2012 update - better late than never!

Hmm, has been a while...things are pretty quiet here on el rancho grande!

In January we ended up with this stray jersey bull calf - it was out on the road late one night, we brought it into the paddock, saw how little it was and started feeding it while asking around to see if it was one of the neighbour's.

But no-one claimed 'Calf-calf' aka Freebie so he is still with us, much bigger, and keeps Piri the lamb/hogget ewe company.

 

Feb: Ginge and Pippi waiting for Farmer Bri to come home.

Bess tried to enter the premises via the cat's door - not a success (she is just pretending to be happy about it).

Pippi and Calfcalf have a chat - we had to keep them separate as the calf kept trying to feed from Pippi and she was not excited about that prospect.

A view from the big paddock back to the house.

April - Bri and Kieran stained the 'new' hen house but we didn't get any more hens until August.

This year's piggywiggies.

Rumbles surveying the world outside...the door has been replaced since then.

Bess, wondering why Rumbles doesn't come out to play.

We had some snow in June. Some snow.  Hardly any really.

Photo taken from my new camera - long distance, I was in the kitchen!

Rumbles spent the winter following the sun around the house.

Kieran turned 11.

Bri went to the Brass Monkey rally.  Wasn't cold.

Had a gorgeous winter sunrise or two!

Will have to get a photo of our fat lamb Piri.  Brian did walk her along the road (on the dog lead) back in autumn to meet the ram down at Michael Heads' place, and she has been looking fat since coming back for the winter, but...no sign of any lamb. (She still thinks she is a dog actually).

Have got Henny Penny (the hen from school last year who nested in the garden) and her three chicks - but apart from two eggs  about six weeks ago, nothing.  Brian is convinced the hens are all agoraphobic as he reckons they never leave the coop but I can vouch that they do! Am thinking at least two of the chicks are roosters but they are all getting a free feed at the moments, so will be looking to cull them if no more eggs turn up in the next week.

Rumbles grumbles!

Meow! What does a cat have to do to get any peace and quiet around here?

Last weekend Brian decided to mow the lawns and the paddocks with the little tractor from Menzies - who ever said the countryside was quiet?  I believe he was attempting to top the thistles but the grass was so long that all he did was bring it down the the level of the thistle tops! Crazy. As if if is not bad enough when he is doing laps on that ride-on lawnmower. Will never understand humans.  Why work when you can sleep all day?

And as for deciding to drive the uncovered tractor home in the middle of a majorly huge rain and hail storm? Well I have no sympathy. He left a huge puddle of water on the floor of the laundry when he took off his drenched clothes in there before jumping in the shower to warm up - I got my paws quite wet when I walked through my cat door!

At least we got rid of one of those beasts out there, known as mooers. The black male one, Beefy, was taken away by Ray Shanks, apparently for an idyllic life on the hill above Mataura (but I know what they really end up as! Am smacking my lips with the thought! Daisy the ex-dairy cow went to the big paddock in the sky in September and there are now some very yummy sausages and meat patties in the freezer, thanks Daisy!)

There was a bit of trouble loading him up but I can't blame Beefy for being confused - it was a horse float, he's not a horse; I would have caused more of a stink, but with three people there they eventually persuaded Beefy it was okay to go for a ride and in he went. Still have the carpet-cow Kiltie, the Ginge and Pippi Longstocking.

I would say there were four people there but that new young thing who teaches at the school and was observing is obviously bit of a cityslicker coz she just was NOT dressed for farmin' so stood on the road. Wonder if she learned anything other than that she should not leave her nice boots at the back door as black Bess thinks the best way to make new friends is to chew-the-shoe!

She did later on that evening get to see how stressed out Bri when the mooers get onto the gravel road and make like they're heading anywhere but where he wants them to go...such as towards the main road (they are such good actors, Bri falls for it every time!) - Jen and Abby were so busy chatting that they didn't spot the drama out on the road (Bri was trying to herd the three mooers towards the dead-end but they felt like a bit of run in the other direction). 

