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.

FRIDAY 16 HRS OLD

I had some colostrum from Big Moo frozen, and we figured that cow colostrum is better than none at all. I also have about 800 ml of sheep milk frozen and that will be shandied with the colostrum after 48 hours and then with milk replacer to make the transition easier.

Mum recognises his baa, and he recognises her's. She's happy for him to be near her but cartwheels him if he goes near her udder. And he has wobbly legs, like the joints are a bit unstrung. I think he needs some good food, a warm place to sleep and lots of trippy trapping around to strengthen those legs as he's spent alot of his first day being carried.

He was a bit hollow and dehydrated this morning so we upped the size of his feeds to 200 ml, and that pulled him up. He seemed to be just playing with the teat at the last so I think we filled his little belly.

The vet rang to see how he was going, and was disappointed that he'd been rejected. But a live lamb and a live ewe has to be good when the alternative, if she hadn't been found and helped in time, was the loss of both. I call that a win by any measure.

He's had a rough start and lambs can die of so many things, but he's been given a pretty good chance. Hopefully I'll be able to post some bouncy pics soon.

It's been a rough week for the sheep. Harley slipped a male lamb last Friday, poor girl tried hard to wake him up, but he was born too early. She needed a shot of oxytocin to help shed the placenta, normally the lamb suckling stimulates that.

Tonight, a week later, Poppy went into labour and presented with a nose first and front legs back. Very firmly stuck. She pushed and pushed and was about exhausted by the time the vet arrived, but still had reserves to get up and bolt into the bush when he pulled up. 

So we had to pursue her around the paddock until I could make a flying tackle and pull her up. Then the vet got the legs forward and pulled the lamb and she just went limp with relief that the pain was over. But the lamb was alive ! 

Being a first time mum and so traumatised she rejected the little fellow so he will be hand raised. Named "Friday". I'll get some photos tomorrow. With only Star and Molly left to lamb we now have all extremities crossed for quick and easy births ! 

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MOLLY 

Molly is Medea's first daughter. She was a teenage mum, pregnant at five months. Her lamb was Harley, a hard birth because she was so young. She's now within two weeks of lambing for the second time and I am keeping a very close eye on her.

Molly is my second milker and my sweetheart. She is the one who will leave the feeding scrum and walk over to me for a cuddle. A steady and cheerful ewe, I am looking forward to both watching her as a mother again and having her in the milking parlour.

She and her mother make a formidable pair. I can see how flocks can form around a nucleus of a female line and the bonds between mother and daughter hold the flock together. The ram is almost incidental to the structure.

On the subject of rams.

As you can see our flock ram, Boof, is getting a little grey around the muzzle. He's six and a half years old now and handicapped to boot. Although that hasn't stopped him being the father of the lambs due in the next month.

As Boof ages, I start to wonder about a replacement. The old guy has a home for life here, but he's related to too many of the ewes, and is slowing down. It's hard work for him to keep up with the girls in the larger paddocks. It's probably time he was retired to a small paddock with a small harem of the unrelated ewes.

So... how to fill his very large and beloved boots ?

The bad experience with Spot (too tame and turned aggressive) has made me wary of young rams. I could advertise for an older ram. A mature, laid back, relaxed old gent who has long ago realised that testosterone does not bring you scratches or slices of bread.

"Small flock of sociable ladies looking for a cheerful and polite ram for friendship and fraternising. 

Must be a good babysitter, like being the hill for lamb-king of the hill, know all the right courtship moves and take being rejected in good spirits. Willing to give us first go at the feed tub wins extra points.

We don't like pina coladas (we're all under 18 and not allowed to drink), we think getting caught in the rain is something only cows do, we are definitely not into yoga as we can scratch our ears with our hind feet already, and being sheep we only have half a brain.

So, if like the song says you are the one we are looking for, drop us a line."

Or I could buy a ram lamb, keep him til 10 months old since they can breed quite young (4 1/2 months in Bandit's case...) and then put him in the freezer before he becomes old enough to be obnoxious.

Or I could borrow a ram, which does raise the issue of quarantine and disease risk.
AI is not a simple job with sheep. They have a crimped up cervix so AI is done by laproscopy and only used for valuable breeding stock.

I guess I have been spoiled by Boof's wonderful temperament. I wish they gave rams a grade for mellowness as well as the other breeding scores such as low lamb birthweight, twinning and growth rates !

Well, I had a ditch witch instead of a house cow last night. She stomped and flicked and sidled and brushed me off. She was irritable and bad mannered to a degree I've never (thankfully) seen before. 

I ran through the list of things that might be irritating her... Was I pinching hairs ? Did I have fingernails ? Was she too full and tender ? Was her food ok ? Was Venus in transit with Jupiter ? etc etc etc. Nothing. I can only assume she was in heat. Probably about time I started tracking that again.

