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Pygmy Goats | Water | Weather
Another long, dry, hot summer
We were really hoping that after the 2024 drought and the lower than average rainfall the year before that this season would be different, but so far that doesn’t look like its going to be the case. Instead its just been unbearably hot, dry, dusty and heat wave conditions and …
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Our Year with Pygmy Goats – 2024 in Review
What a year 2024 has been! This was our first year with pygmy goats, and while it’s been a steep learning curve, it’s also been an incredibly rewarding experience. With a background in sheep and cattle, the transition to caring for goats felt more like an adventure than a challenge, …
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Our first Pygmy Goat labour and delivery
We’ve been keeping a very close eye on Abbey since she arrived with an unknown due date. When we picked the new girls up in late October I guessed that she had 4 at the earliest, 8 at the latest weeks to go based purely on my experience with cows …
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New Pygmy Goat does added to our herd
The one thing about farming is that fencing is never, ever done. Especially when you keep adding new animals 🙂 We have had some time to work with the existing facilities and the new ones we have built specifically for the Pygmy Goats and figure out what works well – …
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Farming | Pygmy Goats | Water
Spring 2024
Spring is definitely my favourite time of year on the farm, closely followed by autumn because autumn purely because summer is over 🙂 Beautiful sunny days mixed with occasional rainy ones to give the paddocks a boost before the end of the growing season – the air just hums with …
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2024 Spring lambs
We’ve been waiting patiently for the ewes to lamb, which they finally did during August. We’ve had Roger Ramjet (our ram) running with them since December, but last years awful drought and the late start to winter this year obviously affected their fertility (they are more white dorper than wiltipol …
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Happy Birthday Presley
Although it seems like forever before we will have our first kids on the ground, the months really are flying by this year, hard to believe that its nearly spring already! Our stud muffin Presley has just had his first birthday and we couldn’t be happier with the way he …
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Aerial Drone photography
Having a small drone can be quite handy on a small farm, we normally use ours to check stock tank levels and to check some of our fence line to check for fallen branches. I’ve never really been a particularly big fan of aerial or drone photography (and to be …
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Pygmy Goat Breed Associations in Australia
As Pygmy Goats gain popularity in Australia, navigating the various breed associations becomes essential for breeders and enthusiasts alike. These organizations play a vital role in shaping the future of the Pygmy Goat breed, particularly as Australian quarantine restrictions prevent the importation of live goats and the cost of importing …
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Pygmy Goat Percentage in Australia Explained
A Unique Journey of Genetic Building One of the first things new enthusiasts to the Pygmy Goat breed will come across when they get involved with the breed is the Pygmy Goat genetic percentage on the animal’s registration certificate. Most people will naturally assume that any animal labelled a Pygmy …
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Chicken and Bunny Supermodels
While the farm and blog have been taken over with the Pygmy Goats lately, our other animals and livestock are still very much important parts of our daily lives. To show my appreciation to the everything our little feathered and furry pets bring to our lives, I did an impromptu …
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May 2024 Aurora Australis – Southern Lights
It is certainly a magical experience to be able to walk outside on my front verandah and be able to witness the spectacular Aurora Australia, its certainly one more thing to add to the list of long reasons why I love living on a farm. I remember as a kid …
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The First Pygmy Goat Show in Western Australia
There’s something magical about the early morning buzz of an agricultural show – especially after the early morning wake-up for a road trip to Perth when it involves Pygmy Goats! A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending the very first NPGAA Pygmy Goat show in Western Australia, …
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Introducing our Purebred Pygmy Buck
After a massive week of fencing and shelter building in the heat and dust, we finally collected Eagleburra Pygmy Goat Stud’s first buck, the stunning Purebred Pygmy Goat, Plumbago Presley (95.31%). At only 8 months of age, he is already a very impressive looking boy, and if he grows up …
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The drought continues
The summer of 2023/24 is officially the driest, longest summer we have experienced since moving to the farm. After a brief downpour in February giving us a much needed 10mm in the gauge, the extended heat has meant all the livestock are consuming far more water than they would normally …
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Pygmy Goats | Water | Weather
The driest summer we’ve ever had
This is turning out to be the longest, hottest, driest summer we have had since moving to Eagleburra in 2009. We havn’t had a drop of rain since the end of October, and after a well below average winter rainfall, everything is dried up and turning to dust. We’ve already …
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Our little Pygmy Goat herd is growing
This weekend four more beautiful little doelings we have been waiting for have come home to Eagleburra. We are so lucky to be building our dream with the help of some amazing people in the Pygmy Goat world who have trusted us with their beautiful babies, allowing us to build …
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Dusty Rose and Drover settle in
Little Dusty Rose and Drover have settled into their new home here at Eagleburra like they have lived here all their lives. Both kids love attention and are so affectionate. Drover will climb into our laps for a cuddle and while Dusty is not so keen to be cuddled for …
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A dream come true – Pygmy Goats!
Many years ago before we bought Charlotte and Matilda (the Dexter cows I trained to hand milk before we got Holly the Jersey), I seriously considered getting a couple of milking goats as I have always loved these gorgeous creatures. Unfortunately G had heard way too many horror stories of …
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More Southern Lights
We were blessed with another solar storm that created another Aurora Australis on 17th December. This time I had figured out my camera settings a bit better and managed to get some nice shots of the colour and beams, although it was nothing compared to the amount of colour and …
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Roger Ramjet he’s our man
Our new white dorper ram joined our little flock of wiltiXdorper girls this week. Apparently G and I are showing our age by naming him Roger Ramjet, the kids had no idea who Roger Ramjet was or why we thought it was such a good name for him 🙂 He …
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Don’t feed the sheep!
When we bought the four Wiltipol X Dorper girls home earlier this year I made sure everyone knew that they were not pets, I needed them to be a little cautious of us so that Indi would be able to work them as part of his training to be a …
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Southern Lights from our front door
I have been lucky enough to see the Southern Lights (Aurora Australis) from our front verandah on several occasions, but have never had the chance to photograph it before. But on December 1st, the aurora was nothing short of spectacular, even to the naked eye we could see colour and …
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Bloody Fox
We have been super lucky to have never had a lamb taken by foxes, and thankfully that is still the case, but unbelievably this afternoon a fox tried to take down Lilly (the first photo below) who is a fit healthy lamb that weighs 20kgs if not more. As its …
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Stunning Sunset
My wide angle RF14-35mm lens is seeing more action than any of the others in my kit at the moment! The sunset and clouds the other night were spectacular so I raced out just before dark to catch these shots of the hay roll paddock across the road and looking …
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Ball with the Boys
Bolt and Zeke are certainly slowing down a bit and at 14, their age is showing but they both still absolutely love chasing the tennis ball every day. We do have to limit how far and for how long they can play, much to Indi’s disgust, he thinks he could …
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Lamb update
It’s been really chaotic around here lately, I even missed photographing Dolly and Molly lambing although they both lambed at the same time of the morning as the two Polly’s. Molly lambed first, another boy with the tiniest cream patch near his eye, so we have called him Pirate, and …
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Spring lambs growing like weeds
I’m starting to think that Piglett might have been born a bit early and Koala is only 3 days old but so much more advanced from day 1 than Piglett was (its been so many years since we last had lambs its hard to remember what is and isn’t normal. …
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Teeny Tiny Bantam Chicks
Lovely little Lola has gallantly sat on a huge clutch of eggs this spring and successfully hatched 13 gorgeous little pure bred Belgian d’Uccle chicks. They are so tiny, we have nick named them ‘popcorn chicken’ while the Australorp chicks are ‘Chicken Nuggets’. We snuck them into the studio today …
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Lamb number two is here
After a ridiculously long wait, lamb number two is here, another little boy. He is a golden caramel type colour with chocolate legs that is gorgeous, however we are now a bit worried about the breeding behind our Wiltipol-White Dorper ewes and hoping the colour has come from their white …
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Adopted babies
Our lovely Rhode Island X Wyandotte girl Lola has done a great job of raising eleven purebred Australorp chicks. They are so cute, I had to take them to the studio for some photos before they got any bigger. None of these photos are composites, just single shots!
