Good morning everyone,
We hope you have had a great week – and let’s hope this week is even better!
The temperature is now dropping overnight and the grass growth is slowing. This is exacerbated by lack of rain – but I believe there is some rain coming shortly. Fingers crossed.
AT HOME:
Our little “purring machines” are still a delight. They love being here, and we love having them. We occasionally see the grey kitten, but have had no chance to catch it. We are resigned to the fact it will be forever feral, and just hope it survives. The mummy cat still comes inside and has a feed, but is always a bit tense. She will never be an inside cat. She likes being patted but turns very feral if we try to pick her up. Lol I have only tried this once!
Our little “purring machines” are still a delight. They love being here, and we love having them. We occasionally see the grey kitten, but have had no chance to catch it. We are resigned to the fact it will be forever feral, and just hope it survives. The mummy cat still comes inside and has a feed, but is always a bit tense. She will never be an inside cat. She likes being patted but turns very feral if we try to pick her up. Lol I have only tried this once!
ON THE FARM:
The fencers arrive this morning (we hope) to re-fence half of our farm. We can’t wait to see the change, but it will be a bit awkward ensuring all the animals get a good feed. whilst this is happening. In all fence lines we will create tree bays, and plant the biggest willow trees we can find. We want all paddocks to have shaded areas for the cows (in addition to the established trees already on the farm).
The fencers arrive this morning (we hope) to re-fence half of our farm. We can’t wait to see the change, but it will be a bit awkward ensuring all the animals get a good feed. whilst this is happening. In all fence lines we will create tree bays, and plant the biggest willow trees we can find. We want all paddocks to have shaded areas for the cows (in addition to the established trees already on the farm).
Over the years we have had some very special cows who have since passed. We have decided to name all paddocks after these special animals. We are organising to make what looks like street name plates, that we will attach vertically on the gate post entrance to each paddock. That is certainly better than “paddock #1” etc. We can’t wait!
We did ship our animals to Taihape last week, and they loaded onto the truck perfectly. I was worried for my special bull, Tristan, but he loaded quite happily. Apparently he hasn’t settled down there yet, so fingers crossed it won’t take long. He is such a special dude!
When we first started our registered Angus herd almost 15 years ago, we started with frozen embryos imported from Lawsons Angus in Australia. Lawsons did so much to help us get started, and we are so grateful. I have watched in awe to see Lawsons grow into the premier Angus stud in Australia. Genetically they are so much further ahead of other studs. I still keep in touch with Harry Lawson, and this year we will import semen from one of his “super bulls”. The bull’s marbling genes are through the roof, as well as having outstanding growth. I can’t wait!
SPOTLIGHT ON:
We have a very special cow, named NITA – who is now 9 years old. She is a daughter of our very special cow Jenna (now departed). Nita has the same amazing docility and I love to have a chat with her most days.
We have a very special cow, named NITA – who is now 9 years old. She is a daughter of our very special cow Jenna (now departed). Nita has the same amazing docility and I love to have a chat with her most days.
The spotlight animal for this week is her new bull calf, born a couple of days ago. This little dude is called NIKE – a 4 letter name starting with N just like his mother.
Interestingly though, this year Nita was very reluctant for me to get anywhere near little Nike. She would take off and kept calling the calf to follow. It took me a while to actually find out the sex of the calf. She is a lot more relaxed now. After all these years I am still in awe of how much love and care the cows give to their calves. It is very special!
That’s all for this week! We hope you all have a great week.
As always – we would love to have feedback from you.
Colin and Keryn