I shifted the calves up a notch in feed quantity as they are now 8 weeks old, and started taking their milk out in buckets instead of 3 litre bottles as Annie is reducing production and less of the meal is going to be fresh milk. She is due to be dried off by mid October anyway, so it is better to start transitioning now rather than make an abrupt dietary change.
As the quantity of power per feed will double now I have moved the bag of powder up to the house, fetching up small bucketfuls being one less daily chore. I also moved the newly potted dwarf mulberry out of cow reach, as it is very edible, and tightened up the wires on the apple tree I am straightening.
The cows were in with the sheep this morning, the gate to their paddock having come adrift. I moved everyone back out to the barnyard and the sheep made several tentative forays out to the newly opened up driveway area, but seem to prefer the security of the barnyard. The cattle are camped next to the other cottage, hopefully Caleb's gates are secure.
I washed all the blankets off the lounges, it's amazing how dirty the cats can be, plus Finn's hair. Luckily it was a good drying day and they are all back on and protecting the poor old lounges.
Freya is going ahead in leaps and bounds, she's going to be a spectacular heifer. Zipper is doing well too, I'll have to get another photo of him.
I had a bit of a shock when I looked at the moon tonight, it was bright orange. Then I remembered that people will be burning now before it dries out, and there was a sniff of smoke in the air all day. There's no wind so there will be a layer of smoke low down, which the moon was making it's way past.
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