My Journey

2012-01-03T23:50:00.012+11:00

Yard Fences
I forgot to mention the new fence and gates around the cattle yards. They were built around the middle of November and are invaluable in getting the cows into the yards. I have included a few photographs from each end. You may also be able to see some AI heat patches too. I have been getting the cows into the routine of coming into the yards by putting a half bucket of pellets in a trough and a little bit of lucerne into the yards. I call them and Brownie usually starts coming first and the rest follow. Of course they don't all go in at first but I can usually get them all in with a bit of encouragement. They are much easier to handle now that Star and Freda and their calves have gone.

2011-12-31T14:48:00.004+11:00

Artificial Insemination
In early December I had the cows AI'd. The photograph is of Tawnie, as she was the first to cycle. After they had all been done over the next few days we put heat/pressure patches on them again just before Christmas and waited to see if any didn't take. I had Jemma and Sandy done again in early January. I will observe them over the next three weeks, but I think I will just leave it now and see what happens. The AI girl has a few other commitments over the next month and may not be able to fit me in. Initially the cows were very reluctant to go through the race but they are getting better at it now. Today I got them all through by myself and removed the heat patches, leaving Jemma and Sandy in ready for the final AI.

2011-12-29T16:15:00.005+11:00

Cows to Market
Before I started the AI process I wanted to sell the cows that I didn't want to breed from because of their behaviour. Star continually pushed through or jumped over fences breaking them in the process and Freda fiercely protected her calves, which in turn made them scared of me and difficult to handle. I would prefer calm well-behaved cows. So in late November I sold Star and her calf Twinkle and Freda and her calf Anna.
They brought a sum total of just over $3,200 after deducting the costs of selling them, including carting. It was sort of sad to see them go, as I had raised both Star and Freda from poddy calves. But I hope that the cows I have left are less trouble now with the trouble makers gone.

2011-11-29T19:27:00.004+11:00

Gum Seedlings
After buying tube stock from the markets I planted some Bendemeer Gums and Orange Gums down the middle of the paddocks in the tree run on 25 September. After a few weeks I was very pleased with the growth, so on 3 November I planted an extra two Yellowbox in the eastern tree run all the while keeping an eye on the swooping magpies. Although I have watered them on several occasions, we have had lots of rain in between to keep them alive. Over Christmas we will have to mow the grass around them, as I won't let animals in the tree run until they are established.

2011-11-29T19:08:00.002+11:00

Shearing & Drenching
The sheep were shorn on 30 October. Steven and Russell both helped. On the Monday prior I drenched the sheep with drench from a neighbour, as I had lost three sheep in the two weeks prior and I suspected it was from worms. I sold the wool the very next Monday for $291.88 (shearing $106.03 and crutching in March 2011 $97.70). I have since lost one lamb, so I now have 20 sheep (including ten ewes, one ram and nine lambs - five boys and four girls).

2011-09-27T23:21:00.001+10:00

Headbail Installed
In August we went to Agquip, which is a huge agricultural show (probably larger than the Sydney Easter Show). There were some really huge big ticket items such as machinery and cars and silos and caravans, plus tools and clothes and hundreds of other things. You could even choose your lunch steak sandwich by the breed of steer. I tried five headbails, with varying degrees of ease of use. I have to take into account my arthritis, plus the fact that I'm a 'girl'. I found the perfect action, which was made with ratchets, plus I think it was actually the cheapest. I had the attaching brackets placed where I needed them to link up with my existing yards and it was delivered in no time. Total cost $1,240.
We had to remove the existing sliding gate and fit in the headbail, which was 6cm wider than the sliding gate. With the use of a crowbar and a round of wood as a fulcrum we inched the panels and gates along and fitted it in. (Of course I use the term 'we' loosely here, but I did help.) I have included two photos, one with the gate closed and one with the headbail and chin bar in action (not with cows yet). I still need to get yet another fence built to help me get the cows into the yards, but that's another story.

2011-08-26T19:50:00.003+10:00

Raining Trees
At the end of July I was out filling a trough with a bucket in the morning in the paddock at the top of the vegie 'garden' and the trees in the forest were raining. The poplars near the shed were not only raining but 'hailing' tiny icicles. The forest trees were probably doing the same thing. I wish you could hear this photograph. It had been an icy night and the sun was melting the ice that had formed on the leaves. I actually went back inside to get the camera because it was so amazing.

2011-08-26T18:53:00.010+10:00

The Ewes have Lambed
After selling a few lambs and sheep, I now have 14 sheep in all, including one ram and one wether. That leaves 12 ewes. The first lamb was born on 15 June and the last was born on 11 August. Of the 12 lambs only two died and we didn't have any twins. I have 10 lovely little lambs, all jumping and running around together. Actually, there are a few who still stick closely to their mums but most are social. Even Spotty Nose, my oldest ewe, had a lamb, who's father was Arnie. I think that was the only lamb that he fathered, as Spotty Nose was the last to lamb on 11 August. I have included a few photographs below.

2011-08-26T18:47:00.003+10:00

Wood Shed Water
Way back at Easter my Dad and Russell connected an old piece of guttering to the wood shed directing the water to an old metal tank. It worked wonderfully until we discovered that the outlet has a dripping leak. But when it rains this water can be directed via an underground pipe, installed by the previous owners, down to troughs in either the Triangle Paddock or the Dam Paddock, which has been very useful at times.

2011-08-26T18:37:00.003+10:00

Fruit Harvest
I forgot to mention that I had a bumper crop of apples earlier this year. They were fairly free of fly but had odd bumps on the skin. Once peeled they were fine and made lots of stewed apples for the freezer. Although I didn't take a photograph of the apples, I did take a photograph of the plums on a tree planted way back in 2004. These made beautiful jam and some stewed plums too.

2011-05-23T23:56:00.006+10:00

Swapping Rams
Late December I separated my small flock, keeping the older and productive ewes with Bobby and keeping the granddaughters, crossbred wethers, Boots (unproductive) and Ebony (to look after her young ones) in a separate paddock. Russell had spotted a ram being offered for free on a local 'Buy, Swap and Sell' website. After contacting them they indicated that they would also be interested in swapping rams. Initially, I brought home Arnie on 9 January. I kept him with the rag tag bunch that I had separated previously.
In the mean time I had to figure out a way of getting Rambo onto the trailer by myself, using the yards and ramp of course. I thought there would be an issue with him trying to escape out the open half of the back of the trailer, so I rigged up some metal mesh. In the end it didn't really pose a problem. What did end up being a problem was getting him onto the trailer up the ramp. When alone in the yards he became very aggressive, not like him at all (except the first day he arrived when he was ramming into the fence). I think he gets stressed by himself. Consequently, there was no way I was getting into the yard race with him to encourage him up the ramp. I eventually got him in the trailer with a lot of difficulty. This all happened late February.
In early March I yarded the rag tag bunch and separated 7 wethers and crossbred ewes to sell at the markets. Arnie, Coco, Ebony and Emily went in with Bobby and the rest of the girls. Emily was Flystrike's daughter, Flystrike died shortly after shearing and Emily had been keeping to herself away from the mob ever since. She had probably been sick for a while and died about a week later. Then we had the issue of Arnie and Bobby sparring, but unlike Rambo, Arnie stood up for himself, so instead of fearing for the ram I was worried about Bobby. They still have little goes at each other but generally they have settled down and neither have been hurt. Arnie also tries to spar with me but his handle horns are very useful in grabbing hold and putting him where he is out of the way, either in the shed for crutching or just to keep him at bay to stop him butting. He is small in stature too, which also helps.

2011-01-25T23:16:00.002+11:00

Other End of Year News
On 14 December I eventually sold the wool for $347 (shearing cost $106, plus crutching).
With all the rain we have been having the grass is very high and very dense, so there's plenty of food for the animals. This has meant that the driveway is also very wet. I managed to get bogged in the alternate driveway around the back of the house, thinking this was a better option. I have also had to park the car for days at a time at the front of the house, avoiding the driveway altogether. I guess the driveway will be needing an upgrade soon.
Before Christmas Dad also made me a little trailer to pull behind the ride-on to carry tools and heavy things around the farm. I haven't really had a specific use for it as yet but I'm sure it will come in handy.
With the family here at Christmas we managed to get the sheep into the yards again. This time we used the netting in a different configuration and it worked well. I separated the youngest lambs, some of which are Rambo's granddaughters, and some ewes into a small group of ten to stay in the dam paddock. I then took Bobby, Rambo and 11 ewes to the top eastern paddock. This was just so Rambo didn't mate with his granddaughters. I am hoping that the 11 ewes with Rambo could get pregnant one more time before I sell or give away Rambo. (We now have a new ram, but that's another story.)

2011-01-25T22:49:00.003+11:00

Nova to the Butchers
On Monday 6 December Nova was taken to the next town and then on his way to the abattoir and then to the butchers. Steven and Lucy visited on the Sunday to help get him into the yards. He was in there overnight with Star to keep him company. I collected him all packaged up on Friday 17 December. The sausages, mince and corned beef weren't ready, so I had to come back on the next Monday.
When I had the cows in the yards to single out Nova, I also separated the cows from the heifers and calves in an attempt to wean them. This wasn't very successful, with Sandy jumping three fences to get into the back paddock where her two young ones were. I eventually got her two calves down with the other calves, so now I have five young ones in the front paddocks and the cows, plus Star's calf, Twinkle (who also jumped two fences), in the back paddock. I visited them the other day and with the exception of Star they have all gained a lot more padding.
The next thing I plan to do is sell Star and Twinkle, my fence jumpers. With that money I aim to buy a head bail and with that get the cows and heifers AI'd. I don't think I'm quite ready to handle a bull.

2010-12-14T22:45:00.005+11:00

Selling Cows
On 25 October I got the cows down to the front 'Dam Paddock' where the yards are and on 26 October attempted to get the cows into the yards by myself. I got most of the cows in but not Nova or Jemma. It was like Nova knew he was the centre of attention and was determined not to go in. I did get Chrissy in the yards, so I let all the cows out except her so I could try again the next day. The truck was booked for 6pm the next day so I tried again in the morning without any luck. So instead of selling Nova, I decided to sell Rusty. Rusty just walked beside me and straight into the yards, no trouble at all. Nova is bigger than Rusty and I thought I would get more money for him and then we were going to eat Rusty. But now that will be the other way around.
I couldn't get Chrissy and Rusty into the small yard in preparation for loading. Chrissy was wild and acting like a bull. It wasn't safe to be in the yards with them, so I waited until the truck arrived. The guy transporting them was very helpful and although he also had difficulty he eventually got them onto the truck and took them to the markets for the next day.
I received a phone call the following afternoon that I had averaged $770 each, which I was very pleased with. I received the cheque in the mail about a week later less the commission. That went a small way towards paying for the yards and ramp.
The truck guy suggested moving the internal gate and panel to increase the size of the small yard and decrease the size of the large yard to make it easier to get the cattle into the race. I tried to do this myself but only got so far, so I had to ask Steve to help. I have used it since when getting Nova ready for the butcher and it worked much better.
I almost feel like a real farmer now, having sold a steer and heifer and actually made some money. I sold Chrissy (Freda's girl) because she was hard to manage and wasn't like the others. Her true colours showed when in the yards, she was wild and crazy, I'm glad she's gone. Chrissy was 22 months and Rusty about 20 months. My next problem is where to get a bull from for my next lot of calves.

2010-11-30T23:48:00.005+11:00

Ramp (the final piece of the puzzle)
My cattle yard ramp was delivered on the same day as the shearing . Although, the ramp was a few feet from the actual yards and there were no joining brackets welded in position. But the next week someone came and pushed it into place and screwed on the brackets and fitted the pegs. The ramp was made to be used with both cattle and sheep, plus it is adjustable for a variety of heights to accommodate putting sheep onto a trailer as well as a truck.
A couple of days after that I also bought a trough for the corner, so the cows wouldn't go without water while in the yards overnight. (I have since lowered the height of the trough, as it was a bit too high.) I don't know if I mentioned before, but I also bought a 'man' gate for the other side of the yards. (I bought this at the same time as the custom gate in the back of the shed.) This skinny gate can also be seen in the ramp picture below.
The very next week I got to use the yards for their purpose ... but that's another story.

2010-11-29T23:18:00.005+11:00

Shearing & Sheep Grazier's Warning
I had booked in my shearing to happen on Friday, 15 October. And as usual I had to shed the sheep the night before so that they would be dry and 'empty' prior to shearing. But I also had to keep them in the shed after shearing because there was a very cold snap and so I kept them in the shed for two days after the shearing and fed them sheep pellets and lucerne. During this time I unfortunately lost one of my original ewes, Flystrike. An unfortunate name I know, as she had flystrike the first year. In the before photo she can be seen at the right looking rather shabby. She was showing signs of weakness the week or so before shearing (sitting down more often and having trouble when trying to stand). She was giving all her strength to her lamb. The shearer noted that she had started shedding her fleece, in that it broke because it became weak due to lack of nourishment, which was going to the lamb. She died two days after shearing, while still in the shed, the shock of being shorn was too much for her. It was pretty sad but I have to realise that my original sheep were bought in 2004, six years ago, and they weren't lambs then. So they have all been very good producers, some more than others, but they have all been valued.
Edit: 14/12/2010 - I finally sold the wool today. I received $347.12 - not bad for a handful of sheep. The shearing cost $106, so I made a profit of $241.12!

2010-11-16T19:13:00.015+11:00

New Fencing & Mended Fences
Some of my cows are pretty hard on fences. There were three stays that badly needed replacing, plus I had the fence near the first gate and the shed tank replaced, as I'm sure it wouldn't hold cows if the need arose, and I also had a new fence built at the top of the veggie garden so animals could eat the grass there without me using the ineffective netting. The work was started 5-7 October and the veggie fence finished on 21 October. This sort of came on because I wanted to keep some cows down the front to try and fatten them up and so that they recover from feeding two calves. When I bring them down again I will separate them into two groups keeping mums away from calves in an attempt to wean the younger calves born last Christmas. I have included photographs of each of the new stays. It is a very clever idea forming a triangle with two sides in steel. These stays won't be coming out. The funny thing is I haven't received an account for the work as yet, so I don't know how much it all cost yet. I imagine the stays weren't cheap but I have to wait and see. The fencing guy took a while to start the job, and it appears just as long to present the account. I am very happy with the work, though. Edit: I received the account today 17/11. $2,657.65! The fencer's hourly charge is more than three times my hourly rate at work! But it's done and I won't need fencing for a long time.