Took a few choice swear words and some arm-waving from the gals to change the mooers' minds and they were persuaded to head back into the paddock and Bri gave up on the idea of getting them down the road to graze on the neighbour's verge (very kind of him to offer it though!)

Bri and Jen and Kieran drove past the Shanks' place on their way to Dunedin the last time they abandoned me for a night and saw Beefy in the paddock - yelled out his name out the car window and he whipped his head round for the look but the jokers were driving past so fast he would've been left wondering if he'd been imagining things!

Those blimin' hens are still clucking around - can't get through my cat door anymore to eat my biscuits though - HA! Jenny finally got round to getting a new catflap (seeing as that rascal black Bess broke it the day she tried to follow me through it!). She still manages to get her nose in though!

As for the constant bleating from the silly lamb out there every time she sees a human - honestly, give over! ...it will NOT make them let you into the house, even if you do follow them all around the backyard, believe me, they are not worth the worship (have a tendency to leave for hours and hours at a time and you must have worked out that they only feed on demand IF they feel like it!)

Ah well, the boy-child seemed quite happy with the lamb's performance at pet day, they do have quite a wee bond going on - unusual name though...Piri, Piri Weepu to be precise.  Something to do with rugby and getting all the kicks over in a pool-match?  Had a Richie McCaw lamb too but must have overindulged in the sweet white stuff and died of bloat, oops!

Right, must go reposition myself away from the sound of that ride-on - where's a nice quiet bed?

And so to the pork!

Here is a sample of our first meal from the pork that had previously been running around in the back paddock: a beautifully cooked pork chop...yummy scrummy!

So the freezer is absolutely packed to the max and we will be right for meat for quite a long time.

The next batches are continuing to be prepared, with the cattle being grazed in the big paddock now, and hay supplementing their grass.  Brian is a pro now at shifting a break and the cattle all trot over to see what he is up to and where he is going to let them go next.

The two new pigs, both pink this time (as Brent couldn't catch the two-tone one!) are grazing in the back paddock; the two hens are still laying (as long as we keep them locked in until the afternoon otherwise goodness knows where they lay!) and Bess is being Bess (bouncy, messy, and loveable).

and so...the Sunday roast!

With a new 510 litre freezer in the garage now full of the beef of one Highland cow, and two romney lambs  (thank god we bought a big one as we still have the pig to put in there!) we sat down today to our first home-killed lamb roast.

Last night we had porterhouse steak (thank you Ruby) - delicious!!!!

The lamb roast sizzled away slowly all afternoon and was tender and tasty! (Thanks Cuddles or Shadow).

Looking good!!

Here we go...



Delicious!!!

 Still about 20kg of mince, and tonnes and tonnes of beef roasts and steak and sausages, and lamb roasts and chops - should be right for about a year!

The First Kill!

So...Sunday 13th March was the day of our first home-kill: Ruby the highland cow, and the two lambs are now waiting at the Edendale butcher to be processed for the freezer.

We won't go into too many details but local Matthew Ferguson came around and shot Ruby (it was quick and peaceful and she suspected nothing), and slit the throats of the lambs.

Next step, buy a cow/lamb/pig sized freezer!

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.

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!

Make Hay While the Sun Shines!

Summer has begun and we arrived home from our break in TeAnau to find our 'neighbour' Greg Poole from down the road was here, cutting the hay in the big shed paddock and his father-in-law was gathering it up with the tractor ready for baling.   

Brian

 

Brent, Rodney, Brian, Megan

He returned a bit later to make the bales and Brian put the call out for Richard and Brent to come and help stack it in the shed.  So within ten minutes we had Richard and Megan and Jonas here to help, and Brent arrived with his trailer.

Megan and I each drove a vehicle with a trailer on it (she got to drive Brent's nice red car, while I was stuck with the 4WD).  Brent, Richard and then Rodney came over too, were loading the bales onto the trailers and Brian was over at the shed to stack the bales as they were unloaded.

Within the hour we had made, gathered and stacked about 180 bales - so we are all set for feeding the Brady Bunch in the winter to come - fantastic! And now we can see the two sheep in that paddock as the long grass is gone!

