We've just had 30mm of rain. The sky is crying for Annie too.
It's also been cold and windy and having Star in with Mae to keep her company as they share a shelter with deep straw bedding and hay walls has helped ease things for Mae and kept her warm too.
The rest of the herd are finishing off the last of the grass (unless this rain comes just before the ground temp drops too far for grass to grow) and I am clearing out the old feed bunk ready to eke out the hay over winter.
When they eat free-choice from a ring, big eaters like Jaffa just stand and eat and drop hay and walk on it. She didn't get to the shape of a hippo by walking away from food. There's alot of waste and I don't need them to get too fat.
Putting out a certain amount each day into the bunk keeps dropped hay contained where they don't step on it, and they get to fill up twice a day without simply eating themselves into bowling balls. It is alot more work than putting a round into a ring once every three or four days, but I spend alot of time picking up hay and shoving it back in the ring anyway. And it is better to spend a little time each day and make it through winter.
Here are some photos of Mae, and one of the milk Calab (the tenant from the cottage) drove all the way back to the dairy he works at on his day off to bring for Mae. The little caravan sink pump is my idea to get the milk out without tipping a heavy container and risking spilling it everywhere. Works a treat.
