Good morning everyone,
Well – thank goodness, we have now some fine weather on the farm. With an El Nino winter and spring forecast it is hard to know if there will be more or less rain here. The last few days have made it clear that we should not expect a dry winter, but who knows!
We are just happy that the grass is still growing strongly. We have 72 large silage bales to collect across the lake and they will be delivered tomorrow. The cows are still managing without the extra feed but I will be much happier once we start feeding out daily. So long as the weather is not awful, I actually enjoy feeding out and the interaction with the stock. I will feed out a bale as soon as they arrive.
Keryn is away for a month
Our son and daughter-in-law live in Wellington, and they flew out overseas yesterday for a 30 day trip to Machu Picchu and the Galapagos. They have two sons, and Keryn has volunteered to look after the boys (who are at school) so they can have this fabulous trip. It will be lonely up here for a whole month without Keryn, but we are very happy to facilitate such a special holiday.
Fieldays
They are on this week, and I can’t wait! This time there are lots to look for. It is a shame Keryn is not with me. Now that we have our solar array we would like to buy a fully electric car. Our old Holden Trax is over 15 years old, and is starting to cost us money. Not having to buy petrol will also be a joy! So that is number #1 thing to look at (not that we will buy it straight away). We will also be keen to find an electric ATV. But they might not be ready for another year or so.
We are also very focused to look for competitive plant suppliers. Apart from trees for all the new tree bays, we also have a large sidling, and it would be great if we could plant this out with smaller shrubs. I am hoping that Waipa District Council or Environment Waikato might help (but we won’t hold our breath!
On the farm
The fencing is pretty much completed. There are a few battens still to put on, but the fencers are currently working on putting in new tree surrounds. They have built just two so far, so there are still lots to do. They do look good, though!
Last week we scanned the remaining females who we had not scanned previously. They are all in calf, so we will have a big calving season this year.
On the lake side of the farm (between the new fencing and the lake edge) we are also installing a 4 wire waratah fence so the cattle can go into this area and keep it clean and tidy. This area is well above the lake. Cattle do a marvellous job at keeping these scrubby areas looking nice. We have completed one fenced area – with one still to go.
Spotlight on:
This morning we would like to spotlight a wee heifer calf born this morning. It is the first heifer calf born this year.
Mum is named SPRING (and Spring’s mother is called Summer). Any suggestions for a name (which should start with S)?
We won’t keep Spring long term. We will let her run with our bull from 1st December, and then sell her in calf and wean this calf (or better – sell her with calf at foot). As mentioned in an earlier post we will reduce our herd down to 32 breeding cows. If we make sure it is a December breeding, the math’s says we can carry 96 animals through to the autumn (32 cows, 32 x calves and 32 x 18 month old steers and heifers). In the early autumn we will finish (or sell in calf) the 32x 18 month old animals, and go into the winter with just 64 animals (32 cows and 32 calves). We currently have 83 going into the winter.
Anyway – that’s enough from me. I hope you all have a great week ahead.
As mentioned we love feedback. We do welcome any responses.
Colin (and Keryn)