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Horses | Photography | Sheep
A fun new toy
Up to now my widest lens has been a 24-70mm 2.8 that I use in studio, but there is a style of photography that I want to try that needs a really wide angle lens, so I have picked up the RF 14-35 to get me started. Coincidentally it will …
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Australorps at Eagleburra
I’ve always enjoyed having a mixed flock of chicken breeds, but we have decided to breed some pure heritage breed chickens so have acquired an Australorp rooster (suitably named Aussie) to breed with our existing black and blue Australorp hens. We still have the Belgian d’Uccle’s who are amazing at …
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Our first lamb for the season
After weeks of waiting and expecting the girls to evict their passengers at any moment, our first lamb for the season was born early this morning. Thankfully Polly 1 lambed without any problems, although I was a bit worried for a little while that she wasn’t progressing fast enough, mum …
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Dixie Duck survived!
We thought we were going to lose this beautiful girl last week, not sure what was wrong with her but she had lost weight rapidly and got all wobbly and kept falling over. Weird thing was she was happy in herself and more than happy to eat everything we put …
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The girls are ready to pop!
The new merino cross sheep we got for training Indi last month have settled in well and are now gaining weight on all the green grass we have. Three of the Wiltipol ewes look ready to pop any day now, unfortunately not knowing when the white dorper ram got in …
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Spring at Eagleburra
It has been a really dry winter so far this year, we are still far short of our average rainfall for the year, but at least the paddocks are green and we are getting some good growth at the moment. The Three Red Ponies studio is starting to look good …
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Spring 2023
I love this time of year when everything is emerald green and the plants are bursting into flower. It continues to be very cold and not much rain other than that awful misty stuff that makes everything wet and uncomfortable but dosn’t do anything to fill the water tanks. On …
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The chicks are all grown up
The Belgian d’Uccle chicks Miss B. hatched last year have all grown up and turned into beautiful birds. They are the funniest creatures that crack me up when they run with their little feathered feet. They are mostly very friendly birds, but some of the girls have a blood curdling …
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A sheepdog and his sheep
I continue to be amazed at the instinct that Indi shows for working sheep. He has now progressed to the point where I can send him down the paddock to gather the girls and bring them back up the hill to the cattle yard. This is actually no mean feat …
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Runner Ducks
We are not ready to get more sheep just yet, so in the mean time I have obtained a small flock of Runner Ducks to help teach Indi how to be a sheep dog. LOL yes that sounds strange, but these ducks walk/run rather than fly, and they have a …
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Happy First Birthday Indiana Jones
I am thoroughly enjoying having my pet photography studio set-up and ready to use whenever I want. This is definitely the only type of ‘cake smash; session I will ever do (and with a special dog-safe cake). It’s hard to believe this beautiful boy is one year old already, he …
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A photo shoot for Bolt
Beautiful old boy Bolt and his littermate brother Zeke are showing their age lately, it’s hard to believe that they will be 14 years old this year. Bolt and Indi have turned into the best of friends, bringing Indi into the family has given Bolt a new lease on life …
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Dogs | Horses | Photography
A big change with a new toy
As much as I have loved my Canon 5DIV camera, it was well and truly time for an upgrade. I am definitely not an early adopter of new technology so going mirrorless has not really been on my radar until now, but it didn’t make sense to spend the $ …
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Chicks in the studio
Its been so nice to have new life on the farm after all these years. And the benefit of being a professional pet photographer and having the Thee Red Ponies studio right here on the farm is that I get the chance to create some incredible images that you wouldn’t …
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Happy New Year 2023!
Not going to lie, the last 18 months have been really, really hard. Well I guess past couple of years have been really hard for everyone. For our family, I wish for a year of recovery, with no more loss of loved ones. For your family I wish for everything …
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Slender Tree Frog
This gorgeous golden Slender tree Frog was hanging out in my vegie garden in the big wicking bed. I’ve never seen a grog this golden colour before, and I am assuming its a Slender Tree Frog as it looks like one, but was actually a lot bigger than the 4.7cm …
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Indi and the boys
Its hard to believe that we have had Indi nearly six months, the passage of time as you get older gets weirder. Its seems like only last week we bought him home, but then it also seems like a lifetime ago. He is growing up to be a really wonderful …
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Spring is in the air
Spring is in the air – and so are the bees! My lavender plants are covered in bees at the moment, so a perfect opportunity to test out my new macro lens!
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Spring Flowers
Its such a beautiful time of year on the farm, the grass is still growing and all the flowers are in full bloom 🙂 Here’s hoping the head holds off a bit longer so we can enjoy more spring this year. The opening of the studio has kept us very …
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Cats | Dogs | Horses | Photography
Farm Photography Studio
For decades I was a dedicated natural light photographer, always travelling to locations for photo sessions. But in 2017 I came across the work of photographers in multiple genres that were producing the most incredible artistic work both indoor and outdoor with studio lighting and my fascination with working with …
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Misty Winter Morning
As pretty as these misty mornings are despite the cold, we have been having far too many fine days and not enough rain this winter.
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Mia Jumping and Ani Attitude
Miss B has done an amazing job educating Mia this year. The reactive, nervous spooky pony has turned into a soft, responsive, confident and very capable mount under Miss B’s expert guidance. Having Ani hooning around like a fruit loop didn’t even phase her in the slightest. Ani’s ridden career …
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Indi Update
Little Indi has settled into the family really well. The three boys have accepted him into their pack, although Freckles would rather just ignore him, Bolt absolutely adores him and seems to have gained a whole new lease on life, which is amazing as he has really been showing his …
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Indiana Jones
The last year has been incredibly hard with losing my Dad, Trinity, Flame and Ryley all in short succession, along with dealing with Naji’s infection for so many months not knowing if I was going to lose him as well. This little guy has joined our family and has already …
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Naji update
Naji is on his second lot of antibiotics after having the wound in his side flushed and cleaned in mid January, then it abscessed again two weeks later, mostly healed up before abscessing again. We are slowly getting some weight to come off him, but its hard work when he …
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Baby jumps for Tessa and Ani
I’ve definitely got the jumping bug again, much to Tessa’s delight! She has a terrible jump on her, but her enthusiasm definitely makes up for it 🙂 Miss B has started Ani’s jumping training and is progressing well, and Shiloh is ticking along like Shiloh does.
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Jumping Jackson
It’s not often I have photos taken of me, but I am so proud of finally being able to jump again after 30 odd years that I thought I would make and exception 🙂 Jackson is such a good boy, he is really looking after me and it was a …
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A New Years Gift
The last three weeks have been an awful, emotional rollercoaster that words just can’t describe. My beautiful dad passed away early on boxing day morning and life will never be the same. I will be forever grateful that as sad as it was, we were able to spend one last …
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Heartbroken
It has taken a really long time to be able to add this post. We lost Flame, and our lives will never be the same. I didn’t think it was possible to love a horse that wasn’t my own like I did this boy. He was Miss B’s heart horse, …
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First rides for Mia and Ani
Miss B has really needed the distraction of starting these two under saddle recently. They are both coming along really well and we look forward to seeing where the future takes them both. Ani’s exuberant attitude seems to be under control so far, which is really good as she is …
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Gorgeous winter mornings
Its so nice to see the paddocks turning green again. Its been really cold and we havn’t had much rain so far this winter but there is plenty of time yet 🙂
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Educating Ani
Now that her leg wound has healed up nicely, its time to get back to educating Ani. She is a lovely sweet mare with a lovely temperament mixed in with a fair bit of spunk, sass and spice! Mia on the other hand is too busy stuffing her face on …
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Flying high with Shiloh
The road has been a bit bumpy with Shiloh, but all the effort and hard work that Miss B has put into educating the baby dinosaur is really paying off now. He is working softly and consistently and his jumping just gets better all the time. He still dosn’t seem …
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Shiloh jumping
What a crazy world we live in. This blog was always intended to be a reminder of the good things in our lives that we are grateful for. We have had some incredibly challenging times with serious health issues and other challenges for many years even before we moved to …
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The new girl
Introducing Ani, a sweet young anglo arab that Miss B will be starting under saddle this year and hopefully turn into a showjumper/eventer now that Flames injury is going to prevent him from jumping again. So far she is accepting her training really well and proving herself to be one …
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Happy New Year 2021
I think I speak for most of us when I say thank goodness 2020 is in the past, and let’s hope 2021 is going to be a much better year for everyone. Going for a leisurely ride around the farm is a good way to start the new year. who’d …
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Summer Storm to finish the year
As much as I love a good storm, and this one was particularly spectacular, living in a rural area, I definitely prefer summer ones with plenty of rain!
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Boxing Day at Eagleburra
What a year this has been. I think I probably speak for the majority of the human population at the moment when I say, thank god 2020 is nearly over. After such a rough year, I am forever grateful that we live on this beautiful farm surrounded by our beautiful …
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Christmas colour
Celebrating Christmas this year seems a bit strange after the challenging year we have just all had worldwide. Despite that, we thought for Christmas Eve this year, we would do a little decorating and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us and Shiloh and …
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Harvest
Starting to harvest vegies from the garden quite regularly now. I’m going to miss everything that the garden is producing once we head into the summer months and I have to cut back on my water useage in the garden.
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Spring Garden
The vegie are growing gangbusters at the moment, the wicking bed has turned out to be a really good decision. I have brocoli and cauli growing for the first time, including the really unusual Romanesco variety that kind of reminds me of a cone shell with the way it grows.
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Old Horse New tricks
Tessa has been in bootcamp since Christmas to help keep her weight down after she ballooned over the holidays after having a few weeks off. The boys were having a few days break, so Miss B decided to pop Tessa over a few jumps. Now Tessa is 18 years old, …
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February already
Not much has been happening around here since my last post, we’ve only been riding in the cool of the evening, Miss B and Flame have been working hard to make sure they are ready to start competing when competition season starts up again and Shiloh was recovering from another …
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Lazy Summer Days
The ponies are slowly coming back into work after their short Christmas break. Well at least Shiloh and Flame are, Tessa, Jackson and Mia are enjoying a bit of a holiday.
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Tessa and Jackson
The golden hour is the most beautiful time of day for horse portraits, especially when they have shiny summer coats 🙂 These two are an odd couple – Tessa would much prefer her own company to that of other horses (she is a princess with a princess attitude afterall), but …
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Glorious Golden Hour
When photographers talk about the best time of day for photographs, this right here is why we swoon over ‘golden hour’ the hour or so before sunset, when the sun is low on the horizon and bathes everything with a warm golden glow.
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Jumping the Flaming One
Miss B and Flame have developed a really beautiful partnership, he is a challenging horse with lots of quirks and issues that we need to deal with, but his larger than life personality and flamboyant character has made him a very important member of our family.
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Summer wardrobe
Little Mia and Flame have just had their summer wardrobe updated with fly masks and flysheets in coordinating colours. Meanwhile, Tess, who despite being a princess does not appreciate being rugged, even in the middle of winter, is more than happy to be piggy out on all the spring grass …
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General | Horses | Photography | Weather
Spring on the farm
It’s my favourite time of year again, the birds are singing, the bees are buzzing, the sun is shining, all the plants are in full bloom and the ponies are shedding their winter fluff to expose their shiny summer coats. We are truly blessed to be living the dream 🙂 …
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Looking the goods
Shiloh was spoilt with this gorgeous blue sparkly set that looks stunning against his bay colouring.
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Shiloh Jumping
Miss B and Shiloh are starting to get some nice height in their jumping 🙂 He still just lifts his legs and seems to barely put any effort in at all so its going to be interesting to see what height he needs to start putting in some effort.
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The Golden Child
The light this evening was absolutely spectacular, it allowed me to play with some interesting backlight techniques while Miss B and Flame trained.
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Fluff be gone
There is nothing worse than a thick winter coat when your horse is in full work so Miss B clipped Shiloh today. She’s getting really good at this clipping gig and does a MUCH better job than I ever could! I was just a little bit concert that someone was …
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Winter on the farm
Its been really cold but not much rain or pasture growth so far this winter. Ponies are all spending a lot of time in their winter pyjamas.
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Mia the teddy bear
Little Mia is sporting a very thick winter coat this year and is looking more like a teddy bear than a pony. Miss B did some groundwork and liberty training this evening while Flame looked on very unimpressed that he wasn’t the centre of attention 🙂
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Fluffy ponies
The ponies are all getting fluffy and just about ready to clip to make them more comfortable over winter.
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Getting ready for winter
It always amazes me how different the winter coats are for each of our horses. Mia being the pony always grows a massive fur coat, making her look like a cuddly teddy bear. Tessa’s winter coat is fairly thin as is Flames, but they both still sweat up terribly when …
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This boot is made for smacking
This big red clown provides us with constant entertainment with his crazy and quirky antics. Today he stole a gumboot from the front verandah, then was running around smacking poor Shiloh with it, trying to encourage Shiloh to grab it, but as soon as Shiloh tried to reach for it, …
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Goodbye Wilson
It’s taken a lot of soul searching and deliberation, but Miss B has finally decided to find a new home for Wilson. Her medical issues and lack of time/finances have made keeping three thoroughbreds in full work very difficult, so she has made the very adult decision to find him …
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Reach for the stars
This pair have been working so hard with their coaches to improve all aspects of their riding and it’s finally all coming together. Really looking forward to the competition season this year to see how they go. While Flame is busy working hard, Tessa, Jackson and Wilson are hanging around …
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Storm Sunset and Ponies
It almost looked like we may have had an early season break which would have been lovely as it has been so dry, hot and dusty. Even Trinity would like a break from the heat! Jackson, Wilson and Tessa are in the house paddock at the moment to take some …
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Australia Day 2019
The Running of the Flag has definitely become a tradition here at Eagleburra 🙂
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Flaming Sunset
The sunset light was so beautiful that we had an impromptu photo shoot with Flame this evening. Miss B dosn’t want me to include her photos in this post, so I will just share a few of Flame 🙂 There is something very special about this beautiful, challenging, character fill, …
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Shiloh Jump Training
Progress with the Shiloh the baby of the herd has been slow but steady (in between time off for recovery of multiple minor injuries) and he is starting to show us what he will be capable of in the future.