Was hoping she was in a better mood tonight, but it turned out to be a moot point because she and Ziggy have clearly found another opportunity for a calf head to fit through the fence. Empty. Could hear the tumbleweeds in there.

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Found an egg cache ... twenty eggs of varying parentage. Comparing the colours and shapes I figure they could be up to 10 days old. Midwinter and at least half the hens are still laying. It's nice to have the eggs, but it does make you wonder what the summer is going to be like.

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Here are the Three Amigos. All about 4 months pregnant now and delighting another farm for the short term. I miss them. It's not easy having up to seven ewes all trying to climb into your lap and crowd the others out, a sort of woolly glacier, but it certainly made you feel loved !

 

STAR

Poppy's twin, and a little shyer in some ways. She's a nice steady ewe who inherited her mother's barrel body and short legs. She likes to reciprocate when she is being scratched and makes little flea-ing nibbles up your arm. She was the first to accept the cordless clippers and was happy to stand to have the wool on her lower chest clipped to remove the itchy grass seeds.

POPPY

"S'cuse me, I'm busy here !" Previously featured on this blog (28 June), Poppy is lankier and taller than Star. If "lanky" is a term you could really apply to a dorper... Poppy has already taken on the flock leader at the new temporary home and although the other ewe, Bunny, is well established and bigger, it will be interesting to see if Poppy's sheer belief in herself will win out. 

HARLEY

Niece to Poppy and Star, her mother is their full sister from the previous lambing. She is the result of a teenage pregnancy, her mum introduced us to the reality that dorpers can get pregnant at five months old, giving birth at ten months ! It was a hard birth on both mother and lamb and it took shy little Harley a while to catch up with her bolder aunts.

These girls were still pregnant earlier than I would have liked (they broke into the ram's paddock, not he into theirs) and I am hoping they have an uneventful lambing. It will be interesting to see if the next generation builds on the confident and steady qualities this maternal line is showing.

Burke & Wills have made an astounding discovery. They've travelled to the ends of the earth....

Our two resident geese have discovered the lower dam. It's only ten goose lengths from water's edge to water's edge, over the rim of the top dam and down into the lower. It only took them two months to make this leap into the unknown. I bet they followed the ducks.

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I passed my BF (Bush Fire) competancies on Sunday.  Things like using a drip torch, making a rakehoe line, operating the pumps and laying down a water line, rolling hoses and operating the radio. We did a small pile burn with backburns and firebreaks. Now I can go and get my PPE.

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We moved three ewes to another farm on Monday. Annie, Patch, Boots, Bunny & Ginny are already there, it's their new permanent home. Harley will be joining them permanently, and Poppy and Star are accompanying her to help her settle in and also for the three of them to lamb over there. Once the lambs are weaned they'll come home. The flock is very quiet without the three amigos. They were clearly the noisy ones !

This is a farm where the sheep get brushes and scritches, I was lucky to find good homes for our sweet girls. They love having the sheep around and I feel happy that they are in good hands. They're going to really enjoy these three ratbags :-)

On a side note, the gentleman who borrowed Boof didn't end up with any lambs. I was wondering if that meant the old guy had hit the wall and was ready for a quiet retirement. It's since become obvious that there are at least three of our ewes pregnant. Maybe he just wasn't feeling the love at his loaner farm ?

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Ziggy is three months old now and fuzzy as a caterpillar and fat as a tick. He's going to be a solid boy. We still haven't steered him and that decision needs to be made before he gets too much bigger.

Seems like Ziggy might not be as silly as he looks. The last two nights he's gone around to his side, had a cursory suck and moved on to the feed tub. I thought it would be game over for a second let down, but it seems he just sucks enough to start it and then moves on. If he doesn't suck at all I put him back in the yard and he doesn't get to share the feed tub... Could a calf be smart enough to figure out that he can quickly get me the let down and then go to the solid food ?

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This is the portable cool room sitting next to the back gate this week. Inside is a sheep carcass. The only wether we got this year. This is the hardest part of farming for me. I know that he had a better life and very much quicker and cleaner death than the meat in the supermarket. I am proud that I can make this so for my dinner. I can say absolutely that my livestock suffer no cruelty. But I always feel rotten when the day comes.

The saying goes that "where you have livestock you have dead stock". This means that where there is life there will be death, there is never one without the other. No matter what, living things will die for no seeming reason and live despite all adversity and the only thing you can do is try to tilt the odds in your direction. It's the same for people... a little slip and a knock of the head and someone is gone. Or found alive after two weeks in the rubble after an earthquake. Life is so insanely fragile and monstrously strong at the same time.

