Moooooooooooooooooooooo!

Oh, sorry, I got sidetracked by the rest of the scenery around the farm. The title is very distinctly Moooo - ish so after a long cow drought here are some beauties from The Farm.

They are fat, healthy and looking good.

Calves have grown like weeds and mothers have kept their condition.

They have been feasting on some nice green feed, oats I think.

They are definitely enjoying it. 

Here is that Mum and baby from a few photos ago, look how round she is. It is hard for cows to keep condition like this when feeding a calf but that feed above is treating these cows well.

Here are some more photos of Mum and bub -

I wonder if this darling is guarding the entry to the good stuff.

Oops sidetracked by the scenery again, back to the bovines. These ones are are hanging out in the yards getting ready for entry in the local show where they will be entered into a feedlot and fed for a few weeks and then judged on weight gain and condition and then their carcass will be judged after they have been through the abattoir. They will then make their way to a butcher and someone's dinner plate. Despite that fact they are still gorgeous animals.

These bunch a pretty quiet and very willing to line up and come closer for photo opportunities.

As I said they got nice and close and if I had hung around longer they would have been trying to lick the camera I am sure.

This girl is going to become part of the breeder heard. She will help with the next generation. She is super friendly and curious AND snuck up on me from behind to check out what I was up to.

Now most of these young ones are limousin, droughtmaster cross cattle, all these reddish/ golden coloured cows. I think they are very pretty. Some are a bit hairy with more limousin in them and their fluffy teddy bear like ears then some have the sleek droughtmaster look with big floppy ears. These are what the farm mainly breeds although their are some hanger ons of different breeds. I am pretty sure the ones with white markings below have hereford in them, those red and white cattle, mostly red body and white face like you would find in a movie such as the 'Man from Snowy River'.

When I headed back to the house the curious teens were a little disappointed I think, following me up the fence.

I have loved hanging out at the farm but sadly it is coming up to the time we must leave, although we are stopping in at a beach along the way so I can get my REAL beach fix.

Weaner Time

14th Nov

Nope not the sausage variety but the cattle variety. A weaner is a calf that has been taken off it's mother so it can no longer suck off her. They can be weaned as young as 6months although some aren't weaned until 8 to 10months of age. This depends on the property, the cattle and the season. When steers and heifers (boys and girls) are weaned here they are usually tailed for 2 weeks. Tailing means they are taken out every day to feed and walk along the fence lines and learn how to stay together in a mob. This is done on horseback here.

Here are some pictures of the horses and riders getting ready to go ...

 

 

 

The weaners were put into the paddock beside the house to feed and water for a few hours yesterday before being moved along again.

 

 

 

A previous post on weaners can be found here.

Drafting Video

Drafting a video by The Govie on Flickr.

 

Drafting cattle means that they are splitting them into groups. Usually here these groups are calves (babies), weaners (teenagers), heifers (young female who hasn't had he first calf), steers (castrated male), breeders (the breeding cows), spay cows (cows that have been spayed, are barren or are going to be spayed) and bulls.

If you notice in the video Boss R is very patient with the cattle and does things nice and quiet and slow. He is letting them decide to go for the most part rather than forcing them too much so the cattle don't get too worked up. All he has with him is a normal old stick which he mostly just uses to give them a guiding poke in the right direction.

 

Also you will note that we are behind the cattle so that they want to go forward and don't get spooked. In the background you may see Boss Lady R and Boss Lady H manning the gates for the weaners and calves to go through as well as Boss H up on the crows nest opening the gates. The Boss Ladies are there so the cattle don't try to come back through the gate as well as to help when the gates get stuck.

Weekend Nothingness

Woke to a foggy and drizzly morning.

Getting stuck on the station because of wet weather, again ... well it wasn't the weekend I had planned on or really the one I wanted but in the end it was the one I needed. Can't complain because the weather can't be helped and really rain is mostly a good thing, it is a lot better than none at all.

Someone has been having fun.

So back to my thriller of a weekend ... after doing all my houseworky jobs around the quarters and in the schoolroom, catching up on emails and wandering aimlessly around the place I did eventually just sit down and watch a movie. Mind you, it took me until Saturday night get to that point. As I said plenty of wandering around aimlessly, a bit of organising school work, a bike ride (although a very short one, too wet) and possibly a lot of chatting to Mr Sparky on that brilliant invention Facebook (that would be the only reason I like it, to keep in touch with people).

Clouds coming over again.

An active little fellow playing around at the gate.

Loyalty = waiting for the boss at the gate
no matter how long he takes.

What a bright moon poking out of the clouds.

Sunday was pretty much the same. There was a lot less housework, a bit of baking, a bit of sitting around the table talking with the families, a lot less chatting on social networks, a bit more school stuff, a bit more riding and just to top it off another movie ... yes I could get used to this kind of weekend

One of a few cheerful visitors.

Moonrise

Skippy, Skippy, Skippy the bush kangaroo.

Another beautiful sunset, what a hardship to endure.

  

The steers grazing, well they were til I came along.

Hmm mustering on bicycle ... who knows might catch on.

These fellas were in the yards not to long ago
and are rather curious
about the strange invader on two wheels.

Now I wonder who did that?

So fat they nearly roll but boy these boys can run.