31st July, 2023

We had severe winds last night, a few trees down on roads but all ok here. Tonight is apparently going to be worse and so far it sounds like it.

The sheep are limping again. I asked the vet if there was a one-off injection or a long acting antibiotic to protect them from the foot scald caused by the relentless wet, but it turns out the alamycin spray or foot baths are the only practical solutions.

The daily in and out of the shearing shed race wrestling the sheep and trying to hang onto kicking feet has about done me in. And to be fair the sheep are pretty well over it too. So I am going to try the foot bath. 

Sheep don't like walking through water, in fact you can hear them yelling "I'm melting ! I'm melting !" if they are forced to. But they will tolerate mushy surfaces, one reason alot of proper foot baths include a sponge mat. The bath doesn't splash and it feels safer and firmer for the sheep. But I don't have one of those. 

So here's my improvisation ... the sheep are hanging out in one bay of the hayshed. In here they have dry bedding and free access to hay. 

But they need to go outside for water and to graze.So I set up a race so that there is only one way in and out of the shed.

I put straw at both ends of the race, so that it would be a familiar surface to walk on and lead naturally into the foot bath filled with straw. The race is a zig zag so they can't get up the momentum to run through it or leap over half of it.

I used straw because unlike hay they won't be tempted to eat it, and because the texture means that the stems will help clean mud out from between their toes and get the bath into all the crevices, and it won't turn into a slimy mess like hay. The air filled stems will remain more fluffy.

Once they've had a chance to exit and enter via the race and bath I'll add water (though I think the rain is doing that tonight) and blend in a good slug of copper sulphate granules. This should only be about 10cm deep and sit nicely below the straw, only their feet getting damp when they go through. If needed I'll add a little extra straw once it compacts down.

In other news I picked up a small loaf of locally made sourdough from Scottsdale while I was in getting my flu shot. Spread with butter and warmed til the butter melts, it's one of life's little luxuries.

30th July, 2023

Wish I could say the weather was better today, but ... At least I can say it's better than tomorrow is likely to be ! This is the wind warning map.

Bruce went back today, I'll miss how handy he was. Poor old Bessie needs some parallel hay forks to be more capable, but she'll never have the sheer horsepower that made Bruce useful.

At least the wet weather made me stay inside and get some delayed housework out of the way. Most notably vacuuming and mopping. The endless mud makes the floors messy very quickly and it's a bit demoralising to get them clean only to have them dog and catted quickly, so I've been procrastinating. I am going into this week off with clean floors as a treat :-)

Along with a load of washing and some pile sorting I did the BAS for the partnership. So many hats. I'd like to think retiring will lead to a reduction in paperwork, but having lived through all the predictions of a "paperless office" I suspect the volume will remain and only the subject change. The design for my new house has a combination office and library, so hopefully having a dedicated space instead of a corner of the lounge room will make it easier to organise.

Bryce the builder has confirmed he will do the doors for the craft room as soon as he can fit me in, yay !

Robyn's dairy cows are calving, she asked if I wanted some bull calves to raise. I considered it, but with the sheds full of Leigh's hay and so many projects on the go I might skip it for this year. Next year when the stock numbers are lower and I've had a chance to prep an area I should be able to raise two or four and feed them with milk from Annie or Belle if the timing is right. Fresh milk is always better than powder, but in a pinch we can access good calf powder here in dairy country.

I was planning to winch the apple tree up a smidge today, but with the ground so wet I'm more likely to simply pull the roots out of the ground than bend the tree. I will wait and see, the combination of firmer ground and sap beginning to run so the tree will flex more will make for a safer bonsai.

29th July, 2023

The soggy miserable weather is back. Waaaah ! I have a week off and it looks like I will be doing all the inside projects.

Bruce is still here, I think he might go tomorrow. Leigh used him to put out another bale across the road and a new bale in for his weaners and to bring another piece of equipment back from across the road. I don't know how many bits and pieces of ploughs and discs and augers he still has over there, but there's quite a collection in the barnyard now.

My aim with the front yard flower beds is to repeatedly seed with flowering plants into every gap until I have a self-perpetuating garden that crowds out the weeds. I have a few plants that self seed. Some are annual like the sweet peas and the bulbs, others are present all year round and form the basic framework. Nasturtiums, borage, forget me nots, calendula, lemon balm ... and rainbow chard. This plant in particular, in the front yard of all places, is a vibrant and cheerful ornamental as well as edible.

28th July, 2023

Bit of a scramble this morning to milk in the rain. The dairy is roofed, but some wind directions carry the rain directly in the front. Annie is liking the new lucerne pellets. I don't want to give her too many as they are higher in protein and will increase her milk production, but half a scoop adds some lollies to the breakfast.

I went straight from milking to fire up Bruce and put a round bale out. I'd left his windows open accidentally so I had to mop up the wet floor before we went into action. The ground was soggy again after last night's rain, but the new handbrake meant I could park him in a better position and minimise the tracking. 

