Thursday, December 29, 2011

Another addition

Today saw the arrival of the 9th Angus calf.
The Blondes and some of the other Angus cattle were more than interested in the little one.

Friday, December 9, 2011

New Chooks

Late last night we welcomed some beautiful new Cuckoo Chickens to our hen house.
Although we were told they had finished laying for the season, there were two eggs waiting for me when I got home.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Black beauties

Last night we had a truck load of 20 cattle arrive. Bruce kindly went to the cattle sales and purchased cattle on behalf of Tom and myself while we were out earning money to pay for the cattle!

We now have more black cattle than we do Blondes, but over the years to come, we hope the ratio will change.

The girls were let out into the paddock this afternoon and seem very relaxed.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Goodbye Chops

After Chops spent the morning walking around the grass being fed hand-shelled sunflower seeds and warm soaked weetbix, spending lunch time sitting on my shoulder, and the afternoon in the sun while I hung out the washing, Chops has now left us.
Some TLC and a gust of wind was all he needed to get back out into the wild. I hope the little fella survives.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Welcome Chops!

The hen house is now occupied again after Bruce gave us a little Galah that had been blown out of the nest and was walking on the road.
I have named him (or her!) Chops due to the fluffy feathers on his cheeks.
The little bird may not be laying eggs for us, but is definitely providing entertainment.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Bad fox

Today I lost my two remaining chickens. The feathers left behind show the unmistakable work of a fox. When the two girls didn't come running up to my car I knew something was wrong. I will definitely miss them.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

It'a a(nother) girl!

We have been waiting patiently for the last 10 days for Tom's first stud cow, Bree, to calve. Bree has a history for her past two calves of only calving when Tom is away. I joked that Tom should go and spend a night at his parents, and the modest girl might calve.
True to form, Bree has calved on the first night that Tom and I are away on our extended Melbourne cup long weekend break. Bruce kindly went up to check on her for Tom and gave us the good news.
I can't wait to see the little lady when we get back.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Around the farms

More fencing and more work has been done over the past few weeks.
Here are some photos of our farm and Jane & Bruce's farm.
Blue Gum in the sunset

Sunset view from the lane way

The bulls hanging out

Snowy Lamb

Lad looking a bit sorry for himself after be de-horned yesterday

Lambs waiting for the ewes

Pet Lambs


Fatty and Ginger Ninja

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Evening break

After a day full of work on the farm, Tom and I took some time out to have a beer and watch the sun set.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Mouse in the house

There's a mouse in the house.
Last night I arrived home to an open packet of Tim Tams that had been nibbled on ... And unlike usual it was not nibbled on by Tom.
I put a bait in the pantry and woke up to half of it missing. Hopefully that will be the last of the rodent visitors for a while.

On a sadder note, when I arrived home tonight and locked up the chickens, there was one missing. With the sniffer dog Buck to guide me, I found a lot of feathers in the yard. Clearly the local foxes are getting very bold to come so close to the house during the day. The chooks will stay locked up for a few days to prevent any further loss. I'm now left wondering whether having Grace around would have helped to keep the chooks safe.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Soft

The not so tough Bucko was a bit chilly this morning.
When lighting the fire I was wishing for some Melbourne style central heating on a timer!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Operation Horse

A few weeks ago the time came that we could move my horse Willy across to the farm.
I have never floated a horse before, so I thought this might be an exercise that took quite some time. I was pleasantly surprised that he walked straight onto the float and let out a loud neigh to announce his arrival at the farm.
The chickens, as always were the welcoming committee and checked out the float when Willy was clear.
I have been for a couple of rides since he came over, and he seemed very happy and relaxed in his new home.



Saturday, July 30, 2011

Blondes on the move

Tom moved the blondes last week while I was at work and got some pics for me. They have settled in well and were enjoying the sunshine this morning.
 

 


Grace departed the company of the hens today, and I don't think the girls even noticed. I was happy to be outside and not have to watch my back. We had a roast chicken (from the local shops) for lunch to celebrate.

Tonight I had a very different experience from what would have constituted a Saturday night in Melbourne. I played midwife to a ewe with pregnancy toxemia. The ewe was not going to live past the next 24 hours and after my persuading, Tom decided to try and give the ewe a c-section by torch light to see if the twins were alive. Unfortunately one of the twins was well gone (hence how sick the ewe was) and the other wasn't alive either. I'm sad that we didn't have any success, however I guess that's "life on the farm".

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

6 days and counting

The countdown is on until we become de-Graced. After an unprovoked attack on Friday morning from Grace on my way to work, I have finally agreed that Grace can not stay on the farm. Knowing that no one else would want a crazy rooster, his days are now limited.

On a more exciting note, 4 of the cows (Clover, Citrus, Chloe and Debra) and their calves (Gem, Gidget, Gucci and Gippy Girl) made the move over to the farm yesterday.
They seemed pretty relaxed when I got home last night, and I am sure they're enjoying the plentiful grass.
I'll upload some pics soon.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Update

It has been a long time between posts.
Tom and I have had plenty of visitors over the past few weeks, including from interstate.
Bruce and Tom have been tirelessly putting in posts, hammering in staples and straining wires and we are now getting very close to having an area to contain some cattle. Tom is hoping to truck some over within the next week. They're starting to get very hungry in their boggy 'quarantine' paddock, so some long grass would be very welcomed by the girls.

Grace (the rooster) has disgraced himself after attacking my Nanna a few weeks ago, and is now on death row. However, he does serve his purpose and proved himself when he chased and attacked Crumpet who was in pursuit of one of the hens. I think one more bad move from Grace may see him replaced with a calmer model.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Fencing

As promised, I finally managed to get some photos of the new fence posts that have been put in. Tom and Bruce are still working hard to finish it all off before it gets too wet to move the tractor around. Tom now has a lot of wire to strain.
Lane way


Saturday, May 28, 2011

Winter has arrived

After being away for two weeks with work (to Northern Queensland) I have noticed just how much winter has set in. While away I had a trip in a single propeller plane to an airport that looked like a bus shelter... I'd never really been nervous on a plane until the pilots started looking for the runway to land!


The calves have started to get their thick winter coat and look very cuddly.
Frankie with her winter coat
 While I was away there was a new addition. Chloe had a little girl, and keeping with the fashion theme (Chloe came from a farm where there was also Dolce, Dior and Chanel), we've called her Gucci.
Gucci
 The other calves born earlier this year are growing well.
The 3 little ladies having a rest

Gem - very relaxed!

Gippy Girl and Gidget

Gallant Downs after getting a lesson on where not to stand!




Sunday, May 8, 2011

Rainy Sunday

We have had plenty of visitors over the past week. It has been lovely to see some Melbourne faces come past and some local ones pop in too.
Over the past four days Tom and Bruce have started putting the fence posts in after months of cutting down trees, ripping out old posts, pulling up wire, slashing the fence lines and plenty of burning. There is still more to go, but it is nice to see some posts in the ground to be able to see where the paddocks will be.
Today was wet and cold and I stayed warm and sheltered in the house. The chickens were also looking for shelter on the back door step - I shooed them away, but they didn't move far and took shelter under the wheelbarrow. The rain didn't deter the fencing efforts and more posts were put in by Tom and Bruce. When the rain clears I'll try and get some photos.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

3 little ladies

On Saturday I managed to get a couple of pictures of the calves born in the past two months. They're not so little any more - with one of them more than doubling her birth weight to now weigh 92kg.
Gippy Girl and Gidget

Gem


On the move

Friday, April 15, 2011

Eggs and a Fire

Last weekend the fire was installed after mum grouted the slate around the fire place. The warmth has been extremely welcome with the rainy cold days we've been having lately. The lounge room seems complete now the fire is in.

