hard work being a baby !

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On the home front, I set up the sheep milking stanchion and fed Molly in it last night. It has a rubber floor (to stop the girls kicking dirt up) and it must be warmer than the ground because she parked the lambs in there to sleep !

This morning I fed here there again and handled her udder, and this afternoon I gave her a wash and massage and milked out a tiny bit of milk. She's never been the let-down queen, but it's clear she remembers the routine and isn't bothered. The lambs just watched dubiously, this whole outside world thing is a little confusing. They are already sampling everything mum eats :-)

The two little ewe lambs are doing just fine. They seem to have two speeds, drink and sleep. Which is pretty normal for 24 hr old lambs. I expect to see some play beginning over the next few days and plan to spend a bit of time with a cup of tea just watching.

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I'm resisting the urge to name them, waiting for DH to get back from Wilcannia. He's off with the RFS doing a hazard reduction burn to get some experience with grass fires before summer sets in. They've asked for volunteers from all over the state so that if things get bad more people have had some kind of experience with the big grass fires that can sweep across the open country.

It's not that long since large parts of the west have been flooded, so the soil moisture is high, the temperature is down and the grass is really hard to get started. While no-one wants a burn to get away because it's too wild, something beyond a controlled smoulder is useful. They're using up alot of accelerant trying to keep things rolling.

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The weather has been great, sunny and mild, with a gentle breeze. I am down to a t shirt while gardening, midwinter here is often delightful. Spring and autumn are lovely too, it's just summer we need to have fixed. If I had enough money I'd have summer quarters somewhere closer to the south pole.

Good news and bad news.

Little Friday passed away. Some kind of tummy bug we think, but after such a hard birth it's hard to say. Everyone is saddened, and we are sad for the two little lambs, and Harley who wanted a baby to love and Poppy who should have been able to love her baby. Both girls are doing well and hopefully next time will be different for them.

Star is still holding out and all extremities are crossed for two small, slippery boy lambs.

The good news is that today Molly gave birth to two lovely ewe lambs ! I came home to find them up and dry and feeding. Knee sagging relief. The little family is now in the house yard and Molly is being a great mum :-)

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Ziggy had an appointment with the vet last night, he is now a steer. He's had a sedative and a local, and antibiotics and a tetanus shot, but was far more indignant about being sat on than the procedure. Being winter there are no flies around to bother the site, and he is up and about and looks just fine.