This bale should last nearly a week, the last possible day for it before he goes back to Robyn. I'll have to use Bessie from now on. We are right in the "hungry time", that deep winter when the grass goes dormant. I will open up the ryegrass paddock soon so it can be eaten down before being locked up in September for haying.

After a quick breakfast it was into Scottsdale for a meeting with the Breast Screen caravan. Not my favourite way to spend 15 mins, but a sensible thing to do every year or two. By way of consolation for the squishing I stopped by Ellesmere Patisserie and bought a hazelnut pastry for morning tea. 

I had an unusual 1pm to 7pm shift, six hours including an unpaid half hour break. Bit of a waste really, if we had a nap room I could have had a power nap and done something useful with the time. It means I was home for dinner at a normal time, but we've been interrupted by a short circuit of some kind in the freezer power point. An extension cord and power board has the two freezers and the fridge back online again. Hopefully the electrician in the house will find the fault soon...

27th July, 2023

Bryce, the builder, came today and measured up the doors of my new craft room. I need weatherproof doors before I can move craft gear in. He's going to send me a quote and some ideas for doors.

We used Bruce to pick up the old red station wagon and put stumps underneath so that part of the undercarriage can be scavenged for the electrician work ute if required. The old girl has gradually been falling apart and being replaced for some years now. Not sure there are many original bits left on it !

Then came some unexpected and unpleasant news. A Scottsdale man has been arrested for the murder of a 14 year old girl missing from Launceston for a couple of months. A terrible, sad thing, our thoughts are with her family.

26th July, 2023

Big day. Massive day. Didn't get lunch til way late and was lucky to get breakfast.

The weather was pretty random, some drizzle, some sun, some wind, some cloud. Mostly dry, though, which enabled the big day.

So. It started with me getting up early to milk because I was to go to Launceston for a Dr's appointment. While I was milking I got a message saying my Dr was sick so the appointment was cancelled. Since I'd taken the day off to go down I was unamused, lost a day of leave for nothing. Turns out it was just as well.

Just as I was finishing up milking Leigh arrived to move hay around, because Bruce is going back to Robyn this weekend to clean out calf sheds ready for calving. We used Bessie to move a heap of round bales out of the loafing shed and stack them in the boat shed. Then he used Bruce to roll out a bale over the road and put one spare in the corner paddock. That left Bessie still in the loafing shed so I figured I'd build some ramps and bring her out tomorrow. 

Then just as Leigh left, Beefy arrived to mow the front and back lawns of the house yard. Quick scurry around ahead of him to move any obstacles, including rose prunings and sprinklers I'd forgotten I'd left out. And a conference about how best to deal with Toot, now that he's lost nearly all his front teeth as well as having arthritis in his front legs. Just as well he has free access to hay, as he won't be grazing with no teeth.

Then just as Beefy left, Phil Chapple arrived. I'd asked Phil to fix the hand brake on Bruce before he went back to Robyn as a thankyou for the loan. That went well and Bruce can now be parked without being turned off and left in gear. Phil went to look at Bessie's fuel leak so he'd know what it was when he came to do a service, and he decided to fix it today.

I had to quickly organise the ramps to get Bessie back out of the loafing shed and into the sunlight, another job I don't have to do tomorrow I guess ! He pulled the fuel pump apart and the culprit was an o ring on the kill switch bolt. With that fixed he found a washer to take some of the play out of the throttle cable, cut down a bit of foam to stop the oil bubbling out of the dip stick spout and tweaked the kill switch lever.

He then tightened all the loose bolts on the wheels and steering and took a list of all the bits waiting for the service (amp meter, brake lock, and manual fuel pump lever) along with the usual oil filter change etc. It was good to have her not dribbling diesel and she'll start so much better now that there will be fuel in the system to start with.

Then I hopped in the car to go and get the wheel from the quad bike that was in at the Suzuki dealer getting the tyre fixed. Put that back on and parked the quad in the shed so it wouldn't get rained on. Fed the chooks, put the still slightly damp washing in the dryer, threw the dishwasher on, and sat down to lunch at about 4pm.

Tomorrow Bryce the handyman comes to look at the doors for the new craft room. Once weatherproof doors are on I can start putting crafting gear down there. Going to the Breast Screen caravan on Friday. And then hopefully Daniel the fencer will come on Sunday and build a set of stairs to the silo (for easier access to the stored tubs) and hang some gates and put some fence posts in. Some weeks nothing seems to happen and some weeks are like everything is action stations.

Just as well I was here to co-ordinate all of it !

25th July, 2023

This quote from I don't know where sums up my farm life.

“Farm work doesn’t make you stronger. It doesn’t make you anything. It reveals you.

 

There’s gym strong and then there’s farm strong. The toughest women you’ll ever meet spend their days on a farm.

