Who Lives Here?

Alot of chirping coming from somewhere? I can hear you BUT I can't see you...

My listening ears are turned up loud. Tiptoe, tiptoe where are you?

Finally... I found you...a bird nest that has fallen from the tree. Alot of noise in there!

I wonder who lives here?

Peak a Boo I can't see you......

 

There is a tunnel going deep down in there....

With a little help from Dad, we take a closer look.

And look what we find!.... babies.

There are 5 in the nest. Red-browed Finch or Red-browed Firetails.

Dad returns the nest to the tree, they will be safe there. The Mum and Dad fly in and out of the nest with feed for the babies

The next day, the babies have left the nest.

They are with their Mum and Dad, learning how to live outside the nest.

Fly little bird.... FLY!

Sowing the Seed

This is the way we sow the oats, sow the oats, sow the oats!

This is the way we sow the oats, early in the morning!

The ground is moist and the sun is warm, perfect for planting seeds.

Some of the paddocks on our farm are hilly.

We use a different machine to plant the seeds in these paddocks.

 

 This machine does not move very much dirt,

 

it makes a very small groove in the ground and the seed and fertiliser are dropped in..

 

This is where the oat seed and fertiliser are carried

 

All these seeds will make hundreds more at harvest time.

And in a couple of months this will be a paddock of green, green oats.

The ewes and lambs will love it!

Home Delivery.

It is only about 3 weeks until we will see the first baby lambs arrive.
The ewes need to stay strong and healthy to rear the best lambs they can.

There is plenty of grass in the paddocks and it is green and lush, but sometimes that is just not enough.

Dad has put feeders full of oats and lime in the paddocks with the twin ewes, they need a bit of extra energy to rear two lambs.

We are also putting out some special blocks. They are full of special vitamins and minerals.
 The sheep lick them like lollipops and they are meant to be really good for them.
They do not look that yummy to me!

I had a very special helper on the weekend, my cousins came to visit.

 

I love my cousin Hughie! And he is a great helper!

BUT sometimes a little CRAZY!

I am looking forward to lambing, baby lambs are so cute.

I wonder whether I will find any pet lambs this year..............?

Gentle Giants!

Bull buying....each year new bulls and rams need to be bought.

Mum and Dad went off today to find a new poll Hereford bull. I hope they get a good one!

 There are lots to choose from....

When buying new bulls there are lots of things to look at.

The bulls have numbers that tell us how well they grow and how good their meat is.

We also need to look at how well the bulls are put together.
They need to have good feet, good eyes and good legs.

Dad and Mum got one....Number 78, his name is Frank. He is worth $3500.00.
 I really hope the cows like him, they won't get to meet Frank until the spring.

In the meantime,
the cows need to say goodbye to the calves they have now 
AND hello to new ones they will have in August.

They are busy GALS!

Come ON...Register Now!

It is that time of year again.....

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO VISIT A FARM OR HAVE A CITY FAMILY VISIT YOU...
you need to register now!

Click on the link at the top of my blog or go to www.farmday.com.au

It is so much fun. If you would like to see what you can get up to have a look at our post 'City Friends' from 2011. I can't wait...I wonder who will come to our farm this year?

Baby Shower for the Girls!

It is that time again.....getting ready for lambing...

All the ewes have been mustered up for their annual appointment with the shearers.

Time to clean up the wool around their faces and a little around their bottom too!

 Down the chute and out into the yards for their next appointment with Dad.

Time for a needle, which will help protect both the ewes and the unborn lamb from bad diseases and.....

Open wide..... some medicine for worms........AAAAAAAHHHH......

 

With all this rain the flies just keep hanging around.....so Dad is spraying the ewes with a special chemical to keep them AWAY!
We do not need to be chasing flies when the ewes are having their babies.

Off they go.....now they need to rest up. In 4 weeks their babies will arrive!

Gotta GO!

Finally...they are all off to sale.

Normally all our lambs are sold before Christmas BUT this year they have taken alot longer to get ready for sale. The grass has been too long for lambs to do really well.

AND NOW the price has come down.

 So Mum and Dad are not real happy about that.

BUT the time has come to truck them out, good or bad money..... they have to go!