2010-10-26T23:02:00.006+11:00

Shearing Platform
Just in time for shearing this year, I changed the configuration of the sheep panels and raised the level of the shearing flooring by including three pallets underneath. I used two full pallets and cut another pallet in half and put them on diagonal corners, so I had a pallet and a half on each side (I have one pallet spare). I arranged the panels so that there was more room for the sheep and also to funnel them into the end area. I had a new shearer this year, who lives locally. The shearer commented that the raised flooring made it too close to the shearing plant (with the arm bending too low) but that he could put up with this for such a small number of sheep. (Thank goodness for that, as I think moving the shearing plant higher would be troublesome to say the least.) I think that the raised platform helped reduce the amount of dirt getting onto the platform while shearing.
On shearing day Steve came to help with the skirting and bagging and I couldn't have done it without him (he was paid of course). I helped the shearer by sweeping away the wool and throwing it over to Steve. Steve skirted and then shoved the fleeces into large bags from the wool buyers, one for merino and one for crossbreds. Of course we also kept the black and grey wool separate. I have not sold the wool as yet.

2010-10-25T23:48:00.004+11:00

Damn Full Dam
We have had a lot of rain lately and everywhere is lovely and green. My front dam had been dried up for a very long time. I haven't pumped from it for at least four years. There was also a dam on the way into town that had been dwindling day by day. But now all dams everywhere are as full as I have ever seen them. I have included a few photos of the front dam. The back dam usually has plenty of water, although it too has had a beach of dirt for a while, and it too is full.
I have also included a frosty photo taken in August.

2010-10-22T01:00:00.007+11:00

Stumps Removed
On 9 August Mum and Dad visited and Dad decided that he had had enough of mowing around the three wattle stumps at the front of the house. I was going to get them removed one day but he decided to remove them himself with a crowbar. Apparently they were very rotten and so it was possible to break them up. He then used a wheelbarrow to move them up near the shed. I don't have a photo of the stumps but I do have a photo of the cleared area and the pile of wood. The next time Dad mowed the area he said it was a dream to mow in straight lines.

2010-09-23T22:26:00.013+10:00

Lamb Photos
Well, all those statistics are all very well, but I forgot to include the most important thing - pictures of lambs! They photos are not in order but at least they are not covering each other!

2010-09-23T00:30:00.004+10:00

Lambs 2010
I think that all the ewes that are going to lamb have lambed. The outcome is five healthy, strong lambs (3 girls and 2 boys). At the time of lambing I had 19 sheep, 15 girls. Of these 15 girls only 11 lambed and they had a total of 15 lambs including 4 sets of twins. Of these 10 died, either from being weak or from foxes. That isn't a very good lambing rate. I don't know whether this is due to very high fox numbers or that Bobby just isn't doing his job or that maybe he needs help. Who knows. I have included a table of our births and losses, more for my record than anything else. Also, now that Spotty-Ears has died (my second favourite, very sad) I only have 18 sheep in all (including Rambo, the ram, who I will have to sell pretty soon).
I guess that sums it all up. At shearing time we will mark, ring the tails and tag them and then they'll be part of my growing flock. So, I guess the next question is, which ones will be eaten?

2010-09-16T00:02:00.007+10:00

April / May / June Update
Mum and Dad visited again in late April. Dad mowed the 'tree' run down the middle of the paddocks and sprayed the blackberries around the dam and under the plum trees. Unfortunately, I can't find the photographs I'm sure I took of the mown tree run and the before and after photos of the blackberries around the dam. In early May the cows started getting through to the next door neighbours at the top of the hill. I went up there to investigate and sure enough the fence that I thought was okay was falling apart. I had no trouble getting Jemma and her calf to come through the adjoining gate and then I spent over an hour pulling up the hinge joint and attaching to the star pickets and putting in dropper wires to hold the whole thing together. And so another fence survives for a bit longer.
Although not farm news, in the middle of May I bought new bedroom furniture. I shuffled the house a bit and put my double bed into the guest room for Mum and Dad and put the futon into Steve's old bedroom. I now have a Federation style queen bed, side drawers, dresser and tallboy and I'm very pleased with myself.
In the middle of June Coco's coat was torn and half coming off. Because of this Bobby was attacking her because he saw her as a threat, either because she was stressed or the noise the coat was making dragging on the ground. Anyway, we got the sheep into the yards and put on a new coat. At the same time Russell helped me clip some sheep nails. Because Bobby wouldn't let up on Coco we had to separate the sheep into two groups in different paddocks to keep Bobby apart from Coco for a week until he settled down.
At the end of June when Mum and Dad were visiting again, Dad and Russell helped me mend the back western fence adjoining our neighbours. They had a steer all by himself enticing my cows over to play. Ten star pickets and loads of wire later we patched the fence enough to keep them home in the short term.
I have included a few photographs taken of the farm during April, May and June.

2010-07-25T17:50:00.004+10:00

New Gate for Shed
I have lots of news about lambs but I need to do this in date order and so have to update my journal about other important things that have happened on the farm since my last blog.
Mum and Dad visited in the last week in March and Dad single handedly installed a gate that I had custom made by the same guy who made my cattle yards. The installed gate was a total surprise, as I had planned on taking a day off and helping Dad with the installation. But Dad knew what he was doing and thought I would only be in the way and went ahead and did it himself (I think Mum helped at the end when propping up didn't work). The sheep panels that were there before are now going to be used around the raised flooring for shearing. Through a friend of Russell's, I obtained four pallets to use to raise the shearing flooring. Hopefully to save the shearer contending with dirt and hay from the floor when shearing. That is yet to happen, though. I have included a photo of the new gate.

2010-06-02T23:55:00.009+10:00

New Spinning Wheel
I obviously have some catching up to do with my blogs! Firstly I need to share with you the news of my new spinning wheel. Before Christmas on 19 December, yes that long ago, I bought an old spinning wheel in pieces and a sad state of repair through a friend at spinning for $50. When I first talked about buying the wheel I had no idea of its condition and was a little disappointed when I first saw it. But I thought that this would be a good opportunity to really get to know the new spinning wheel. Unfortunately, in my eagerness to get underway with the restoration, I neglected to take a before photograph.
The spinning wheel appeared to have spent years in a shed somewhere and had sustained some water damage. The wood was a red brown colour and rough to the touch. The wheel hub was cracked and falling apart. But all the pieces were there and nothing was beyond repair, plus it was a traditional Ashford wheel with turned spokes. Before I had even considered what to do, Russell and Dad had dismantled the whole spinning wheel and started handing me pieces, saying 'well off you go and start sanding'. Dad mended the hub with glue and clamps, cleaning each spoke of any previous glue and fitting everything back together tightly. I sanded and sanded and sanded. I was amazed at how the wood came back to the original pale ash and this spured me on. On the weekend of 23-24 January I painted the pieces with a satin clear finish and Russell reassembled the spinning wheel with new brass fittings and screws (plus some old ones we couldn't replace). I also gave my Ashford warping board a light sand and coated it with the satin clear finish a few weekends later.

As soon as the wheel was finished I launched into trying it out. It was like learning to spin all over again, but I soon got the feel of the new wheel and was flying through spinning some lovely pomegranate coloured merino/silk sliver tops from Ashford I had in my stash. I then also spun some Optum I had bought last year from Nundle Woollen Mill as a special treat. And it was a special treat, the finished yarn was beautiful, soft and fine. I entered both these skeins together with a few of the others I had finished throughout the year into the local show and received two seconds and two firsts out of five skeins. The action of my new wheel is soooo smooth and effortless. And because of all the work I put into restoring it, I feel as though I made it or something. I know I didn't but I had a lot to do with how it looks now.

I have included a few photographs of the wheel and the skeins I entered in the show.

2010-02-17T21:43:00.002+11:00

Worms Not Foxes
Yesterday I noticed that one of the merino ewes had a small patch of flystrike on her rear end, so I arranged to have them crutched. My neighbour and shearer were very understanding and came to do the crutching today. With the sheep in the shed I realised that the two sheep that had died were both lambs. I mentioned this to the shearer and he immediately checked the sheep's eyes and gums. They had worms. The lambs that died most probably died from the worms and the foxes ate the carcasses. The condition of the sheep was so bad that he returned this evening with a drench for the sheep and with lots of help I drenched all the sheep. I think this possibly saved their lives. Time will tell. They are now in a clean paddock.
All this time I have been very careful to move the sheep to the next paddock after about four weeks, mostly less. I had avoided drenching for worms up until now and I had been lucky because I have been rotating the sheep regularly, but I think the worms have caught up with me. I will have to look into what drench to use and plan to check the sheep and drench as needed. This has been a very expensive lesson, loosing two very good lambs in the process.

2010-02-07T19:50:00.002+11:00

Two Sheep Dead
I went up to talk to the sheep today, as I had been paying more attention to the cows lately. I have been up the hill and checked the troughs every day, but I hadn't stayed for a 'chat' and a head count. This afternoon there were two missing, so I started walking over the paddock to find them. I found them all right, in pieces. The rest of the poor sheep had been in the same paddock for possibly days and been in danger of further attack. Russell and I had gone for a walk last weekend and counted them then, so they were killed over the last week. I moved the rest of the sheep down to the 'Triangle Paddock' next to the shed and then with a list of names in my hand I went through a process of elimination and I think the two dead sheep are Pinky and her daughter Little Pinky. I could tell that one was younger and had a red tag, but I couldn't find the tag of the other one and couldn't tell how large it had once been. Russell will bring his rifle up next weekend that we are here and try and get rid of some foxes for me. I was worried about doing that before but now it's different, I've lost two very good sheep that shouldn't have died (plus 'Cross' about six months ago from the same paddock). Now I have 18 sheep and one ram (soon to be sold). Three of these sheep are wethers but also some are non-productive. There are possibly 11 potentially productive ewes, including some lambs from last season. This loss brings the numbers right down.

2010-02-06T17:38:00.008+11:00

My Very Own Cattle Yards
Yesterday the panels and gates for my cattle yards were delivered and today Steven and Lucy came and helped us put them together. I haven't tried getting the cows in there yet but when we finished I opened all the gates and let the cows and calves get familiar with the yards. I have included lots of photographs of the yards, including photos of inquisitive calves. They're gorgeous. The white pair are just over six weeks old.

I have also included the plan for the yards. I found the plan in a commercial catalogue but had the panels and gates custom made by the son of a local, who has set himself up in business making yards. I had the panels custom made with two extra lower rungs to accommodate sheep for when I have so many lambs that I have to sell them. The yards here cost $6,000. I have not ordered the ramp yet, as I need to recover from this cost before I can outlay more, plus I don't need it just yet. I plan to get an adjustable ramp made, again to accommodate loading sheep onto a trailer, as well as cattle onto a truck.

Purchasing the yards is very timely, as I heard only yesterday that the property where we took the cows to the yards before when Harry was taken to the butchers is on the market and may not be available in the future.

Over the next few weeks, I will purchase a 5-in-1 injection kit and arrange for someone to help me inject and tag the four calves and 'mark' the two boys. That will be a whole new experience, as I didn't actually do this last time. I need to learn to do these things myself, but I don't think I'm ready to do it alone just yet.

2010-01-01T09:13:00.005+11:00

Christmas Calves
On Boxing Day we went for a walk to visit the cows and found two tiny white calves. Star had had a girl and Sandy had had a boy either on Christmas Day or maybe a day or so earlier. We have named Star's girl Twinkle, to keep the star theme, and Sandy's boy Rudi, to keep the Christmas theme. They are both beautiful.
Then on Monday following Christmas, Freda had a little black girl, which we will call Anna, to keep the theme of 'A' for Angus. And yesterday, on New Year's Eve, Jemma had a little black boy calf. I am thinking of calling him something starting with 'J' but haven't decided on a name yet. These two are also both beautiful. I was even able to pat Jemma's boy because he was on the other side of the fence to her.
I have included family shots of each cow with their previous heifer/steer and their newborn. The families still stick together sometimes and I think most the previous heifers/steers are still feeding from their mothers! So much for the cows sorting out the natural weaning process.

2009-12-18T15:14:00.007+11:00

Pregnant Cows and Low Dam
I went for a walk the other morning down to the back dam to check that there was still water in it for the cows, as another dam I see on my way to work is extremely low. I found the cows down near the dam and there was still water there but the 'beach' was as large as I have seen it.
My cows are due to calf again in late December or January. I was worried about weaning their previous calves but I think they have done that themselves, as they all seem to have largish udders, ready for the new calf. I have included photographs of the dam, pregnant cows, and inquisitive steers and heifers. Oh, and some sheep too!

I think this will be my last post before Christmas, unless we have a calf or something else significant happens, so "Best Wishes to All for a Happy Christmas and an even Happier New Year".

2009-11-22T23:46:00.010+11:00

Solar Energy Sustainability
I have joined the ranks of the sustainable energy producers. It has been quite a long process. A solar energy company launched a Solar Project in our area. Just like others in the state they were promoting the Solar Homes and Communities Plan (previously Photovoltaic Rebate Program). In January this year I paid my deposit and applied for the rebate. At this time the solar company assessed my roof for the potential site of the panels. They had to go on the rear, as the solar hot water system was on the north facing section of roof. I was also 'given' a Wattson Energy metering device (part of the deal). The Wattson shows you how much energy in watts that you are using at any moment in time. Now that the system is up and running it shows how much I am producing and also the nett amount. Initially, this helped identify where I was wasting/using energy and I subsequently turned off the television and computer at the wall and was very mindful of energy usage.
Upon approval of the rebate in late March, I had to wait for more people in my area to take up the solar offer for us all to qualify for the Solar Project. We received the final go ahead in late May. I paid the final amount on 2 June and the panels were erected on 5 June. The electrical work was completed on 8 June. I had applied for the Grid Connect Process through Country Energy in late May, not knowing that it would take five weeks for this approval to be processed (I should have applied for the Grid Connect earlier!). On 3 July Country Energy came to connect the two-way meter for the grid connection - a full month after the system was on the roof and ready! And for some unknown reason it has taken until now for me to receive my rebate, some 19 weeks later.
I applied to sell my RECs (Renewable Energy Certificates) at the end of July and they were eventually sold and I received the money at the end of September. This also took longer than I expected.
I paid $12,547.00 minus $8,000 rebate minus $792 RECs (22). The whole system ended up costing me $3,755.
I have a 1080W (1.08kW) system including 6x180W Kyocera panels and a Latronic PVEW2500 inverter (for future expansion, possibly wind). I have included a few photographs from various angles. I have been taking readings from my two-way meter at the end of each month to compare my usage and production. Last month I produced 57% of what I used! With Summer fast approaching this will increase every day. I can't wait for my next electricity bill!

