Exciting times ahead for us
Spring has arrived and brought some rain with it. The calf sheds are very quiet at our place now because they are all empty except for one which is housing the stragglers whose mothers are classed as late calvers.
We have 10 cows left to calve, which for us is pretty good going, there have been seasons when we have finished calving after we finish mating. That statement still creates some strange looks then a few giggles when people realise we are not joking.
The calves we are rearing are looking really good and growing like mushrooms, seeing them run around the paddock in the late afternoon sun is something you never get tired of.
I was at the neighbour’s place the other afternoon. From her lounge window we could see our calves on the lifestyle block we lease and I swear there were about 10 that were playing some sort of game with each other. It was like watching a group of kids play.
Although there is lots going on at this time of the year, our focus is on the cows, keeping them fed well and getting them in great condition before mating starts on October 15.
We have put about 60 lighter animals on once-a-day milking as well as those that we milked all through winter.
They were doing OK on twice-a-day but the bigger girls in the herd push them around a bit so this way they get milked last in the morning then hang about at the feed troughs on the exit race until they are ready to go to their paddock.
As I type, Geoff is heading into Waipapa to get a load of fertiliser to put on. It has been quite wet lately but the sun is shining today, which will see the ground temperature come up a bit to encourage grass growth.
Things have started to get a bit exciting around here with the sale of our farm having gone unconditional a couple of months ago.
We have decided to build a house on our 10-acre block that we surveyed off the farm last year.
In the meantime we need a shed up there to store stuff as we move off the farm and I can honestly say that what they say about men and their sheds is very true.
You would think we were getting a new baby delivered here at the end of this month from Geoff’s reaction when the shed guys rang last week to give us the delivery date.
Of course, to get to that point there was a lot of paperwork, council consents and money to be haemorrhaged, which in places caused a bit of angst . . . however it’s all been worth it because we are getting the damn shed.
The next lot of school holidays will see my second daughter Brittney and her partner, Paul, come up to stay with two of our wee grandsons.
Paul is a self-employed roofer and has in the past worked for a shed company erecting them. What better excuse to get
The calves we are rearing are looking really good and growing like mushrooms, seeing them run around the paddock in the late afternoon sun is something you never get tired of.
the two grandsons up to the farm with Farm Nana and Poppa for a fortnight than to employ their step-dad to build our shed?
Geoff and Paul will do the bulk of the shed build with a couple of mates and neighbours keen to give a hand in the weekends.
All this action paves the way for me to milk in the afternoons by myself which is exactly how I like it.
With all the organising of the shed, the listing of our herd and discussions around what needs doing to our machinery to get it sale-ready at the end of the season, I have found that our cowshed is not really that big.
Some of those discussions err on the side of an argument and can get a bit loud so basically the 20-a-side pit is no longer wide enough nor long enough for me and Geoff to be in at the same time during the afternoon milking.
So bring on the next school holidays, while we watch the next phase of life start to take shape.