Merry Christmas and Have a Happy and Enjoyable 2011...

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Well, it's Christmas and I haven't bothered to ask the critters what they plan on doing this wonderful sunny day. It seems the animals have no idea it's Christmas. The chickens have laid their eggs as usual. The horse wants out of her holding yard and the dogs want off their chains.

Tiger (our cat) caught herself a mouse this morning and happily took that somewhere.

As for the others, the cows, they are layzing around in the paddock same as every other day. It seems us humans are the only ones that make a fuss of today...

So?

So, if you've managed to jag a holiday today, go have yourself a wonderful day and enjoy it!

Zak.

New Editions To The Farm...

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WE have a new family member. 

Well, actually she's not part of our family exactly. 

She belongs to our nearest neighbor. Her name is Whisper, and she's gorgeous. And since this photo was taken she's almost half-grown. She's going to be a bit bigger than Zak, we think.


Zak reckons she's fun and tries to get Whisper to chase the tennis ball but Benson thinks she's a nuisance and growls at her and keeps her submissive to him. Benson has a really sore foot at the moment (arthritis) so this is making him a cranky old man (dog). 

Zak and Benson are ten years old now so it's to be expected they would start to have issues with their health. 


Whisper, is certainly a breath of fresh air and she visits with her, Dad, about once or twice a week. It's all fun and games when Whisper and Zak get together.


Have a wonderful Christmas and an even better New Year.


Hopefully 2011 will be a prosperous year for all!


Zak.

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Doing It Naturally - Even The Bulls Agree...

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Here at Mountain View, we like to do things the natural way. We don't use pesticides or chemicals.

Only in extreme cases do we consider using anything that nature doesn't provide and that's why we've posted this little article today. Don't take it from us, let the animals speak...

http://www.saynotogmos.org/monsanto_1.htm 

We thought going natural was a good thing. Turns out the cows think so too.

What's your opinion on this topic?

Hectic, hectic, hectic on and away from the farm...

Well, I was right. Things have ended up being so darn busy over the past month.

The month has flown past and not only because of the farm. Mum and Dad had to be placed in other accommodation. Dad has Alzheimer's and needs extra care that only professional nursing staff can manage, and Mum had to find a new life without him. She has found (or rather we, the daughters, have found Mum a lovely Apartment in an aged care facility).

In the meantime, the dear husband, has been managing to run his trucking business, run the farm and feed the animals and himself for three weeks. On my arrival back to the farm the gardens were all overrun with weeds from drenching spring rain. The potatoes have shown their heads in a most miraculous way and last season's spring onions and tomatoes have re-shown their little heads too. I should go away more often.

This little guy just one hour old
 when I came back to the farm.
What a fantastic way to be greeted!

The real joy came from five new calves, three of which were more or less unexpected. Unfortunately our best cow lost her calf this year - the first she's ever lost and we had to get a couple of poddy calves to place on her as she had way too much milk. That worked well then we slowly weaned the calves off her and onto bucket feed.


Purchased a product we hadn't tried before. Only need 300 grams to 2 litres of warm water. Easy to mix and easy to train the calves to feed. There is an option to feed once or twice per day but I felt better about giving the calves a "warm in their belly" feeling for both morning and night. One calf is, sluggish, and the other is a, guts! The larger of the two calves likes to drink it all up in about seven seconds but the other calf takes its time and this morning didn't want any at all. The weather is cold, wet and windy so the calves are inside the horses stable (see pic). I am very cautious about the slow drinking calf as this is often a sign that scours is on its way. However, his eyes are bright and his ears are perky which is a good sign of health. We shall see...

The key to keeping calves alive (and especially in this horrible weather) is keeping clean pens, clean feed, we use, Number 1, Venavite Pallets and clean straw hay for eating and afterwards the straw not eaten (and if still clean) can be used as bedding, but it's crucial to clean out the stall every couple of days, else calves can become ill.

Young calves are very susceptible to scours.


