Wrap Up for February

February has come and gone already. All four pigs have gone - Pharoah and Phyllis for hams and bacon, and we picked up Poppy and Penelope from the Homekill butcher the other day - and mighty fine pork chops they are too.

The four renegade sheep that needed shearing have now gone - two got fly struck but we were on to it pretty quickly - and were homekilled by Vic last Tuesday - who had us panicking as he still had not arrived by 3.30 - the sheep had been yarded since the night before - and we had 8 arriving for dinner for fresh (and it certainly was!) lambs' fry with our bacon. Jennifer raced over from the yards with the frys just before 5pm, with guests due at 6.30pm. With no shearing facilities, it would have cost us about $50 per sheep to be shorn, and with not much return for 4 fleeces, it was a no-brainer decision to slaughter all four and stick to the virtually fleeceless Dorper sheep.

The two Dorper ram lambs - Barry and Bart - have been separated from the main flock for a while - as have the 3 ewe lambs. We are planning to test Barry and Bart's virility by crossing Barry with the 3 Dorper ewes who are not his mother, and Bart with Barry's mum. They are going 'out' just before the full moon in March - a month later than is customary for most farmers in our region.

Bonnie and Bella are both bellowing regularly for a boyfriend, so we are on the lookout for a suitable Dexter bull to lease for a few weeks. Good news from their original breeder - Bella's calf Clarissa can be registered as a pure bred heifer, but the bad news is poor little stunted Charlie is doomed for freezer pack. Clarissa is coming along nicely but is very shy. Our two weaner calves, Zelda and Zita, are doing very well as well. All the cattle are in together, but we will need to flick out the 3 heifer calves when the bull arrives; keep two separate paddocks of mating sheep, while managing to keep the 3 ewe lambs separate as well. An urgent need for fencing our two home paddocks has arisen ...

We are waiting for a second quote to connect up the second water tank to the implement shed to gather that rainwater, plus a possibly better option to access underground stream water for paddock troughs and garden irrigation.

The wood shed at the back of the garage is nearly completed. Strict instructions were given and understood that no way was a chicken shed to be contemplated until a wood shed was built. We need to get cracking on wood to put in the woodshed.

We have mainly been on the border of drought stricken over the last three months. One good soak a few weeks ago and that was it. The pastures badly need a good long soaking over several days.

The vege garden has mainly been productive, but has suffered sadly through lack of water. However, we have a fair idea what will flourish next year and what not to bother with.

Inside - and we need some photos to post showing you what has been done - we regret to say there is not one room that is completely finished. We are very aware that summer hours are coming to a close, and are anticipating working inside finishing off paintwork, stripping, and the like.

We had very satisfactory dealings with The Warehouse, who honoured the good sale price on the 300 litre freezer, and we were able to additionally purchase a 200 litre freezer a few weeks ago at a very good discount.