The calves are growing well though they are not talking to us at the moment - two days before Christmas we had the vet here to de-horn them and to castrate the two boys.  Not a pleasant experience but a necessary one. We were diligently ignored for the next two days, but it may be that a week of holiday has blurred their memories as Pippi did let me pat her tonight.

An Update from Rumbles the cat

Hi! Apparently I have a fanclub member - great to have your support Richard! I am quite flattered that you think I write much better blogs than Jenny does; she, on the other hand, has got the pip about that and won't speak to me.

I must apologise for my tardiness in entering any new blogs lately; the weather has been just blissful for us felines and I have been indulging in what we do best...lazing on the bed. It is nothing for me to go to the master bedroom at around 8a.m., having dined on my biscuit brekky, and spend the next 10 hours spread-eagled across the quilt. The whole bed to myself with no humans to unbalance the mattress, rumple the blankets or push me around as they toss and turn.

(Mind you, on a cold night there is nothing better than being able to join them and make the most of the body heat that comes through the blankets. The farts I could do without.

Not much else has happened around here except that the humans are on holiday so are hanging around more often to disturb my routines.

Brian has built some contraption by the garage - something to do with fish that smoke, or smokers who have fish???? Just give me the fish.

He is also making a tower out of concrete blocks - apparently for pizzas - but at the moment it is a great back-scratcher and it soaks up a lot of sunshine heat to release in the evening when I saunter outside for my evening stroll.

Why is that dog inside? This is MY domain?

If I stay still no-one will notice me!

That creature Bess is still scared of me (well, that's what I'll tell anyone that listens). We have a great game of pretend to hate each other going on - I hiss and scratch, while she bounds backwards and forwards pretending to tease me. We actually have an understanding but will not let the humans know that. Jenny found some dog hairs stuck to my claw this morning...she totally fell for the planted evidence and thinks we had a barney again! High Fives Bess!

Kieran chats to Pippi the calf

I overheard them talking about getting the dairy cow into calf. I've been to the vet before and the AI sounds about as pleasant a procedure as having my temperature taken! Kieran was most definite that he was having nothing to do with that farm job when it happens.

Time to go and check out the biscuit situation - must be time soon for a human to get the hint that my plate needs its nightly top-up.

Strange Goings-On - Rumbles again

So anyway, I'm lying in the sun today when I notice the big hairy shadows of those things in the paddock, plus ex-dairy cow and three calves, wandering past my spot.

Somehow the little gate to the backyard had come open and so the beefy beasts have decided to go for a wander! Took themselves down the driveway and headed over the road to make themselves at home in the Fonterra paddock over the road. Must've decided they wanted to walk on short grass for a change of scene!

Beefy and co



Pippi



Luckily the cows are all keen for a bit of calf meal so they happily trotted after Brian like the piped piper as he lead them back into the big paddock.

Jenny and Brian were not amused but me and the dog think it was hilarious.




Speaking of the dog, she got spayed and microchipped on Saturday (bet she never gets in a stranger's car so quickly ever again after having that happen) but has been licking at the wound in the past couple of days so Jenny took her to the vet and when they came back Bess had a fancy dress neck collar thing on.

Keeps donking it against anything she gets too close too (including people's legs) and can't fit inside her kennel so will have to sleep in the run for a few nights (mind you, she spends most of her nights sleeping out on the grass I've noticed!) She looks like she's trying to get good TV reception and Jenny is worried that if it rains too hard Bess might drown if the collar bucket fills up!

The hens have been too free-range and not laying their eggs in a suitable spot eg their penthouse, so are being shut in until they start paying up again! I guess I should be appreciative of the freedom I have...though no-one seemed impressed with the dead chaffinch I brought them last weekend! If only the shower door had been open, then I could have carried the live bird into the house instead of having to murder it in the shower room. No appreciation around here I tell you - so there was a little blood spatter? nothing a good scrub can't fix!

And fix! Now that Brian has his petrol powered weed trimmer and can cut back the thistles (and cut through water pipes that go to farm troughs) he can spend his time cleaning up the mess he makes.

