A Whole Lot of Bull

We bought a new wagyu bull last week; he arrived on Sunday morning. With no tag reader Gibbo suggested I climb up onto the truck with my camera and attempt to photograph the bull's nlis button. Talk about a hillbilly show.

Trying to hang on to the side of the truck whilst also manoeuvering a big canon dslr was fraught with.....stupidity. Of course, the bull just kept walking around in circles becoming slightly more agitated  at each pass.

Drew tried with his phone. No luck there either.

Common sense finally prevailed and we decided to unload him (the bull, not Gibbo), catch him in the race, photograph the tag, reload him and take him to the herd. (We wasted more time trying to get a photo from the back of the truck than it took to run him off and back on again).

Peacefully off the truck and into the green feed.

The Matriarch came for a look to inspect the goods, so to speak.

Much to Gibbo's disappointment, the bull took no interest in the girls - finding the grass much more inviting.

My two boys.

Look Out Mama

We (finally) weaned the calves yesterday, 30 in total, and they're not impressed; 16 wagyu males and 13 wagyu females plus 1 charolais female.

However, the only mother to keep breaking out and coming down to search for her baby is the charolais. Three times she came down today which tested Gibbo's patience a little. The wagyu mothers couldn't care less! Understandable though; we've let them go a bit too long and a few of them are self weaned anyway. We put them through the race yesterday to introduce them to it; I did a lot of running back and forward between the calf and the cow gate whilst scribing as well. In the rain and wind. Nothing like being out in the rain and wind to make you feel alive! Coming inside for a wine and a bowl of steaming pea and ham soup makes it worthwhile.

She's a lovely old cow this one and a good mother. She's also the leader of the pack (although the wagyu mums didn't follow her down to the yards in search of their babies).

Calf No 2

The Weaning is Done

We ran the cows and calves through this afternoon, sent the mothers back up the laneway to a fresh paddock and left the calves in the yards. It will be interesting to see how many of them are still there in the morning. We've left it a bit late to pull them off; some of them are self weaned. There doesn't sound to be a whole lot of stress out there tonight; maybe that's because they've all escaped and found their mothers.

Poofy loves to go hunting in the tussocky grass; I fear he'll flush out a cranky snake one day.

PT

The Lady Vet came this morning and preg tested 38 wagyu and 2 charolais - 33 out of 38 and 1 out of 2 for an overall result of 34 out of a total 40 - 85%. We can live with that. Most of them are 4/5 months in calf so we can expect December babies again.

I hadn't seen the probe used before; it was very interesting.

An ultrasound is an ultrasound isn't it, whether you're a human or an animal (on the screen at least)?

We had 6 blue dots at the end. Some were wet but empty.

Cows, Calves, Water, Fire

The day started early with cows and calves in the yards. 39 wagyu cows, 27 (15f and 12m) wagyu calves, 1 wagyu bull, 3 charolais girls, 1 wandering angus calf, a cow and calf on agistment and the neighbour's steer were all put through. One escaped through the closed too late head bail but we'll get him next time. No harsh words were exchanged; minor frustrations were quickly quelled; it was all quite civil. We collected tail hair for DNA parent verification. The only disaster was when I nearly knocked myself out trying to shut a stubborn gate on the crush after we'd finished. It felled me. The two pats on the back and an "are ya right?" from my offsider did little to stem the silent flow of tears.

Ow and more Ow.

We finally found some time to do a bit of rearranging. We moved the gun cabinet and the old writing desk into the storeroom and took the dryer inside; some more gear went to the shed. The outdoor area now looks like an outdoor area and not a junk yard.

I put the power cord for the internet box in through Drew's window; we can now shut the kitchen sliding door properly.

These live just outside the kitchen door and will need to be dealt with sooner rather than later. I remember many a time growing up where we'd light a piece of newspaper, hold it for 2 seconds near the nest, then run like hell. I wonder who'll do it now?

The ten moving boxes that were piled up here went to the dump at last.

We did a bit of autumn leaves burning.

The water leak that we fixed yesterday didn't solve the overall problem of water not getting up to the tank. G now thinks the problem might be in the bore hole itself. Our friend Dave is here with his truck, taking water from the dam up to the tank so that we have water for the week.

After giving myself permission to let my 365 journal rest for a month while we moved I started her up again today. I've missed doing it (therapy) so I'm glad to be back into it.

Getting There

We're making good progress. Yesterday I went to the house and removed the tape from Drew's room and had another go at removing the stubborn wallpaper glue from Meg's walls. I think I might finally have found the answer - lots and lots of moisture and a diamond blade tool.

