Things are a little quiet

One child in a cast with a break to his left Humerus...things are a little quiet around here and well not that humerous...the rough road to and from town is about the extent of his travels, thank goodness he loves to read and we can buy books for the iPad (no tax deduction there)!

 

In saying that L is still working on his fence....alone!

I am trying to finish my big list of things before school goes back in what 10 days...

The kids spotted my list after a disagreement with each other to which I intervened so they kicked off the cleaning of the kitchen...I was so taken back I gave them a big squeezy hug...their cleaning however only lasted 1/2 an hour. I finished around 4.30pm (all day) and note to self never to leave it that long again. Kitchen cupboards were scrubbed inside and out, items that I never use collected and will see one of the many charity bins in town. With the Australian Open on however, this may also account for the length of time it took me.

A couple of long term, planned projects are underway and close to finish...

We've managed to service the bike's, the manual kind...and deal with a red-back spider who had quite happily made her web and sack in the spokes...

A new accounting program, quite rightly advised by my brother-in-law to try it for 6 months before recommending it. I'll blog before the end of Financial Year about that one...but just quickly I haven't been this excited about my books for a long time!

Branding next week will be interesting with the heat but like all farmers we are just going to have to roll with it...

 

Girls, Girls, Girls!

Not quite the Elvis Presley Californian girls,

but they are our girls...

Yesterday was spent checking cow condition.

I am pretty sure I haven't got my grass budgeting quite right but going on cow condition I don't think it's a dismal fail either. The wet years have thrown us a bit out of whack, but we're drought kids right...through the 90s it never rained much either. I was a bean counter, punching numbers into a computer in Rockvegas in those days. Lach remembers only to well. We've been bullish in the wet, given that there are still few strategies open to us...which way we go will decide how much rain falls out of the sky this week.

This next lot of cows are destined for the meatworks after they raise their calves. Unfortunately learning their mother's bad character traits along the way.

Culling for temperament continues...our pet hate is an animal with a bad temperament. It looks like this cow has been left in charge of calf playgroup.

 

And then there is the 2013 heifer drop who have freshened up nicely from the plain and now forage on the green grass from Spring rain (grateful for that rain too I might add) in the forest country around the house.

We are still a mixed bag of composites, but every year we are improving the genetics and temperament.

And as for the chooks, well the old birds are completely off the lay, I don't think I have secured an egg from them in 2 months...

And these young birds are a little way off from laying but with six of them (maybe five if Roger really is a Roger) there will be an influx of eggs they...obviously before Roger has his way with them...chook experts when will I know that?

Fencing and water

The man of the house is the planner, the one in the coal face...reading other blogs I think at times I have the easy job, get off lightly...teaching the kids...cough, cough, splutter!

The loss of two Angus bulls in the 2012/13 breeding season meant a change of strategy.

The idea of another laneway had always been in the pipeline but with a few more helicopter musters under our belt the idea of another square to muster into, equipped with watering points, four in fact was approved. The benefits we could both see outweighed the cost. I think I'll name this one Heifer Dingo square...original given the paddock we took it from is Heifer Dingo.

 

Kids in the bush get pretty handy, this one appears to be adhering to instructions more, pretty important when driving.

The littlest one likes this job, spray painting the hole with hot pink spray paint, makes it easy for Dad to see.

 

 

 

I can't remember but there must have been 20 strain...Lach does most of it himself except for the odd day when my brother can come up and help...by the way no-one is a fan of the wire gates but since we've been paying the bills its pretty cost effective.

 

A bit of this ridge country was burnt after the rain we had in November...now it just looks terrible. Whether your a fan of burning or not sometimes a fuel load needs to be dealt with in traditional ways.

We are also keeping alive a few hundred roos with this Lake, it's marvellous to have another body of water on the place.

 

This hard ridge is where the watering points are,

 

This fence will act like a funnel from Carlton square,

 

 

Getting a few loads of gravel for gateways helps in the wet season...when it arrives.

 

A purpose built smoko table by my Dad travels with the fencing gear and clearly stumps are in big supply.

 

 

He'll be glad to see an end to this job too...with the heatwave we've just experienced and after a week of festivities at the Sunshine Coast, he could feel his jeans loosening up pretty quickly.