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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …