We have 10 cattle on the property, which we feel is really too many to be carrying on our small acreage, especially after a few very wet spells so far this winter which has left some paddocks quite badly pugged. We are keeping a close eye on our hay stock and hoping we have enough bales to see us through until the spring grass starts growing again in September, without having to buy more in. We have three at 21 months - Zelda, Zita and Charley Farley (aka Stumpy) - who will all be getting acquainted with Vic the Homekill in August and September. Zita and Zelda are Hereford/Friesian crosses, and Charley Farley is a pure Dexter steer courtesy of Bonnie.
A nice shot of Bella with her current pride and joy, Paddy the bull calf. Paddy is 3 months old in this photo. Present plans are to keep Paddy as a bull, as he is turning into a lovely little chap with good constitution, and hopefully selling him before next winter
We still have Clarissa, Bella's calf from last year, who is currently in with Bonnie and Bella and their two calves. We are hoping to obtain the services later this year of Legend the Dexter bull again, and Clarissa will be put to him. Current plans include also selling her if she is in calf. She needs dehorning as you can see, which will be a messy job. She is a timid wee thing so we need to do a bit more work in handling her before getting the vet up again. She was scheduled to have been dehorned a few weeks ago when the vet came to burn out Paddy and Dawn's buds (little bumps of horns starting to grow) but she jumped out of our yards, damaging the top rail of a gate.
In this shot taken the other day, Paddy is now 4 months old and is very interested in Clarissa, who is currently on heat and is actually his half sister. That could be seen as a bit of a worry at his tender age considering he is not yet weaned, but good as far as prospects of hopefully selling him as a breeding bull are concerned
Bonnie bellowing for hay in a very muddy paddock. Her wee calf, Dawn, is 4 1/2 months in this photo
Our two Hereford/Friesian calves from last year, Walter and Wanda, are now 10 months old and are being cosseted through winter. They will have two new companions from this weekend - Dawn and Paddy. It is time these two were weaned so mums can recover before we get the bull in, hopefully October some time.
Wanda in the improvised chook house
and
Denise in the dog house.
Taken during construction of Kate's kennel, which was done on the back of the ute to keep it all nice and level
A nice (but technically not a success) panoramic view looking east taken on a frosty winter's morning
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