14th June, 2024

Wednesday was a trip to Launceston. It was cold and windy but thankfully not the rain we had on Tuesday.

I had my will appointment and came home with a list of homework. Shopping at Officeworks and I picked up my big laminated air photo for farm planning. A bag of lucerne cubes, some cat food from Bunnings (they have bulk boxes) and a car phone cradle for Geoff. Then we did our tour of mower dealerships and Geoff came home with a short list of four to choose from. He thinks he might go with the Toro.

Thursday was cool and cloudy. 

I visited Siobhan and Shannon, and Shannon loaned me a pair of new work shoes to try out to see if they are more comfortable than my current ones. More stock feed from Stronach, tried to bank a cheque at the Commonwealth bank, that is such a frustrating process these days.

Today I had a sleep in as I'd missed a lot of sleep due to hot flashes. A 2pm to 7pm shift made for a short day on the farm, I fed everyone and put out a bale of hay for Jaffa's group. I tried out the shoes at work and they are much lighter than my current pair, and seem to have given me enough support. I'll see how my feet feel in the morning.

Last night I saw an ad for an adult literacy program coordinator position at the Scottsdale Library. Permanent part time, a good pay rate. I sent a message to the job agency for more information.

11th June, 2024

It was clear and quiet and sunny on Monday. The forecast for bad weather coming stood, so I checked on everyone's hay and ended up putting out a bale of silage for Jaffa's mob. 

Usually I use a strap and chain to drag silage, but this time I was able to lift a bale just off the ground and carry it to the right place. Carrying with hay forks means piercing the plastic wrap so can only be done when you are about to feed out. When you bring silage in from the paddock you need a tractor with soft grab "hands" to carry it.

Geoff cut the water soaked shelf out of the bathroom cabinet with our small chainsaw, now I need to get some storage shelves to make the most of the cupboard.

Today dawned miserable, wet and windy. The rain and wind arrived in the wee small hours and was almost horizontal. I did the animals and then went back to bed until 1pm. The dogs spent the day inside too, pretending that there was thunder in the storm.

Jaffa's group and Annie's group were in their sheds, making trips out to their bales. The bull, however, hadn't followed the girls in and was standing in the rain up the far end. He could see the trees nearby, I wonder if he is a bit dumb to sire the next lot of calves...

The sheep were also standing out in the rain, but I could do something about that. I opened the hay shed up for them and they started nibbling on the rounds happily out of the wind and rain. I left them there for the day and night, I'll see what the weather brings tomorrow.

Beanie managed to come in with Annie for breakfast, so I gave her a few scoops of chaff and some horse & pony pellets as well. I picked up stock feed later on, and found that chaff had been reduced in bag size. Apparently Work Health and Safety had decided that 25kg was too heavy for the employees.

Geoff picked up another "huggle" from the post office, a fleecy smock type of thing for sitting around in. They are very warm and comfortable so we got one each instead of arm wrestling for the one.

We are off to Launceston tomorrow, Geoff to look at zero turn mowers and me to pick up a number of small items and have my appointment to draw up my will. The car is fueled up and I have picked an e book to listen to on the way down. I think we will have lunch at a nice restaurant too.

9th June, 2024

The clouds are starting to gather, rumour has it there's another front coming in. Everyone has food and shelter so I feel good. I'd like to replace the plastic curtain in front of the chook house before the next easterly though.

I thought the bull was going to come through the gate and find the hay bale and shelter, but he got distracted by one of the heifers and didn't get any further than the corner of the paddock. Annie and Beanie and their calves were all at the gate, so at least he saw where it is and that it's open.

I did a bit of research on zero turn mowers today. Getting one is the biggest item on the wish list. If we get a good tough one I don't even need to get a slasher for the tractor. It would be handy to be able to tidy up the areas the hay mowing doesn't get, to bring on new growth.

Geoff did a couple of jobs around the farm today. A waterproof cap on the top of one of the power poles, to prevent water getting down the cut end and rotting it out. While he was on the ladders he also screwed down the eastern end of the dairy roof before the next easterly started pulling that off. 

In the house he ran the first lengths of copper pipe to replumb the laundry and make life a little simpler. He was planning to go and get the other parts tomorrow, but forgot everything (except Woolies) will be closed because it's Kings Birthday long weekend. That sounds really odd, I guess we'll get used to it.

8th June, 2024

It was very cold this morning when I got up to go do my fortnightly office shift, but no frost on the windscreen.

I was in by myself with Janice at home staying close to her phone in case I needed to ask any questions. I only needed to ask 2; why did we have tickets for christmas stock (she has no idea but said to bin them) and how to make the bank note counter stop doing bundles of 10 (hit menu, bundle and type in 250).

I finished all the essential jobs with ten minutes to spare. I figure as I get faster I can start fitting in the non essential but handy ones too. Not bad for only my third shift and all a fortnight apart.