 

There are more uses for twine than you can possibly imagine. You can tie up a hole in a slow feeder, fashion a tail strap for a horse’s blanket, mend a broken fence and use it as a belt.

 

“Well that certainly didn’t go as planned,” is one thing you’ll say quite a bit.

 

Control is a mere illusion. The thought that you have any, at any given time, is utterly false.

 

Sometimes sleep is a luxury. So are lunch and dinner. And brushing your hair.

 

If you’ve never felt your obliques contract, then you’ve never tried stopping an overly full wheelbarrow of horse manure from tipping over sideways. Trust me, you’ll find muscles that you never knew existed on the human skeleton to prevent this from happening. 

 

When one of the animals is ill, you’ll go to heroic lengths to minimize their discomfort.

 

Their needs come first. In summer heat and coldest winter days. Clean water, clean bed, and plenty of feed. Before you have your first meal, they all eat. 

 

When you lose one of them, even though you know that day is inevitable, you still feel sadness, angst and emotional pain from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. And it’s a heaviness that lingers even though you must regroup and press on.

 

You’ll cry a lot. But you’ll never live more fully. You’ll remain present no matter what because you must. There is no other option. 

 

You’ll ask for so many miracles and hold out hope until the very last. 

 

You will, at least once, face-plant in the manure pile. 

 

You’ll find yourself saying things like, “we have maybe twenty minutes of daylight left to git ‘er done” whilst gazing up at a nonspecific place in the sky.

 

You’ll become weirdly obsessive about the weather.

 

You’ll go out in public wearing filthy clothes and smelling of dirt, sweat and poop. People will look at you sideways and krinkle their noses but you won’t care.

 

Your entire day can derail within ten seconds of the rising sun. 

 

You can wash your coveralls. They won’t look any cleaner, but they will smell much nicer.

 

Farm work is difficult in its simplicity.

 

You’ll always notice just how beautiful sunrises and sunsets really are. 

 

Should you ever have the opportunity to work on a farm, take the chance! You will never do anything more satisfying in your entire life.”

24th July, 2023

Got up a bit earlier to help Robyn with her calves. We also tagged and loaded some cull cows and split out the autumn calves from the yearlings before weighing, backlining and ear punching the yearlings. The ear punch was for testing the up and coming heifers for genomic quality. I will be interested in the results. 

Ernie and James (Annie and Sorcha's steer calves) should be with this group but they relocated themselves in with the dry cows. Jazz was there and was weighed at 232kg, quite respectable. She is a bit too smart for her own good and was last through, dodging all the earlier drafts. Then she realised she was on her own and rethought the strategy.

Came home and milked Annie, fed the chickens and cleaned up the kitchen. Then I made a few phone calls. The survey plan has been signed by Council and sent off to the Lands Office. Jason will call them tomorrow and ask for expedition. We could be about six weeks from settlement, after all these years !

I have come down with some lurgi that is fogging up my head, sinuses, throat and headache. Meh. If I'm not any better by morning I'm going to need to call in sick again.

23rd July, 2023

More sun ! Yay ! It's amazing what I am accomplishing on these nicer days. The uplift in morale is palpable. Helped along by the fact that I don't have to work on this three day weekend.

I planted a lovely red flower out the front and weeded a big section of the garden on the front fence. I reckon I can finish that bit tomorrow if the job at Robyn's (helping her with weighing and genomic testing of her yearlings) is finished before lunch. I also cut back the two wild roses that were trying to take over another section of the garden.

I gave Finn a good brush and got rid of a heap of mats, more brushing needed. Poppy needs it more but she has to be dry to brush. If tomorrow is sunny too she may not get so wet from the grass and I can give her coat a go.

I also put another random freezer poultry in the slow cooker, using the recipe that failed to compensate for a freezer burned bird last week. This week worked fine, the meat was tender in a nice thick gravy that lacked much flavour. So we hit it with the lancashire relish and worcestershire sauce and some bbq sauce and Geoff's secret ingredient, a slug of keens curry. The additions worked well and the dish is a success.

I cleared and cleaned another section of the dairy room, stowing the cleaned gear in the new cabinets. While they were drying I emptied and sorted two baskets of brushes and other grooming gear, combining them into a better suited one for storing in the old chiller.

The new milking machine is working smoothly and I have gotten into a good routine for setting up and cleaning. It's faster than the old machine and the claw (the bit that holds the four teat cups) cleans out completely with the CIP (clean in place) setup whereas the old machine had a metal claw that had a tendency to hold milk residues in the screw threads.

Clean in place is where you suck buckets of cleaning stuff and rinse through the machine as it is set up. Dairies use this in their systems. Some portable machines are CIP and some you have do take apart and clean in a sink. 

The other big bonus is the lid is held on by suction rather than clamped by the handle. The old gasket was too thin and losing pressure and the new gasket was too thick and dense for my small hands to clamp. It was really this issue that prompted the purchase of the new machine.

