Last calf before the Wedding!

Yesterday, Chloe had her Nielsen French sired bull calf. The bull calf will be the last one until November.
Although there will be a break from calving, Tom is now busy with artificial insemination.
The calf was quick to get his first drink and Chloe is looking after him well.
Chloe is a good mother, and was very patient when Tom picked up the calf to weigh him yesterday. Tom wasn't too impressed with my delay in reading the scales because I was taking a photo! Holding all 43kg of the calf, I think he had a valid point when he told me to hurry up!

Getting muddy

With the high levels of rain we've had here in Gippsland, the paddocks are getting very muddy. The poor cows are up to their knees in mud when they are around the hay ring!

Three big bulls

Tomorrow we are sending three bulls to a European Breeds Bull Sale.
Fingers crossed that they all find good homes. I will be sad to see them go, but am glad that they will have a chance to work and enjoy themselves!
Hopefully we don't come home with any of them.

Two new arrivals

Today we were joined at the farm by Debra's new bull calf sired by Amaroo Upmarket.
Tonight the hens will be spending their first night with a 4 month old Andalusian x Wyandotte rooster.

Will try and add some pics over the weekend when both boys have settled in.

Summer

With the dryer weather, the hay has now been cut. Only a small area was mowed, but we still managed to get 80 bales of hay.

After a multitude of bull calves, a heifer was born today. Despite the heat, the first time mum had no issues.

After taking the pictures tonight, I had a conga line of Blonde d'Aquitaines following me down the fence line.

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.

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.

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.

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".

Exuberant Lad

One of Tom's Bulls has been selected for the Lardner Park Blonde d'Aquitaine feature sale in March. He's 17 months old in this photo, so still some more growing to do despite already being well over 630kg.

This is him as a calf with him Mum. He sure has grown!

There are three cows due this month, so hopefully we have some healthy calves soon.