Sunday, February 27, 2011

First Shear!

A couple of weeks ago the two ram-lambs got their first shear thanks to a couple of college students - one who knows what he's doing, and one who is learning.

So the pen had a covering of shorn wool (and no we are not adding spinning wool to our list of artisan hobbies), while of the sheep one was fine and the other had a nick in his ear.

I came home a day or two later to find a tractor parked by the shed - thankfully not a purchase, but a friend of a friend etc situation, where we will be caretakers of the tractor and so it is there if we need it.

The pigs are getting bigger, the calves are too, the paddocks are green and all is good.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

February 2011


Rumbles (now three years old)
- checks out the ranch from a safe vantage point!

Gosh, life goes by and suddenly again there seem to be not enough hours in the day!

With both of us back at work there is not a lot of time for pondering on the Ponderosa!

Baby Bear and Mama Bear (our walkie talkie call-signs, though Kieran thinks he should be Stinky Bear, and I have to say I would agree!) went out last night to lasso Beefy the calf so we could administer some eye ointment for the infection Brian spotted there on Thursday night.

Must say we were a mighty-fine polished team of cowfolk!  All we needed were the stetsons and spurs!

Beefy was not interested in standing still so we walked around beside him for a minute or two until he got trapped under the macrocarpas and I was able to slip the loop over his head.  He struggled and tried to back up for about 30 seconds, with Kieran doing a mighty job of holding tight to the other end of the rope, which fortunately was around behind Beefy's back legs.  So Beefy couldn't go very far and kinda gave up trying.

This meant I could get my arm around his head and squirt the ointment into his infected left eye, plus a bit in the right, as advised.  Not sure what the infection is from (being new to this and all) but he and Pippi are still being shat on by Daisy when they have feeds off her, so maybe it was that - or he could have been kicked by her. Hopefully the ointment will help - he is still feeding and eating.

Was a bit worried that Ruby would try to interfere, as she kept following us around while we tried to help Beefy, and those horns have not got any shorter!

The pigs are getting bigger and currently having a change of scene - sharing the hen pen while the sewage pipes that have been laid in their paddock are getting hooked up.  We are now on 'town supply and takeaway' as of Friday but the workers haven't covered it over yet so the pigs have to stay with the hens for a while.  They seem to think they should be re-landscaping around the clothesline and henhouse and are enjoying rooting it all up.

Shadow and Cuddles
- getting closer to DF-day (deep freeze day)!


The hens are just the same as always, sometimes there are two eggs in the box, sometimes only one.  Of course, in the holidays we realised Bess the dog was jumping the fence and helping herself to the fresh eggs, so we have to make sure we collect them before she has been left to her own devices for too long!

Last week I rescued Moneypenny the hen after seeing her sprinting (quite a blur she was too) along the front verandah with the dog in hot pursuit.  Found her right round in the back corner with her head through the sheep fencing under the hedge and her bum sticking out. 


Wasn't sure just what condition she'd be in as hadn't seen if the dog had caught her or not, but when I pulled her back out I think she was very grateful!