When I have finished cleaning the dairy room I will clear out the dairy and karcher everything. Now that the starlings have been meshed out of all their holes they stay away from the dairy and I can get rid of all their poop marks with some hope of it staying clean.

Annie was quite low in weight when I weaned her calf, Ernie. He was nearly as tall as her and 9 months old so he was well due. She's putting condition on now and would be lovely and shiny if she didn't tend to lay in mud. I've done the research on the various feeds I have access to, to find out their protein and carb percentages. The saying goes "protein in the bucket, carbs on the back" so I've selected the lowest protein and highest carb mix. 1 part horse & pony pellets, 1 part crushed barley, 1 part crushed maize and 9 parts lucerne & oaten chaff mix.

22nd July, 2023

Second day of sun, or at least until mid afternoon. It was a very cold night, down to close to zero.

Another productive day, I made a new brush for the milking machine claw, found a mat to put under the cat bowl in the dairy, planted the lemon thyme and culinary thyme, weeded and mulched another section of the side garden, planted bronze fennel (I didn't know it could grow up to 1.8m !) and the chocolate mint.

I also discovered a batch of jerusalem artichoke tubers while planting the fennel. Now that I think about it I remember the plants being there but didn't think they did any good. I'll clear one of the raised beds down at the other cottage and give it a shot of manure and put them all in there. I'll do another one while I'm at it and the tenant, Calab, can put in his seed potatoes. 

I cleared out and fertilised a pot in the backyard chicken proof cage and planted that with some "confetti" radish seeds. A mix of colours that will make lovely pickled radish as an accompaniment for indian meals. I'll do another pot every two weeks so I'll have a rolling harvest.

I also started the bonsai process for the dwarf cox's orange pippin, an apple tree that had adopted a 45 degree angle due to winds during it's first year. Each week I will tighten the wires a smidge until it's closer to vertical. Not too much while it's dormant though, because there is no growth to make changes, all I would do is loosen the roots.

I pulled down and washed the curtains from the kitchen and dining room ready to put wooden venetian blinds up.

I moved the tub of beef fragments gifted to the dogs. The big bones are all out and scattered like random treasures around the central drive. The fat and meat shreds were being worked over by the chickens are and better in their area than by the back gate smelling aromatic. And it might keep the chooks away from Finn's new bed of straw, which they have enthusiastically working over for the leftover grain heads.

I also solved the mystery of why the electric blanket was only heating my feet. I pulled the bed apart and discovered that about half the warming part had migrated down the bed and over the end, the elastic having pulled free from under the bed at the top. It was heating the bed end and not much else. I anticipate a much improved snug factor when I go to bed tonight.

Jack, Leigh's ram, managed to push through a gate and appears to have bred Pickle. She was sticking close and was going to follow him back across the road, the hussy. At least she has lambed before, so if it sticks she won't be having her first lamb at 6. Hopefully no-one else made eyes at him.

I went out to call the dogs for dinner and a fog had descended on us. It hushed all the noises and puffs of it were billowing past me. In the breeze I could smell all the green and fragrant things in my garden and the valley, especially the old fashioned daphne at the back gate. One of those moments when the Tassie slogan "Come down for air" really resonates.

21st July, 2023

Today was sunny with only a light breeze. It was even warm enough to go with a tshirt in the middle of the day. I think all the animals were just basking in the warmth.

Despite waking with a cough and headache, it was too nice not to make the most of it. I did a thistle spray of the whole farm, and I think I'm on top of the thistles. I nuke the ones that the livestock won't eat and leave the ones they will. Generally that means killing the ones with a purple flower and leaving the ones with a yellow flower. They occupy the same niche, so I am applying selection pressure for the ones I'd rather have on the farm.

I also re-strawed all the nesting boxes, folded and sorted all the accumulated feed bags, changed the battery in the solar fence charger, put out the star pickets for the next section of fence, cable tied the pipe to the latest plumbed in trough, and did two loads of washing.

To top it off I took the old fabric bedding out of Finn's new apple box bed and replaced it with fresh straw. He was alot more willing to climb in and lay down, so fingers crossed he might now use it. When summer comes I will wash and dry the stinky stuff and see if he'll use that on top of the straw.

There are some plants putting on a show in the garden right now. This one is always the first to bloom.

20th July, 2023

The forecast for tonight was for down to 2 degrees C and heavy rain. I brought Ox Boy back over to the 25 acres and shelter and hay as the combination of cold, rain and wind is hard on animals that have less then optimum winter coat or fat for insulation.

I also put mineral lick out for the sheep and cattle. When the grass is lush and has alot of water in it, the nutrition can be low. The lick will help top up the essential bits and pieces for their health.

I checked on my silver birch today, a trio of baby trees in their own piece of architecture. You can't see much of the trees in this picture, but the wood and mesh guard will protect them from sheep and cattle that love browsing on young branches. Once they are tall enough to be higher than the rails they should also be out of reach of teeth.

