By Judy Barnet, Ag Columnist
We returned home from Tasmania on Wednesday, 6 July, very weary after our fight with Covid.
I’m not sure how long this will last. Everyone I have spoken to has only had very mild doses of the virus and have been better in a few days. However, we are coming up to twelve days now and are only improving slowly. Nights are the worst when I wake up coughing and choking. I am worried about energy, or lack thereof, as there is always so much to do and the next few weeks are full-on with shearing, scanning, shifting sheep and preparation for Jumpers and Jazz. One day at a time I guess.
Sadly our beautiful cat Smokey, procured from the Yangan Waste Facility about 15 years ago, passed away a week after we left for Tassie. Smokey had been ailing but it was still devastating to not spend her last days with her. Smokey was a small cat with a big heart. She was as brave as a lion but no common cat was she. She was always an inside cat as we didn’t want her killing wildlife. I will never forget the night we went out, leaving a window open (it must have been summer), to come home and find Smokey had a big feral cat bailed up in the bedroom. I threw a blanket over it, rushed in and grabbed it and stuffed it quickly in a cage Richie rustled up. It was quickly disposed of.
Smokey never drank water from a bowl either. She had a glass on our bedside table and she would drink from this or dip her foot in and lick her paws.
We have to come up with a plan very quickly for a dozen or so naughty sheep, led by orphan Bronte, who have CJ bluffed. They push their way past CJ into the chook pens, sometimes knocking her down to get food. That’s the trouble with pet sheep, they can become too quiet. An alternative would be to banish them to a far paddock but these are the sheep that the cottage guests love to mingle with and it would be a waste to have them otherwise. I have thought of putting a fence around the entire farm complex (garages, chook pens, sheds etc) which would solve the problem for sure. However, I am not sure that is the best solution as I can imagine when people arrive those crafty sheep would soon work out where the gate was located and wait for someone to drive through. It would also be expensive to implement, requiring multiple gates to get to the yards. It would be cheaper to sell the little buggers, for sure. More thought is needed.
Speaking of shearing time, do you recall when earlier this year the (very patient) shearer turned up to shear the sale lambs and the machine would not start? I called Richie and told him in no uncertain terms to come home immediately. Anyway, I promised the shearer that the next time he came (assuming he would agree to shear again) we would have an electric machine for him to use.
Realising I only had a couple of weeks left, I rang and ordered a Lister Nexus Elite shearing plant this morning. I am not going to say it will be quieter, because we will have to take the generator down to use it until I can get the electrician out to wire it up, which in turn will mean digging a trench from the pole down to the shed – no easy feat in our traprock country.
We were able to arrange at the last minute a trip to view Brendan Heazelwood’s English Leicester Sheep Stud. Brendan was preparing sheep for the upcoming Bendigo show and offered to leave the rams tied up in the shearing shed and some ewes close by for us to take some photos. When we arrived he was happy to show us the rams, at a distance. Brendan and his wife had had four vaccinations and recently a dose of the virus as well.
I hatched quite a few chickens last year and we are just starting to be rewarded with eggs from these pullets now. They are mostly Australorp bantams. The Australorp bantam is a very handy fowl indeed, being hardy and also economical to keep, unlike their large counterpart who consumes about twice the amount of grain for the same number of eggs. We have been able to get by without having to buy eggs for many years now thanks to the Australorps. Warwick has a well known Australorp bantam breeder, a Mr Schelback, who is considered one of the top breeders of the fowl.
According to Open Poultry Standards Australia, the Australorp is a production bred Australian black Orpington, noted for its splendid egg production, and is a valuable fowl for those requiring an abundance of eggs without sacrificing meat qualities. The breed was developed in Australia in the early 1900s. It has a lifespan of six to ten years and even longer if well cared for.
This week we had some lovely guests at the cottage and they were so enamoured with the Southern Downs that they are considering buying a farm here. Kay and her two sons, aged 10, stayed for two nights and the boys absolutely loved the farm and all the critters. They are also enthusiastic about old vehicles. Their Poppy has a farm up north and is a “collector” like us. His passion has rubbed off on the boys. I get the feeling our lives will continue to cross paths. We also have a keen photographer staying at the moment, so I can’t wait to see the photos taken on the farm of what catches someone else’s eye.
Now we are back from holiday I would like to get stuck back into the vegetable garden, which is starting to become overrun with weeds. We have plenty of fancy lettuce but we don’t eat much of it during the winter. The garlic is growing nicely despite being nibbled at by some passing sheep.
Broccoli seems to be hardly growing at all despite conditions being optimal, and even the usually hardy wombok has been ravaged by insects. I am starting to wonder if perhaps the garden is a bit too wet. I will make an effort to find 10 minutes every day in the morning before I leave for work and do a bit of weeding and mulching. One bed at a time.
Also on my list of things to do is writing out a menu of meals for the week. I tend to get home, take Dora for a quick walk, come back into the house and give some thought to what we could have that’s quick and easy. I feel that a little bit of thought and preparation could make meal times easier and healthier. I am also on a mission to use up the food in the pantry and the freezer, both of which are bulging at the seams. I’ll let you know how I go.
I hope everyone has a great week and look forward to catching up again next week.
Judy