2009-11-21T22:29:00.008+11:00

Blackberries Be Gone
Over the last year my Dad has been progressively trying to eradicate selected patches of blackberries, working away at them with the mower and whipper snipper with a steel disk instead of line. About a month ago he finished cutting down a large patch of blackberries on the walls of the front dam. Then three weekends ago I sprayed the new shoots that had emerged since Dad had finished cutting using a backpack spraying device that had been bought years ago and never been used. The poison I used was called Erase Biaquatic Total Weed, which was supposed to be frog and fish friendly but would kill blackberries. I also sprayed a few stray blackberries coming up through the wood piles next to the wood shed. After three weeks they are actually showing signs of being sick. Some leaves are yellowing and curling. I haven't been over to the dam since I sprayed but I think I will have to spray them a second time to actually kill them. I was going to do that this weekend but it was way too hot to be outside spraying weeds. Maybe another weekend. I have included a photo of the cleared area. Unfortunately, we don't have a 'before' photo. This whole area was covered with at least 1 metre high blackberries.

2009-11-21T22:20:00.004+11:00

Shed Skylight
About six months ago in an Autumn storm a sheet of corrugated iron came off the shed roof. Because it was over the car area I didn't rush out to fix it. Then I realised that I liked light shining into the front end of the shed, as it was very dark in this area. I eventually bought a sheet of Laserlite. Then six months after the original sheet of iron came off, I eventually arranged for a handyman to come and install the Laserlight sheet (plus mend numerous other loose iron sheets and ridge capping). Now I have a skylight in the front of the shed. Of course this introduced another problem of the sun shining on the freezer. This problem was remedied by using two reflective 'space blankets'.

2009-11-03T23:25:00.005+11:00

Last Lamb
On 30 September there was a new lamb. I thought all the ewes had either had their lamb or lost their lamb/s. The mum was Rosie, one of the lambs from last year! (My neighbour tells me that it is 'okay' for sheep to mate with their father but not their grandfather.) This little lamb is a boy and so there are no worries of that happening. My neighbour, who sold me the ram, says Rambo only has one season left in him, so I am keeping him until maybe April or May next year and then selling him, probably for pet food or something (poor Rambo). Rambo has given me three good merino lambs from last year and two from this year, plus a few eating lambs as well.

2009-11-03T23:14:00.004+11:00

Profit on Wool
Bobby was shorn on 11 October. I had no trouble getting him on the trailer and off the trailer at the other end. He walked on the lead very well and made me look like I knew what I was doing. I now have another bag of brown alpaca fleece. I have actually started spinning one of his fleeces from a previous year, although I have a long way to go.
The sheep were also shorn on 15 October. Steve stayed over to help me with the skirting and bagging the fleece. This year I borrowed two bale bags from the wool brokers, one for merino and one for the cross breeds. We kept two of the merino lambs fleeces separate. And of course we bagged Ebony's grey wool and Coco's black wool separately, plus Rambo's wool because it was short, as he was shorn at crutching time this year. I didn't take a photo of either the sheep all naked and white or the wool haul but I guess that never changes. Although, I would have liked to have shown the comparison between the two small bags of merino lambs wool (one was accidentally put with the rest of the merino, otherwise there would have been three) that sold for more than the huge bale of 7 cross breed fleeces. I have today paid for the shearing and I sold the wool last week, making a profit of $140!

2009-09-13T21:37:00.004+10:00

Mended yet another hole and fence
Yesterday when the cows didn't come to the fence when I called and left lucerne, we went for a walk down to the far corner of the back paddock just to check they were all there and okay. And it was a good thing we did because we found a gaping hole in the gully fence again and another part of the fence was leaning at 45 degrees or more the other way. My neighbour had mentioned that my cows were in his place but thought they had pushed down the fence. I think the hole in the gully fence was probably the means of escape. So today Russell and I mended the hole in the gully and propped up the old fence with four star pickets and tied down the very old hinge joint. Dad and I mended one side of the gully a while ago, now I think (hope) it is fixed for good. Although I'm sure the cows will find yet another weak spot in the fence for me to fix another time. I have included some before and after photos (I forgot to take a photo of the leaning fence, we just launched into fixing it).

2009-09-13T21:18:00.005+10:00

Skinny Cows
On 14 August I brought my cows and calves down to the front paddocks so the neighbours could take their bull, three cows and a calf back to their property. Unfortunately, I could not get Chrissy to join the others and so had to leave her with the neighbours cows. Then in the afternoon I had another try and this time Freda ended up joining her. When the neighbours rounded up their cows they very kindly managed to get both Freda and Chrissy to join the rest of my herd. However, on rounding my cows up and on having them closer at hand I noticed that they were very skinny. I had not visited them for a while because of the presence of the bull and I had not noticed how skinny they were before this. So I bought some mineral blocks and lucerne hay and I think they are gradually looking better, especially Brownie who looked worse than ever before. I guess this is becuase the cows are most probably pregnant again and they also have a 6-8 month old calf still feeding from them. I bought some more lucerne on Friday and so will feed them every second day for a while longer. They are down the back paddock again and I'm sure the grass will improve with warmer weather. I have included two photos of the cows and calves milling on the other side of the fence around feeding time in the early morning.

2009-09-13T21:01:00.003+10:00

Lambs but no lambs
I didn't realise it had been so long since I updated the blog. On 24 July Fluffy had twin boys, this was a Friday. I was away for two days and on Monday morning they were no where to be seen (being here would probably not have made any difference). They were very small and they may have died and probably a fox took them. I have seen Bobby in action so I'm sure he would have looked after them if they were alive. Then yesterday Spotty Nose had a very small boy lamb and today again he was no where to be seen. Again he was very small and weak. I know it is part of nature but it's sad all the same. I am pretty sure there are no more pregnant ewes. So I guess it's time to start thinking about shearing. I have included two photos of the lambs that didn't make it.

2009-07-21T23:46:00.005+10:00

Lots of Lambs
Last week my ewes had three lambs.
14 July 2009 "Original Mum" had a girl "Snowy" (pure merino)
15 July 2009 "Pinkie" had a girl "Little Pinkie"
16 July 2009 "Big Baby" had a girl "Little Baby" (pure merino)
Sorry about the 'unique original' names but they all look the same, except "Snowy" she is very white and fluffy. "Little Pinkie" has a very distinctive pink nose just like her mum, and I haven't been able to get close enough to "Little Baby" to find something to identify her by.
So far we only have one boy - "Ebony's", who by the way I'm going to call "Ivan". I don't think many other ewes are pregnant or they are a long way off having them.

With all this good news, I also have some sad news. Russell and I buried "Cross" last weekend. I don't know the whole story because I wasn't there, but she was attacked by something. I moved the sheep down to the paddocks near the shed on Wednesday 15 July in the morning. It took a while because "Pinkie" had only had her lamb that morning but they were forecasting very cold temperatures and I didn't want to lose lambs to the cold. Even after I had them all in the Triangle Paddock Bobbie seemed to want to get out, so I twigged that something was wrong and I hadn't noticed. I counted the sheep and figured out that "Cross" was missing, so I went up to the top paddock and walked up and down and couldn't see her. Thinking she may have got through the fence and that I would find her tomorrow I had to get to work (a half hour late). Then on Thursday morning I set out again to look for her and I found her behind the tank and there were guts and wool tufts all over the place. I surely wouldn't have missed that before. So I don't know whether she was actually alive on Wednesday or not. If she had gone off to lamb by herself and as attacked, I imagine Bobbie made the decision to protect the majority and the lambs. I don't blame Bobbie, I blame myself for not finding her the day before, but she might have already been dead then. Either way, "Cross" is buried and the rest are close to the shed for the cold nights.

2009-07-14T20:48:00.002+10:00

Another New Lamb
This morning, when I went to feed my two lonely chickens, the sheep and cows saw me and started 'calling out' to me, so I knew something was up and decided to go and say hello. As I got closer I could see what all the fuss was about - a new little white lamb. The mum was Original Mum and I think the lamb is a girl and she is white as white with fluffy wool. She is a full merino and therefore is here to stay. Ebony is also one of Original Mum's lambs, so she became a grandma and a mum in the space of a couple of weeks!
The cows were also at the top of the hill so I got to talk to them and patted Gemma and Freda.
Unfortunately, we're in for some really cold weather over the next week, so tomorrow morning I might try and bring the sheep down to the 'Triangle Paddock' with access to the shed. I was intending to move them to the next paddock or down to the 'Dam Paddock' next weekend, but I think I'll skip a few paddocks and bring them near the shed. I don't want to lose any lambs due to the cold and it will be safer from fox attack too.
I didn't bring my camera with me this morning, so I'll take photos another time.
Lambs are supposed to be born in spring! I hope their mums keep them warm tonight.

2009-06-28T23:56:00.003+10:00

A June Lamb
Yesterday after planting the pine tree seedlings we noticed that I had a new addition to my flock of sheep - a baby boy lamb. It was Ebony's lamb and he wasn't black! If he was black or coloured in any way that would have saved his life - now he is destined to be chops and roasts. Even so, he is adorable, as lambs always are. Some of the other sheep are also pregnant but I think it will be a while before we see another lamb born. (I apologise for the poor quality of photograph, I will take some more photos soon.)

2009-06-28T23:38:00.004+10:00

Five Trees for Fifty Years
Yesterday we had the perfect conditions to do something I had been wanting to do for a long time. We dug out some seedling pine trees from the front of the property near the road and planted them in the wind break near the western neighbour's fence. It is winter so the trees are dormant and digging was easy because we have had some rain, and we also didn't need to water them in because we had good rain overnight as well. I didn't do this by myself either, as my whole family are visiting to help me celebrate my 50th birthday. Originally we had decided to plant five trees for my fifty years but I miscalculated the spacing and had to plant six instead, but that didn't really matter. The tree break does seem rather wide and empty, but in time I plan to plant some gums or maybe wattles in between the pines.

2009-06-28T23:11:00.005+10:00

Bladey Grass and Woodpile
While Russell and I went on a short holiday from 21-26 May Mum and Dad came to look after the animals and the farm. During that time Dad mowed the areas of bladey grass to keep it under control. Since the photo Dad has used the whipper snipper on the grass near the fence.
He also sorted the wood on the woodpile. This woodpile has accumulated over the whole time we have been here and I think even before. Dad wanted to control the blackberries growing up through the wood and to do this he needed to move the wood. He sorted it into piles of different sizes and eventually was able to cut and dig out the offending blackberries. Then a couple of weekends after that Russell chainsawed most of the large stuff ready for chopping for the fire. (I have included a photo of the sorted piles and the chopped piles.) Even though most of the wood is not good quality, there were some ancient fence posts from the fence I replaced on the eastern neighbour's side and they are burning very well indeed. In time the aim is to use all this wood and clear the area entirely.

2009-06-28T22:53:00.003+10:00

New Driveway
Some time in the middle of March the Council sealed the driveway leading to the gate from the road. With everything else happening this has taken a back seat but I thought it should be recorded as it has improved the look of the entrance and ease of driving through the gateway. I thought it was a lot of money at the time ($350) but the car doesn't bottom out any more. We did have a bit of trouble at first because they didn't pack down the dirt added before sealing, but it has hardened now and works well.

2009-06-18T23:15:00.011+10:00

Nova gets away again
On the morning of 28 April when I poked my head out to get the cat food bowl I heard mooing. Not the normal far away not my problem mooing, but a closer to home come and help mooing. So I quickly got the cats fed and set off to the back paddock. When I got there I found Nova in the neighbours place at the back. Heavens knows how he got through the fence, I certainly couldn't see. He is turning out to be quite an escape artist. And of course to get him back in I had to unlock the back gate - I won't forget the key the next time I go down the back. After returning with the key I managed to get Nova out the neighbour's gate and into our gate without letting Star out. Cow and calf were very grateful to be reunited. Star was the one doing all the mooing, by the way, not Nova. After all the commotion all the other calves sidled up to their mums for comfort too. But that was soon forgotten and all the calves got together again. In the photos you can see how fast Nova is growing compared to the other calves.

2009-06-18T22:59:00.002+10:00

Erickson is no more
Last Friday morning (12/6) I came out to feed the chickens and found three lonely black chickens and Erickson in a pile of white feathers minus his head. He was a very brave rooster and had fought many battles, which is why I didn't lock them away every night, plus I hadn't seen any foxes lately, either alive or dead on the side of the road, so I thought it was okay to let them waltz in and out as they pleased - but obviously not. I locked them in over the weekend while I was away and then Tuesday night as well. Then, thinking the fox would give up and go elsewhere, plus I was tired and it was wet and dark, I neglected my duties again and lost another chicken. So now I only have two very lonely black chickens who will be closed in every night or else I will lose them too. Before I get any more chickens I will build a proper enclosure, so it will be safe to let them roam as they please, plus so I don't have to trudge out in the dark and sometimes rain to lock them up at night.

2009-06-03T23:40:00.002+10:00

Crutching, Shearing Rambo & Bobbie
The sheep were crutched by my neighbour on 14 March. Then on 2 April the shearer came to shear Rambo. I wanted to protect Rambo's fleece and keep him warm now that winter was fast approaching, so we put a cover on him. Now I don't know whether Bobbie remembered when Rambo first arrived or if he just doesn't like covers but he started attacking Rambo. The next day I got Rambo and some of the sheep back into the shed and removed Rambo's cover. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for Bobbie and he continued to spit on him and chase him and wrap his neck around his head and the like. So I moved the sheep to the next paddock and kept Bobbie separate and let him into the 'tree run' surrounding the middle eastern paddock. I kept them separate for three whole weeks, then moved them all to the top eastern paddock. Everything is back to normal now. I guess that means that I can never put a cover on Rambo, because I'm not going through that again.