If you click on any of the photos in this blog a larger version of the picture will come up.

19th July, 2023

On my last trip into Launceston I purchased a few more herbs for the garden. Two varieties of thyme, some fennel, chocolate mint, and catnip. I planted the catnip today in a place that the cats pass on a regular basis, we'll see if anyone notices !

Leigh tried to use Bruce to put out a bale of hay this morning, but couldn't get him started. I told him I'd take a look after milking and work out what the problem was. I knew his battery was depleted because Bruce's handbrake isn't working, so every time Leigh had to stop to open a gate he was turning him off and leaving him in gear. After about 10 starts with 2 minutes running time between each I knew the battery was going to be way low, so I'd put the charger on last night and he should have started first time.

So I went trouble shooting. Checked the battery, it was actually pretty good. The kill switch was engaged but that wouldn't have sounded like a sluggish battery, it would have stopped any kind of turnover, so I assume Leigh pulled it out of habit. Checked the front forks, all grounded. Back forks ... Ahah ! The lever was set to high ! So when he was cranking the engine it was trying to start and raise the forks at the same time ! Even Bessie won't come at that. Problem solved and me all smug.

So I used him to put out a bale for the 25 acre herd and loaded another one for Leigh to use when he comes back. I set the front and back forks all at down and made sure the kill switch was disengaged, and parked him with the sun on the battery to keep it warm. If Leigh can't start him now there's no helping him.

18th July, 2023

I tried to get Finn interested in his new bed. He wouldn't even climb in with me for a treat. I am thinking of taking out the fancy bedding for the moment and filling it with straw like the area he camps in down in the implement shed. Maremma's are a bit like cats in their unwillingness to co-operate.

I took the battery charger off Bessie and put it on Bruce. This very cold weather (tonight will get close to zero degrees) is hard on their batteries and it's better to keep them topped up. I have put in a request for a power point in the tractor shed, safer than running an extension cord across gateways.

The sheep are staying close to the loafing shed, it's so much warmer being both out of the wind and nested in hay over sawdust.

I am going to bring Ox Boy back from over the road. He's a big lug who is hard to manage in the smaller area, but he's not fat and doesn't have much of a winter coat, and being huge is hard pressed to graze enough to fill his belly now the grass is shorter. Having shelter will be the equivalent of an extra feed a day and access to silage or hay will make his life alot nicer.

17th July, 2023

Belle seemed to be in heat this morning, all the steers (there are actually a couple of bulls among them) were crowding the fence talking to her and she was yelling. So after milking I walked her across the road to Leigh's mature bull and left her there for the day. There was alot of shenanigans and the cows left their calves with her, and eventually she was standing at the gate by herself looking accusingly at me. I put the halter on and brought her back across the road and she's either preggers or I'll organise a synch.

While Belle was visiting I put the halter on Beanie and brought her back over this side. She'd only had the basic halter training so it was gratifying that she put her nose in the halter and lead well. I think she will be happy to be back with the shelter and family.

One of the steers went on the truck to the butcher today, the others are still in the piggery paddock. Not sure what the plan is for them now.

I put the lining and bed into Finn's box, he looked at it and walked away. I don't know how cold and wet it will have to be for him to use it. I feel bad that he's camped on the gravel in the carport but he doesn't seem to be willing to use any bed other than one of the lounges in the loungeroom.

Today I planned to cook a duck. I had taken a poultry of some kind out of the freezer to defrost and had looked up a good recipe. While I was piecing it out I was thinking the anatomy was a bit odd, then I found the very long neck. And realised it was cut down the back, which means Edwin Hanslow had done the butchery. Which means that it was a goose ! 

I quickly hunted up a new recipe and put it in the slow cooker. Unfortunately it had been in the freezer too long and a combination of freezer burn and the fat picking up freezers smells left the cooked meat inedible and the gravy tainted. The dogs ate some of the gravy on their biscuits so I'll feed it out that way, and I guess the chooks will have the meat. What a pity. 

More mist, more drizzle, more wind.

16th July, 2023

Finally got rid of the old bain marie, a lady had taken it to start seedlings in. One thing out of the paddock.

Leigh got Bessie going today and as he is more experienced in working in confined spaces he used her to shift six round bales of hay into position to be picked up by Bruce. Then he used the roller at the rear of Bruce to lay out some hay in the piggery paddock for the steers and some over the road for the 75 acre herd. The steers are apparently going tomorrow. One to the butcher and the rest to another farm for weaning.

I made a couple of steps forward in making a good kennel/bed for Finn. Which he will probably refuse to sleep in but that's on him. We have a wooden apple box now with a door cut in the side and reinforced by some of the cut out boards. I will clean the inside then line it with an old mattress topper to cut the wind and put a dog bed in. Still debating about whether to top that with straw.

