By Judy Barnet, Ag Columnist
The state of affairs on the farm has been relatively calm lately with nothing breaking down except the tractor which has been out of order for a while. Nor have there been maggoty sheep to hand shear. Things can change very quickly, however. I had a wonderful day today which started with a paddle with my friends in the kayak at 5.30 am. It was actually my first time in a kayak and I was hooked by the time I had paddled about five metres! The water was like glass and the morning was picture perfect. There was no sting in the sun at that time of day. I suspect you are going to see your fair share of photos taken from the kayak once I get a waterproof case for my camera. My friend Erin is a qualified instructor, so I couldn’t have found a better teacher.
I was on cloud nine. I would liked to have gone out again in the afternoon, however, I had a date with the doc for my third vaccination. I survived that experience and decided to grab some groceries on the way home but then noticed I had a missed call from CJ. When I called back she informed me that the power had gone off and all attempts to reset had failed. I advised her it would be a case of elimination testing to see what threw the breaker by unplugging everything and plugging them back in one by one.
I called Richie and asked him to go home and see what he could find, but in the back of my mind a nagging thought was, “OMG, I hope it is NOT the incubator,” as it contained thirty-eight guinea fowl eggs that were due to hatch within the next 48 hours. Sure enough, when I arrived home Richie advised that it was the problem. I have a second incubator, an old Multiquip that is prone to blowing bulbs due to the fluctuating power supply, but I thought I could keep it going for a couple of days to hatch out the keets. For some unknown reason it would not work either. The fans came on but the heating lamps would not. My next thought was to find a clucky hen for at least some of eggs but a tour of the chook pens revealed none. Richie and our friends suggested putting the eggs under a heat bulb with a bowl of water in in a fry pan on low heat. Both ideas had merits and definitely had produced results for people in the past but chickens are a lot easier to hatch than guinea fowl. I sadly resigned myself to the fact that for the second time I was to lose eggs just a day or two off hatching.
Yesterday also revealed another surprise, a better one this time! Early on Monday morning a deer had shown up only metres from the cottage. It now appears that he thinks our farm is not a bad place to hang out and he has joined up with the alpacas. I am quite found of deer and I think cottage guests are going to love to see a deer around the place if he chooses to stay. Emu seem to be more plentiful around the district now too as I am seeing a lot about. A few bunnies have had a date with destiny lately, but where you see a few there are always more so it is something we need to keep on top of.
There have been a few mysteries of late. A few nights ago I had just got off to sleep when I was woken by a lamb calling out not far away. I didn’t worry unduly as lambs often get lost in the night but usually they find mum. However, this baaing in the night went on and on and on. Then other sheep started and I heard some running up towards the house. I woke Richie and told him I would have to get up and check the sheep. He got the hint, stumbled out of bed and asked how I proposed to check them. I said, well the quad bike might work so off he went. Richie is good when it comes to noises in the night – he never leaves me to go outside and check! When he came back he said he couldn’t find anything amiss and the ducks were asleep on the lawn outside so perhaps the sheep were just off on a midnight stroll.
A few days later CJ and I were carrying the Engel out to the car when we heard one hell of a bang and crash from somewhere in the vicinity of the verandah. The car fridge was not light so we continued to the car before I went back to see what was going on. I was positive that a sheep must have got into the house yard and up on the verandah but my search revealed not a single thing out of place. I walked around the house in case any windows had fallen out. Some of the glass panes in the ancient casement windows have come loose in their frames and occasionally fall out. I checked everywhere but still found nothing and so the mystery remains. The only thing I can think of is that a guinea fowl perhaps flew into a window and then hit the deck.
Finally, we were able to move the cattle crush to its “temporary” position so we can get the cows artificially inseminated. However, moving the crush was a bit of a painful experience – for me at least. Dear Richie was on the backhoe and asked me to pull out a pin on the cattle panel joining the crush but it was stubborn. I grabbed a rock to force the pin up and the first clang of the rock hitting the steel stirred up a literal hornet’s nest. Well, actually, I think they were paper wasps. Luckily for me I only got four or five stings. They all came good except one that was hot, swollen and itchy for a couple of days. Needless to say I am pretty cautious everywhere I go now and on the lookout for the nests before I start pumps, etc!
Having prepared my sheep, I was a bit saddened by the cancellation of the Allora Show and the postponement of the Stanthorpe Show. I also had some photos printed for my first ever entry into a photo competition at a show. At the end of the day though, it was a good call by the show societies and sooner or later the show will go on. As so many volunteers put a lot of time and effort into these events it is hard for everyone, but the health of the community will and should always take precedence.
You probably already know that I am a real bookworm and this week I was delighted to hear that my friend Deanna Dunham has just published her memoir, “The Drovers Daughter”. Deanna was raised in Boggabilla, the daughter of a psychopathic drover. I met Deanna through my best friend Tina who lives near her at Kenilworth. Deanna had a goat dairy for many years and made exquisite soap as well as some wonderful cheeses. Deanna is a warm, vibrant and colourful person and I am looking forward to reading her book, published by Pendulum.
Time spent with friends this week has been amazing. We have been swimming and kayaking and spent a lovely evening by the campfire down at the dam with Gary cooking a scrumdiddlyumptious pork roast in a camp oven! I could not have wished for a better start to 2022.
Have a great week everyone.