2009-06-03T23:16:00.005+10:00

Harry's Meat
Harry stayed at our neighbour's yards overnight with a few young steers to keep him company and the butcher came to collect him the next day 9 March. I collected Harry's meat on 20 March, just over a week later. The total cost was $409. His carcass weighed 256.8kg and we received approximately 160.2kg of meat.

So he was 37.6% bones, which was good

compared to Patch and

Lady's meat to bone ratio. The actual meat cost

me $2.55/kg. By the way, his steak is beautiful.

2009-06-03T23:01:00.002+10:00

Love at last
I have been 'off the air' for a bit as I have been rather preoccupied. I have fallen in love with a wonderful man who loves me very much. I think we suit each other very well and we have been spending every weekend with each other since about the middle of February. His name is Russell and he lives in a neighbouring town about 1.5 hours away. I firmly believe that everything that has happened in my life has happened for a reason and to bring me to where I am today. I am happy with who I am.

2009-03-09T13:47:00.003+11:00

Tagging, Ringing and Visiting
Yesterday, two stockmen took our cows and calves to a neighbours cattle yards about 2km up the road. They tagged all my new calves and put rings on the two boys. Then we left Harry with the neighbours steers and brought our cows and calves home via the road together with the neighbours handful of cows and their bull. Harry is being collected by the butcher later this afternoon. The neighbours steers are keeping him company until then, then they will be let out into the paddock. I have completed my very first Vendor Declaration from my own special booklet. Then in a few weeks I'll have a freezer full of beef - we'll be able to eat steak again!
I have included a collection of photographs of the process. Of course when the cows were closer and when they were tagging I was too engaged and busy to be taking photographs, so the camera missed the good bits.

2009-03-09T13:32:00.003+11:00

Coco
On Thursday 5 March a neighbour wool producer gave me a coloured lamb. She was only just due to be weaned, so she is quite young. I have named her Coco as she is multi-coloured, white and brown. Bobby and the other sheep are not sure of her yet and have been giving her a bit of a hard time, but I'm sure they will settle down soon. She will probably be on the fringe until there is another newcomer. She is very cute.

2009-03-09T12:45:00.003+11:00

Fruit in Season
It's blackberry and apple season. The last couple of years I haven't really paid a lot of attention to the blackberries or the apple trees. But this year we have had a bumper crop of both blackberries and apples. We were down picking blackberries near the dam and to my surprise there were two apple trees laden with apples! Not all of them were edible but about a third were perfect for eating, although some were a bit tarty (maybe because I was a bit eager and picked them too early). I don't know what type of apple they are but the flesh is white and juicy.
I have also included photos of some of my blackberry haul. I have eaten them raw on cereal and stewed on ice cream and I have made two lots of jam. Of course I should be out there every day picking them so they don't go to waste ... but I'm not. I am enjoying the fruit I have picked and eaten, though.

2009-03-02T23:42:00.004+11:00

Brownie's Surprise
A neighbour rang yesterday to tell me that Brownie had had a boy calf (because the cows are in the back paddock their children noticed the new calf first). I didn't even think that Brownie was pregnant! But sure enough she has had a small black/brown boy calf. I have named him "Rusty" after a new friend of mine. So I now have five calves. I have also been talking to my neighbour about the possibility of his bull visiting again - at his suggestion (they were going to sell the bull but haven't yet). And in the same process I could possibly have the calves tagged and the boys 'taken care of', plus have the butcher come and take Harry to the abattoir! All this has to be confirmed with the stockmen, but it could be soon.

2009-02-12T19:12:00.005+11:00

In Memory of TK
We lost one of our animals today. We had him euthanased, as he was not able to fight a respiratory infection because he had FIV (the cats version of HIV). Apparently it can be in their system for a long time, then when they get sick they get really sick. TK (The Kitten, originally) may not have been a productive farm animal but he had been in our family since he was about a month old in November 1997. We sort of adopted him from next door. Although he was very cute he had a fighting spirit in him and after he attacked an old lady up the street when he was about two years old (I found the note the lady wrote to us) we kept him in a cat run with a tower, a tunnel and a large flat area with access to inside a shed at night. While we lived in Sydney he lived in his run with the occasional respite inside. Of course when we came to the country he calmed down considerably and enjoyed the peaceful surrounds. However, in the last six months or so he has been going down hill, not venturing very far and not cleaning himself as well as he used to. The photograph was taken April 2008 after we had his ears trimmed due to cancers on the tips. Recently he had a few teeth problems and eye problems and then this week he developed respiratory problems and got very sick very fast.
Goodbye TK.

2009-02-04T01:04:00.002+11:00

Good News & Bad News
The bad news is that I won't be milking Jemma and I was looking forward to that. The good news is that Jemma had temporarily misplaced her calf! She hadn't 'lost' her after all. I didn't get time to visit the cows on Sunday but on Monday night I went up there with the stainless steel bucket expecting to be able to milk Jemma and there were four calves including two little black calves. I did try to milk but Jemma wouldn't stand still like before. I think on Saturday she had left her calf sleeping somewhere and had forgotten where she was ... or something. Anyway, everything is okay now - we are back to three girls and a boy. I don't have any photos yet, as I hadn't taken the camera with me - maybe next time.

2009-02-01T11:37:00.005+11:00

Milking Jemma
I thought I would leave Jemma and her calf for a few days since all the other cows were so protective at first, plus I was busy with work and other things. Then this morning I saw the cows at the top of the hill, so went up there to say hello. The first three calves were being looked after by Star but there was no sign of Jemma's calf. Thinking it may have been asleep somewhere nearby I asked Jemma to show me where her calf was. Now I know they don't understand what I'm saying but they do understand, if you know what I mean. Anyway she started walking away down the hill, stopping to look around to see if I was following. I followed her to the middle of the top eastern quarter of the back paddock, where she started to look around in a large circle. I am thinking this is where her calf may have died and where she last saw her. There was no sign of her now. She then walked over to the large pine in the middle of the paddock and then back up to where the rest of the herd were. The poor thing. She let me pat her all over and her udder was quite large and tight. And she actually let me milk her a little. So I went back, had my breakfast, and returned with a freshly washed stainless steel bucket (purchased years ago for this very purpose), a warm clean cloth to clean her teats and a clean tea towel to cover the bucket on the return walk.
She was very good and mostly stayed still. I just knealt down near her (no stool) to milk one teat at a time with my other hand holding the bucket. The only time I tried to use both hands she kicked the bucket over. I couldn't reach the teats on the other side, so I had to milk one side and then go around to the other side. In the end I managed to milk half a cup, which would have been more if I hadn't spilt some. I'm going to try again this afternoon and maybe every day. At least until I know she's not going to get mastitis or something. Maybe next time I'll bring a halter. It's a pitty I don't have the cattle yards and milking bail.

I have strained the milk and it's in a jug in the fridge. I intend to have it on my breakfast tomorrow. I might even get more this afternoon. This is quite unexpected. It's sad that she lost her calf - particularly since we can't even find it. But a new adventure has started.

I thought I would include two photos taken the day Jemma's calf was born (or the day after), because the previous photo I included you couldn't see that she actually had a calf.

2009-01-30T00:58:00.025+11:00

New Calves
On 16 January Sandy had a little black girl calf. They look like Yin and Yang together. Sandy is also very protective and mooed at me until I left the paddock and took photos from the other side of the fence. Then on either 27 or 28 January Jemma also had a little black girl calf - well I think it's black or dark brown, as I had moved them to the back paddock and with the grass being so long and Jemma not letting me within 20 yards of her I didn't get a very good view (but I think it's a girl). I will go up there tomorrow and have another look and hope that she is up near the fence. They let me come right up to them when there is a fence in between. I have also included extra photos of the other calves, although Chrissy is so shy that I haven't taken a close photo of her yet.

Vegie Garden
I have included a photo of my vegie garden, although it was taken a while ago and the potatoes have died right back and the beans and tomatoes have grown heaps. I pumped the last lot of rain up to the vegie tank, as I accidentally left the hose running and used two rungs! Consequently, I didn't need to water for some time. I still haven't dug the potatoes up. They shouldn't be damaged as they were up the high end away from the water.
I have also included a photo of my broccoli going to seed. I have never let this happen before. I planted them too late and they bolted to seed before I could eat all of them. The seed pods are interesting. Although, they are taking a while to mature and dry - but I'm patient.

Mum & Dad's Visit
Mum and Dad have recently visited for almost a week. They had to stay an extra day just so Dad could mow, as the weather and other commitments prevented it earlier in their stay. While not mowing Dad busied himself with all the usual fix-it jobs. He fixed my side gauze door so that it now closes and locks. I think the house moves quite a bit due to differences in moisture in the ground. Dad also adjusted the poly pipe for the shed tank pumping so there is no excess pipe between the tank and the connection to pump to the top of the hill and the vegie tank has its own poly pipe that can be pulled down when needed. We also had a little four legged visitor in the roof and so Dad very bravely climbed into my roof space and scattered naphthalene flakes in the ceiling to deter the critter from living and scratching on the ceiling. I would have done this but Dad is lighter than me and probably more agile even at 81, plus I hate ladders. When he mowed the usual lawn Dad also mowed in places we have never mowed before, making the place look tidier. [Edit: I forgot to mention that Dad also spent a whole day fixing a small persistent leak from the toilet cistern. He replaced a seal and added plumbers tape to another and now the wood on the floor is drying out after years of moisture dripping.] One of the main jobs that I really needed two people for was mending the gully fence.

Mended Gully Fence
The last time I had the cows down the back paddock they all pushed through a hole in the fence crossing the gully into the next door neighbours paddock. So I moved them to the front paddocks to help the sheep eat the grass. But we are down to two rungs in the top tank and the back dam is full. So the gully fence had to be mended. I was going to get Steven to help me with this but didn't get around to it before he left. (I was also going to pay someone to do it before Christmas.) The actual mending of the fence wasn't hard or strenuous, however getting the star pickets and the post dolly (banger inner), tools and extra wire down to almost the furtherest part of the property through waist high grass was a challenge, especially for an unfit 'old girl' and an 81 year old. But we did it. I have included a photo of the mended fence (I forgot to take a before photo). After we finished Dad suggested we take a 'short cut' up the hill. With lots of rests and a longer rest for Dad at the top of the hill, we made it. I possibly could have done it by myself but I would have had to have made the journey there and back four times to take the necessary bits.

So the cows and their calves are now in the back paddock until I do something about a cattle yard so I can send Harry to the butchers and get Nova marked (I think that's the term for castration - although could be just for sheep) and all the calves tagged. I hope there is enough grass and the cows are busy being mothers to try and escape to the neighbours for a while.

I thought I would include the mother cow's names, birth dates and calf's names for the record.

Freda - 25/12/2008 - Chrissy (girl) - brown
Star - 10/1/2009 - Nova (boy) - grey (changing to fawn)
Sandy - 16/1/2009 - Blackie 1 (B1) (girl) - black
Jemma - 28/1/2009 - Blackie 2 (B2) (girl?) - black/brown

2009-01-10T14:03:00.023+11:00

Two New Calves
Freda had a little brown calf on Christmas Day (or maybe the day before) and my sister named her Chrissy. I thought I had already put this up but with my family visiting over Christmas and Steven and Lucy moving out on New Year's Eve and starting back at work, I have been distracted. Freda is a very protective mum and Chrissy is very shy, so thank goodness for a zoom lens. I have included one photo taken on Christmas Day and two on New Year's Day.

Then today Star had a boy calf. He is a beautiful grey colour with a white star on his forehead just like his mum. I haven't come up with a name yet - I'm calling him Mini-Star for the time being. I have been checking with binoculars each morning knowing the three remaining cows were due soon and this morning I could see Star by herself and sort of swaying her backside and I had a feeling something was going to happen. And when I was out feeding the chickens a bit later I could see that she had already had it. I went inside to fetch the camera and as I was walking up the hill I could see that the other cows also knew something had happened and they were all hurrying to see the newborn. I stayed up there watching Star licking him all over. I also went the other side of the fence so she didn't feel threatened, but I don't think she will be as fiercely protective as Freda. On the first day when I was trying to take photos of Chrissy, Freda almost charged me twice. And Freda used to let me pat her, although Star hasn't let me pat her for a while.

While all the other cows were milling around, I thought I'd take photos of my other cows too. Below left is my fine specimen of a steer, Harry, with Sandy and Star behind. And on the right we have a very pregnant Jemma, and a beautifully coloured Brownie, with Freda and Chrissy in the background.

2008-12-14T10:40:00.003+11:00

Pumping from Shed Tank
I recently had a connection put into the tap system for the troughs so that I can pump from the shed tank to the tank at the top of the hill. That way I can save the water from the shed before it gets lost through the leak in the bottom of the tank. I had pumped up once before but since then my Dad has built a little pump house, so that I can leave the pump where it is used and not have to move it each time. I can also pump when it is raining. We had 33ml the other day and so I pumped until the pump ran out of petrol. It was coming in as fast as I could pump out. Today I will check the tank at the top of the hill. I suspect that it will be full now. The house tanks are also full. I haven't checked the front dam yet. But while I can pump fresh clean rain water I won't need the front dam.

2008-12-06T10:55:00.003+11:00

2009 Wood
A few weeks ago I finished stacking my wood for next year. I bought a large load that was unloaded on the ground outside the wood shed and over about five afternoons I stacked it inside the shed. It should be enough to last me all year. Of course once Steve leaves I will have to chop it smaller for the stove by myself ... but that's next year. In the photo to the left behind the saw frame you can see a stack of branches a friend gave me. She lives on a bush block and decided to clean up fallen wood and sticks, so I also have plenty of wood just larger than kindling size. So basically I'm set for next year's winter and cooking.
I haven't taken a photo of my veggie garden yet because I need to do more weeding and plant my tomatoes and zucchini. Also, when visiting a friend recently in Moss Vale I was given some raspberry plants. So, I can't wait to plant them along the fence of my veggie garden. I think it will be a garden day tomorrow. I have a photo of my broccoli plants taken about a month ago. Unfortunately some of them have gone to seed very quickly and so I didn't get to eat all of them.