I have purchased a bread keeper from Tupperware, a Breadsmart. It cost $60 and would be a ridiculous purchase if we didn't lose half of every loaf to mould as we don't eat the bread fast enough. It will pay for itself in 24 loaves, if it works.

I made osso bucco for dinner, with Geoff's patented curry mashed potato. I was doubtful about adding curry to mashed spuds but a small amount really complements most stews and casseroles. Tomorrow I am trying my hand at a duck.... one of the ones from Arfur at Ringarooma.

Here's a photo from the Legendairy Ladies dinner on Friday night at The Gorge restaurant in Launceston. It was taken with a wide angle lens so it has a weird perspective. It made me take my glasses off and clean them before I realised. Me on the left, then Carmel and Robyn.

 

15th July, 2023

Another downpour overnight, some sunshine in the afternoon. Seems like there will be a frost in the morning, dare I hope for a sunny day ?

It was Geoff's birthday today. He left for work about 7pm while I was still asleep. We passed each other on the way in/out at work and when I got home after 9pm he was on his way to snoring on the lounge with Sarge. Not much of a celebration, will do more tomorrow when I am not working :-) 

Got in touch with the mobile butcher today. He wasn't sure he was going to continue with the business but would keep me in the loop. I think I will enact Plan B for Toot and see how things pan out with Little Moo with the mobile butcher. If that falls through then Toot will have broken the ice with the other avenue. Best laid plans of mice and men.

14th July, 2023

Still more cold, windy and damp weather. Even the two younger cats who are keen on hunting have given up on leaving the house except for a quick patrol and toilet.

The people across the highway from us dropped off some bones for the dogs today. By bones I mean a significant part of the skeleton of a full size fresian cow. The rib bones alone are as long as my arm. The dogs think all their christmases have come at once !

Conversation with them has presented a plan B in case the mobile butcher ghosts. The bloke can help us kill and gut and cut the carcass into small sections and then we can approach the same person who butchered their beef, who is a friend of ours but doesn't do the kill and gut part of the process. A little bit of co-ordination would be required but both live within a couple of miles of here.

Went to a Legendairy Ladies meetup dinner at The Gorge in Launceston with Robyn and Carmel tonight. Carmel volunteered to drive and on the way I was able to have a conversation with her about doing a synch protocol and AI for Belle. 

A synch protocol is setting up a day and time for the AI without needing to pick up natural heat and be ready to go when she shows. Belle is the dominant cow so catching her heats is harder, especially now I am working. This will also give us access to whatever Carmel (who works for the local dairy AI company) has in her tank as far as bulls go. Potentially some fancy genetics !

The dinner was lovely, but a long walk down stairs and winding pathways. I think it would be a scenic walk in daylight.

13th July, 2023

Day ten millionty and three of cold winds, overcast skies and blowing showers. Blech. With the piggery paddock full of Leigh's steers getting Annie in and out for milking has been complex. Lucky she's halter broken.

Had an appointment with the tax accountant to decide whether to proceed with the farm as a business or a hobby. I can write a few things off on the farm, but in order to legally claim a loss from the farm I need to either turn over $20,000 a year or have a partnership with Geoff's electrical business. The fees for the tax return for a partnership are approx $1,000 a year. I'll have to sit down and crunch some numbers because while you might claim $5000 in expenses all you get back is the tax on that $5000, which will vary depending on your income threshold. Sigh.

Time to organise crutching and hoof trimming for the sheep. I lost the shearer's phone number when my phone was left accidentally under a running sprinkler. Hopefully I can track him down via facebook. At the same time the mobile butcher's facebook page has disappeared. I did manage to find his phone number but haven't been able to get through to him and I don't know whether it's the telstra outages or he's pulled out of the business.

Most of my big problems stem from people not doing what they've said they would do, so fingers crossed that's not a trend that is continuing.

While treating the sheep's feet I noticed Toot (one of my two wethers) is finding it harder to get around than he used to. He's been gimpy most of his adult life but I think the difficult angles in his front legs have taken their toll on his joints and arthritis is biting, especially in this cold weather. Food on tap and a warm shelter with soft bedding are helping him get by, but it's probably a only matter of time before he can't get up. If the butcher is still working I might add Toot to the tab for butchering day.

My lemonade tree has fruit all over it. When they ripen, which I assume is when we start getting some heat to put sugars into them, I will find out whether the fruit are from lemonade branches or from the rootstock. It's unusually difficult to tell with this tree, generally the graft collar is pretty clear. Taste will be definitive though, a lemonade is sweet enough to eat straight. I'll be able to sample the tangelo as well this year. Never had one so I don't know what it's supposed to taste like !

12th July, 2023

I am a permanent part time employee with a contract that alternates weeks but is otherwise unchanging. Unusually, I ended up with a morning shift today, so unfamiliar that I had made an appointment for the middle of it based on my usual situation of having mornings clear. Bugger, scrambled to reschedule that last night. I should have been more aware as it's been there in my roster for the last two weeks. Old age ?

