The frost was thick on the ground and the sky the shade of brilliant blue you only see in winter. Despite thick gloves my fingers felt frozen. The cows were strung out along the fence line, slowly making their way down to the yards for their morning feed. Marnie the Hereford caught my eye, her coat a rich mahogany red, glistening with frost in the early morning light. With their thick woolly hides Marnie and the Shorthorns handle the winter very well. I wouldn’t like to be a Brahman on a morning like this I thought to myself!
With Dear Richie still home the combustion stove has been going day and night, warming the kitchen as well as providing our hot water, cooking all our dinners at night and porridge in the morning. It warms our souls as well. I can’t imagine life without it. I actually brought the stove with me when I moved from Warwick as the Walkers didn’t want it when they bought the house. It was a massive job to shift but worth every bit of blood, sweat and tears!
What’s a dog worth?
Dear Richie had gone truck driving for a day and I had to get the rams in for the annual Brucellosis testing that was to take place the following morning. The rams were in the top paddocks above the house – the steepest, hilliest and most heavily treed part of the farm.
The day was a busy one so I kept putting it off but eventually I knew it was now as the light was fading. Instinctively I locked Dora in her cage and decided to just take Crystal. Unfortunately Crystal refused to get on the quad, or in a car for that matter, so I just went slowly up the steep hill behind the house, stopping at the top to admire the 360 degree views on such a gorgeous day. No sign of the rams to the left or to the right so we followed the ridge to the end and looked around. Again, no rams.
Riding over to the apex of the hill I looked down and into the gullies. Still no rams. I headed back down thinking I would ride along the bottom as far as I could and then go on foot. I called Crystal and we headed back down but about halfway, I looked over and spotted a ram one hill over. “Look, look,” I said to Crystal, “look, look”. Crystal looks around but she is old and nearly blind. Never mind, I said to her dejectedly. Not your fault. By this time I was thinking my chances of getting those rams in were very slim indeed – they would take off as soon as they spotted me.
Next thing Crystal was heading back up the hill. I tried to call her back but she kept going. After a couple of minutes I thought I had better head back up and get her, thinking she had lost her marbles! But half way back I was confronted by the rams heading towards me. They spotted me and did a u-turn heading back the way they had come. Crystal had gone up the hill, gone way across to the second hill then come back down behind the rams! I reckoned Crystal would turn them again so I headed off down the hill, then turned going across the gullies down towards the yards with the rams soon hot on my heels! I got the gate open and Crystal herded them in. I don’t think I have ever been so proud of a dog! She got a good dinner that night.
A.I. woes
Getting heat patches on the cows was a drama. I knew it would be and I wasn’t looking forward to it. The cows are spoiled and have no respect. The set up in the yard wasn’t ideal either. The cows have to go around a corner into the crush but we never seem to find the time to redesign the yards (which are only portable panels). Sure enough, it was a drama and involved a few whacks with the poly pipe to get them up. After all, nothing nice ever happens in a cattle crush, does it? Unfortunately I knew the whole thing would have to be repeated in another three weeks.
With the short days and me at work it fell upon Dear Richie to observe the cows several times a day and see if any were bulling. Now Dear Richie has a lot on his mind, farm and mechanical jobs to do, and checking the cows was never going to be his priority. Eventually I spotted a cow on heat, possibly two, so the A.I. technician was called. He was leaving just as I arrived home from work but it turned out that Tess, one of the shorthorns, he believed was already in calf so he put the semen from the $140,000 bull into the puny looking Speckle Park X heifer we bought a while ago when things were dry. I was planning on selling the heifer but perhaps not now!
So that’s possibly two cows in calf now, right? Fast forward one month and no other cows have been spotted bulling, however, today being my first day off in a while, I went down to the yards to let the cows out and noted that Marnie Hereford seemed to be springing, forward springing to be precise. Heifers are a lot easier to see the signs of pregnancy in than cows. The big question – we don’t have a bull. The cows got out for one day a couple of months ago, however, I confirmed with the neighbour they had no bull in at that time. It’s all a huge mystery, I guess I will have to get the vet in to preg test. Yet another expense, I won’t dare to say how much the semen cost me, including freight etc etc, I’m too frightened to add it all up! I’ll keep you posted.
Holiday Time
In three weeks I am heading off to the UK and the Continent on my once in a lifetime holiday. I alternate between worrying about what’s left to do on the farm before I go and the fact that I have hardly organised a single thing for my journey, other than a vague idea of agricultural shows to visit, a concrete booking for the Masham Sheep Fair and a ticket to Jimmy’s Farm! I have some days booked in to see Tom and Lottie and a Eurail pass to go and see Greta and Julie. Perhaps it is best that way! I will be writing the September Tales about mid-September from who knows where!
Until then, lots of love to you all.
Judy
