Mud Glorious Mud!

Work with the animals on the farm has slowed down.

It is back to the dams...and mud glorious mud!

The tractors drag the scoop back and forth through the mud until they find the bottom of the dam.

Then it is time to call in a little more horse power. 

BUT this horse power does not have hooves!

We are lucky that PopPop has his very own bulldozer. 

It is his most favourite toy on the whole farm!

It can move alot of dirt.

Look at all this mud.....

We just need to get it finished before the rain arrives?

A few steers left to sell, this afternoon they got a special treat of oats.

A treat for me too......a close up with Clover, Freckles and Curly.

More treats....a ride in a.....

WOOHOO!!!!!!

Dad has been preparing some paddocks for sowing.

 He has had to burn some of the paddocks because they have to much old dry grass for the  combine to sow through. As soon as it rains Dad will be busy sowing oats for winter feed. 

The weatherman says there will be rain this week. 

That would make us all very happy and once again very busy!

Heatwave!

It is summer and it is really, really HOT and very, very DRY!

There has been no rain on the farm for a really long time. 

The grass is brown and crackly, the dirt is dry and dusty.

The feed for the animals is quickly disappearing, so too is the water.

Time to sell off some animals. 

Woolworths have taken another load of meat lambs at $4.00 per kilogram. 

 My other pet lamb Racer was on that truck, he made $97.00.

The last of the lambs will go to the sale yards this week. They are either too heavy or too light for Woolworths. 

So we will try our luck in the sale yards.

There are steers fat and ready for sale too. 

When the days are SOOOO hot, Dad and PopPop start work early.

 They mustered the steers early this morning for weighing.

Today it is a little cooler so I am off to help too.

 

All the steers are tagged and weighed. My job is to organise the ear tags.

Some of my pet calves are in this mob.

Curly, Clover and Freckles they have grown up very big. They are not as big as the ones that had their Mums to feed them but they are good. They weigh about 400 kilograms.

 I think they remember me?

A man is coming to the farm this afternoon to check the steers and make sure they are good enough to sell. If they are good they will go on the truck tonight.

More animals will need to leave the farm, as the feed disappears. 

I wonder who will be next?

While it is hot in the middle of the day Dad works in the shed. 

Henry Ford is broken down. His radiator that keeps him cool is leaking.

 Dad has had to pull Henry apart to get him fixed.

I do what I can to help...but it is pretty compilcated!

Henry Ford has alot of work to do soon, he has to help prepare all the paddocks for sowing.

But that will not happen until it rains.....I wonder when that will be.

Time to head back inside for me....too stinking hot! I am going to find a fan!!!!

Incredible Hulk!

Amazing what a drop of rain can do....on Tuesday we had a good fall of rain.

And the grass in the paddocks has started to grow, like crazy!

The farm has started to turn from a winter brown to a happy green!

Mother nature plays a very important part on our farm.

We need the rain and the sun to make the grasses grow.

 The animals eat the grass and turn it into meat and wool.

Then we harvest the meat and wool and feed and clothe people everywhere!

Today five of our steers have left the farm, they are entered in a competition. 
Incredible Hulk is the heaviest steer in the team, he weighs 460kg!

Do you remember the boy on the left....this is HULK...hasn't he grown up BIG!

They will travel to a big feedlot with lots of other cattle.

They will be fed special food everyday for 110 days and they will grow bigger and bigger.
I hope they are happy there.
Maybe I can go and visit them sometime.

Battle of the Breeds

Fat cattle everywhere.....

More steers ready for sale, these ones are a little different to last weeks steers.

Dad, Mum and I bred these ones, their Dad is not a Poll Hereford bull. He is a Blue-E bull.

I call him BIG RED, he is a cross between a shorthorn (red) and a Angus (black).

These steers are 17 and 18 months old, they are very fat. They averaged 558kg on the farm.

They have grown that big just eating grass.

I wonder how they will sell?

$1.92c/kg and they weighed 525kg at the saleyards.

 Dad is a little disappointed with that, the market was a little cheaper today.

Anyway........ BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME!

Fat and Finished!

Weigh in time....some of PopPop's steers are fat and finished and ready for sale.

All the steers need to have special ear tags put in, so the buyers know which farm they came from.
My job is to load the tagging gun.

Dad checks their teeth to make sure they still have their baby teeth.

They don't look much like babies anymore.

Look at the size of that BUTT, he is really FAT!

When my job is done, I find something that is even better FUN.....

MUD PIES!

Mum and I went to the cattle sale to see PopPop's steers sold.

PopPop would really like $2.00/kg for them, fingers crossed..................

 

As we leave the sale yards the big trucks start rolling in to truck the cattle away....I wonder where PopPop's steers will go?