When I got home at about 11.30 I found the bull finally up near the girls, with Abe hero worshiping him. Beanie went out later and was licking his ears, so I think he'll be fine.

I fed all the critters, did some basic chores, threw my uniform in the wash and went to bed for two hours for a much needed catch up. Five shifts in a row, tomorrow off and then back Monday. At least it's a public holiday so on a good loading rate.

I went shopping online for spare parts for Geoff's CPAP mask and found headgear and clips for $25, and two spare face cushions for $28, all free shipping. I also bought a knee pillow, one of those things you sleep with between your knees to align your back and hips properly. That was $6. 

Finding these bargains is helping stretch the dollars right now. I picked up a hooded fleecy smock at the post office, which is wonderful for keeping warm of an evening.

7th June, 2024

Another lovely day following a frost. There was no wind so the grass was still wet by the time I went to work.

Robyn's bull still hasn't joined the girls. Abe was in with Jaffa's group again, I can only assume he ducked under the electric again. Annie, his mum, wasn't happy about that but his love for milk arrowroot biscuits makes it easy to get him back on the right side of the fence.

Beanie had a bleed off today, which means the bull missed her heat by 24 - 48 hours. I will have to factor in two heats in keeping the bull here, so that effectively adds three weeks to his visit. 

I did a hay and silage stocktake today, 3 days per bale will eat up my 33 rounds in approximately 100 days. Just over three months. This doesn't allow for eating more as the weather gets colder. I have 11 bales of silage, that may just cover the shortfall. I think I will be lucky if I am moving onto fresh grass by the time we run out.

Geoff discovered a leak in the plumbing for the bathroom vanity. The shelf inside has gotten wet and has mostly disintegrated. I emptied everything out and when he's fixed the plumbing and removed the shelf I will get some stacking racks to help organise the contents better.

The passport office rang again just as I was getting ready for work. Instead of mentioning this when they asked for new photos, they waited until they'd received those before looking at the next box. The requirement was a stat dec saying I'd lost my expired passport. In some contrition the lady said I could fill in the form, scan in and email it to them instead of racing up to the post office to send it and ending up late for work. Hopefully that's the last problem.

These are the unsuccessful applicants for the cow daddy job. Speckle park on the left and hereford on the right. I'll get a photo of the successful angus if he ever shows his face near the girls.

6th June, 2024

The weather was lovely today, at least after a frost the days are generally pleasant. The forecast shows another front coming in by the end of the weekend.

Robyn and I dropped a bull in with Beanie and Annie this morning. First through the gate was the angus. Sigh. All black calves again this year. If he gets his act together ... he didn't want to leave his buddies. I put Beanie and Abe into the paddock to show him there were cattle here, but they didn't want to leave Annie and Selkie, and Abe even managed to four wheel drift right under the electric fence in with Jaffa's group.

In the end I left all the gates open for Annie's group to roam up where the bull is camped so they can bring him back to where their round bale is. Thankfully Abe is used to following a biscuit, so he was relatively easy to get back into the right paddock.

While I was bull wrangling Freya and Zippy got into the feed bunks to fight with Star and Joey over their pellets. When I found them all four were cleaning up the small bale of grass hay that I'd put out for Annie last rain event. At least someone liked it. Got those four all back where they were supposed to be.

Jaffa's group have already eaten the round bale I put out for them, I was hoping it would last a week. Three days is going to go through my hay pretty fast. I tried to start Bessie and she flat out wouldn't go. I am going to have to warm the motor before starting when the mornings are below 5 degrees. Eventually she started and I put out one of the remaining older rounds.

I went back up to the house for lunch and noticed a gate had actually fallen over when I went out to feed the chooks. Annie had knocked the gate next to the hayshed off the combination of baling twine and chain loosely hooked around a nail and was in the hay shed. Some running repairs to that and Annie back where she should be and I turned around and the sheep were in the hayshed. What is with everyone today ??

5th June, 2024

I had a sleep in this morning. Four hours standing in a trailer holding large dogs onto a table followed by a five hour shift on my feet at woolies was more than exhausting. I didn't do much more than the basics around the house (filled the dishwasher and brought in a load of washing) but I did do some cow moving.

Annie, Beanie, Abe and Selkie are now in the piggery paddock, and I used Bessie (now fully charged) to put a round bale out for them. The rest of the cattle and the sheep have the sheep shelter/barnyard and cowmahal areas, with the bale I put out the other day.

The reason for the moving is that a bull is going in with Annie and Beanie. I tried getting the bull once the girls were set up, but they took one look at me and headed for the other end of the paddock. Big babies. Robyn will give me a hand getting one tomorrow. There are an angus, a hereford and a speckle park. While I would like more pretty babies, which the speckle park bull will give, it really doesn't matter on a practical level. Both girls have calved before so I don't need to worry as much about the size of the calf.

We are clearing alot of discontinued stock at work at the moment. One of the things on the clearance table is vegan spam. As if normal spam wasn't bad enough ...