I was reminded why I hate daytime shifts. Apart from the inconvenience of having to milk 6 hours late and wedge that, the third round of sheep foot spraying and feeding the chooks into the remaining daylight on very overcast day. It was that the general public are grumpier during the day shift. They are tenser and more impatient. No idea why, but the whole night shift vibe is different.

We also have telstra outages at the moment which are affecting the connection to banks and whether phones have data. There were alot of customers who rely on their tech getting a rude shock, the old school card users or even older school cash buyers were grinning.

On the farm front I had to walk Annie up the stairs from the shearing shed to the dairy as the stock yard was full of steers. Leigh, not unreasonably thinking I had milked in the morning, had the yards full of steers ready for some kind of movement early tomorrow. Just as well my dairy girls are adaptable.

The sheep are becoming more used to the race in the shearing shed, all but one walked in willingly for their snack. I'll spray anyone still limping again tomorrow and then see how they go, with maybe on more round of snack without any treatment. Zoos teach all sorts of animals to present bits of their body for examination.... I wonder if it's too late to teach old sheep new tricks and teach them to present feet for trimming and treatment. I am sceptical.

11th July, 2023

Young Moose, Belle's calf, is learning to eat biscuits from my hand. While I don't need the steers to be halter broken I do like to be able to approach them and give them a scratch. Some flight zone is useful, but a panicky steer is a dangerous steer when I handle the herd so closely. Like Beanie, Belle's last calf, he's curious about humans and a real sticky beak. I think most of the calves figure out early that the dairy is the place everyone wants to be, but they can't fathom why, as they are not fed in there like the milkers are.

Cows are creatures of habit, and when I let Moose take over all the milk from Belle (I was only getting 3 litres a day) and I weaned Annie's Ernie, it took a week for them to figure out that Annie was to come into the dairy and Belle was to have her snack in the stock yards. Previously it was the other way around and there was quite a bit of indignation about the reversal. 

I put out a bale of silage this morning, I am working on the bales where the cows tore holes in the wrap as the holes start the silage going off. I will leave the intact wrap ones as long as possible. I've put a battery charger on Bessie's battery and will hopefully get to move some hay bales into position tomorrow.

I sprayed the sheep's feet for the second dose as well, all but one went willingly into the race for the snack. I use calf starter muesli, which has lots of big tasty grains plus molasses. Last dose tomorrow, might keep them running through the race for a couple of days after so they become trained to the activity.

I also put my phone number on the farm biosecurity sign, which says please ring before entering. Now they can ring. And while down by the gate I cut some sections of a split hose ready to cushion the wire that will bonsai my apple tree. I guess if I do one step a day of my projects sooner or later they will get done.  Most of the afternoon before work was spent getting my tax info together for a meeting with my accountant. Not loving EOFY.

10th July, 2023

Today was meant to be a garden day. 

I planned to feed the citrus trees, plant some herbs and flowers, do some bonsai on the dwarf cox's orange pippen apple tree that had adopted a 45 degree growing angle and plant a couple of rows of mixed radishes. 

Instead I wrangled sheep to spray alamycin on their feet because they have foot scald from the relentless wet. The ground is never dry and the humidity is so high that even though I have given them full access to a shed with soft dry bedding and hay on demand, their feet stay damp and bacteria settle into the cracks between their toes. It's painful and can damage their feet, but the spray stings so it's always a combination of bribery and trickery to get the affected feet sprayed three days in a row for a hopeful cure.

And I spread out the cows' current bale of silage, so they could access more of it before it moulded in the damp. And tried to start the little fergie tractor, Bessie, so I could move a round bale of hay and found the battery too limp to start. This is because it has a bad fuel leak and to run it long enough to charge the battery risks running out of fuel, which diesels hate and is even more trouble than dragging the battery up to the house to charge. 

My rounds got stored in the loafing shed where Bruce can't reach and Leigh's rounds, which no-one is using, are stored in the hayshed where Bruce can reach. Once those are all moved/sold/fed out I will be storing mine in the hayshed where I can get at them. As it is I need Bessie to move a bale to the edge of the loafing shed where Bruce can pick it up. No Bessie, no hay bale. And so it's another silage bale which isn't getting eaten quite fast enough to stop waste in this wet.

If this sounds like a whinge, it is. It's so damn wet and clammy. It rains more days than not and is overcast and miserable when it doesn't rain. I tell myself every drop will help raise the soil moisture levels for when the rain stops.... but it's wearing thin. I am told this June was the wettest in decades so el nino is yet to show much effect here.

I need to get the vege garden down near the dairy back into use with some raised beds and sections that sheep can be let into to clean up or locked out of. Though, with this wet and overcast weather it's going to be hard to get anything to grow and stay healthy.