Scours is a very nasty illness and we have in the past experienced a loss of calves to this horrible disease. We had a viral scours that was particularly vicious but with changed practices around the farm we no longer have this problem. A good thing to do for young calves is to give them an injection of Vitamin B and C. We don't do this but we know of other farmers who do and they swear by it!

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Zak's been busy - too busy to post!

Zak's a shocker for getting sidetracked...


The farm and everything else has been flat-chat and that means, Zak, hasn't had much time to blog. So, all that's about to change [don't hold your breath]...

Okay, so now that we've got the whole *excuses* thingy out of the way, let's get down to it.

The farms a lot of hard work. Fences need repairing, chickens need their pens cleaned, the horse needs bott flies removed, the to-do-list is a mile long, and now that we seem to have a decent season (yes, it has rained yet again) that means more work!

The cattle and sheep are approaching calving season which is both exciting and heart-wrenching. Exciting because no matter how many births one witnesses, the next one is always so much more exciting than the last. At least that's how it's always been for me. Then there's the fear that it will all go pear-shaped and sadly, at times it does.

When we first started farming we made a few boo boo's and we've learnt some very hard lessons. I won't go into that here - we'll leave that for the book! *grins* Everyone, it seems, is writing a book these days!

We try for quality, not quantity, and happy animals and by default happy humans.

The focus for this season is home-grown organic quality. We are about to plant the spuds (potatoes) and some as yet undecided Winter/Spring vegetables.

We try to kill our own meat which is approximately one steer and six sheep around about once every 18 months or so. With the price of meat these days it's still economical to get the mobile butcher to the farm and he packs the meat into neat little packages ready for freezing.

It's all go, go, go!

So that's where I'm going now.

Photos will follow...

Promise.

The Garden for Eatin'--for Practical Vegetable Gardening: Fremont FFA Partners with Bonnie Plants Cabbage Contest#comment-form

This is a great site that I enjoy, perhaps you might too.

The Garden for Eatin'--for Practical Vegetable Gardening: Fremont FFA Partners with Bonnie Plants Cabbage Contest#comment-form

The RAINS are here!

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Well, the rains have been and gone.
80mm fell between Saturday and Monday; wonderful, slow, drenching, rain!

Don't take my word for it - here's Murphy casting a close eye over the guage too.

RAIN! Just what every farmer loves :)

The cows found it exciting too.

Lucky there's a fence between Storm and the girls!

Walking around the paddocks we have an abundance of weeds this year. Being the first year in over seven finally out of drought, got to be expected.

It's all good!

Last night confirmed this morning...

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Last night's coming of Winter was confirmed this morning...

Last night the wind picked up and whispers from what's affectionately known as the "winds of change" arrived.

Every year the walls are pounded, the chimney echos as the weather announces the inevitable change from Autumn to Winter and, without fail, it began last night.

This is the view towards the horses stable this morning... Yes, there is a horse (Murphy) in there somewhere.

It's cold, it's wet, the dogs and cats want in and of course timing as ever, we had a new calf arrive three days earlier (which I haven't taken any photos of yet). The ducks on the dam are thrilled.

Not much (in human terms) is going to happen around here today... 

And Here's Our Newest Edition...

SHE, sits safely amongst the weeds and believe me, I coudn't get any closer than using the zoom lense because mother was just a nose away guarding over her new precious little girl.

I tried to get a closer shot and check the sex of our new little one, but mother cow pawed the ground whisking up dust and loudly snorting, so I said, "Okay, you win"... and walked tentitively backwards and away from cow and calf.

Notice the newborns ears are pointing backwards at this moment. That is because her mother was starting to panick at my approach and the calf sensing that I may not be a friend and was getting ready to run over to her mother for safety. With my retreat the calf went back to relaxing and all was well again.

Nature truly is amazing.

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The First Of This Seasons Calves Have Arrived... Easter Sunday

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Well, today we were preparing for the coming Winter. The clocks were turned back one hour last night for the end of daylight saving.


Yesterday we started clearing away all the fallen trees from the roadside boundary fence - 27 fell down this year, what with drought and hot temperatures from the ongoing drought it was a shocker of a year. So, it's out with the chainsaw.