Which brings us back to mess. Let's hope the pig paddock gate stays shut from now on!

Ginge

El Fresco Dining

The sunshine today was too tempting for Brian and so he and Kieran cooked up a storm...creating a pizza to cook in the charcoal BBQ.

Bri got a bit distracted (drying dishes - so well-behaved!) and so the base got a little burnt but the top was just right and delicious!

Kieran then took the opportunity to toast marshmallows which we put between toffeepops as had no slims available...yum yum yum!

This little piggy went to Bri and Jen's

Another two weeks gone by and the stock number has increased again by two - two pigs (one for our freezer and one for a friend's) were delivered last Sunday by our Knapdale farmer friend Brent. They haven't been named yet - must sort that out!

Installed in the back paddock with the 3-star pig house that Brian built, the pigs are quite happily chomping their way through all the scraps and the long grass - in fact, the grass is so long we can't see them if they lie down and thought they'd disappeared on the second day as couldn't find them (typically they were in the last corner Brian looked at).

 As for that cow, Daisy, she is enjoying being free-range...so much so that she has been spotted standing perfectly still and letting all three calves feed off her at once - I took a picture to prove it.  Must look into getting her back into calf for next year.She and the calves are now in the other back paddock, with Ruby and Kiltie in the bigger paddock (so we can deal with the calves without bossy Ruby interfering...honestly, she'd be a great pub bouncer! No-one would take her on with those horns!)

Shadow and Kieran had their first experience of the A&P circuit - attending the Lower Mataura Valley Pet Day at Wyndham last Tuesday.  Shadow behaved like a good little lambie (though I thought he was going to make the great escape over the top of the stock crate and quickly stopped to tie him to the crate as I figured squashed lamb on the main road would not be a good start to the day!)  Please note: in the interests of good parenting I made Kieran ride in the car! (Must keep up appearances!)

Kieran received a participation tick on his certificate after being judged on how he looks after the lamb and he chose to not enter any lamb-drinking races.

So everything is ticking along nicely at the moment - still got to sort out a mob of sheep and Bess is loving being able to chew anything that is left lying around...firewood, action figure toys, fizz bottles, sneakers, soccer balls etc. But isn't she sweet?

The Week That Was

Another week down, only about 9 to go til Christmas!

Did we mention that Gustache the lamb died last Saturday night? Seems he wanted to live up to his name and did get a gutsache - bloat - poor wee bugger.  So that's all the Tuturau lambs gone - obviously the hill-born couldn't cope on the flat!  Just Cuddles and Shadow - the originals - left.  They seem to be going okay - are now down to just one feed each morning as we wean them off.

The calves are doing okay - no more scours at all and lots of running around the paddock (Pippi and Ginge especially).  Beefy is looking stronger.  Daisy is still a grump when it's time to feed - thinks that once she's had her treat she can get out of feeding so it takes a bit of strategic positioning to block her from moving around too much. Does anyone know a builder who could make more of a stall for her to stand in? Can't think where I could find a handy one!?

Have started offering a bit of meal to the calves after their evening feed  but they are not really interested.

The Highland cows, especially Ruby, are not impressed by Bess the dog.  She followed me into their paddock and Ruby chased after her.  Not a pleasant sensation to suddenly have a huge shaggy (pointy horned) cow rush past you at quite a speed! So Bess has quickly learned to keep her distance from them.

Can't say the same with the cat.  Bess is getting more ambitious about getting closer to Rumbles, while staying just out of claw-swipe reach (and I thought they'd be such good friends!)

What next???? - by Rumbles

WELL! Now they've gone and added one of those horrible hairy barking things to the mix - you know, the kind of four-legged freak that lets the humans order them around and exploit them for entertainment such as that silly chase the ball-bring it back-chase the ball-bring it back lark!

Yes, a d-o-g! I am NOT AMUSED! I have already chased the hairy black thing, known as Bess, at full speed past the lounge windows, hoping she would run away and never come back, but the gate was shut so she ran around the lawn and over to Jenny to be rescued - big sook!