The lambs will be 1 year old soon, and then they will be worth less money. The meat buyers like the lambs young.

In about 4 weeks time all the ewes start lambing again, so we need to make room for new lambs.

Dad yards the lambs late in the afternoon, they need to be empty to go on the truck. Otherwise they put poo and wee everywhere!
They travel alot better on an empty stomach.

The lambs have lovely clean noses all the rain has washed them pink!

Hopefully there will not be too many lambs at the sale yards tomorrow and ours will sell well!

Another disappointing sale the lambs topped at $106 and bottomed at $82.

Mum and Dad are disappointed, all the work the lambs have had done to them.

Mum says:

'there is not alot of "icing on the cake".

We should have sold them earlier the money was better and we had not spent so much money on them'

BUT that is what happens sometimes....it is a bit like a lottery ticket!

Autumn Days

A beautiful autumn day....great to be out in the sunshine.

Time to get to work on my garlic garden....first I need to put some really good dirt on top. A trip to the shearing shed...for some sheep poo will do the trick.

Later in the autumn it will be time to plant the bulbs.

The rain has been lovely, it has made the grass grow like crazy!

BUT it does bring some headaches with it.....

some of the sheep are getting fly blown and some sheep have sore feet from standing in the water. The roads on the hills have big gullies in them, and the fences at the creek crossing are all washed down. The paddocks are so wet we can't drive anywhere....we can only get around on the motorbikes. The animals really would like to see a couple of weeks of sunshine. So would I and so would Dad.

It is hard to know what job to do first?

Food Basket.

At last the sun returns...... just in time for autumn. A change of seasons.

The days are getting shorter, in the morning when I wake, it is just a little darker.

The trees in the garden are slowly changing colours, and soon the leaves with fall to the ground.

I love to play in the autumn leaves!

A busy afternoon picking vegetables....after a week of wet weather, the vegetable garden is a bit of a mess.

Capsicums are red and ready....my favourite. They are lovely and sweet. Great in salad!

There are tomatoes everywhere.....

the rain has not been good for them, there are plenty of nice ones but also lots of split ones ruined because they have had TOO much water!

still plenty for us.......

The chooks are also glad to see the sunshine, maybe they will lay a few more eggs.

 They don't lay many in the cold wet weather. I have only been getting 2 a day!

Some bad news on the chook numbers too, Charcoal is missing!

Somewhere out there, I think there is a cheeky fox....he best stay away from my chooks!

Now I only have 4, Snow White, Frosty, Ginger and Speckles.

I hope they stay safe.

Forces of Nature!

What a week of CRAZY weather!

It has been pouring rain everyday. We have been stuck inside all weekend.

We have had over 200mm, that is HEAPS. Everything is soaking wet!

The water is running off the hills everywhere,

down into the creeks

and off to join the rivers.

Lots of people living along the rivers are flooded, some of that water comes from our farm.

Yesterday there was a short break in the weather, Dad put on all his wet weather gear and headed off on the bike to check the animals and the dams. The animals are not enjoying the rain, even the DUCKS have disappeared from the dams.

I wonder where a duck goes to keep dry?

The turtles are even in trouble, Dad found 2 turtles blocking a drain pipe in the dam.

All the water went over the bank of the dam instead of through the pipe.

PopPop's roads are a mess, the water is so strong it washes gullies everywhere.

There will be lots of roadwork to do when it dries up.

The wind is very strong too, with the ground so wet and the wind so strong the trees even have trouble hanging on.

The big gum tree at our mailbox fell down yesterday and blocked the road.

Dad, PopPop and I went down with the chainsaws and tractor to clear it away.

I need to get to school tomorrow SO we need to move it.

A new day today.....I wonder what mother nature will send us.

I woke up really early this morning and saw the most beautiful sunrise!

It was so orange it looked like a fire.

and then the rain came back!

Webbed Feet?

The last day of summer?

Rain, rain and more rain......the farm is SO soggy.

Not much to do but try and stay dry.

My chooks are not even that fond of the wet....I let them out this afternoon and they returned at once to the yard.
I think they to have had enough of the wet summer.

I think ONLY the DUCKS would be enjoying today!