These old trees landed on our front entrance fence this year.

Below is the view of the fallen trees from the roadside. Yes, we have almost five kilometres of dirt road to get to our farm from town.

I was inside clearing away old clothes, books, items of computing -  found a really old Sega game console and games - out of date and not much use to us but maybe for someone, so off to the Salvos (Salvation Army) with those. I managed to fill the boot of the sedan and all the back seat. Just shows how much clutter you can accumulate over ten years. All the stuff not thrown last clean out was thrown this time. I'm getting tougher!

We had an afternoon tea out in the paddock with Zak and Benson- dog, and the cows. On the way back to the house we spotted our first new calf for the Autumn calving season. We haven't gone up to see if it's male or female yet, as we like to let the cow and calf alone for a few days before photo sessions begin. ;)

Looks like it might have been born Friday night - explains why Zak-dog started barking from two 'til five am keeping us awake for most of the night. We were cursing the dog but didn't realise he might have actually been trying to tell us something. Dumb humans...

Photos will be up of the new calf soon.

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And, here's our baby boy - Storm...

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Storm was born on the property in August 2004...

He's our baby boy.

Affectionately Storm is known as
'Storm In A Teacup'.

He's so cuddly...







And he's the Daddy of these guys...

Views across the farm...

Looking back at the house and stables from the top of the hill on the south east corner of the property...

The property has not been this green for around 8 years. Drought has finally started to (hopefully) go away.





You might spot Zak and Benson in these photos (somewhere)




















Over this hill (to the right or East) is Mt. Buffalo. To the left is Lake Hume and further over to the left (I guess that's North) is what is known as the three sisters. Fantastic views from the top of this hill.

It's All Fun And Games until Zak Dog Ruins My Bucket...

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Game on!

Seems it's all fun and games around here lately.

Not much work going on...

Yelp! It's all fun and games until someone looses an eye...

 

 

Since when did, white dog, have this much energy?

Since, NEVER!

Mine! All Mine!

Where'd everydog go?

Shhh! Don't tell, Zak...

White dog's out of the race!

Disclaimer:
No actual white dogs were harmed in the making of today's blog. This dog may look dead (like characters in one of Audrey's novels) but in fact, Benson, white dog, is breathing.

Okay, go on then, believe what you want to believe...

Taking Some Time Out...

Even the working dogs need a day off now and then...

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This Year's (Cattle) Drop Have Found Themselves a New Wonderul Home

I haven't been posting because I've been so darn busy organising animals.

The girls and two of the boys have found a new and wonderful home at Bowna.

The amazing lady who purchased the cattle and her daughter came to our farm and individually selected the heifers and steers to suit their new farm on approximately 100 acres.

Selected were eight heifers and two steers.

The cattle were loaded onto the truck and Benson (my dog) whimpered until the cattle truck drove off with the moos. Benson watched the truck go up the dirt road until his friends became a blur further up the hill.

It's very noisy this morning as the mothers moo for their babies.

They started their search at 4am. It's always hard taking the calves (babies) away from their cows (mothers). But, at least this time they have gone to good homes to become breeders rather than T-bone, Scotch or Porterhouse for the table.

Sometimes I consider becomming a Vegetarian just the thought of eating your friends is such a hard thing but then I can't resist a good steak; very sorry to say...

The song of the Willie Wagtail...

I spotted a Willie Wagtail this morning, another sure sign that Autumn is fast approaching. He or she was a bit camera shy!

One of my favorite birds is the Willie Wagtail.

Why?

Because when it sings it sounds like it's saying, "Pretty Pretty Creature" and it brings back memories of my mother and I when I was growing up on our farm in North-East Victoria.

I also love eagles, hawks, crows and magpies. Not to mention ducks, rosellas and the list goes on - let's leave it as I love all birds and animals.See more pictures of the Willie Wagtail here  or get more information about this facinating bird here.