And get potatoes in. We experimented with a heap of different varieties and shapes and the spud I liked best out of all the colours and types was the good old dutch cream. We can tell the tourists from Tasmanians at work because when we ask what kind of spuds they brought to the checkout, the locals say "Kennebecs" or "Dutch Cream" or "Pink Eye" and the tourists say "errr..... dirty ones ?". 

  

Think I might take a week off before Emma goes on maternity leave and just get right into clearing a few things off my to do list. The short days and remorseless rain are putting me further and further behind. Bah humbug.

9th July, 2023

The weather today was substantially nicer. Still VERY windy, but the sun was out until early afternoon and all the critters were enjoying it. Including me.

I moved Flora and Little Moo into the sheep shelter paddock as Flora is losing teeth (she's about 15) and Little Moo has back problems. They will be good company for each other and that paddock has its own little shelter. They and Jack are the last of the six cattle brought down from Dubbo. Big Moo's back went last winter and she was put to sleep, Seika went with her calf to a new home and Ziggy fell down a ravine in a freak accident last year.

Little Moo has a date with the butcher at the end of August (he's 13) as his back issues are now making his life harder and because we can't trim his feet (lifting them hurts his back) his feet are getting over grown and affecting his movement as well. This is a vicious cycle because it changes the angles of his legs which in turn makes his back worse. So in the end it becomes a welfare issue.

I tried a new brand of chook pellets, but I have found it to be dusty and it won't run properly in the feeder so it's back to SFD from Nutrien. You'd think a chook pellet was a chook pellet, but apart from the ingredients even the size and texture make a difference in how useful it is in a free range situation. I use a rat and small bird proof feeder so the chooks can come and go and still have feed in nasty weather, so the pellets have to be nutritious, palatable and free flowing.

We are getting an egg a day, from one or the other of two chooks still laying. Given that's it's midwinter that's not so bad. As the days get longer more will start laying and I will have to start actively hunting for eggs. They are getting extra protein whenever I have leftovers or out of date stuff, and I will start making clabber from some of Annie's spare milk soon. This will help them feather out properly and prepare for egg laying.

I put an ad up on Gumtree to get rid of the old bain marie in the sheep shelter paddock while the glass is still intact. Free to someone who might like to use it for starting seedlings or for passive heating.

The longer it stays there the sooner some critter will step on the glass. If it doesn't go within a fortnight I'll scrap it for safety sake.

Found a leak on the hot water system this week, by kneeling down to get something out in the back section and getting wet knees. It seems to be the pressure adjustment valve that makes the mains pressure stable. Geoff has tried to tighten the fitting but it's still dripping so that means shutting off the water and taking it apart and resetting everything. Sigh.

8th July, 2023

Got up a little early today to drop a repaired range hood off at the BP servo in Scottsdale for the owner to pick up. Conveniently, the latest order for Geoff from AWM was there waiting and I was able to kill two birds with one stone. 

I stalled until after 10am to milk Annie as the weather came in from the north and while Annie's head and the feed were dry the rest of her and I were right in the rain zone. It wasn't the nicest milking I've ever done and it's probably not far off the coldest and wettest. It did mean Leigh's pigs were inside their shed and I was able to pour the spare milk into their feed tub without a fight. 

Normally I have a posse of three cats and two dogs waiting for their share of milk, but today only Poppy braved the weather.

The wiltshire horn sheep agisting in the cottage paddock seem to be unwilling to use the shelters in their paddock, instead standing all hunched and mopey in the rain. I hope no-one thinks I am leaving the poor dears without somewhere dry.

Jayden K did his first close as supervisor tonight at Woolies, and as his mentor I was the 2IC. The rain kept some of the crowds down and we had a smooth night. I think he was pretty nervous, hopefully it was a good intro for him. Now we need to get Chloe S up to speed. It will be good to see some of the kids stepping up and getting confidence and something to put on their resume.

Chloe S dropped off a drink bottle full of lemon lime and bitters to me at work, added some gin when I got home and I joined her cocktail night from afar.

Word is there was snow on the mountain today, but I couldn't see it through its crown of clouds. Geoff said he was told there was snow on the road to Bridport. I think that is sufficient proof of cold for the day !

A New Beginning

Today is a bleak day, a very cold, wet and windy day. So cold, wet and windy that I've had a chance to create a new blog to try and chronicle the doings at Highclere Farm in Tasmania.

For the journey starting in Dubbo and ending up in Tasmania you can read my former blog at " Oaklands - A Vertical Learning Curve ".

For a good summary of the farm and our location at Scottsdale you can check out the short series of posts on " Highclere Farm ".

This isn't going to be an entertainment blog or an educational blog, although I am happy to answer any questions or explain anything further. It's just a diary of the comings and goings and happenings and photos for me to look back on, and if you find some zen in it, that's great too. 

I aim to post each evening, but there will be some days when nothing happened. 

The image I have used for the blog background is this view from the Sideling Lookout over the area containing Springfield, Scottsdale and Highclere Farm. I am not sure who took the photo, but they did a nice job.