2008-10-11T19:32:00.006+11:00

Sheep News
First of all, Bobbie was shorn on 21 September. I took him to a local alpaca farm, and not to the place where I had bought him like I usually do. I met the lady by chance in the Post Office and thought it was a sign that it was meant to be. Each year it is getting easier to get Bobbie shorn. This year, although it was hard to get Bobbie into the shed, once he was in there and we got the sheep out, he stood very quietly while I put the halter on him. We had no trouble leading him onto the trailer and this time he didn't try to get off again. When I arrived at the alpaca farm he let me lead him off the trailer and to the holding pen they had set up and was very calm and well behaved the whole time.
Spotty Ears' smallest twin died. She lasted a week and a half. I found her one morning next to the shed - the crows had got her. So we haven't had any of our sets of twins both survive.
Fluffy had a boy lamb on Sunday 5 October. So now we only have two ewes to go - Spotty Nose and her daughter, Boots. And if the size of their udders is anything to go on, it will be a while yet. (The photo is a long way off because she won't let me get closer.) I won't name (or tag) Fluffy's boy because he and maybe Spotty Ears' girl may become meat when they're older, including the lambs of Spotty Ears and Boots. (I can hear some people groaning but that's just the way it is - I can't keep them all.)

Other News
When my Dad came to visit in late September he used the wood I bought and built my garden! (I didn't ask him to. The mower needed to be charged, so he did the garden instead. It was a wonderful surprise!) I have planted some potatoes and bean seeds but not much has come up yet. The potatoes did poke through but we have had a few frosts in the last week - yes frosts - and they have had a setback. New shoots are coming through again though. I will take a photo when there is some greenery to show.

I will end with a photo of the north half of my farm from the top of the hill looking down towards the house in the late afternoon. Let it be known that when I die, in forty or fifty years time that is, that I would like my ashes scattered in this very spot on the top of the hill.

2008-09-27T14:02:00.004+10:00

Weaving Workshop
I finished a weaving workshop a few weekends ago. It was four days in total, spread over three weekends with some weekends in between. I had completed a weaving workshop in 2006 with another instructor and I also wove my tea towels after that, but I had purchased a secondhand loom that I was a bit unsure of and had lost a bit of confidence in warping the loom in the mean time. We were given a warp that the instructor had wound previously, so there was no working out to do just warping the loom. Then we worked through some set examples to give us a variety of weaving experiences. Some of these were different and new to me. I have included a photo of my sampler. I particularly enjoyed the hem stitching effect and leno, Spanish lace, Brooks bouquet at the end of the sampler (apricot colour).
We then planned another project. I chose a simple scarf using some novelty yard and a variety of matching yarns to create a striped effect. I also skipped some dents in the reed to create an open look. While I'm weaving I am also not beating as hard also to create an open, loose fabric. I will include a photo of the completed scarf when I've finished. We are to finish our projects before the end of October and then all participants will come together for a show and tell.

2008-09-15T19:03:00.008+10:00

Shearing
A shearer came to shear the sheep on Tuesday 9 September (that was last week, time got away from me a bit). We also put in ear tags (that's the royal we, actually the shearing contractor put in the ear tags). I had to buy the regulation pink tags to indicate which sheep were not born on our property prior to ear tagging. They are printed with our PIC number, which is our property identification. I decided to put a blue tag on our merinos and a red tag for our cross breeds, so I could identify them at a glance. So the six sheep we had before ended up getting two tags. Plus we put rings on the lamb's tails and wethered our one little boy (which is a merino, so I'll keep him).

Twin Lambs
I went to check the sheep on Friday 12 September and perhaps try and milk Ebony. The shearers said that she had lost her lamb, even though we didn't actually see it. Perhaps it was born dead and Bobbie let a fox take it or something. But even though she didn't have a lamb her udder seemed to be getting larger and I didn't want her to get mastitis. But when I arrived I saw that "Spotty Ears" had had a tiny lamb and there was another one sticking out the back of her and she seemed to be having trouble. There was a head and one hoof out but not two hooves, as lambs were supposed to present. She stood still and let me try and find the other leg but I couldn't find it (everything in there was just slippery and smooth, nothing that felt like another hoof). And I didn't want to try and pull just one leg and the head. Well, I did try a little bit but didn't know how hard I could pull. The lamb was still alive and I didn't want to loose either of them, so I rang our next door neighbour, who came straight away. He acted very quickly, got her on the ground (of course she wasn't going to just stand still and let him help get her lamb out like she did for me), and with both hands reached in and pulled the lamb out. It appeared to be easy but I'm sure it was more difficult than that. Poor "Spotty Ears" was in a lot of pain judging by the noises she was making and was exhausted when it was over. Our neighbour rubbed some of the mucus surrounding the lamb onto her nose (so she wouldn't reject the lamb) and put the lamb up near her neck, while she lay there recovering. I stayed with them a while because there were crows circling. I hate crows. It didn't take long for "Spotty Ears" to get up and start licking her lambs and in no time they were dry, standing and feeding. Thank goodness for neighbours who know what they're doing! After a bit I picked up the lambs and with mother in tow I took them to the shed and set them down on a feed bag and left some food and water for mum while I went off to town and then to work. "Spotty Ears" is a wonderful mum. The other day it was cold and windy and sprinkling and all the other sheep and lambs were outside but she was in the shed with her twins keeping warm. By the way, Ebony's udder seems to be reduced in size today, so I may not have to milk her now. That's sad about her lamb, I was looking forward to a little black lamb.

Other News
I finished my weaving workshop this weekend. It was over four days spread over a month or more. We wove a sample, which included a few things I had never tried before. Then we wound a warp and threaded the loom for a project of our own. When I get a chance in the daylight, I'll photograph both my sampler and the weaving in progress of my project, which is a multi-coloured (maroon, grey, olive green and yellow) open weave scarf that I chose mainly to use the yarn I already had. Once I have finished this I'm sure I'll have the confidence to weave another set of tea towels. Then I can try something more challenging using a different technique.

Random Comment
Don't you just love the full moon. I came home late tonight after collecting my son from Kung Fu and I didn't need a torch when walking back from the shed after 8.30pm. It is such a surreal feeling being able to see at night.

2008-09-05T23:25:00.003+10:00

Six Naughty Cows (including Harry)

I walked around the perimeter of the fence down the back paddock today and discovered that the back fence seems fine but my cows were no where to be seen. However, in the distance on our neighbour's place I could see two white cows and their friends. So I climbed through the gaping hole in the gully fence and went over to retrieve them (all of them this time, not just "Harry"). I had a minor hiccup when "Star" jumped another fence but I got her back through two gates. But other than that they behaved themselves and walked back through the hole in the gully fence. I then proceeded to herd them up the hill and through the gate into the front 'half' of the property. They are now in all three western paddocks, hopefully eating the long brown grass that I was thinking of mowing down before spring arrives. The problem of the back side fence and the gully will have to wait for a while, but it will have to be solved soon.

Today I purchased the sheep tags I ordered a few weeks ago. I had to order pink tags for the sheep that weren't born on our property but still needed identification. I also purchased red and blue tags. I (or the shearer) will put blue tags on the merinos and red tags on the cross breeds. That way I can identify them at a glance. Especially "Fluffy" and "Pinkie" who are cross breeds but look very much like merinos. Plus with this new generation coming along I may run out of identifying features. So far I have only named and identified "Floppy", the others may prove more difficult.

We didn't have any new arrivals today. We did get more rain, though, although with wet wool that means shearing will be delayed. I haven't yet set a day or even a week for the shearing, as we still have two sheep to lamb. I was thinking of going ahead despite that but now they are wet from the rain, but at least they're not cold and wet with lovely woollen jumpers.

2008-09-03T23:25:00.005+10:00

New Fences & Pregnant Cows
I recently organised for a fencing contractor to finish the fences Paul started to divide up the large eastern paddock and create two wind breaks in which to plant trees for protection and shade for animals. The strainer posts were already in place and so the fencing contractor put in the star pickets and some in between posts for extra strength and a total of four gates with associated short mesh fences, and of course the wire and hinge joint. It took him less than a week in total time but cost me two months wages. It was necessary to be done, though, and he did a really good job. I now have three paddocks where I only had one. That means that the sheep can stay a month in each paddock and eat down the grass more effectively. It also means that I can move them around more frequently so there is less chance of getting worms.

A while ago I borrowed and read a book about a city lady who married and moved to the country. In the book she tells of her adventures and experiences. She also explained a quaint idea of how they named their paddocks after countries. So I had the idea that I would call the new paddocks Far East, Middle East and South East Asia (even though South East is actually north east but it is down the bottom). I think it's fun to take a light hearted approach.

Lately I have been having problems with keeping "Harry" in our back paddock, but now I hear this morning that "Star" has taken to going through yet another fence, the very back fence into the neighbours. I can't afford any new fences at the moment so I hope the neighbours can mend the part "Star" is getting through. I went down the back on Monday morning (after my pumping success) to visit the cows and check the hole in the fence over the gully. I discovered "Harry" on the other side of the fence by himself. I got him back through the hole and patched it yet again with bits of wood and bits of wire. Now I will have to go down there again on Friday to inspect the back fence to see how bad it is. While I was down the back on Monday I took a photograph of the cows to show how round and pregnant they look. By my calculations we should have calves in late November or December.

2008-09-01T10:21:00.004+10:00

Veggie Tank is Full
I did it all by myself! I cut and connected the poly pipe to get the water out of the shed tank and to the pump and I started the pump and filled the veggie tank with no help and nothing went wrong! Yesterday we had 25mm of rain and the cement shed tank was half full. Yesterday afternoon while it was raining I made the intake pipe with the connectors I bought with the tank and put it all together. As you can see from the photographs the pipe had to go up and over the edge of the tank. Then I had to collect Steve and Lucy from town so I didn't get to pump yesterday. But that meant we had more water this morning, so that was okay. I took this morning off work to pump the water because there was no other time, unless I wanted to do it at dusk or in the dark. If I didn't do it today it would have leaked out in a few days and I would have nothing. I filled the veggie tank to a half rung from the top before the water in the cement shed tank ran out, so that was pretty good, and all before 9.30am. So now there is no stopping me, it's full speed ahead with the garden, there are no excuses now. And when I do have plants and I use the water and it rains again, I have the ways and means to fill the veggie tank again. I'm pretty pleased with myself.

2008-08-29T22:41:00.007+10:00

No New Lambs
We haven't had any new arrivals but I took some photographs of the three oldest lambs. "Original Mum's" lamb is still very little and stays close to her. She didn't come over when I brought some food for them, whereas the other three mums came over this time (they didn't on the weekend) and the three lambs played while the ewes ate the pellets and chaff I brought. I have named one "Floppy" because one ear is bent and droopy. "Floppy" is "Big Baby's" lamb and she is a girl. "Cross's" lamb is a girl, no name yet. "Original Mum's" lamb is a boy, however he is a full merino, so I might keep him as a wether just for wool. But I don't know whether "Flystrike's" lamb is a boy or girl yet (photo above). All the lambs are lovely.
I have included a photo of the three together to show the difference between the cross breed and the full merinos. "Cross's" lamb is the one on the left with smooth skin and no 'wrinkles'. The other two are merinos. From my understanding the 'wrinkles' increase the surface area so you get more wool. But they also increase the potential for getting flystrike from flies laying their eggs in the moist folds of skin. Now, since mulsing is not allowed any more (not that I would have done that anyway), I will have to find out what the alternatives are for reducing the skin folds and reducing the risk of flystrike. One of our ewes, "Flystrike", got flystruck in the first year we had her. We had another lamb with flystrike last year (or the year before, I can't remember) when we did the crutching, so she had to be fully shorn - we caught it just in time or we would have lost her. It's pretty awful - the fly maggots start eating the sheep's skin. Needless to say, I don't want that happening again.
"Ebony's" pregnant belly didn't seem as big today. Maybe the lamb has moved and is getting ready to be born ... here's hoping.

2008-08-27T22:27:00.007+10:00

Miracle Lamb
This morning I saw that one ewe was apart from the rest with a new lamb and went over to say hello, expecting it to be "Spotty Ears". But when I got closer I could see it was a merino, it was "Original Mum". Now, she had a lamb eight days ago, I called it "Sparkle" and it died the next day. Now she was having another lamb ... I have not seen nor heard of that happening before. The lamb seemed to be very weak though (above). Sometimes lambs are jumping around and bleating noisily within a matter of hours.
On Monday "Pinkie" had a very small and weak lamb (below). Of course I was hoping it would be all right but I found it dead the next morning and I wasn't surprised. Steven buried it for me. I know I sound blaze about it now, but I realise that it's survival of the strongest.
More lambs have died this year than in any previous year. We lost two the first year (one through a birthing problem and one after Polo died) but this year we have lost three already and we haven't finished lambing yet. Last year we didn't lose any. It has been pretty cold though and they don't have access to the shed. But even if they have access they don't always go in there for protection. It was bad timing. Next time I will time it so that they are in the paddock next to the shed, hopefully.

2008-08-23T23:25:00.007+10:00

Another Lamb Gone

Today when I checked the sheep there were only three lambs. "Big Baby's" second twin was no where to be found. I have no idea what happened to it. I walked up and down the paddock and couldn't even find the poor little thing. We haven't had any new arrivals and have three ewes still to lamb. I have included some photos of the little mothers. One is of "Flystrike" and her lamb, who seems to be having diarrhoea problems. These photos were taken yesterday and today the lamb seemed better. In fact today the three lambs seemed bigger, more steady and faster. I have also included a photo of "Ebony" and her ever increasing stomach. This is her first lamb and so if she hasn't had her lamb or lambs by next weekend I am thinking of calling the vet in to make sure everything is okay.

