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!

Best Mates

A few weekends ago we had 'I'm a real Kelpie' Tera come to visit. Buck and T-Dog are best mates, and I think Tera enjoys being a 'real' Kelpie on the farm.

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!

Taj McCoop 1 : Fox 0

Within a week of the chook run being complete, a fox tried to test the boundaries. With the corrugated iron in the ground, the fox didn't get too far. He must have been determined, as he tried in 3 different spots.

With better climbing skills, a rat has had more success in getting into the hen house. In an attempt to scare him out last night, Tom also managed to scare the rat into jumping off the hen house through the air ... and right towards me. I think I may have pulled a muscle in my stomach trying to move at lightening speed to get out of the way of the airborne rat!

Welcome Chooks!

After losing all of my Chooks including the rooster to a fox a few weeks ago, I now have a new group of ladies and a man about the hen house.
The rooster was free to a good home after being hand raised with hope that he was a hen.
Although the rooster (who we've named Leo) is bossing the girls around at the moment, I hope he will settle down soon enough.

The chickens are now safe in the fort-knox like chicken run. With corrugated iron in the ground and chicken wire 1.8m high, hopefully they will be safe during the day. 20 square meters should be enough for the hens to get some sun during the times that we are not home to supervise.

The rooster is an Araucana, and the hens are bantam Wyandottes.

A massive thank you to my helpers for making my ladies safe ... you know who you are. xx