Farwell, Goodbye!

All our cows are being mustered up, time for them to say so long, farewell, goodbye to their babies.

Their babies are now nine months old and weigh about 300kg.
 So they are big enough to look after themselves. A bit like me really!
 They can eat grass and do not need so much milk anymore. 
And their mothers need to prepare for the arrival of their new babies, in July and August.

We call the babies, "weaner calves".
They need some special attention before they head back to the paddock.

A needle for diseases and a drench for worms.

 A pen full of weaner calves.
They will really miss their mums, BUT there comes a time when everyone must go it alone!
The calves will spend a few days in the yards. We will feed them hay.

The cows also get a little attention to, some of them need a drench.

And the cows that do not have a calf growing inside are drafted off to go to the cattle sale!

Sun, Dirt & Water + Fertiliser = Healthy Plants

The ewes are eating lots of oats....the silos are emptying fast!

We need to sow more oats to fill the silos at harvest time.

Seeds need sun, dirt and water to grow.

We add another ingredient to boost them along......fertiliser.

It comes in really big bags, you need a loader to move them about because they are really heavy. This bag is worth about $750.00.
I would not like to carry it home from the shops!

 

Come ON Muscles!

need a bit more horsepower

PopPop says when he was younger the fertiliser came in little bags and they lifted it by hand. PopPop must have been really strong then.
Today we have lots of machines to make lifting easier. It will save our backs and bodies.

oats in the left and fertiliser in the right

All loaded up and ready to go.........

Wiggly Worms

Have you seen our worm farm?

For animals so small they sure do eat alot!

On the menu today......from the kitchen...

green lettuce leaves... I have to tear it all up for them.

Look at them all, healthy looking creatures.



The worms give me fertiliser for my vegetable patch.

Sometimes I get buckets and buckets.



The worms have to share the kitchen scraps with the chooks, sometimes there is barely enough to go around.

Because I never leave much on my dinner plate!

I have 5 new chooks, 4 Silver Laced Wyandottes and one Gold Laced.

Four of them look alike so it was very hard to name them.

So we have called them Silky 1, Silky 2, Silky 3, Silky 4 and Rose, she is the gold laced one.

We are not getting any eggs because all the old chooks are loosing their feathers and the young ones have not started laying yet.

It will be springtime before the egg supply really picks up again!



Can you See?

They're HERE.....can you see them?

The ewes stay close by their babies to protect them.

These ewes have 2 lambs in their tummies, they are very big and their udders are full of milk.

All their babies will POP out soon!

Some of the ewes are getting sick, they are getting pregnancy toxemia.

They stand or sit in the paddock alone, stop eating and drinking, and run out of energy.

If we find them early enough we give them medicine BUT it is very hard to save them.

PopPop is very disappointed, there is so much grass in the paddocks he thought they would be right.

Dad says there is always something that will go 'pear shaped'!

Time out... for Easter Fun!

A break in the rhythm....... and time for some FUN!

Lots of Easter visitors, beautiful autumn days...

I cannot think of a better reason for a sausage sizzle and some toasted marshmallows!



YUMMO!

And then for a spot of adventure, we built the bestest cubby house!

Dinner is Served!

Beautiful autumn weather, cool mornings and warm sunny days!

Perfect weather for lambing. Baby lambs are due to arrive on the 11th of April.

I can't wait!

The ewes are getting bigger and bigger, they need lots of energy now.

Dad is serving them up oats and lime, trying to keep them strong.

 Ready for the arrival of their babies.

in it goes....it looks like they are enjoying the blocks I gave them....

this is where the ewes nibble up the oats....

the ewes can smell the grain...they are waiting patiently.......

sneaking up a little bit closer.....

These ewes are having two lambs, there is very little room left inside their body for food, so the food they eat MUST BE GOOD!

While the grain goes into the feeders I find something fun to do.

ZOOM.....ZOOM in my aeroplane!

Dad is also serving up some food for the nasty foxes...we don't need them around while the ewes are having their babies. No, no, NO!

PopPop's oats is up and away, the seeds have grown very quickly.

It seems the everything is enjoying this beautiful weather.

AMAZING!

The numbers are amazing...read for yourselves....

http://art4agriculture.com.au/alexander/

Lucky we have farmers, isn't it?