4th June, 2024

I got straight down to the post office as soon as it opened, and thankfully their camera was working. We took new photos and sent them off and fingers crossed we might even have an approval by the end of the week.

I had time to feed and treat the critters before the groomer arrived to do Poppy and Finn. Poppy had the full bath and blow dry and Finn had a good brush through. That will keep them comfortable and matt free for a couple of months.

Robyn has moved her three bulls to the paddock next to the gate between our farms. I'll separate Beanie and Annie and their calves and the first bull through the gate is going to be the beau. Bull roulette.

This is the herd enjoying the round bale I put out for them. They are making a mess of it, I wish they'd stand and chew instead of dragging it out and dropping half of it. At least the dropped and trampled hay is helping squash out the barley grass.

 

3rd June, 2024

We had a severe weather warning starting at 2am. This did not happen. About lunchtime it got really windy and just on dark we got a little rain. What we did have was some atmospheric moisture and a midday sunshine which put a rare southerly rainbow up. The other end was just on the fig tree (in the tree guard) in the sheep shelter paddock, so it was technically a full arc, just with no moisture to show it at the top.

This is a closer view of the other end, just hovering in the mist.

I needed to put feed out for everyone and decided to use silage, and got the chain and strap out for Bessie. Unfortunately two weeks of cold weather since her last charge left the battery not quite punchy enough to start her. So I put the charger on for an overnight charge and Geoff and I rolled a hay round out of the hayshed by hand and put that in a ring in the barnyard. 

 

While the sheep are in with the cows there is no point trying to feed them treats in tubs, it will be a scrum. So I am introducing the sheep to the lucerne cubes. I am now up to 5 of the 7 happy to eat them. Two of the cattle no longer want chocolate chip cookies, they get two cubes. 

 

I received a call from the passport office late in the afternoon. It turns out that the photos I had found and used for my application were the same shot I had used to renew it last time, so I couldn't use those. I didn't know this because I couldn't find my old passport so didn't see the photo in it ...So I have to get new passport photos, but the camera at the post office wasn't working when I did the passport application. Which is why I was glad to find some suitable pics in the folder ... 

If the camera is still out of order at the post office I will have to drive to Launceston to get shots done. And it will have to be tomorrow because every day counts in trying to get this paperwork done to close the SMSF off before the end of the financial year. I can't believe things are still going wrong !!!

2nd June, 2024

On Friday Aimee and Gray arrived after a slow and steady drive. They saw lots of evidence of trees down across the road, but as most Tasmanian utes seem to contain a chainsaw they had been cleared by the time they went through.

The rains finally finished and the total for the fall was 40.8mm, quite respectable. The dogs spent the night inside, they weren't at all keen on either the high winds or the distant lightning.

I made a hoisin meatball tray bake for dinner, which was popular enough for seconds all round.

On Saturday we did a farm walk and Aimee gave pats to everyone and I showed Gray all the things needing repair or renovation if he wants to do some handyman work over this way. It was a very long list.......

We then changed and headed out to Derby for lunch at the Hub, where Aimee worked for a year when she was living with us in Tasmania. She caught up with the owners and they said to message when she was settled in the UK and they'd give her the contact numbers of some friends there who might be able to be of assistance if needed, or just show her around.

We then grabbed an icecream and did a walk along the main road and checked out all the things that had changed since she was last there. We went into the little school house museum, which now seems to house some of the display that used to be in the tin mining museum nearby, which is now a bar and cafe.

Star had a bleed off on Saturday, which tells me she was on heat three days ago. When I borrow a bull I will have to make sure he only has access to the girls I specifically want bred.

Today Aimee and Gray packed all her gear and adjusted the backpack so that it sat properly and moved the weight from her shoulders to her hips. She will also have a massive suitcase, I hope her luggage arrives at the right place because there's alot of it !

We had breakfast and a good chat and sorted out last details and then Gray took her to Launceston for her first leg to Melbourne. She reported later that the flight was delayed and there was alot of turbulence, but that she was now safely set up in her motel room for the night. Tomorrow she flies from Melbourne to Shanghai, and after an overnight there on to London.

I had a little cry when she left, which is silly, as she's going to be away about as long as she normally is from Tasmania, but it feels like a very long way away. I hope she has a wonderful adventure and makes many good friends and memories.

I fed all the critters and then decided to open the gate and give all the cows and sheep access to all the currently grazed areas so they can share round bales. Neither group is big enough to eat a whole bale before it started to weather, but together they should make more efficient use of the feed.

There's an east coast low bringing more high winds (south easterly for a change) and rain tonight, so I will get the dogs fed and set up with beds in the house before the rains start so that they don't come in soaking wet this time. They have shelter, they just like standing in the rain and barking.

This is the cow herd after they were let in together, the adults settled down to grazing together, but the calves had a very happy run and buck. It's always good to have a group of youngsters. The hills have greened up dramatically, a month ago this view was all brown.