Showing posts with label scan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scan. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Patiently Waiting.

It's been raining, not pouring but it has rained.

The smell of rain is very welcome, and the sound of water running down the pipes into our water tanks is like music to the ears. 

Pitter Patter rain drops, ever so gentle. Slowly soaking into the dry, dry earth.

This morning it was lovely and cool after the showers overnight. 
Mum and I went walking and discovered just how dry and thirsty the ground really is.




Enormous cracks in the ground. Waiting for lots of rain.

We have to be very patient farmers. We rely very much on mother nature.
The rain will come when it is ready.














Back to some stock work, the weather has cooled down.
The bulls left the cows six weeks ago so now it is time to take a sneak peek inside the cows......to see if they are having babies.

We have been busy mustering up cows, the man is coming tomorrow to scan them.





All the cows are in the yards waiting.




Not so patiently they are very noisy!





These cows still have big calves drinking milk from them, we have to separate them while the man peeks inside to see the new calf growing. 
They miss their big babies.



It does not take long to look in all the cows, they go through very quickly.




The man has a special screen just in front of his eye, this is where he can see the baby calf.


Do you remember my pet calves? Three of them are girls.
Today they will find out whether they will soon be mums. 

Stella is first to come through.....waiting....


Yes! Stella is pregnant!

Then Queenie.....bad news.... empty. Queenie will be sold.

Last of all Stinky.....waiting.....


Yes! Stinky is pregnant! 

There are nine cows not in calf, they will be sold.

The summer has been so hot and dry with not much rain, we cannot keep stock that are not producing more animals. Sadly they have to go. 

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Weekend Work.

A week of school and learning, and then time to get out and get dirty.

There are more cattle to scan, a busy day in the cattle yards.
Lots of noise as calves call for their mothers, gates open and shut, and motorbikes move.

Dad and PopPop work the cattle in the yards, I watch everything going on with my baby doll Annabelle!


My job starts when the man has finished a mob. We will take the mob back to the paddock. One of my aunties has come home to help, so I am going to ride with her.
Mum will be on her own.
A big job for a Saturday morning, but by lunchtime all the cows and calves are back in the paddocks and happy.

PopPop is also happy. Nearly all his cows are going to have baby calves in August.

All hands on deck Sunday, a beautiful morning for blackberry picking!

Dad is very clever at finding things to do, so on the way home from picking blackberries, we do a little bit of fencing.
Dad says many hands make light work so we ALL get busy!

Down with the OLD....


and UP with the NEW


It will be so much better, it will keep the sheep and cows in the right paddock.
AND maybe even keep the kangaroos out too!


My job is to pick up all the old timber posts, then Mum will drive along and pick them up, they will make good firewood.


Dad says we have done really well...and thanks us for our help.

Teamwork!

Saturday, February 11, 2012

One, Two or Empty!

Time to take a peek inside and see how many baby lambs the ewes have inside.

A big day mustering up ALL the ewes on the farm 2400 of them. The sheep yards are packed full of sheep.


Every ewe has to walk up into a special box......


and the man hiding in there scans her tummy to see how many lambs are inside...


a screen shows him how many lambs are hidden deep inside...


the ewes are then put into different groups, ewes with one lamb, ewes with two and ewes that are empty.
The empty ewes will be sold, they will not make us much money.


It is a very big days work, at then end of the day everyone is weary, even the dogs!
The work is not over yet.....all the sheep have to go back to the paddocks!
AND
We have to prepare for the 3268 lambs that will be born in 2 months time.

OH MY GOODNESS .....that is alot of baby lambs!

Monday, February 6, 2012

Empty or In Calf?

Back to school for me today, my second week of many to come.
BUT
first things first......

A dozen pelicans flew onto the dam behind the house last night, so Mum drove me down to see them gliding on the water and feeding on PopPop's golden perch.
 He won't be HAPPY!


They are beautiful birds!

Off to the cattle yards to check on things, before going to the bus.
A man is coming today to scan the cows to see if they are all going to have calves.

All the cows are put into the crush and held there while he takes a peek inside.





Can you see the eyepiece hanging from his cap?

He sees a picture of what is inside the cow there. Then he lets Dad know if she is empty or in calf. Empty cows have their eartag number recorded and they will be sold once their big calves are weaned from them. They will not make us any money this year so they will leave the farm. The ones with calves are good girls so they get to stay!

A messy job putting your hand up there....lucky he wears long gloves!

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