It'll be because my awesome ginger tail was puffed up to four times its normal size, making me look so much bigger, that scared her! Big SPCA-rescued 8-month old wimp. I have decided that I will just keep stalking her and scowling at her from inside the windows - ha! She's not allowed inside like I am!!! (though she does try).

The silly thing is loving being tied to the humans, namely Jenny, to be taken for exercise along the road (definitely shows the species' stupidity) and has been brainwashed into looking like she enjoys that ball-chase game for hours on end. Crazy creature.

She did get yelled at when she mistook the hens for the ball (I have never seen a hen hurdle a picnic table like that before and am sure she beat the 100m sprint record to get back to her hutch!)

Milk the Cow

So this morning we go over to let Daisy into the shed to feed the calves (which she did straight away) and find both of the twins are down and out with whatever it is that is making them ill.  Pippi wouldn't even stand up which is really unusual as she has been going quite well and feeding okay while Beefy only drank half his mix.  It's not worth spending a lot of money on them so could be the end of the road we think, as they should be thriving by now with the regular feeding, so it must be something else that is upsetting them.

Meanwhile, Daisy only had one calf (Ginge) drinking this morning so we thought we'd better help relieve her of some of her milk and Brian managed to get a real rhythm going and milked  her really well.  We sent Kieran to get a bowl to put some of it in and he came back with a pudding bowl! So we were able to bring back about a cup of milk which Bri has enjoyed in his coffee.  At least Daisy stood quietly and let him milk her, so there could be potential there, especially if she only now has one calf feeding from her.

Will have to hunt out my cheese-making recipes and order some rennet powders etc...

Busy Week! - New Arrivals!

Hi again y'all! Cannot believe it is Friday already! This farming-lark is seriously exhausting! Nah, just kidding - we have nothing to grizzle about, especially when we think of the farmers who struggled through the major snowstorm, seeing thousands of dollars of potential income being destroyed by Mother Nature.

We have been trying to monitor Beefy's health as he tries to recover from scours - a jab bought at the vet, plus some electrolytes, has given him a bit of a boost but he is still quite weak.  He is being hand-fed with calf milk powder: this morning he only drank half and then wanted to feed from Daisy as well (but I think he was too weak to really get much off her), but tonight he drank all of his two litres and was quite stonkered!



Pippi is still feeding well off Daisy (who is continuing to be mostly cooperative about heading into the shed for feeding) - Pippi is a real slurper (makes more noise when feeding than Kieran does!). Big breakthrough with Daisy's calf Ginge - he is now letting us stroke him while in the shed, although still a bit suspicious of us.



Ruby



Yesterday Brian and Kieran fetched our two new girls - two Highland cattle cows - from Lachie and Leigh Smith's stud (can't think of the special Scottish word for such a farm) at Gorge Road. Both girls are a lovely shade of ginger and suitably hairy, with horns. (Of course, that's not to say all Scottish girls are ginger, hairy or horny! Please keep all rude comments to yourselves!)

The one-year old, who we've called Kiltie and the plan is to breed from her, made an immediate impression by breaking her horn on the stock crate, leaping over the stock crate to get out of the trailer, leaping over the farm-gate, galloping to the next gate and leaping that as well (cracking the top wooden rail in the process)! So is she a highland dancer or what? She ended up in the calf paddock so we decided that was better than out on the road and have left her there to calm down and get used to the change in situation.

Lachie thinks she may have been stressed by having been in such close quarters with the older cow (Ruby is two years old and these kind of cattle have quite a hierarchy going on). Ruby is wary of us too but was much calmer once off the trailer (maybe it was Bri's driving that they didn't like?) Ruby is destined for gracing our table.
We had hoped to get Kiltie to wander back over to the paddock Ruby was in but Kiltie seemed blind to the open gate and it ended up being Ruby that wandered through to the cow paddock.  So now all our bovines are in the same paddock and seem to be all content with each other (although Ruby spent much of the morning following Daisy around - most likely only wanting to ask her why she's not wearing a fur coat too!)