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Liberty with Wilson
I love watching Miss B and Wilson when they play together at Liberty. He is such a lovely soul, he would follow her anywhere. I’m so proud of the relationship she has developed with all her horses, its a reflection of the time, effort and love that she devotes to …
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Late winter storm
Impressive cloud structure today with the late winter storm we had. Definitely appreciate every drop of rain that is going into our water tanks and watering our paddocks. Today’s was one of those eerie storms where it got incredibly dark and we had some weird Mammatus cloud formations all around …
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Naked Ponies
It was a glorious sunny day today so Wilson and Jackson had a much needed naked day in the sun. Clipping horses certainly makes it easier to keep them dry and comfortable in winter, but it also has its downside when its cold and wet for extended periods so they …
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Dancing with Wilson
The bond that these two have have developed is just so beautiful. They spent ages this afternoon playing at liberty, this is not something that they have trained and practiced before, it was simply a beautiful reflection of a relationship very few people will ever have with a horse. Definitely …
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Midwinters eve ride
Actually, I don’t know if it’s midwinter or not, but it sounded good for a blog title 🙂 Just a quick flatwork session for Miss B and Wilson this evening before sunset, he was going beautiful and soft, and did everything she asked so no point making him work any …
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End of an era
Today we said goodbye to Bangers, Matilda and Madonna. With this horrible drought lingering for what seems forever, lack of water and our paddocks being so bare that we are hand feeding everyone daily, there wasn’t much alternative. Holly’s calf Bangers has grown into an absolute monster (size wise anyway, …
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Harrowing the paddocks
It looks like season break is finally headed our way with enough time to harrow the paddocks. It means we lose the remaining standing hay, but also rakes up the horse poo, sticks and rocks to make it easier to pick up. Its a messy, dusty job, the car, house …
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Really need some rain
It’s that time of year again when the water tanks are getting desperately low, dust covers everything inside the house and out, we’ve clamped down on water usage again (and hanging for long hot showers) and everyone keeps watching the forecast for the first sign of season break. In the …
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No amount of time is ever enough
It doesn’t matter how much time you have with them as part of your family, it is never enough. The little red pony who started it all has been laid to rest and our hearts are broken. At nearly 30 years of age, he had lived a hard life, being …
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Flatwork and a few jumps
Only Flamey and Wilson got worked today because Shiloh is recovering from another minor injury for a few days. Baby thoroughbreds, who’d have them?
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Princess Pony
Its been a long hot dry summer, the horses are all still fat and shiny, (well Tessa is always fat and shiny so nothing new there 🙂 but we are all over the heat, dust and flies and looking forward to season break.
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Baby Thoroughbred Moments
Shiloh has a habit of grabbing his cotton like this and flapping it around…while it is hilarious to watch his antics, we are really hoping its a habit that he grows out of before he wrecks too many rugs!
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Wilson and Flame Jump Training
Miss B and the boys are working on improving their shape over jumps at the moment, both Flame and Wilson try their hearts out for her. All of their hard work is definitely paying off 🙂
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The reason we have no lawn
After all the years we have lived here, I have given up on the idea of having lawn off the verandah. All the animals think its their personal loungeroom 🙂
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The Three Amigos
Miss B has been working hard with all three boys who all love sharing the attention. Flamey as always cannot bare not to be the centre of attention 🙂 Wilson’s jumping is coming together so well, Miss B is doing a brilliant job with him, he’s calm with his jumps …
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Whack-a-horse
This great big red boofhead is such a clown, he’s the source of much entertainment on the farm. For the humans at least, the other horses very grudgingly get drawn into his games, at times I swear you can see them rolling their eyes at him in exasperation. Today Flame’s …
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Sandy, Flame and Shiloh
All the horses are looking amazing at the moment with their shiny summer coats. Shiloh and Flame are progressing really well with their flatwork training and even Sandy got a short workout today after a bit of a spell.
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Australia Day 2018
Obviously, last year with Jackson started a bit of a trend, so this time it was Flame and Shiloh’s turn. As expected, Shiloh didn’t bat an eyelid, I have to admit I was just a little bit concerned about how Flamey would handle the flag, but he and Miss B …
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Trinity and Shiloh
I feel like I blink and its summer again and I get ready to hibernate inside in the air con away from the heat. A couple of quick shots of Trinity and Shiloh before I do 🙂
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How quick it turns
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly our beautiful lush green paddocks can turn from emerald green to golden brown once the rains stop in spring. We still have a tinge of green on the paddocks here and there, but it sure is fading fast. Obviously a double edged …
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Updated pup portraits
It has been a while since I’ve done some photos of all the dogs, so I thought it was about time I took some new ones.
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The difference a couple of months makes
Miss B has been very busy with three horses in full work now. Her training with Wilson and Flame is progressing steadily, both are jumping calmly and cleanly and are such honest horses its a pleasure to watch them work. The difference in Shiloh is incredible. hey have even started …
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A sunny day swim
It was such a lovely almost spring day today we decided to take the dogs and Flame for a swim down in the creek paddock. It was Flame’s first experience down there and he had an absolute ball splashing in the water. Everything about this horse is just so exuberant …
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First jumps
Miss B and Flame have been getting to know each other the last couple of weeks and have started their jumping training. It has been great to see the improvement in both of them already. Starting to see some nice muscle development as well which is good 🙂 It is …
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Out in the big paddock
After a few minutes warming up in the house paddock, Miss B took Flame out into the top paddock with the other horses. Given Flames reputation for exuberant behaviour I was really rather concerned about that decision, but Flame didn’t put a hoof wrong and worked incredibly well for her …
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New Kids on the Block
Well, we went up to Perth to collect Flame yesterday and also came home with another young thoroughbred who retired from racing a few months ago. It is funny how the world works, when we purchased Jackson, it was a very hard decision between him and Flame, the only reason …
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The training begins
Miss B has jumped straight into training Flame and I have to say I am pretty impressed with his for their first ride at home. It’s going to be interesting to see how much he develops physically with correct work, both Flame and Harry-Who (needs-a-better-name) look like typical thoroughbreds at …
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Wilson in Winter
These two just get better and better. Wilson is working so beautifully and soft, he is completely relaxed and such a willing partner who tries his heart out, they just make an amazing team 🙂 We are looking forward to adding another Thoroughbred to the herd soon who Miss B …
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Hang ten 1.10
While we are still actively looking for another horse to educate as a showjumper for Miss B, she and Wilson very confidently passed the 1.10m mark today 🙂
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No rain has some benefits
These two are progressing very impressively, the one benefit of not having any rain, and therefore no soggy, slippery clay paddocks, is that they can keep training until we do get rain. Miss B has done such an incredible job with Wilson, taking him from the most basic education to …
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Autumn Evenings
The days and night are cooling but it is clear with no rain in sight. The paddocks are bare and dusty and the water tanks are near on empty. Hopefully season break will happen soon.
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Mustering and Jumping
Today Jackson got to go back to his early years mustering cattle. Although nothing as exciting as mustering on a cattle station with helicopters, he did show his understanding of working cows and keeping them moving where they were supposed to go.
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A matter of trust
Miss B has worked so hard in and out of the saddle to educate Wilson and turn him into a horse that is safe to cater around on bareback. I just love this little boy, he has the sweetest kindest nature, the biggest heart and even when he is really …
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Flying High
It is so beautiful to watch Miss B enjoy what she loves and finally experience the benefits of all the hard work she has put in with her horses. They absolutely adore her and would do anything she asks of them 🙂
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The jumps just get higher
And higher and higher and higher. Miss B, Jackson and Wilson are thoroughly enjoying themselves and after all their training and lessons they are all looking rather professional 🙂
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Summer Running
Sometimes flatwork just gets a bit boring and you have to go for a flat out gallop on your hot little ex-racehorse. Wilson had an absolute ball galloping up and down the paddock and Zeke thought running with them was the best thing ever 🙂
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The end of spring
Spring has been wonderful this year, but the grass is starting to die off now and summer is just around the corner.
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Everybody feeling fresh
Spring is such a beautiful time of year on the farm. It sounds cliqued, but all the birds are singing, we’ve had beautiful clear warm days and the horses are really enjoying the spring grass. Miss B and Wilson are progressing with their training all the time and he is …
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Pretty weeds
I love this time of year, despite the fact that they are weeds and show the paddocks are lacking in some nutrients, the undulating hills around us covered with yellow cape weed flowers are so pretty each year. And at least it doesn’t stink like canola 🙂
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Pair of hoons
I’m not 100% sure I would be willing to gallop Jackson around bareback, especially in a big paddock with other loose horses. He doesn’t have much of a wither, so if he stops suddenly or swerves, I would go flying. Miss B doesn’t seem to care though 🙂
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Jumping again
The paddocks have been a bit slippery lately but have dried out just enough the last few days to be able to safely jump again. Miss P is lucky I enjoy watching them train because it has been absolutely freezing outside!