2008-08-21T22:49:00.003+10:00

Gained a Lamb & Lost a Lamb
Yesterday we gained a new lamb and lost a lamb. When I went out in the morning I found "Sparkle" frozen dead. It was a very cold night because that morning we had no water at all because the pipes were frozen. Sparkle's mum (Original Mum) did not keep her warm enough. The other lambs were fine, even the tiny twins. While I was standing with her debating whether to leave the lamb there for a while so that her mum could be with her for a bit longer, Tabby (one of our cats) came too close to investigate and she charged him and head butted him. She was okay with me though. I picked her up and took her out of the paddock and her mum let me do it.
Little Sparkle was beautiful, she was white as white and her fleece, what little there was of it, was glossy ... she would have been beautiful. Because I had to go to work I put her in a feed bag under some corrugated iron to be buried in the afternoon.
While I was at work Steve's girlfriend rang when they got home after school to tell me that another sheep had a lamb (she rang to tell me this to cheer me up). Also, knowing how upset I was, Steven buried Sparkle for me. He is very sweet and understanding sometimes.
When I came home I visited them again and saw that "Flystrike" was the ewe who had lambed that day. All the lambs seem to be getting stronger each day, jumping around after their mothers. The mums are very protective and won't let me too close, although I can get closer than Steve. It panics them when someone else comes into their paddock.
I have included a picture of "Big Baby" and her twins. I haven't taken a photo of "Flystrike" yet, maybe tomorrow. "Ebony" is due any day now ... I thought she would be first. I do hope she doesn't have any problems, she seems very heavy ... maybe twins.

2008-08-19T22:40:00.006+10:00

Four New Lambs!
This morning while feeding the chickens I noted three sheep apart from the rest and sure enough all three of them had lambs. When I got there they looked like they had only just been born. The rest of the sheep and Bobbie didn't even know they'd been born. "Original Mum", a merino, had a beautiful white lamb whose fleece shone in the morning sun, so I will call her/him "Sparkle" or "Sparkie" if it is a boy, and it will be kept either way for its fleece. None of the mums would let me get close enough to see whether they were boys or girls. Maybe I'll have a better look over the next few days. "Cross", a cross breed as the name suggests, had one lamb too, although I thought she may have twins like last time. Her lamb was a dirty colour, but that was probably more from dirt that the colour of the fleece. "Big Baby", another merino, had twins like last time, although one seems a bit weak. I haven't included a photo of her twins, as in the photo I took in the morning one lamb appeared to be dead, which I took sort of as a record. But as I got closer I could see it was still breathing and it actually raised its head and bleated. In the afternoon just before sunset both twins were sitting together and seemed quite perky. I saw one feed but not the other, so I have my fingers crossed that the weaker one survives. Another ewe, "Ebony", my black sheep, is about to have her lamb/s any day. I thought she would have hers first but obviously not. Only 7 of my 10 ewes are pregnant (I think) but "Ebony" is the only imminent birth, as the others aren't any where near as big, so the lambing will probably be a drawn out process.

2008-08-14T21:55:00.003+10:00

Visiting Playmates
Yesterday morning the cows were at the top of the hill in the morning and I started to count them as I usually do and there were two more. My fence mending skills are obviously not good enough, as the two little steers from next door have decided to come through to visit Harry at his place. I don't mind them being there but we will have 'fun' separating them when the time comes.

2008-08-12T21:38:00.004+10:00

New Vegie Tank

Last Friday I had a new tank installed in the vegie garden. Instead of getting a stand made, the guy at the tank shop suggested I put the tank on an earth ring. Which is like a two foot slice of a corrugated iron tank filled with crushed 'blue metal' or road base. Because there isn't enough water in the shed cement tank at the moment, I connected hoses and poly pipe and filled one rung from the tap being fed from the tank at the top of the hill, just so the tank didn't blow away. The guys who installed the tank said it wouldn't blow away but I just had to be sure.

Then on Saturday I started weeding my vegie garden. It is going to take me a lot of weekends to get the garden free of weeds and ready to put on the wooden sides that Dad helped me buy. But with the temperatures we are having at the moment, it is a long time until Spring. I am a bit worried about whether my hands are up to the job, though. I take medication to mask the pain of my arthritis but my hands don't seem to have the strength I thought they used to have. I guess I will need to build that strength back again. This is a before photograph of my garden, so that later I can see how much work I have actually done.

I have another little story from the weekend. On Friday morning I walked down the back to visit my cows. Since I don't have time to visit them in the morning and it is dark by the time I get home, I don't see the cows until Friday and the weekend. When I got down the back I could only see five of them, but I could hear Harry mooing off in the distance ... the neighbour's paddock! I knew the tank guys were arriving mid morning so I thought I'd have an attempt at getting him back but if it didn't work I would try on Saturday. In the neighbour's paddock Harry was hanging out with two young steers about his age. They seemed to be in this paddock by themselves - there were no other cows but there was a mob of sheep over the other side. I think Harry had been having a fine old time with his new found friends. I found a low bit of fence that he could have jumped over but as hard as I tried I could not get him to try jumping back over again. I gave up and came back on Saturday. This time I walked further down to see if there was another low spot in the fence, and found a gaping hole in the fence across the gully. I had checked this not long ago and thought it was sound, but obviously not. I pushed back any sharp ends and climbed through myself. Harry and his new friends saw me coming up the hill towards them and they got to their feet. I told Harry to say goodbye to his friends because he was coming home. I had a little bit of running around to separate them and then got Harry heading down the hill towards the gully. But that's all it took, as soon as he saw the gully he went straight down and through the hole in the fence and ran off mooing looking for the others. I had a bit of bale twine with me and pulled the mesh wire down and patched the hole by tying a bit of wood to the bottom. It took practically no effort at all getting him down to the hole and through. It was as if he knew that the game was up and he had to go home. My eldest son says that animals are stupid and that they don't think like humans, but I sometimes think that they know what I'm saying and they know what I want them to do. Maybe they don't but sometimes I wonder.

2008-08-02T17:38:00.005+10:00

Garden Plans
Mum & Dad have just gone home after visiting for a week. They wouldn't normally visit in July as it is too cold for them, but I went down to Sydney for four days including driving to attend a 40-Year Rotaract Reunion and asked them to be here for Steven. Then of course Dad proceeded to do the multitude of little fix-it jobs that needed to be done while Mum generally pampered me by cooking and washing up. I also took the week off work (mostly) and helped Dad, and also slept in when I could.
Earlier in the week I also sold our old 1991 Toyota Cressida for parts, which was disappointing but I am glad it is not my problem now and has gone to a good home. On Thursday Dad helped me select and measure some seconds wood from the Recycled Yard for the borders of my vegie garden. The photograph shows the wood propped up in the trailer ready for me to put them to use when I start weeding the old vegie garden next weekend.
Today I cleared a six foot diameter patch in the vegie garden area for a tank that will be delivered on Friday morning. The plan is to pump the water from the cement shed tank when it rains and store it in the new tank, before it has a chance to leak away. I will access this water via a tap and water the garden with either drip irrigation or the good old fashioned watering can (which I prefer as it is all part of slowing down). I have also included a photograph of the area that I cleared. I hope it is sufficiently cleared for installing the tank, which is going to stand on an earth ring instead of a stand. I will include a photograph when it is all finished next week.
Today we also moved the chicken coop to a new grassy area, and believe me the chickens appreciated the new area, running around pecking at the grass. I also have plans for a new chicken enclosure, but one thing at a time, I'll have to save up again following the tank and wood purchase, not to mention the fencing. By the way, the fencing hasn't started yet but will start next week, hopefully.

2008-06-26T21:55:00.004+10:00

A Fortune in Fence Posts
I have included a frosty morning photograph of $1,000 worth of star pickets (the wooden posts are probably worth a bit too). I heard that the price of metal was going to rise in July and I intended to get some fences built soon, so I needed more star pickets and hinge joint. The first quote I received was $6.38 per post. The last time I bought star pickets they were $4 each. But I was given a tip that another supplier had old stock and that I might be able to get a better price. Sure enough the other supplier was selling them at $5 per post, so I bought 200. I may never need to buy a star picket again!
Tomorrow I'm going to buy some hinge joint and gates to go with the star pickets. I have booked a fence builder for next month but haven't confirmed the dates yet. Soon we will have even more paddocks to move the sheep between. I also have a frosty morning photograph of where I have mown paths to one section where I want to build the fence around the original wind break where we planted some of our hundreds of ill fated tree seedlings. Once the fence is up I will buy some more trees, maybe not so many and not so small. (In the photograph you can also see our neighbour's vineyard and newly erected shed.)

In other news I wanted to tell you about a scary thing that happened the other night while on my way to close the chickens in at night. My torch was getting dim but it didn't worry me because it was dim the night before and I still managed to get through my regular nightly ritual. However this night I got as far as the 'vegetable garden', just past the gate at the side of the shed, when the torch faded completely, leaving me in pitch black darkness (the moon wasn't even there to help). I decided to retreat with little baby steps to feel my way. I made it back to the house, found another torch and completed the task. (I can hear some of you saying that wouldn't have happened if I was using my wind up lamp - well I wasn't, lesson learned.)

2008-05-17T09:57:00.002+10:00

My Cows are Back
I realise that they've been in our back paddock for about five weeks now but they're back down the front where I can see them now. Yesterday I separated my cows and Harry from the other herd (whose numbers were closer to 30 then 20 as I originally said). I came across Brownie first and after talking to her she called out to Harry, who was on the other side of the herd, he answered and came running. I then called out to the other four and they answered, although they didn't actually come over. So I walked amongst the herd and the other cows moved away, leaving my girls. Then with a few hand claps and encouragement I got them moving toward the fence. Brownie joined us and started heading for the dam, so we all just followed her. But when we got to the dam she continued on to the fence. (I think she went that way to skirt around the bull, who was actually between us and the gate to the other paddock.) Then I just walked ahead of them up to the gate. When I opened the gate they started running and kicking up their back legs, they were so excited about changing paddocks. Luckily there were enough of them to still feel part of their own herd and didn't mind leaving the other cows. (I remember how difficult it was separating Lady from a neighbour's herd, she had become attached to them and didn't want to leave.)
Later that morning our neighbours came and collected their cows and the bull. The cows did a good job of eating down the grass, which it badly needed. The dam has a bit of a beach, which is very churned up with hoof prints, but there is still quite a lot of water there (which I hadn't checked during their stay, so I'm glad). I'll give the back paddock a bit of a rest for a while.
And so now I just have to wait and see how many of my cows are pregnant. And then in nine months time we should have some baby calves - I can't wait!

2008-05-07T21:57:00.010+10:00

The Daddy of My Calves (Hopefully)

I finally have a photo of our visiting bull (I probably should find out his name). He is in the photo behind Freda (left) and Jemma (right). At the time of the photo he was interested in Jemma, which is why he was in amongst the cows. Sometimes I see him way off by himself. Whenever I go to the top of the hill, and if the cows aren't too far away, my five cows and Harry all come up to greet me. They are a herd on their own and haven't mixed with the visiting cows as much as I thought they would and they sort of stick with each other. If there is a fence between me and the cows the visiting calves are very inquisitive. I can't pat them or anything but they come very close to the fence to say hello.

Mum and Dad visited from 21-27 April. (I realise that is a while ago but I have been very busy with typing lately.) I thought I would mention some of the jobs my Dad helped us with.

Dad and Steven cleaned out the house gutters (just before it actually rained, I might add). We had about 50ml last month during their visit and Port Macquarie had 100ml a day for at least two days while Mum and Dad were here!
Dad and Steven cleared out the downpipe on the shed tank. It had been blocked for a while and I thought it might be able to be cleared by feeding a hose or wire through it or something. But nothing is simple and Dad (and Steve) ended up having to dig up the whole pipe and replacing two elbow joints. So more water gets into the cement tank now, but the tank still leaks because the cement guy hasn't returned my previous calls and I haven't had time to ring again - it's next on the list.
Dad also built a floating island for the shed tank from wood and foam. Because the tank is open and the cats climb on the shed roof and sometimes skid down the slope, I worry about them falling in and not being able to get out. Now we have a floating island.
Dad, Steven and I all helped replace the chicken wire on the bottom of the chicken coop and moved the chickens (and the coop) to another area with new grass. As you can see from the photo there is plenty of feed in the paddocks but it is very brown.
And last but not least (and probably not all), Dad cleared the dirt and grass away from around the septic tank lid. A while ago Country Energy came to trim the trees from near the electricity wires leading to the house and they ran over our septic tank lid and broke one half in half. Because our septic is a non-standard size they had to get a whole cement lid (two halves) especially made slightly larger than the old one, so Dad cleared the dirt around the edges to make room for it. Yesterday they finally came and installed the new septic lid. The guys that came removed the old lid and after installing the new one they replaced the dirt and grass, leaving everything looking tidy and as good as new.

Of course, while Dad is outside fixing things, Mum is inside ironing, cooking and washing up. Mum also collects kindling and pine cones for the fire. I am very grateful for their help and look forward to their visits. Because their stay included Anzac Day we had extra time together with lots of cups of teas on the verandah and we even managed to play cards a few nights.

2008-04-11T22:28:00.005+10:00

Visiting Cows
Because our neighbours allowed us to use their cattle yards and bull I offered the use of our back paddock for their cows and bull until they sell their bull. They were going to sell their bull in May, although may not do that until we have good rain again. So until then we have about 20 cows (with some calves) and a bull visiting our cows in the back paddock. It will be good to have the grass eaten down a bit, so in truth I'm probably gaining more than I'm giving. But they spell their paddocks, so everyone wins.
I have been walking to the middle fence along the top of the hill to check on them each morning but they don't stick together as a herd and spread out over the entire paddock, which is about 25-30 acres, so most of the time I can't see all of them. Today they were mostly together and luckily I had brought the camera. So I have included some photos. Our girls are in the foreground, as they tend to keep to themselves being the new girls. Plus I took a photo of the bull, as he was sort of on his own. I also took a photo looking back up the hill towards the middle of the property. It's a pretty big paddock. (Okay, I realise they are not great photos, but the cows were in an awkward position, where I was lower than them, and when I came closer they all crowded under the tree - well, that's my excuse anyway.)

Also, some sad news, we lost one of our Isa Brown chickens to a fox on Wednesday morning. I even saw the fox. He jumped a nearby fence with ease, so the low electric netting, which is probably shorting on the long grass anyway, is really no protection. 'One of these days' I'll pay someone to build a proper fence around them. In the meantime, I'm back to closing them in each night. We were doing that before but when there's no danger I feel there is no need. The local fox population has increased lately, evidenced by the increased number of dead foxes on the roads. We now have one Isa Brown and four Australorps.