Today we met our friend Dave (aka Project Manager) back there. Drew was a reluctant starter - he worked at the pub last night and didn't get home until 2am. Getting him moving this morning wasn't easy but I told him we couldn't do it without him for two reasons - 1) Dave hurt his arm at cricket yesterday and 2) we don't want Gibbo handling a paintbrush. He's great for mixing paint, pouring paint, moving ladders and sheets and passing the cleanup cloth but he's a bit gung-ho with a paintbrush so we try to keep him busy. Meg is at the coast so missed all the work this weekend.

We got through a power of work this morning. Dave's arm ended up being ok enough to roll so I cut in, Drew rolled my paint and Dave did the rest of the rolling. We finished the second top coat completely and then started on the second coat of green (pale eucalypt). We worked hard and fast and managed to finish the whole lot. The last section was finished in record time as Gibbo had to be back home to meet a guy who was coming to fix a hole in our 20,000gal tank. It's one from the old farm that was damaged in a storm; we'll put it up the top of the laneway as a back up for the existing concrete tank.

The dining area still has tape around the floor and windows. I'll remove it tomorrow.

What's left? This was the biggest job so it's a huge relief to have it finished. I'll paint the rail in warm beige and wash the ceiling. I also need to lightly sand and varnish the window surrounds; they look a bit tired and will really shine with a clear coat. I put my critical eye on (more so than usual) and decided that the pantry needs painting; I'll do that gradually over the next few weeks. Meg's room needs the glue removed and a paint job and Dave wants to spray our walk-in robe; I'd be quite happy to leave it as it is. We're not painting our bedroom or the "middle" room; they'll just get a good wash.

Then it's just the sanding and revarnishing of the wooden floor in the lounge/kitchen/dining and the renovation of the bathroom/toilet area; paint that and the laundry and we're done.

It was hellishingly hot this afternoon, the hottest I've felt in amongst a whole lot of hot days. I'm heading outside to immerse myself in the pool (it's 9pm).

The Project Must Begin

We had a couple of good storms at the farm this week that delivered 3 inches. The paddock grass has really responded and everything is looking green. We've got another wagyu calf, this one a heifer.

These are the 8 oldest girls, separated from the others so that we can keep a close eye on them as a group.

While Gibbo ran barb I spent a couple of hours drawing a floor plan of the house and measuring EVERY wall, doorway, ceiling, verandah and slab. The Project now has to start in earnest; we have a deadline date which makes everything more real. We start next weekend; first job is to paint the kids bedrooms and we'll see how we progress from there.

A Christmas Baby

We went to check the cows this morning and found a Christmas baby - our first little wagyu calf. His (her) mum kept him well away from us and we let them be - you can just make out the top of his back through the grass.

We met these girls in the laneway on their way to the trough.

The Tie-Wire Girl

Back to the farm this morning, early, to avoid the 37 degree heat later in the day. I finished off the tie-wiring, my thumbs recovering overnight. When I finished I went back to the house and watered the very dry gardens and sat quietly on the steps, watching the water and thinking about Meg and Drew; Gibbo dug strainer post holes in numerous locations with the post hole digger, ready for the next fencing job/s. This photo is not well compositioned (I know Megan, I know) - I don't really have a tree growing out of my head.

I was also the map girl. I'm so versatile. I drew this ages ago, from memory, and today drove slowly and pulled up here and there, got out and walked around to make sure I had it right, with gates, tanks, fences and troughs in the right places. It's funny how you imagine something then realise it's not quite how it looks in yours mind's eye.

Drew gets on a plane tonight in Chennai, 11.15pm local time (3.45am our time) and lands in Singapore at 6am local time (8am our time). He's inching his way home again.

This Afternoon

After Meg went back to Twba, Gibbo and I went to the farm. He has been there for a day and a half, pulling down the old back boundary fence, ramming in 50 steel posts and running 4 rows of barb. I was the tie wire girl. Tonight, my thumbs don't work so well. Tonight, G doesn't work so well either. He's absolutely shattered. That's what happens when you spend your days in a car, driving, or in a chair in front of a computer. A bit of physical work wears you out pretty quickly (although he does love being a farmer)!

The neighbour's cattle were very inquisitive all day. Coco kept rounding them up.

Well That Went Better Than I Expected!

Back to the farm early this morning to get the wagyu girls in for some treatments. It hasn't always gone well in the past when we've worked together. I have been known to tell him, impolitely, to shove it and gone home. This time he was pre-warned. At the first sign of a shake of the head or a raised voice, I was out of there. Somehow, it all went quite smoothly. The girls didn't want to leave their paddock but once they were out, I walked in front of the mob down the laneway and Gibbo rode behind.

Counting cows.

It was a really smoky, hazy morning but we couldn't smell smoke on the air.

Once they were treated Gibbo rode in front and I walked behind, back up the laneway to a new paddock of grass.

I hope all future cattle ventures run as smoothly as this morning's did. But I doubt it.