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Trinity and Zeke
The recent weather we have had has sent the cape weed growth through the roof over the past couple of weeks. Luckily it is still really cold so snakes aren’t a problem, but we will definitely have to be careful once it starts to warm up. Trinity and Zeke enjoyed …
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Going green early
It’s always such a relief to have our first rains of the season and start to see the pasture germinating and turning the paddocks green after months of dusty, dry brown. This year it is going green early compared to past years thanks to early rains. Let us hope it …
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Work and Play
Even after a heavy training week, Jackson is still more than up for playing with Wilson. Not sure if it was the smoke in the air from the bushfires or just the fact that these two like acting like two year olds 🙂
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Going Higher
These two just keep getting better and better, initially going right back to basics to really cement Jackson’s training. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the pair of them do out competing this year. Sandy has also progressed really well, although still spooky at pretty much anything, she is …
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Getting their jump on
Miss B and Jackson have been working hard the past few weeks and it is showing how much they have improved as a team. Tessa and Wilson are always interested in what’s going on when Miss B is riding, I think they are both bored and would like to join …
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Happy Australia Day 2016
I have to admit that I was *really* concerned when Miss B told me her plan for the day. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with a slightly spooky horse and a great big Aussie flag? But after a little bit of desensitising Jackson to the loud brrrt brrrt …
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Ponies Playing
It’s been too hot to do any riding lately, but the ponies obviously needed to let of some steam.
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Freedom at last
It was finally time to let Jackson out in the top paddock now that he is officially Miss B’s horse. I think it is pretty obvious how much he loved the idea 🙂
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The Babysitter
Mia has proven herself such a valuable little pony, she is the best babysitter for whoever needs company. Their paddock is eaten down now for summer fire protection so it is going to be interesting to see how their friendship changes when they go out in the top paddock with …
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Making Progress, Goodbye Spring
I’m really pleased with how these two have been progressing since we bought Jackson home. They are really starting to develop a good partnership. Miss B took him to the Dinninup Show at the beginning of the month, it was very early for their first outing, but it was great …
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First Rides
I must admit I was a little hesitant as he is such a big strong horse, but Miss B is showing herself more than capable of handling him very well. I can’t believe with all the colour combinations in horses, that she has has ended up with another one almost …
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Welcome Jackson
Well after what seemed forever looking for a suitable new showjumper for Miss B, this gorgeous Arabian Warmblood hunk has come for a trial from a friend to see how the two of them get along. It was a close contest between Jackson and a stunning young chestnut thoroughbred gelding …
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Swimming in the creek
We took the dogs down to the creek paddock to check on the cows today, Zeke and Bolt never cease to amaze me with the way they launch themselves off the bank into the water. Ryley and Freckles still have more fun chasing the others and Ryley really prefers to …
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Getting ready for Ag Shows
Miss B and Sandy have been busy training and getting ready for the local Agricultural shows coming up over the next few months. We have been looking for Miss B’s next horse for months, but so far haven’t found anything suitable for the competitive showjumper that Miss B wants. In …
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Spring is just around the corner!
Spring is my favourite time of year on the farm. The horses are enjoying the green grass, Tessa is in the Jenny Craig paddock to stop her getting too fat, the chickens have started laying after their winter holiday and the ducks are strutting around like they own the place …
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Our Sandy Girl
I can’t help but admire the determination and commitment that Miss B has showed with educating Sandy, she’s certainly a challenging mare and I don’t think there are many people who could get her working so well.
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Hello Winter!
We have had enough rain this season so far to start the paddocks growing again after summer. Little Mia is certainly feeling the effects of the green grass, while Tessa just chilled out today while I gave her a massage. Raj pony is feeling his age with the cold so …
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Canine Chasey
Our border collies are so smart, it is really entertaining to watch them play. They have their own ‘rules’ of their game of chasey that everyone must follow otherwise Zeke in particular becomes the border collie police 🙂 I love that while the dogs are zooming around like crazy, the …
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A drop of rain
A bit of a storm and some summer rain came through today, settling the dusty paddocks and a nice break from the heat. The ponies certainly appreciated the cool change 🙂
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Golden Summer Evenings
It has been too hot to ride much lately (plus we are still in go slow mode after the holidays), but Jackson and Tessa and Tommy were more than happy to come up and say hello this evening.
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Summer Holidays
After a busy year training and competing, Miss B and Sandy are taking a bit of a break from training and just chilling out together and having fun (and luckily not coming to grief with the others hooning around!). It’s interesting that both Jackson and Raj act just a little …
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Massive Hail storm
Miss B and I were out at pony club this afternoon when a massive hailstorm went through with gold ball size hail stones. We got them at home as well, there were still a heap of them along the road that hadn’t fully melted by the time we went home.
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Hello winter
This year is going past in a blur. G’s surgery was thankfully successful, his recovery slow and will be ongoing for a long while yet. But we are getting back to some kind of normal and its good to be able to start enjoying the farm again, especially now that …
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Hurry up Season break
With all the trips back and forth to Perth to see G in hospital, I am desperately waiting for season break so that we get some pasture growth and feeding the livestock every day becomes less of an exhausting chore. The animals are happy enough and in good enough condition, …
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Goodbye cows
With G’s impending surgery and recovery meaning an extended time in Perth, I have had to say goodbye to most of our cows. We are keeping Matilda and Bangers for the time being, but Charlotte, T-Bone, Sausage, Sassy and Stroganoff have all gone. There is not much feed on the …
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Sad update
To put it bluntly, last month was a nightmare. G has been in and out of hospital and was so ill the local hospitals had to fly him to Perth by RFDS. Bolt ripped his stomach open and needed major surgery, I had a massive sinus infection that knocked me …
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Difficult Delivery
Well it’s been a really long night..and day today, but end result is we have a healthy cow and bull calf. This was a first for me – I’ve re-positioned a lamb but nothing to this extent. Holly didn’t have very strong contractions throughout labour, still, I can’t believe how …
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No calf yet
I can’t believe it but Holly seems content to hold her calf hostage forever.
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She’s still in one piece
This morning I thought Holly was in the early stages of labour, with constant tail swishing (we do have a ton of flies at the moment that spray is not working on), she was kicking at her tummy, licking her lips, licking and cleaning her tummy, lots of ropey goo, …
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The waiting game
Pretty sure now that Holly’s EDD 2nd November. She has had many signs of impending labour on and off for the past week and she keeps going from slab sided to beachball looking (seems like calf is doing summersaults), her bag seems to fill, then gets wrinkles, her teats start …
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Getting ready for Holly to freshen
I’m not 100% certain when Holly will freshen as T-Bone jumped the fence several times (little monster accepts the bite from the electric fence), but I have bought her up to the top paddock to keep a close eye on her until she calves. I am guessing her EDD is …
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A new addition
This lovely little mare joined the family back in August. Her name is Mia, she’s apparently an arab pony (although I suspect something else maybe Welsh as well). Mia is a completely unhandled and very, very flighty nearly 4 year old 13.3h mare, although at some point in time, she …
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Storm Damage
As much as we love the jarrah and Marri trees on the property when we get big storms and high winds, we always end up with trees down, and it is usually one of our favourites like this one in the house paddock over near the cottage 🙁 It made …
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Winter woolies
The ponies had a rugs free day today to enjoy the sunshine.