 
If you want to hear the song of a Willie Wagtail. There is a download available at Amazon called the Willie Wagtail Dance by Mort Hansen.
Interlude - Willie Wagtail (World)
You can listen to the preview for free on the Bumbliwa picture above. It will take you to the Amazon site - don't forget to bookmark this blog and visit me again!

Enjoy!

Autumn is on its way...

The days are getting shorter...


We are loosing an average of one minute sunlight in the morning and one minute at night as the sun comes up later and sneaks itself away that bit earlier in the afternoon.

The tree at the back of our house faces south-west and is loosing its leaves.


The two trees out the front face the north-east and are still green.

The calving is almost done.

We have 2 calving seasons; late Summer/early Autumn and late Spring/early Summer.

And, 2 selling seasons per year. Calves born in winter avoid pink eye from flies appearing mostly in warmer months. Calves enjoy the Spring growth while growing out.

The calves born later have ample milk because the mothers have surplus grass form the Spring growth. I guess we have two calving seasons as a sort of back up system. If anything goes wrong in one season we have another set of cows calving.

Many farmers have one calving season either Spring or Autumn because then they don't have to spend two seasons calving which may involve assisting the cows. We cull any non-performing cattle and this tends to avoid us having to go into the paddocks to assist in th birthing process. The less interference the better.  

It is best to do your own research and find out what works best on your farm. One farm can be very productive while another may not. Learning about your property takes time, effort and patient observance.

If you have any questions, (we are by no means experts), but we might be able to help. Let us know if you need any hints or tips. We are always more than happy to help with all things animal-related.


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Exciting New Home For PEPPER And Four Of His Friends...

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Much excitement on the farm today!

PEPPER got himself a new home and four of his friends went too.

Two of the new babies, two of the previous hatching and PEPPER got to go and live in a nice place in New South Wales, called Bowna.

This here, dog, is Benson, he's a little concerned that "his chickens" are going...

Benson loves baby animals and always stays with them until they leave the farm. It's just a "Benson dog" thing...

Zak, however, was way too busy fetching sticks and taking a dip in the dam to be concerned about the babies leaving the farm...

Homes are being arranged for the chicken babies...

It's "Ugly Ducking" stage for the most recent chicken arrivals.

They are growing their "real" feathers and the "downy" feathers are disappearing. They will look all scruffy and odd for the next few weeks until their feathers grow properly. It's a hard time being bossed around by all the older chickens and it gets really tough for any chickens that start to look like roosters, more about that below...

Check out Houdini now!

Is he a she or she a he?

It's still a bit it hard to tell. My guess is a "she".

And here's PEPPER (below). He was special because he went to Beechworth to a new home with three of his mates. Two came back because when they grew and it became obvious they were roosters and not hens. Hens lay eggs, roosters don't so Pepper had to come back to the farm.

It's sad, but roosters don't very often get homes, but this weekend PEPPER finds out if he's going to go to new home. We shall find out on Sunday if he can impress the visitors and get himself a new abode.

He'd really like a nice new home because the big bossy rooster (his Dad; see picture below) is picking on him constantly. It's a funny thing about rooster Dad's, they just see their little boys as threats that grow up to be big roosters and they feel they have to prove something...

Here's ROOTY the rooster Dad giving the "girls" (hens) a lecture!

"Now, listen up, I say listen up girls! It's about time..."

more another day...

Chickens, Chickens And More Chickens...

Here's the newest members of our family...

This here is Houdini - who has already managed to escape several times in her big three day lifespan!

These awesome little devils will be available for sale soon. Please feel free to drop me an email if you would like to add them to your collection. Pick up only from Wodonga, Victoria.  

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Heck It Was So Hot Today - My Best Friend Had To Take A Dip In The Dam. Even The Working Dogs Need Time Out Every Now And Again...

Innocence Itself... that's me

I'm almost dry, Mum...

Got To Say I Feel A Lot Better Now...

Arhh! Noth'n Beats A Chewy Stick After A Splash In The Dam
Life's Good!

Oh, Except Toys, I Love My Toys!

Hint! Hint! Hint! Mum...