We lost one lamb at three days old to a heart condition (nothing we could do) and one at five months to pulpy kidney (complete mismanagement).  Even though both would have been destined for the freezer, I feel it is my responsibility to give them the best of care. To provide all their needs and as many of their wants as I can. They have names, because to attempt to leave them nameless is silly in a flock this small, and it feels disrespectful, as if they were not deserving of their own names.

Some people have asked how I could "eat meat which had a face", as if every sheep, chicken or cow doesn't have a face. Or how could I eat something I cared for so well. For me the question is, doesn't every animal that is eaten deserve to be treated the way I treat my animals ?

See if you can nudge the odds towards a good life for your dinner. Buy free range eggs. See if you can source free range pork. Stand up for mandatory stunning in every abattoir. Look for cheeses made from dairies where they know their cow or goat's names. Better still, keep your own chickens. You'll be suprised at how ten minutes a day watching the chookies go about chicken business will put the world in perspective. And there's nothing like your own fresh free range eggs...

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If you read this blog and it makes you think or reminds you of something, or you'd just like to say hi or to argue a point or ask a question... please feel free to comment. I like to know you're out there :-)

Crazy weather !

It's going to rain, then it isn't, then my breath is puffing in the air so I have to put buckets over the sweet potatoes. Cover the salt block, uncover the salt block. I need to make a salt block house.

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Feeling a little under the weather. Not sure if I have a persistant cold or something stress linked. Taking honey and cayenne pepper for ulcers... surely aloe vera juice would taste better ? I will give it two weeks then try and find the juice if the cayenne has made no difference. I'd try apple cider vinegar, which is credited with curing everything up to and including sunspots (why aren't they treating global warming with ACV ?) except I drank it neat by accident one night and ... I was throwing up and coughing and trying to breathe only to suck in fumes... Still not quite back with the idea of drinking it on purpose again, even mixed with honey and water.

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 POPPY

Looks like Poppy is making up an udder. Poppy is one of the "Medea Clan", the girls descended from my lead milker, the herd matriarch. Poppy has no fear, she is very certain of her place in the universe. And it seems to be at the very top of the pecking order.

When she was born her mother's teats were positioned very low, Medea has short legs and a big udder and it seems Poppy couldn't locate the teats. She was born at 7pm, and by 7am was limp and weak. I bottle fed her at 7 am and had to trickle the milk down her throat. At 9 am  she drank avidly. At 11 am we penned her mum and showed her how to get down on her knees and drink. We did the same again at 1pm and she never looked back.

Perhaps because she was hand fed when she needed it most, she has never had any fear of people. She would go to sleep on my lap, or even being carried to and from the pen. She can be picked up and patted all over, and just fronts up to any visitor expecting to get affection. It's contagious, people just love patting her.

She dominates the steers, they gave up trying to move her out of their feed tubs as no matter how hard they pushed her she simply gave with the movement and returned instantly to plonk her front feet in the food. If there is mischief to be had, she's the ringleader, but never in a wicked way. Poppy just gets right in there because she expects the world to work her way, and astonishingly it mostly does.

I'm not sure if she is smarter than Lassie or dumber than a box of hammers, but whichever it is, it works for her.

It's been a mixed week of sun and rain, warm and frost. There is a confused wattle tree by the front gate which seems to be deciding whether to burst into bloom or go into hibernation. The chooks are completely flumoxxed and have been laying right through, today being the shortest day of the year. I am not sure what prompted the extended laying as they are all heritage breeds and should have gone off the lay sometime in autumn.

This afternoon was a true pleasure. To the south a sweeping grey green cloud with shifting veils of rain,  to the west a golden afternoon sun slanting through a delicate rain, to the east a rainbow against steel blue clouds, and to the north a pile of white thunderclouds gilded underneath.As I walked back from feeding the geese the sun caught the three male cattle sharing their supper tubs, and the light rain had just tipped their coats, making a sparkle that shifted as they moved. Breathtaking. I found a chair and just sat out in the paddock for a quarter hour enjoying the sky and the light.

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 BURKE & WILLS

Burke & Wills are a pair of (at best guess) emden geese.  They are named after a pair of Australian explorers who died on an expedition because they are, quite simply, terrible at exploring. When based in the house yard they didn't even wander around to the other side of the house. They had to be carried down to the dam in the back of the ute. I am at a loss to explain how their relatives migrate thousands of miles yet these two couldn't find their tail feathers with a road map.

There are apparantly more people scared of geese than of dogs, and I have seen visitors terrified of this pair. I can assure you that it's all bluff. They do, however, make terrific watch-geese simply for the volume of noise they produce at the slightest excuse.

 BURKE, the male goose

Burke is the braver of the two, and has managed a few flights from the top of the hill down to the dam. The end results include both a lovely sweeping turn and landing on the dam, and a full-on belly landing in the mud.