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Some good news for a change
Things have been pretty challenging around here lately with G’s health, lots of medical appointments and trips to hospital, but we did have the safe arrival of Matilda and Charlottes calves, a girl and a boy, both happy, healthy and very very cute. The little girl is full of attitude …
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Misty mornings and a Shadow
Its getting quite chilly in the mornings now, with the first mist rolling in this morning. It never ceases to amaze me how the pasture growth, and even rainfall for that matter, varies from one part of the property to another as you can see in the photos behind the …
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Hello Autumn
We have had a little bit of rain that has started the pasture germinating, but everything is looking pretty miserable and bare. The horses were feeling a bit fresh with the cooler temperature this morning and had a good hoon around their paddock. Mr B has got a little bit …
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Ride ’em Cowgirl
Miss B and Sandy had a ball checking on the sheep and cows today. The middle paddock is still doing ok pasture wise, still feeding out hay, but the creek and back paddocks are pretty bare and the creek level has dropped drastically exposing lots of stinky black mud. Matilda …
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Summer Pasture
I’m pretty happy with how the pasture has held up this summer, even with Holly and Bangers sharing it with the horses. Still hand feeding, but not as much as we have had to in previous years which has been good. Everyone is looking fat, happy and healthy…particularly Tessa who …
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Raj Pony and Gandalf
Raj pony is a funny boy, he dosn’t particularly like the company of other equines and usually has a sour expression on his face when he is near them (and will show them his heels if they get to close to his personal space bubble). But he is quite chilled …
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Massive Thunderstorm
A massive thunderstorm developed around us yesterday, it was incredible watching the mammatus cloud form to the south east. We got a brief downpour, much to the horses disgust, but it wasn’t even enough to settle the dust.
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Storms around us
A summer thunderstorm rolled around us today, a bit of rain would have made a nice change but it was like we had a bubble around us that it just floated over. Everything is so dry and brown, the horses are enjoying taking turns coming in to the house paddock …
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Massive Thunderstorm
We had a massive summer storm roll through last night that gave me the chance to practice my lightning photography. It is always stressful when there is no rain with the lightning though as the risk of fire from lightning strikes is so high.
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Oct 2012 – Everyone loves spring on the farm
The pasture has grown in really nicely with a bit more rain than past years, the horses and cows are all shiny and fat, Bangers is growing like a weed and Holly continues to provide us with beautiful fresh milk every day.
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Freedom at last
It was finally time to let Tessa out in the big paddock with the others today and boy did she enjoy the freedom to gallop around and strut her stuff!
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July 2012 – Welcome Princess Tessa!
I have been blessed to add this beautiful mare to our herd. Tessa is 3/4 Arabian, 1/4 Thoroughbred and is a ten year ex-broodmare. My plan is to start her under saddle myself, although I have started a number of standardbreds now, and re-educated a few thoroughbreds, Tessa will be …
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June 2012 – First attempts at cheese making
With all the milk we now have from Holly each day, I thought I would have a crack at cheese making. My first attempts were cottage cheese and a couple of quick maturing hard farmhouse type cheeses. Time will tell how they taste!
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Jersey Journal: My cow drinks her own milk
This week has been extremely busy, but thankfully uneventful. I have continued to milk Holly twice per day and so far the iv canula has remained bandaged on her teat and continues to drain nicely when I milk the other three quarters. Well it can actually drain all the time …
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Cows | Farming | Horses | Self Sufficiency | Vegetable Garden | Weather
Jersey Journal: traumatic second week Pt2.
When the vets left last night, Holly’s teat canal was able to be opened and was functional when open (well functional in that there were now two holes instead of one which will most likely be permanent). Talk about dedicated individuals – they were here for nearly two hours and …
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Cows | Farming | Horses | Self Sufficiency
Jersey Journal: traumatic second week Pt1.
Holly is still painfully thin in my eyes, but we are following vet advice and she is getting all the nutrition and groceries that she needs. Our second week started off great with a gradual increase in milk production and a big increase in the cream line after I switched …
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Our first week with Holly and Bangers
Yes, our Jersey girl finally has a name – Holly. She and Bangers have settled into life on our farm really well and have quickly accepted the routine I have started for milking in the morning and ‘getting to know you’ sessions during the day. I am just so thrilled …
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Fresh Jersey Milk
Our jersey girl has settled in really well, is already gaining back some weight and is proving to be a real pleasure to work with. When I I have gone out to milk her the past three mornings, she has already been up near the cattle yard where I lock …
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Moo are you?
I love the curiosity of the other residents whenever we bring a new addition onto the farm. The dexters, particularly T-Bone were not particularly impressed about not being able to get through the gate to meet the newcomers. I separated Bangers and our still un-named jersey for the night so …
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May 2012 – We have a Jersey house cow!
After what seemed like forever waiting to find one, we went and picked up our new house cow. She is purebred Jersey, will be four years old in October and has a five month old steer calf at foot – he has tentatively been named “Bangers” as in ‘bangers and …
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May 2012 | Finally Going Green
It seems to have been a long haul of dust and red dirt this summer, but we have finally had some rain over the last 10 days and the pasture is germinating everywhere. Because it has not been too cold and we have also had some days of sun, the …
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General | Self Sufficiency | Water | Weather
April 2012 | Some rain would be nice….
While much of Australia over the Summer and early Autumn periods have been getting quite a bit, or even excessive rain, much of the South West of Western Australia has been getting very little. Our own location here at Eagleburra has only had 29.1mm with the biggest fall on a …
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Freckles and Ryley
Freckles and Ryley are growing up so fast, not quite fully grown yet, but they have almost lost their puppy look. They have definitely hit that teenage boy stage but show flashes of the brilliant dogs they are growing into. Freckles is the softer of the two, whereas Ryley is …
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We have Ducks!
Ducks are another addition that we have wanted to make to the farm for ages, but I have been unable to find any reasonably local until now. I was extremely fortuante to get these five young adults, a pekin drake, three pekin hens and one khaki campbell duck. They are …
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Swamped in milk but no jersey for me
The lovely Josie has gone home today, but by the time she left she was rapidly drowning us in her yummy milk. Because I am greedy and don’t want to share it with the dogs or chickens, I’m planning on making some clabber and using it as a cheese starter …
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Recipe: Cultured Butter
Thanks to all the glorious cream that Josie is giving us on her milk, I thought it would be a great idea to have a go at making butter. As I don’t have any cheese cultures at the moment, making cultured butter to get cultured buttermilk seemed like a good …
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February 2012 | Ponies, kittens and bushfires
I’ve been looking through my photos for some that show how the paddocks are doing – definitely been eaten down in the past month so it will be time to start feeding hay in the near future. These photos show the thick smoke that has blanketed us for several days …
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Cowsitting and a Jersey of my own
I am babysitting my friends Jersey house cow for a week while she is interstate. She is a lovely old girl (Josie the cow, not my friend;) with a dropped rumen, a broken tail, a blind quarter, an uneven udder, a dicky hip that makes her shuffle when she walks …
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Success and not so much Success with Meat Chicks
Even though I knew that is what they were bred to do, the meat chicks grew at an amazing rate that was only eclipsed by the amount of food they consumed and the amount of very stinky poop they created! I definitely would not get more than 12 in the …
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January 2012 | Just a few spots of rain
Today we managed to get a few spots of rain, just enough to wet the horses, but not enough to wet the ground unfortunately. The clouds around us looked so promising, but the rain just slid right on past us. These photos show how brown and dry everything is at …
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January 2012 – Giving up the House Cow
For the time being at least. I have persevered for over four months training Charlotte the dexter to be a house cow, but it’s finally time to give it in and concede that she is just not cut out to be a house cow. I have learnt so much from …
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Summer Storm
We haven’t had many night time storms for me to practice my lightning photography, so it was great to finally get the chance to try a few different things and see what works. I don’t have a wide angle landscape lens so there was a fair bit of luck in …
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Christmas Day in the country
Merry Christmas! What better way to spend Christmas day in the country but with family and our furry friends?
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Chickens | Dogs | Farming | Self Sufficiency
Waste Not Want Not
We processed our first lot of chickens today, including the meat chickens and the large Australorp rooster. I spent a lot of time watching youtube videos to figure out how to pluck and clean them, luckily I was able to hand the dispatching duties off to G, not sure I …
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Blackwood flooding in December
Fairly heavy rains upriver from us in the Blackwood Valley catchment area caused the Blackwood River to flood this year. Although we did not get any rain here, both ends of our road were closed for a few days – something that we honestly did not expect to see again …
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November Vegie Harvest
Success in the garden! It has been a strange season so far, but none the less I have been able to harvest a bit from the garden – kale, beetroot, potatoes, lettuce snow peas, sugar snap peas and a few strawberries!
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Spring Vegetable Garden
All my hard work in the garden over the last few months is certainly paying off now – everything is growing well and I am starting to harvest some lettuce, snow peas, sugar snap peas, kale, silverbeet, potatoes and beetroot. The first lot of tomatoes are in and growing well …
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November 2011 – Storm Clouds
Today we had the most incredible storm pass over us, the clouds were forming so rapidly above us and were so dark that it looked like we were headed for a massive storm, but most of it moved east of us as usual.
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The girls are looking good
Matilda and Charlotte are looking really good with all the luscious spring grass. Milking Charlotte is still a major issue, she is snotty and arrogant, will kick at me through the bars of the crush all while trying to swat me in the face with a poo covered tail. But …
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Puppy update
The puppies have settled in really well and have been accepted by all the older dogs. They already show natural instinct and incredible intelligence and are likely to give every one of the adult border collies a good run for their money once they grow up!
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The Meat Chick Experiment
We have raised several batches of chicks now, but so far have not got one to the table, mostly because by the time they got to table age they have either been hens (therefore kept for eggs) or bantam roosters (not worth plucking!). Although we do currently have a grow out pen …
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Sunrise, sunshine, horses and chickens
There is no better way to start the day than watching the sunrise at 5.51 in the morning! But it was certainly warmer later in the day! We’ve got a lot more cape weed growing this year, as well as more clover, rye and barley grass. In the second paddock …
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Vegie Garden Update
The growcover is doing a reasonable job of protecting the vegies, although there are a few holes being munched in the cauli’s and brocolli’s and the two carrots that survived the chook attack, are no longer. The bitter disgusting kale is growing prolifically, lucky the chooks like it as none …
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Borderline Crazy
Or bordering on insane, take your pick, either probably fits! After struggling for two years to get Trinity to work for me (when she is most definitely G’s dog) and because it was the right time for B2 to get his own dog, we have added not one, but two …
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Training T-Bone the bull calf
Little T-Bone is learning that it’s ok to spend some time away from his mother and that when he is tied up he has to stay in that spot! We are progressing fairly well with the halter and lead training…the catching him in the paddock however requires considerable work. He …
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Milking Cows and Cookies
I have been hand milking Charlotte for the past ten days and we have been doing OK for a pair of hand milking newbies. Actually the milking is the easy part – its a) getting her into the yard and then b) getting her into the crush that is the …
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Our Firstborn Calf
After many weeks of looking like she was going to pop any moment, Charlotte finally had her calf this morning just after 10am. She had a fairly quick and easy birth and we were lucky enough to be able to watch, photograph and video the whole birth which was pretty …
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Any day now…
Every morning I walk outside with anticipation that Charlotte has had her calf, but so far nothing. It is nice to see a bit more green poking up around the paddocks which will help her milk supply when she finally does calve.
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Spring 2011
Spring is finally here, the days are warming and the vegie garden is progressing, although slowly as we are still having frosts every night. In an attempt to get a headstart with some seedlings, I have started some seeds in a makeshift coldframe – white polystyrene vegie boxes covered with …
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Training Cows
Charlotte is definitely in calf and we are now just waiting to see when she’ll freshen – officially it could be any time between September and November, but with the way she’s looking, I think she may explode if she is still pregnant at the end of September. Her udder …
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June 2011 – Expanding the Vegetable Garden
If we want to have any chance of providing all the vegetables for our family, expanding the vegetable garden is essential. I also found that the original bed that we made last year was too wide for me to access comfortably, so we pulled that down to make it narrower. …
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Progress of the Vegie Garden
I’m actually having to trawl back through old photos to record the progress of the vegie garden. This was the garden area before we moved in back in 2009. Now with the chook pen fenced and gated and the first raised garden bed put in. The bed was lined with cardboard …
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Introducing Charlotte and Matilda
Today we fulfilled a very long term dream to have our own cows. After a considerable amount of research, we decided the Dexter breed was most suited to our needs for both milk and meat. Dexters are one of the smallest naturally occurring small breeds (as opposed to human directed …
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Winter Bonfire
We have a few large piles of wood that are taking up pature space and breeding snakes, foxes and termites (making it no good for firewood either), so now that the fireban has been lifted and its wet enough not to be a risk for everything catching fire, its time …
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Hatch Update
We ended up with 11 chicks hatched from the first lot and seven from the second lot and they are all now happily growing up in a re-furbished broody box. From the second lot, none of the purchased Auracana eggs hatched, only one partially developed which was disappointing. All of …
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New Dorper Sheep. And an Inky.
The property has seemed really empty since we sold our first lot of Dorper sheep at the end of last year due to the drought. It was lucky that we did as we certainly would not have had enough feed for them and the horses through summer, especially as we …
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Hatch Day – Rhode Island Reds
Well today is hatch day here at Eagleburra…well technically 21 days was up at 7.30pm last night, but after a power outage one night at the end of week one, plus the colder temperature only one chick (a Rhode Island Red) hatched yesterday at 4.30pm. After a very nerve wracking …
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Misty mornings, autumn sunsets
Definitely feeling the chill now on these cold autumn mornings. Still, not much rain to speak of, but we have had some new chicks incubating which is always exciting 🙂
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Incubating Eggs and three new girls
Its a little frustrating having a pen full of chickens and still having to buy shop eggs! Although Corn Chip the gold laved wyandotte started laying again a couple of weeks ago and it looks like Coal the Ancona hen has also started laying, yesterday we picked up three 17 …
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Looking forward to Winter
Like many other things over the hot dry summer that we have just had, this blog has been sadly neglected. Now that winter is hopefully on its way I do plan on updating this blog more frequently, as well as going back in time and adding some posts and photographs. …
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Our New Office Boy
The reality of life can sometimes be a little overwhelming and occasionally it’s nice to just forget the things that make life complicated and have a little fun, especially if it will make the kids laugh. I guess one of the side effects of G’s illness is that we do …
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Getting Desperate for rain
We really have had enough of the summer heat and once again are getting desperate for rain. Everything is dry, dusty and bare at the moment.
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First Vegie Garden Harvest
Despite the heat and lack of water, my efforts in the vegie garden have paid off with a fantastic first harvest of tomatoes and some interesting shaped carrots! The tomato plants are growing like triffids in the vegie garden. Of course it would have been much greater if I had …
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Hot summer days
We are well and truly into a second summer here on the farm, spending most of our days inside in the air con or down at the pool with friends. Not alot getting done around the farm at the moment with all chores being done in the cooler hours in …
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Its going to be a long hot summer
After having a low rainfall this winter, the paddocks have dried and browned off already, without much standing hay so it looks like it will be another summer of hand feeding every day.
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Baby Chickens and the importance of healthy breeding stock
We ended up with 25 hatched chicks, the remaining seven chicks died in the shell without pipping (2 of which I believed died around day 16). Of the 25, one had *sort of* splayed legs – I’m not convinced they were splayed at least not like the photos I have …
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Hatching Chicks
The first chicks hatched in our new incubator (a hexagonal Janoel) over the weekend. We rather unexpectedly started with 36 eggs, pulled four duds out during the week, all of the rest looked great bar two that did not take up all the room in the shell (but we saw …
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Sunny Spring days
The weather recently has been perfect, the only thing that would be better would have been more rain through winter. The low rainfall has definitely limited pasture growth compared to what we were expecting this season. The ponies are looking happy, healthy and shiny and new boy Raj has settled …
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Pony Update
A new pony named Raj has joined the family, he will be a much more suitable mount for B1 than Tazzy. He’s a gorgeous chestnut 12.2h welsh with a ton of experience with showjumping, eventing and games.
