The last few months have been hectic, or something approaching that. We started drafting the cows into smaller groups just after Easter, not that I remember Easter, I worked through from the start of April to May 31st and dry-off. We had 4 herds in the end, the 2 main milking herds, one small group of barren cows, about 40 or so, that we milked out then culled out off the farm and away to become MacD burgers, and the usual group of red herd cows with mastitis or lame, or injured, that rotate back into the main herd. Still ended up milking 1350 cows twice a day till the end of the season on May 31st.
Bridget and Steve at work.
It’s been a good season, our somatic cell count never went over 200 till the last week when we were drying off, so the farm got a good payout for the season, John Deere Finance offered Hayden 0.8% financing on 3 new JD tractors, 2 small ones, 6430’s, and one bigger one 6830 I think, and took the exisiting tractors as trade. Plus the associated buckets/forks attachments.
All the herd, plus the runoff farm herd have been DNA tested, which will help next season with calving, it gets confusing with a large herd and you are trying to reconcile calves and cows and having 80 or so cows calving each day over August and into September, at night, or wandering off from the paddock and dropping calves in the shelter belts or anywhere. I had 3 calves on my place last season, and found a few dropped in the ditches along the roadside during August.
On the home front, I have started doing all the winter chores around the garden, digging over last seasons garden, planting broad beans and asparagus in the new patches, and cleaning out the polytunnel. I obtained nearly 100 asparagus crowns from a lady in Takaka for $20, all 4 – 5 year old crowns, I’m going to be able to get a small crop from them this year, but will have to wait till next year for a main crop from them once they settle into the bed.
Polly that does the hydroponic peppers in Rockville offered to sell my surplus through her stall and shops next spring and summer, so that will raise a bit of cash, I’m starting to see light at the end of the tunnel finally here.
She isn’t interested in growing outdoor crops on her block, the hydroponics take up most of her time now, so I’m going to be able to sell off the zucchini/rhubarb/chillies/cucumbers and whatever else I supply.
I put in 100 broad bean seeds a fortnight ago, which have all come through, I’ll start more towards the end of this month, and cabbage and brocolli plants as well.
We haven’t had any snow yet, just a few mornings with white caps on the mountains that have melted off by lunchtime, and only one good rainburst last week, about 75mm overnight that had the valley looking like a lake for the day till it drained away. I had Hayden over from Wellington, he was impressed with how quickly the water drains away. We took a few trips around the valley, out to Wharariki Beach, impressive as always, into Takaka and up the road to the Heaphy Track.
Hayden at Heaphy Track and Wharariki Beach
We start back milking on August 10th, which seemed like a long time to wait 2 weeks ago, now I find myself wanting more time free to catch up on everything I haven’t had a chance to do the last couple of months since Easter. I’ve got all the chicken mesh to put up along the back fence line, a hen house to build, another room to strip and plaster, then paint, roof to repair, well, replace 3 sheets of iron and the ridge cap, and still haven’t worked out how to strip the window frame out from upstairs and replace with a ranchslider. I’ll be needing some scaffolding outside, so that is going to be a summer job, when I can afford it.
Tuffy has finished growing upwards, now he is filling out. He is looking like his parentage, Labrador front half, broad head, shoulders and front feet, and border collie skinny hips and back legs. He keeps trying to herd Bridgets hens up when we go around there, I’d love to get him trained up for sheep, he has got the border collie herding instinct, and a good eye on him for trying to outstare everyone.
It's also end of season crop dusting time as well, dropping fertiliser onto the paddocks for next springs growth.
Here are a few from around the house the last month or so.
The weather changed so quickly this year, from a long autumn, or it felt like a long one, into winter in the course of a few days. We went from 8*C in the mornings to -5*C over a weekend, our hands were so cold in the mornings milking we had a bucket of 80*C water by us, and we were dipping our hands in every few cows.
It’s been a good season, our somatic cell count never went over 200 till the last week when we were drying off, so the farm got a good payout for the season, John Deere Finance offered Hayden 0.8% financing on 3 new JD tractors, 2 small ones, 6430’s, and one bigger one 6830 I think, and took the exisiting tractors as trade. Plus the associated buckets/forks attachments.
All the herd, plus the runoff farm herd have been DNA tested, which will help next season with calving, it gets confusing with a large herd and you are trying to reconcile calves and cows and having 80 or so cows calving each day over August and into September, at night, or wandering off from the paddock and dropping calves in the shelter belts or anywhere. I had 3 calves on my place last season, and found a few dropped in the ditches along the roadside during August.
On the home front, I have started doing all the winter chores around the garden, digging over last seasons garden, planting broad beans and asparagus in the new patches, and cleaning out the polytunnel. I obtained nearly 100 asparagus crowns from a lady in Takaka for $20, all 4 – 5 year old crowns, I’m going to be able to get a small crop from them this year, but will have to wait till next year for a main crop from them once they settle into the bed.
Polly that does the hydroponic peppers in Rockville offered to sell my surplus through her stall and shops next spring and summer, so that will raise a bit of cash, I’m starting to see light at the end of the tunnel finally here.
She isn’t interested in growing outdoor crops on her block, the hydroponics take up most of her time now, so I’m going to be able to sell off the zucchini/rhubarb/chillies/cucumbers and whatever else I supply.
I put in 100 broad bean seeds a fortnight ago, which have all come through, I’ll start more towards the end of this month, and cabbage and brocolli plants as well.
We haven’t had any snow yet, just a few mornings with white caps on the mountains that have melted off by lunchtime, and only one good rainburst last week, about 75mm overnight that had the valley looking like a lake for the day till it drained away. I had Hayden over from Wellington, he was impressed with how quickly the water drains away. We took a few trips around the valley, out to Wharariki Beach, impressive as always, into Takaka and up the road to the Heaphy Track.
Hayden at Heaphy Track and Wharariki Beach
We start back milking on August 10th, which seemed like a long time to wait 2 weeks ago, now I find myself wanting more time free to catch up on everything I haven’t had a chance to do the last couple of months since Easter. I’ve got all the chicken mesh to put up along the back fence line, a hen house to build, another room to strip and plaster, then paint, roof to repair, well, replace 3 sheets of iron and the ridge cap, and still haven’t worked out how to strip the window frame out from upstairs and replace with a ranchslider. I’ll be needing some scaffolding outside, so that is going to be a summer job, when I can afford it.
Tuffy has finished growing upwards, now he is filling out. He is looking like his parentage, Labrador front half, broad head, shoulders and front feet, and border collie skinny hips and back legs. He keeps trying to herd Bridgets hens up when we go around there, I’d love to get him trained up for sheep, he has got the border collie herding instinct, and a good eye on him for trying to outstare everyone.
It's also end of season crop dusting time as well, dropping fertiliser onto the paddocks for next springs growth.
Here are a few from around the house the last month or so.
The weather changed so quickly this year, from a long autumn, or it felt like a long one, into winter in the course of a few days. We went from 8*C in the mornings to -5*C over a weekend, our hands were so cold in the mornings milking we had a bucket of 80*C water by us, and we were dipping our hands in every few cows.
My apologies for the formatting, Blogger keeps updating and changing browser settings, I'll have to use IE to post now, instead of FireFox.
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