 WILLS, the female goose

Shyer than Burke, she seldom achieves more than a flapping run. Given Burke's track record at landing we might assume she is the smarter one of the pair.

 It seems we've settled down into a routine with the milking. I mostly get between 1 and 2 litres and no fuss. Ziggy even seems to have figured out what to do when I pause in the milking and go to get him.
 
Sheep are all looking like bowling balls, except for old Max who is a little light on. I might seperate her and give her a bit extra now the weather is cold and the grass has dried off. I was assuming that the others were all pregnant, but news has me wondering if they are all just very fat...

I loaned Boof to another farm in September/October last year. Ran into the gentleman yesterday and he advised that there were no lambs resulting ! Not a one... Could the old guy have hit a wall ? He's certainly been courting the ladies here, I hope it was just homesickness.

I have a sick chicken. No scouring, eye boogers or nasal discharge, she just looks miserable. So I've locked her up in the chickie hutch where she has somewhere warm to sleep (she's normally a tree chicken but can't jump up right now) and food and water she doesn't have to compete for. Next step is to worm her, and might as well do all the others too.

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BANDIT

Bandit was the first lamb born to Cocoa, the damara in the top left of this photo. He was a big lamb and fast to get on his feet and get going. He grew quickly and was very solid. For these reasons, and his striking markings, we left him intact and sold him as a ram to a family in Gulgong.

What we didn't know was that he was more than a fast grower, he was a fast worker ! He managed to serve the three damaras before they went to their new home, Min before he went to Gulgong, and immediately the two ewes on his new farm. At the age of 4 1/2 months !! We know it was Bandit because Boof was on loan elsewhere.

This is Bandit's new dynasty, he certainly throws interesting coats !

This is Flash, 1/4 damara 3/4 dorper, Min's little girl. She doesn't miss a trick and is making sure she is standing in the first feed tub in the line so she gets her share.

 Two ram lambs, sons to Pinkie the damara.

A little ewe lamb from the Taffy the damara.

Twin ewe lambs, Ebony and Chestnut, daughters to Louise at Bandit's new home. 

Thelma and Cocoa the damara are due to lamb any day now.

It's a lovely Sunday afternoon. Big Moo has found the trailer of hay I bought yesterday and is circling it, taking one bite out of each bale. She doesn't realise yet but it's harder work than the opened up round bale she has access to... but hey, it's stolen hay so it tastes better :-)

The guy I bought the hay from is also a state govt employee, or was. He has been given his marching orders and his wasn't voluntary. They were told to shed 60 staff and only 17 put their hands up so the balance had to be picked. He's not feeling so great.

Moved the sheep to the Country Energy paddock, so named because the power poles go through it. They knew something was up when the removalist (stepson in farm ute) came and picked up all their belongings (feed tubs and lupin block) and left the gates open so they could follow. There was much excitement and speculation until they knew which gate they were headed for and then the stampede was on ! For some reason they love moving to a new paddock, no matter how often they have been there in the past.

DH and SS moved the two portable greenhouses to a spot that actually gets some sun. Tomorrow I will buy some pots and transplant the tomatoes and put the lettuce seedlings into the bed the greenhouses came from. And check out the new Petbarn that has opened next to the hardware store. Chances are they won't have any cow or sheep toys, but the cats might get lucky.

Ziggy had his first big boy meal last night. Just a cupful of calf pellets and sweetbulk. He's been sharing with the steers and his mother since he was about a week old, but this is the first time he ate by himself and it's more a token than a meal, his mum still provides what he needs. It's the first step in socialising him to handling as working full time means I haven't had a chance to halter break him, the early dark in midwinter means there's time to feed and that's about it.

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HOME

From the front ...

From the back, where most of the traffic actually happens. 

(this one is a bit older, the garden alongside the path is full of herbs now)

That calf !! Three nights ago, no milk. Not a drop. And calf not interested. Hmmm, could he have nursed through the fence ? Next night I powder the teats with one of the minerals. Nope, still on there at milking and there's plenty of milk. Maybe it was the cold and being in heat, just a blip on the radar.

Last night, no milk. And the slime on the teats was a dead giveaway ! Tarngabbit !!

So tonight he goes in the stable pen because that has the shortest fenceline with the area she's seperated to. And some sheep yard panels a couple of feet out from that fence. Are we up to plan G yet ?

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After getting excited about a redundancy and then figuring out it wasn't enough, I find out I have access to part of my superannuation if I am made redundant and start getting excited again.

I am having trouble finding out how much and what tax is paid, the best case scenario pays the car and house and leaves me $85k in hand. The worst case leaves me $100k short of paying off the house. And I have to wait for people to give me the numbers because everyone seems to have taken an extra day off on Friday to enjoy the long weekend.

I'm on a roller coaster !