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How time flies…
Wow it has been a while since we have update with more than photos so better do a catch-up post. So what have we been doing? There is certainly always lots to be done in between the medical appointments and treatments.
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Raising chicks and garden update
We’ve added some gorgeous little chicks to our menagerie, they still require heat so will be in brooder boxes until they are quite a bit older. We’ve increased the height of the chook pen fence to help protect them from foxes and have let the garden beds grow a green …
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Views around the farm and a new addition
It is lovely to see the farm greening up everywhere and the creek running again. The chickens free range everywhere and think they own the place. We have a new addition to the horse herd, a little black shetland mare named Sharni.
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More lambs
More photos of our dorper sheep, lambs and a Tawny Frogmouth we saw the other night.
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Baby Baa and siblings
Once we splinted his leg, baby Baa pretty much never looked back. He received an antibiotic shot as a just in case measure and very quickly got the hang of walking on three legs. It took a few adjustments but we managed to splint and bandage his leg from above …
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Lamb Update
The lambs who are all growing big and strong. Thankfully we havn’t lost any to foxes as the dorpers are very protective of their babies. We are keeping them in the top paddock for the time being and still hand feeding them as the pasture hasn’t grown enough to sustain …
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Baby Baa and his broken leg
Well I didn’t think it would be possible, but baby Baa not only survived, but he is thriving. Because it was so cold we are bringing him inside at night and putting him back with the others during the day. His mum is looking after him really well and apart …
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Our First Dorper lamb
Woke up this morning to find our first little snowflake in the paddock, our first Dorper baby. Only problem is he has a broken front leg. Initially he was up and following his mum, but with very little weight bearing on that leg. Mum was hesitant to let him feed and …
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Lambs any day?
We are checking the sheep regularly because some of our ladies look like they are about to drop any day. I have our ‘lambing kit’ ready to go but hope they all deliver safely and we don’t have to intervene.
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It’s a dogs life
It is really great to have a massive paddock for the dogs to run and play in. Thankfully they are all good with the sheep and horses, at least when there is a tennis ball being thrown for them 🙂
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Sheep update
Our sheep are doing well, it looks like quite a few ewes are pregnant, but as the ram was running with them before we got them we really don’t know when they will be due. Zeke and Bolt have grown up so much, they no longer look like puppies which …
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The horses feeling fresh
The green grass and chilly air is making the horses feel a bit fresh lately. Tommy always cracks me up when he rolls, he sits up like a dog to change sides! Its really nice to see the paddocks getting greener every day. A bit more rain for the tanks …
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Our First Bonfire
Now that the summer fire ban has lifted and its wet and cold enough to light fires, we have started cleaning up all the branches and dead sticks around the property and made our first bonfire yesterday, much to the kids delight!
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Starting to turn green
After the dry summer heat and everything being coated in red dust for so long, it’s really nice to see our paddocks turning green once again. We will still be feeding out hay to the horses and sheep for quite a while, especially as it looks like some of the …
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Ready for season break
Its been super dry and dusty around here but a little bit of recent rain has started the pasture grasses germinating. Everyone is hanging out for continuing decent rain.
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Summer Storm and Puppy Update
A summer storm rolled in today, with lots of dark threatening clouds, thunder and a brief downpour to settle the dust.
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Summer Sunset
The way the sunset colours and light changes by the minute is a photographers dream!
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Really seeing its summer now
The paddocks are looking very much worse for wear after being overstocked with the visiting sheep when we first moved in, keeping the property understocked is something that we will be very mindful of in the future. This summer is going to be quite expensive as we will have to …
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Puppies in the creek pond
The pond water is starting to get a bit smelly but it certainly doesn’t stop the dogs and pups from thoroughly enjoying swimming in it. The baths when they get back to the house…not so much!
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Dorper Sheep and Sheepdogs
Today we collected our small flock of Dorper sheep including Rastus the ram 🙂 We chose Dorpers as they are self shearing, are excellent mothers, have a very lean meat (essential with G’s health) and require far less physical work compared to wool breeds like merino’s. Plus their little black …
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Wildlife and animals
Even though the summer heat is starting to hit, there is still plenty of wildlife around. And of course, the puppies and horses are always up for attention and entertainment 🙂
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Happy New Year its harvest time
While we have been taking it easy the last few days, our neighbours have been busy harvesting their crops.
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Goodbye 2009!
After an incredibly stressful and challenging year, it has been amazing to finish the year off by having a lifelong dream of living on a farm. I think leaving the city was the best decision we have ever made. Pretty sure the dogs also agree 🙂
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Farm Dogs at the Beach
We had to go over to Australind on Boxing Day, so decided to make it a nice family outing and take the kids and the dogs to the dog beach at Bunbury. Bolt slept the whole trip, while poor baby Zeke cried most of the way until he chucked up …
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Busy, Busy
Well here it is the day before Christmas Eve, this year has seemed to simultaneously stretch for eternity *and* move at warp speed…some days the contradiction really plays with your mind! I’m not sure if I can even remember what I wanted to write about since my last post… Settlement …
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Growing puppies and summer colours
The puppies Bolt and Zeke are growing every week and our little pack of four are loving life on the farm. Its amazing how brown the pasture has got in just a few short weeks.
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Summer Heat
Summer hit with a vengeance today, 38 degrees! But at least it is a dry heat rather than the sticky humid heat that Perth gets. Our split system air conditioners went in on Wednesday, just in time for the heat that is predicted over the next few days. Can’t complain …
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Pups and Whistles
Zeke and Bolt are getting very brave and adventurous now, and both take pleasure in being very cheeky! We’ve introduced them to raw meaty bones which they attack like little wolves, and they thoroughly enjoy the raw mince mixed with their puppy kibble. The chest freezer arrived Wednesday (complete with …
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The colours are changing
It’s interesting to see how quickly the colour around the farm is changing as the hotter weather comes in and everything starts to die off now that it is summer.
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Border Collies are very, very addictive!
After thinking about it for the past year, we decided that A is now old enough and mature enough to take on the responsibility of having her own puppy…we’ve contemplated different breeds and discarded them all because no other breeds can compare to Border Collies (LOL even Koolies which we …
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The horses of Eagleburra
All four equine members of the family have settled into life at Eagleburra really well. B1 has had her first rides on Sandy who is turning into a very good lead line pony, I think they will be ready to start riding off the lead line after Christmas, as long …
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Bridgetown Show
With all the dramas this year, we weren’t up to taking the kids to the Royal or Kelmscott Shows, so thought a quiet little country show might be more our style this year 🙂 Kids got to see the baby farm animals (we all think alpacas and baby goats are …
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New Chickens
The chickens have settled in really well since the move, but haven’t started laying again and we are all missing fresh free range eggs. I really didn’t want to go down the baby chicken route again (seeing as our success ratio of pullets to roosters is far less than 50%!) …
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Visiting Sheep
One of our neighbours bought over a few of his sheep to help eat our paddocks down to reduce the fire risk over summer. In this case, a “few” sheep is 650 merinos!
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We are in… and loving it 🙂
It has taken a while but we are now living in our new lifestyle farm with much joy and happiness by all. After two truck loads over two days, we are well underway in our unpacking with most rooms in the house nearly unpacked. The shed on the other hand …
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A walk around the farm
It’s so beautiful and peaceful here, virtually no traffic, only 2 or 3 cars go past each day!
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Becoming a reality…
It has been a long twelve months on the path of getting our property, but it has all been well worth it. News over the weekend and late today have confirmed our move to our new home in Boyup Brook over the coming week, which is what our blog here …