2008-03-23T10:56:00.003+11:00

Tarot Reading
This is a personal entry. If you don't believe in things like Tarot you could possibly stop reading now, unless you might be interested in what I think is important enough to include here.
I did the first Tarot reading for myself when Paul came home temporarily early last year. I won't elaborate except to say that the outcome card was 10 of Wands: "Some struggles are not worth the effort. Know when to walk away."
I did my second Tarot reading yesterday, and again I won't elaborate because most of it is personal and eerily accurate and appropriate. However, the very first card, which represents the past or the root of the question, was The World: "This is completion, success, arrival. Everything in your life is in harmony and you have succeeded with a big project. Share your insight and wisdom with others, while you are in this stage of enlightenment."
This doesn't refer to a physical project, I think this refers to the last two years of depression and working through that to where I am today. I don't think that I am truly out of it but I am at a stage where I can see a future and I can look back. What I wanted to say to anyone who is seeking advice on the subject, is that just because your husband doesn't love you any more it isn't the end of the world. We are stronger than we think we are. I acknowledge that I had support from friends and family and I am very grateful for that, but those who don't have that support will also find the strength to move on and start a new life. There is light at the end of the tunnel and it is a bright light.
I admit that I am not on my own yet, as my son is still living at home and will be for a while, but I am at a stage where I know I will be okay on my own and I am ready for that challenge. I feel as though I have risen to my challenges so far and I have been able to ask for and find help for those things I couldn't do myself. Unfortunately, with my increasing workload that is becoming more often lately. But I'm sure I will get back to a time where I will be more engaged with the farm and animals.
I may not be 'enlightened' or sharing 'insight and wisdom' or maybe I am and could, but I need to think on that a bit more. I would just like to encourage others to push on through the bad times, start making plans, dare to dream and work towards dreams and plans one step at a time.

2008-03-21T18:15:00.007+11:00

Harry (a boy no more) and the Cows (visiting a bull)
This morning two local stockmen arrived on horseback and took our cows and Harry to a neighbouring property's cattle yards. They castrated Harry and attached his ear tag. They also injected Harry and the five girls with 5-in-1, to protect them against various diseases. Then we left them all there to run with the neighbour's bull for about six weeks. I am so excited that we will have lots of lambs and calves next year (hopefully). Below are the photos from this morning.

2008-03-16T10:46:00.003+11:00

The Saga of Bobbie and Rambo
When our new ram first arrived he was understandably a bit unsure of his new situation and I thought this was why he was up one end of the paddock and my ewes were down the other end. When this didn't change after a day or so I started to suspect something was wrong. After a few days we realised that Bobbie was stopping him from getting anywhere near the sheep, thinking he was a threat. When the ram first arrived he was charging at the fences in an attempt to escape (which is why I decided to call him Rambo). Bobbie may have decided that this behaviour made him a threat. After a few days of Bobbie guarding the sheep our neighbours even commented on the screaming noise he was making. To try and solve the problem, I managed to get Rambo and the sheep into another paddock and left Bobbie where he was. Then Bobbie was running up and down the fence screaming and spitting at Rambo (I was so worried that he would try and get over or through the fence and hurt himself but he didn't). Also, the girls wouldn't move further into the paddock and stayed close to the fence to be near Bobbie, which meant the ram was also near the fence. After three days Bobbie calmed down and could see that Rambo wasn't a threat after all, so I let him in with the rest of them. Now they are one big happy family and roam all over the large paddock they are in and Rambo is just one of the flock.

2008-03-05T21:47:00.004+11:00

A New Ram (and crutching too)
This afternoon we had the sheep crutched. Plus we also changed the covers on Ebony and Fluffy (or Pinky - I can't tell which is which now). Of course the usual happened: We ran around the paddock for ages trying to get them to go through the gate and in the end they followed me in with a bucket of food. I got them to follow me into the corral and then the shed when I first went out there but they immediately went back into the paddock before I could run around and close the gate and put up the wooden railings. My mistake was that I didn't give them some sheep pellets. I didn't think it would work since the paddock is knee high in grass. Never under estimate the power of 'special' food. After all the fuss in the end it took about 15 minutes and they were penned up ready for the shearer.
We also have a new addition to the flock - a ram. I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew. He seemed quite agitated when we first put him in the paddock and actually charged at the fence trying to escape cutting himself, but he should soon calm down (I hope). He is a good quality ram, however he had recently been unwell and so wasn't as saleable as he could have been. Because I want to keep his progeny from my three merinos I will only keep him for two seasons and will have to sell him when his first daughters are of breeding age (or keep them separate - I'll work that out when the time comes). We haven't named him yet and I don't know if we will since he is temporary. But Blackie only lasted three weeks, so you never know. As you can see in the top photo we put a cover on him, which seems a touch too big, but his wool will bulk it out after a while. In the bottom photo he is the sheep in the distance. My girls don't mind me standing among them if I'm still, but understandably he reacted like a normal sheep.

2008-02-16T18:50:00.005+11:00

I have finished my jumper!

I have finally finished spinning the wool for my jumper and knitting my jumper. About two and a half years ago I bought a bag of cream carded wool from the Nundle Woollen Mill to spin and combine with other wools and be the basis of a jumper. Because it is such a long time ago I really can't remember when I actually started this project, so I will say it took me approximately two years. I also wove my tea towels in between, so I wasn't concentrating on my jumper full time. Plus I started full time work about eight months ago, so that slowed things down somewhat.

I plied the cream wool from Nundle with some beige carded wool for the tunic and sleeves and plied the cream wool with brown alpaca fleece for the bands (just so I could practice spinning alpaca), and then knitted the solid cream near the top, where it would be softer for my neck. I was spinning as I went and had started knitting before I had spun all the yarn I needed. Then when I went back to spinning I was spinning the yarn too thick (and had to 'waste' two balls of yarn), so I learnt a valuable lesson in how to spin using a sample of finished yarn as a guide. And at one stage I thought I was going to run out of white carded fleece. So next time I will spin most or all of the yarn before I start knitting (maybe).

The good news is that the jumper fits me and it is cosy and warm. So bring on that cold weather, I'm ready.

(I forgot to mention that the pattern is Design 6 from Cleckheaton No. 098. I have also knitted Design 2 in alpaca for myself and Design 1 in acrylic for my ex-husband in the years previous to starting this jumper. $4.95 well spent on a pattern book!)

(Edit: I don't know how news worthy this is, but our divorce was final on 16 February. It went through the court on 15 January and is final a month after.)

2008-01-07T22:23:00.000+11:00

Dubbo Zoo
I decided to take my two sons (plus one son's girlfriend) to the zoo and so we went on a Zoofari. It was the best experience I've had for a long time. We had three 1+ hours behind the scenes tours, which included watching feeding (lion, tiger, hippos, rhino, elephants, hunting dogs, maned wolf, cheetah, siamang apes, tortoises, meekats, among others) and we actually got to feed a giraffe ourselves. It was the most magical experience. You're looking up and this great big head is all you can see and time stands still. We also spent hours watching the Siamang apes (well it seemed like hours). We were lucky enough to catch them in action and calling out to each other on the first day and were taken in. Although we didn't get a repeat performance the next day or even on our tour, they were fascinating to watch. Plus there were lots of different horse-like and dear-like creatures, and buffalo and bison and the list just goes on and on. There were even alpacas! The zoo is not just for kids!

2007-12-15T22:51:00.000+11:00

A Freezer Full of Lamb
Last Sunday a mobile butcher came and killed six of our sheep (3 boys and 3 girls) and three of a neighbour's sheep, skinned & gutted them and hung them in a mobile coolroom left on our property until today.
(I decided to only kill six sheep because Boots was given a reprieve and I have decided not to name lambs ever again - unless they are girls and I intend to keep them.)
Today at six o'clock (yes 6am) the butcher returned and started sawing up our lambs. Steve took the meat from the butcher and put in on a little table, I packed it in plastic bags and Lucy (Steve's girlfriend) tied on the wire ties. I then took the packed meat on a large metal tray up to the freezer in the shed. That went on for almost three hours. Then our neighbour came and I helped him pack his three sheep for almost two hours. Then we watched with fascination as the butcher made sausages from the offcuts and then we packed the sausages into plastic bags. It was all over (including the cleaning) by about 12pm. So for $344 we now have a freezer full of lamb (including 12 lamb roasts!). We still have some beef left, so we can mix it up a bit. I have included a photo of one of our sheep hanging before it went into the coolroom (apologies for the blurry focus). I was going to take a photo of chopping and packing the meat but we were so busy I didn't even think of photos until it was all over ... oh, well.

There is another part of the story I almost forgot to tell. Before the butcher killed the sheep Steve and I had to actually use the sheep yards and separate the lambs from the ewes. After chasing them and Bobby around the paddock for way too long we put up an electric netting to funnel them into the yards. Then came the fun job of getting them into the run. We allowed only a few in at a time and closed the gate, so we could make sure we separated the right ones. Originally I had Steve manning the gate to separate them and I was going to 'shoo' them down the end but once the end gate was closed they all put their heads down facing away from the separating gate at the other end and stubbornly refused to move. So I had to man the gate (at least I knew which ones I wanted to get butchered) and Steve had the job of pushing them towards the gate. After we had done this a few times Steve said, 'Hey, this is fun.' That made all the effort worthwhile - he was away from his computer and he was actually enjoying himself - and helping as well! We separated five lambs born last year plus a whether from the year before and they stayed in the small yard until the following day for the butcher. After we let the ewes (including a few girl 'lambs') back into the paddock we went to open the gate for Bobby and to our amazement from standing he leaped gazelle-like over the sheep yard fence, clearing it by at least 10cm, to join the ewes. Steve and I looked at each other, 'Did you see that?' We won't have to separate the sheep or get them butchered again for a while, but we know we can do it now.

In other news, I bought a second hand car yesterday. I took out a personal loan and bought a white 1994 Commodore VR Series II though a private sale. Our old Cressida will sit in the garage until I can organise (summon up the courage) to sell it. Why do I get so attached to cars when other people can sell their cars every two years or so? Hopefully I'll be able to sell it to a mechanic or someone who can fix it for less than I was quoted. It is a shame, it is such a lovely car.

2007-12-02T23:29:00.000+11:00

New Fence & Harry
I have included a photograph of the new fence. As I said I think it's wonderful. I got the fence guy back to have a look at the yards fence and he said it wasn't worth him building a new fence and gave me some instructions on how to fix it myself. However, I found out that he also makes cattle and sheep yards, so who knows down the track ...
So, today I restrained the top wire with a ratchet strainer and added five recycled star pickets from the old neighbours fence and attached the top wire and the top of the hingejoint. Tomorrow I will add another wire between the top wire and hingejoint and I think it will be secure enough for the sheep. I rang the butcher and confirmed that he is coming next Sunday. Two other local small farmers will also be bringing a few sheep for butchering too.
I have included a photograph of Harry. He is now two and a half months old and thriving on Brownie's jersey milk.

2007-11-24T14:23:00.000+11:00

New Fence, Snake & Cows
Last weekend we dismantled a portion of the fence between us and the neighbours. I spent four hours on Friday afternoon, two hours on Saturday morning and then on Sunday our neighbours and Steven helped remove the last of the wire and posts.
On Sunday when Steve and I were removing the last of the fence Steve picked up an old piece of squashed metal and threw it on the pile of old wire. We think a snake was hiding in there because Steve later said the metal was heavy and the snake suddenly appeared rearing up at Steve. Then, just as quickly, it decided to retreat and slithered away. The snake was about a metre long and brown. It was pretty scary, but we got over it and finished off taking out the posts and wire.
Then on Tuesday a fencing guy came and built a new fence for us. The new fence is excellent - there is nothing quite as impressive as a new drum tight fence. I have a photo here of the old fence (I had already removed most of the old rotted wooden posts and some barbed wire before I took the photo). I will take a photo of the new fence and add it later.
Today I had decided that Steve and I would get little Harry into the sheep run/yards and put on his ear tag and put a rubber ring around his 'bits'. Well, after a lot of running around the paddock we eventually got Harry in the yards, although Jemma was also in there because we couldn't get her out (we got all the others out). But I think Harry is going to be a difficult one when he gets older because he tried to get through any fence available. He actually jumped over the sheep yards inner fence. We got him back in there again and this time both he and Jemma pushed down and jumped over the outer fence. I thought the fence was higher and stronger than that but I was mistaken. So then we had to chase Jemma right around the clothes line and back around and back through the gate to where they started from. (All that took an hour and nothing was achieved except a broken fence!)
So now I have to get this fence fixed or rebuilt before we get the sheep butchered next month, because we have to use the yards to separate the lambs and then keep them in there overnight and contained for the butcher to do his thing.
Life wasn't meant to be easy ...

2007-10-29T23:13:00.000+11:00

Septic Mended
Mum and Dad went home on Sunday after a week of visiting and helping on the farm. Dad toiled every day on fixing our broken septic pipe and blocked drainage pipe. It was a lot of hard work but it saved us lots of money. Steven has also been helping with filling in the trench. During the week Steve and Dad (and me a bit) also fixed two short fences broken by Star (the troublesome heifer), we moved the chickens to another area, Dad fixed the sagging shed gutter, built a set of metal shelves for the shed and mowed. We also had another attempt at getting the pump pumping up to the tank on the top of the hill, but that problem still hasn't been resolved. We did have the float fixed so that the valve now sits properly, effectively stopping water. Dad thinks our problem is air locks, so I'll have to work on that over the next week or so. I have also been very spoilt with Mum cooking some lovely dinners over the week and generally cleaning up.
The picture shows the path of the drainage agriculture pipe with a white bucket and broken clay pipes at the end for extra drainage. I have bought some little shrubs to plant near the new pipe to protect it from being driven over, which is how we think this problem started.