Diego laid her first little egg last week as well. She has laid 4 eggs in the past week - which is more than can be said for the other hens! The hens are happy and have laid a few eggs since coming over, but I am starting to wonder if they are laying them in the garden because there tends to be three eggs if the hens are locked up for the day.

Grace has well and truly found adolescence and has tested me out a few times. His wing flapping and charging earned him a swift upper-cut to the beak with the feed container lid. He has started to settle down - but if not then I think Tom would like to 'dispose' of him. Meanwhile I will try and keep Grace calm and his attacks to a minimum (or at least the ones that Tom hears about!)

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Clearing the fence line

Today Tom was busy clearing part of the fence line. I went down to help (briefly) and discovered a full horse skeleton. I had heard from locals that the previous owner had been neglectful, and an visit from the RSPCA when we first took over the propery indicated that there had been some form of animal neglect, however I was hoping for the animals' sake that it wasn't as bad as people had made it seem.
However today's discovery linked into a story I had heard from some locals (who called the property "the horse murder's place").
I was so sad that someone could actually treat animals so badly, and I hope that as time goes on the locals will find Tom and I to be very different people from the previous owner.
I know that I will be doing everything within my power to make sure the history of the property does not continue on into the future, and our animals are happy and healthy.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Mr Fox

I was picking some apples for Holly's beautiful dressage horse Diva last week with Buck.
As per usual, Buck was bounding around the paddock looking for action and in the middle of picking apples I saw what I thought was Buck bouncing towards me and said 'Good Dog', but it turned out to be a fox. The fox stopped when he heard me, decided I was no threat then kept running past me only a couple of meters away.
Tom wished I had a rifle with me, but I wish the fox had have come back to me when I started calling after him!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Lana and Jarrod's Wedding

Over the weekend my big sister Lana got married to Jarrod in Sorrento. She looked absolutely stunning and the afternoon and night were amazing.
We went to four different locations for photos inlcuding scaling a fence to get some on a cliff, out on a pier, walking amongst lavender, and on a Couta boat on dusk. The photos are a little way off, but I will try and post a couple when Lana gets them so those of you that weren't at the wedding can see just how beautiful she looked.

Many people at the wedding commented that they're following the blog, which is great - but you need to leave comments so I can see that people are following!
I've been away from the farm for a week now with work and the wedding, so no farm related news to share.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The 3 C's

Although Buck looks lovely and innocent, he is currently in my bad books for the Three C's.
Last weekend he killed two chickens - one on each day.
Then to top it all off he decided to sleep on the white, freshly washed couch.
Guilty
For those of you wondering about Grace and Diego, they are fine and Grace now has a new hen to follow around. She was missing all her neck feathers after being picked on by another chicken.

Buck has learnt to leave the couch alone now - but we will have to keep him on a lead around the chickens.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Timber!

This week we had Terry and his 21 tonne excavator arrive at the farm to pull out cypress and pine trees. We had my sister and partner come down for the weekend, so they helped out with the house and also with burning the trees (those of you that know Jarrod would know that he was in his element with this part!).

The machine makes light work of the trees.

Before

 









After

Timber!


The small cypress along the driveway were relatively easy compared to the other older trees. 


Despite the fires raging away, we didn't receive any visits from the CFA. We did have the neighbours pop in though. The fires have been lit for three days now and are still smoking out the whole farm.
Tom and Buck checking out one of the fires
Tera and Buck - Best mates looking evil
 The farm is looking a lot more open, and now Tom has a blank canvas to start fencing.

Over the weekend we also had 2 more calves hit the ground giving us a total of 4 over the past few weeks. We must get naming!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Birthday Surprise

Today I was surprised with a new herb garden for my birthday. While I had been away having fun at my sister's Hen's party, Tom was busy building. It has already been planted courtesy of Jane and with a bit of love I will have herbs in no time!
New Herb Garden

Another calf was born on Saturday, so now we have two young girls running around. Both are still to be named. If anyone has any suggestions, this year they all have to start with 'G'. At the moment we are thinking "Gippy Girl" for one considering we live in Gippsland.