2007-10-24T23:18:00.000+10:00

My Hands
I don't know how many of my friends I have told about my hands, I suspect not very many. In about May I started getting pain and stiffness in my elbows and knees. Then in July my hands and wrists developed pain and stiffness. I thought it was due to the extra workload after having started working 35 hours which involved extra work using the computer mouse. Then my ankles started swelling, and I knew there was something else involved and decided to see the doctor. By this time both my hands were swollen and extremely painful. My GP initially diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis and sent me to have blood tests. The indicator for rheumatoid didn't show in my blood tests and my thyroid blood test was also not right, so after taking an increased does of Oroxine and also taking Mobic, Glucosamine, fish oil and Caltrate and Panamax for six weeks I returned for a second blood test. In the meantime my doctor made an appointment with a rheumatologist. Although the indicator for rheumatoid arthritis didn't show up again the rheumatologist said it was obvious that I had an inflammatory arthritis (or rheumatoid arthritis) and prescribed me Prednisone (together with a few base line tests to monitor for side effects).
Now, before I started taking Prednisone I was in constant pain and I found it difficult and painful to do even the most normal things, such as washing and drying my hands, as my fingers were permanently bent. Not to mention washing up, driving, using cooking and eating utensils, even putting on shoes. Of course the list was endless. I also developed carpal tunnel syndrome because the swelling was restricting nerves to my fingers. Plus it was really upsetting me that it was so painful to knit and spin. Steven was having to help me more and more with farm things. Although with pain killers and just putting up with pain, I was able to manage. But the pain was getting me down.
Prednisone has taken all the swelling away, and although I do have pain occasionally, it is nothing like before. The problem is I can only be on Prednisone for six months, as it is a strong medication with side effects, and then I have to be weaned onto another medication called Methotrexate. I sure hope it does as good a job as Prednisone, and that I don't develop any of the long list of side effects, because apparently I will have to take this medication for ever and I guess my hands will never be the same again.
You just never know when things like this will come along. Although they don't know what causes rheumatoid arthritis, stress combined with my thyroid being out of whack may have contributed. I realise this isn't strictly related to farm news or my craft activities, but it has consumed me for four months. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now, I just hope I don't have to go back there again.

2007-10-13T18:34:00.000+10:00

Bales of Wool
I sold our wool the other day and received the grand sum of $159.49. That is from 13 sheep - we have 16 sheep but one was shorn in July because of flystrike and I kept two fleeces, Ebony's and one merino to have a go at spinning raw (if I don't get around to it, I will sell it next year). It worked out at around $25 per merino fleece and $7 per cross bred fleece, plus the pieces.
I have come to the realisation that it doesn't really pay to have cross bred sheep for wool, merino wool is worth so much more. I haven't yet had the experience of selling cross bred lambs, I may change my mind when I see their worth for meat.
I have applied through the MLA for a LPA number, so I can obtain NDVs, so I can sell sheep and cattle. There's lots of lingo involved and even more know how to learn, but I guess once I have sold the two Murray Greys it will become easier each time, once I know what to do. And again that will be a whole other story.
In the photograph the large bale is full of cross bred wool, plus one of the green bags that I couldn't fit in. The merino fleeces are on the table. The two white bags are belly wool and skirted wool (which I also sold) and of course the front green bag is Ebony's wool. (I will eventually send that away to be washed and carded for spinning.)

2007-10-13T11:57:00.000+10:00

Destructive Cows
The cows have been fine in the back paddock, that is until Star decided that the grass in our neighbour's place looked better or greener or something. So she would just lift her front legs and half jump, half walk over the fence. The fence is ancient and really only good for sheep. I hadn't realised it was that bad before. Then we were told that our neighbour had planted tree seedlings in this paddock and had kept his sheep out until they grew. Star had weakened the posts with her frequent visits next door and the fence was floppy and laying down. So we had to mend this fence and in a hurry. I bought a post mounted solar energiser that was supposed to be good for 2km and we used the star pickets I had ready to use for another fence on the other side. Steve was the labourer and I was the supervisor and at the suggestion of our neighbour we threaded the star pickets through the old fence and pulled it upright. Because of this Steve had to turn the fence post driver upside down to bang the post in. At the end of the day his arms were mighty tired. But I kept telling him that I was doing him a favour and helping him build his muscles. We threaded through three lengths of wires, one of them through black plastic insulators for the live wire. Our neighbour said he will also add a row of barbed wire on the top as an extra deterrent. We rigged the energiser up, together with three galvanised star pickets for earthing rods, although at this stage Steve's arms were unable to bang the star pickets in any further than about a foot (and they needed to go in 1.5m). Needless to say, the energiser didn't work. I thought it could have been because it wasn't charged enough and left it all connected and on, hoping it would be working the next day. I went up on the Monday morning to find that the cows had chewed right through the green wire and damaged the red wire. I think the fence is adequate even without the electric fence but I would like to get it working. So I will need to do some more work on it or find someone who knows about electric fences. But that's for another day.

2007-10-02T21:02:00.000+10:00

Summer Coats
Bobbie was shorn last Thursday and the sheep were shorn last Friday. Steven and I managed to get Bobbie into the trailer by ourselves. I couldn't have done it without Steve though, he was a wonderful help. I pulled Bobbie and Steven pushed. Then I had to get out of the trailer without Bobbie following me. Anyway, it's over for another year - and I have a beautiful bag of chocolate brown fleece.

I have so many garbage bags of sheep fleece that I think I will buy a proper wool bale from the wool buyers to put all the crossbreed fleeces together. This year I am keeping one of the merino fleeces (or part of one) to have a play spinning it raw - it is just so white and fine. This year I also bought some sample sheep covers of different sizes and put one on Ebony and one on her mum, Original Mum. Although, at crutching time I may have to put a bigger size on both of them as the fit seems a bit neat.
The shearers were making jokes about how fat our sheep are compared to the merinos they usually shear. I thought the wool was making them look fat but it was also their big tummies. I think I will have to go easy on the sheep pellets next winter. The lamb on the left in the picture is the one shorn in July when she was flystruck. I also have a large bag of lovely black fleece too. So much wool, so little time.

2007-09-18T22:53:00.000+10:00

Welcome Harry
On Monday morning Brownie had her little calf, probably not long before I got there at about 6.30am. I even got to see him before the rest of the cows and witnessed them sniffing and licking him. He seems to be feeding well and Brownie certainly has plenty of milk for him. I don't think I will be milking her or buying another poddy to share her milk. If the new poddy didn't take to Brownie or vice versa I would be left mixing milk twice a day and I don't fancy that.
The cows seem to be happy down the back but Star has been venturing into the neighbour's place, so over the next few days I will have to raise the height of the fence where she jumps over with extra star pickets. Star was going to be the next in the freezer but we aren't eating meat all that fast and so I might have to consider selling her, as she seems to be more trouble than she is worth.

2007-09-02T10:46:00.000+10:00

Happy Cows
With a new batch of batteries the camera is working again, thank goodness. I have included a photo of Brownie, showing off her full udder. According to the dates, Brownie is due to calf at the beginning of October. Although I don't think her girth has increased substantially, her udder is starting to take shape. So, I'm pretty excited that we may be getting a birth on our farm this year after all.

The second photo is of Jemma (left) and Freda (right) down near the southern fence of our property. The green grass in the background just above Freda is the next door neighbour's. I just hope it's not too tempting and that quantity is more important than quality for the cows. All the little trees seem to be okay so far.

2007-08-30T00:19:00.000+10:00

Cows in back paddock (water everywhere but no grass to eat)
I finally gave in and let the cows into the back paddock. The original idea was to keep them in the top quarter by putting up the electric netting. I was going to mow a strip to allow the netting to sit right but the ride-on wouldn't start, Steve and I did our best following rabbit hollows. I also attached a solar energiser, although one energiser for five lengths of netting wasn't enough. All our work was wasted because the cows just walked straight over the netting on the first night.
The reason for this unprecedented move was that there was hardly any grass left for them in the front half and the price of bales of lucerne hay is $24. The Murray Greys were pushing their way through any fence they could to try and get to better grass, each time finding that the next paddock wasn't any better than the last. I have been checking them each morning and they haven't eaten the little gum trees we planted, yet. It looks like they think they're in grass heaven, hardly lifting their heads to say hello. As long as they don't eat the trees, I guess they can stay there for a while. Of course I will have to retrieve the netting next weekend.
The week before last we received over 100ml of rain (spread out over the week). So the tanks were full and the front dam has 4 foot of water (according to my Dad's new measuring post). Of course the shed tank has lost almost all of its water (because I haven't had the leak fixed yet) but the house tanks are still almost full.

2007-07-02T22:19:00.000+10:00

Odd Jobs

On Sunday I was inspecting the sheep run to see how operational it was and discovered that the sheep hadn't been able to get into the inner most section because the gate couldn't open because of a poplar sapling. After I sawed it off at ground level (thank goodness poplar is soft wood) and opened the gate the sheep practically pushed me out of the way and rushed in to eat the grass inside. There is a sappy broadleafed weed growing in the run that I don't think the sheep eat, so I'm going to have to learn to use the whipper snipper to clear the run of this weed as well as some blackberries.

On Sunday I also made a hook to suspend the chicken's water. The twine suspending the water container allowed the bottom of the dish to touch the ground and the chickens were kicking dirt into the water. Now it's a couple of inches off the ground and has been clean for two days.

On Sunday I also started preparing the hinge joint for tying around a post (you have to cut and jiggle the end 4-5 vertical wires off). It's a fiddly job, so I've only just started. Our next door neighbour is preparing to plant grapes so I have to make our adjoining fence sheep proof. Paul put hinge joint on the first section while he was home and the next section is probably just as straight forward. I will have to replace the bottom wire and then attach the hinge joint as the fence is made of five or six wires, two of which are barbed. However, there is a final third of the fence that looks like the original fence and possibly 80+ years old. It has been mended in places but will require total removal and replacement. And with this being an external fence will need a solid post every fourth star picket like the previous section to stop the cows from pushing it over. Our neighbour said he will work with me on this section. First I need to do the 'easy' section. Finding the time may prove to be the hardest part, now that I'm working 35 hours a week. I'll be looking forward to longer days even more now and making the most of weekends.

Mending Gates
When Mum and Dad visited for my birthday the weekend before last, Dad mended four gates for me. Where Paul and I have been adding wires in fences and making the fences stronger the gates attached to these fences have also moved and this sometimes makes the latch harder to open. Dad went around adjusting hinge bolts and repositioning chain bolts and now the four most awkward gates open effortlessly. Dad and I also worked together to reposition a troublesome stay and added extra long bolts to the gate on the 'Triangle Paddock' and that's now good as new. There are some other stays that need this attention but that will have to be on another visit. Dad and I also chopped, sawed and split all the remaining wood in the wood shed in preparation for buying another load of wood. That was also productive and satisfying work.

2007-07-02T21:56:00.000+10:00

More Snow
On Thursday, 28 June, we received more snow - not enough to make a snowman but a fair covering. I only got to see the best of it because I was at home until 10am waiting for the NRMA man to bring a new car battery. By that time, though, the snow had turned to sleet and melted most of the snow on the ground.

In other news, I have borrowed an 8-shaft loom from a friend at spinning. I'll have to buy some heddles and a shuttle, but it won't be long before I'm weaving some more tea towels. I'm also about 3/4 through knitting my home spun jumper (purchased carded wool). Although I am enjoying the process, I'll be glad when I can get onto something else.

2007-06-20T23:47:00.001+10:00

Light Sprinkling of Snow
For those who may want to know, yes we did get snow, but only a light sprinkling. It was bitterly cold though. But nothing three or four layers of clothes, a beanie, scarf, gloves and a hooded Driza-Bone can't fix while feeding the animals in the morning. (Although, I did have breakfast first, as it is too dark at 6.30am these days.) And cold as it was the sheep still didn't spend the night in the shed, even though they had access to it. The wind was blowing a gale for what seemed all night and I was lying there thinking that anything in the shed not tied down would be all over the paddocks by the morning. But miraculously that didn't happen - all that worry for nothing. I have included a photo of our wood chopping block with a light covering of snow.

2007-06-17T22:39:00.000+10:00

First Tea Towels Finished
I have finally finished my waffle weave tea towels (plus one plain weave). I eventually wove three tea towels in waffle and one in plain weave. Actually, my favourite is the plain one. I'm pretty proud of them and I feel it is just the beginning of many more tea towels and assorted linen. Although, every time I see Margaret or Judy wearing something made from material they have woven I think that one day I'd like to do that too.

Sheep and Wool
On farm matters, last weekend I asked the vet out to look at 'Cross', as she hadn't been able to put weight on one of her front legs for a day or so. The vet couldn't find anything obviously wrong and said she could have pulled a muscle higher up. She gave her a dose of anti-inflammatory and pain killer and I kept her in the small area behind the shearing stand and fed her and kept an eye on her. In two days she was standing again, thank goodness, and I let her go out with the rest of them.
Last week I also sold the rest of the wool we had in plastic bags in the shed from 2005 and 2006, just to clear the area before we shear again. Most of it was cross breed wool and not worth very much but we received about $54. So I guess that will go towards the vet bill.
This weekend I let the sheep into the area around the new little fruit trees (no leaves at the moment, so hopefully safe from destruction) and behind the shed, just to eat the grass down to save me mowing. Of course they made short work of the grass, even in two days. Then this afternoon I opened the gate to the dam paddock and cleaned and filled the water trough. They hadn't discovered the open gate while I was there but they will have by tomorrow I'm sure. They can stay in the dam paddock for a month before I get them shorn.

2007-05-30T23:11:00.000+10:00

Fly Strike
Today I had the sheep crutched again and one sheep totally shorn. I had noticed some black patches of wool and suspected fly strike. It appears I was very lucky and caught it in time to save the two sheep - hopefully. I also spoke to the shearing contractor (a friendly and knowledgeable neighbour) about getting the sheep shorn in August. They are pretty booked up and I may have to be on standby and wait and see if they get a cancellation or if it rains and, because of our small number of sheep, I can shed the sheep and they'll be dry to shear, when others can't always do that. I wanted to leave the wool for as long as possible, as I would really like to spin Ebony's black wool, so the longer the better. If I leave it any longer than August there is a possibility of them getting fly struck again, so there is a fine line to tread.
After talking to the shearing contractor, I may change my mind and keep the little black faced girls and only kill/eat the boys (3 including the wether from last year). He commented that crossbreds are very good breeders. But if all 13 girls had lambs, that's 26+ sheep (including twins) - that's a lot of sheep!