Update

Ok, it's Saturday morning and instead of being in the internation lounge at Wellington airport, I'm sitting in our dining room, yep, once more at the last minute (on Wednesday), they cancelled the trip....kind of fortunate because I took two days off in which to rotavate and sow the seed, and because of the tractor breaking down, I haven't been able to finish it (the tractor is still sitting in the middle of the paddock).
I'm not sure when I am heading out to the UK, but it I don't come out before the first week in Novemember, then I won't be coming out, as in Decemember Carisa is out and it's Amy's wedding.
There was talk of leaving mid next week, we'll see how the bug fixing goes at work...Back to more interesting farmy stuff.. Well as I said the tractor is dead, the leads coming of the starter switch glow and spark when I turn the ignition on! Reading around it looked like it could be the condenser, so I replaced that and the points yesterday, but no joy. Thankfully the neighbour is an auto-electrician, so he's coming over today to have a look.
I've got heaps of photos to upload, maybe this evening...

Anyway, nice and early so I thought I might head down to the garage for a bit..Oh forgot to mention, Devil Spawn is now tanned and oiled and just drying and yesterday I salted to hare skins, our neighbour managed to shoot a pair of hares (4Kg in total all dressed) and now they are in the freezer (one is tomorrow nights tea) and I thought I would tan the skins too.

Later.

Wow, amazing what short notice can do

What a hectic crazy week, on Monday afternoon, the idea of me flying to Auckland to help out a customer was floated, and then on Tuesday morning I found out that I was heading up on Wednesday morning on the 6:30 flight, meaning leaving home around 4am….We didn’t get home until around 10pm that night. Whilst I was up there I found out that it was likely that I would be heading out to England very shortly, little did I know it was going to be the next weekend! Yep, this weekend I am flying out of Wellington, bound for Sydney, Hong Kong and then London. I’m heading over for 2 weeks of work, and hopefully a week of holiday with family and friends down in the SouthWest. Because of this sudden change in plans, things on the farm that I was going to be over the next few weeks got brought forward. The main jobs were spraying out the last paddock, and resowing the paddocks. On Friday afternoon I managed to repair the spray bar for weed sprayer (the pins that attach it to the trailer snapped off, so I had to weld them back on. Whilst I was doing that I also shortened the bar from over 3m to just over 2m, that way it fits around the trees better. With that done, on Saturday morning, whilst there wasn’t much wind, I sprayed out the paddock. After which Steph and I headed into town to pick up 800Kg of lime to use as a filler for the grass seed (we only apply around 10-15Kg of seed per paddock, and to make it easier, we mix it 10:1 with lime.
Once we got home, I had to make space in the barn for the trailer to sit for a while so that the lime didn’t get wet, the only problem was that it was the FEL taking up the space. With a bit of grunting and heavy lifting, I managed to turn the FEL around in the barn, and with the bucket still sitting on a dolly I lifted the arms onto the cargo tray on the tractor, and chained it in, and slowly drove off. To my surprise it stayed on the dolly even whilst I was reversing it into it’s temporary resting place. Now it’s sitting under some trees with a massive tarp over it.
With the trailer then backed into the barn, I loaded about 150 Kg of lime and about 13 or 14Kg of seed into the hopper and proceeded to sow the paddock I rotavated the weekend before. After that I loaded another 200Kg of lime and headed over the Julia’s place to lime the paddock the alpacas had been in, meanwhile Steph was trying to harrow the seed in, but due to a carbonized sparkplug (which we didn’t know at the time) she wasn’t having much success.
Once I got back, I cleaned the spark plug, and I then finished the harrowing whilst Steph had her shower and started preparing dinner.
Also during the course of the day, we moved the ewes and lambs at foot from our place to Julia’s front paddock, moved the other sheep from the back paddock in with them, and then moved the alpacas and goats into the paddock that Markissa had during winter, ah, that reminds me, before lunch I finished building one of the tree pens.
All in all, Saturday was really productive, Sunday wasn’t much different.
It started off with Steph and I discussing the big fish tank, trying to decide to keep it or not as it is quite power hungry ($30/month for the lighting alone, along with another $30/month for heating). It’s really quite neat, and it would be a shame to lose it, so we came up with a plan, the tank currently has no insulation, so we decided to put a sheet of polystyrene down the back and sides, here we hit a minor problem, when I put the tank on the plinth, I didn’t put it on square, and the gap behind the tank and the back of the plinth was about 5mm too thin at one end…I gave that end of the tank a pull, and surprise surprise, it didn’t move. We half emptied the tank, still no movement. Caught all the fish and removed all but a 1/3 of the water, still no movement. Took out one of the big bits of wood, nope, the other big bit of wood, nope…The boulders, nope, the only thing left was the gravel. We moved all the gravel to the other end of the tank, and finally it started moving. Once the gap behind the tank was big enough, we started rebuilding it. We first bleached all the plants so as to try and kill some algae, and then slowly started putting it back together. By the afternoon, the tank was heating again, and all set up, what a mission. We lost 1 fish whilst doing it, never had a fish die like that before, caught it, put it in a bag and about 10 minutes later it was dead!

All that’s left to do now before I head to England is the other paddock needs rotavating and sowing (Thursday hopefully), and Devil Spawn’s fleece needs the last 2 stages of tanning done, I’ll start that on Thursday morning and hopefully be finished around lunch time Friday.

So, being Wednesday, today is my last day at work, tomorrow I’ll be rotavating, harrowing, sowing, and then putting the rest of the lime somewhere…Also, Thursday morning I’ll neutralize and rinse DS’s hide, and put it in the tanning solution. On Friday morning, I’ll be sorting out the barn so there is some space in it again, and then around lunch time I’m off to the sales with Julia to try and buy some sheep. Thursday evening I’ll probably pack, and then on Friday afternoon, I’ll drive to Wellington, as work is putting Steph and I up in a hotel on Friday evening. Whilst we’re in Wellington, we’re meeting up with Amy, Nigel and Mum, and heading out for a dinner. Then the next morning at some crazy crazy hour it’s off to Sydney and 2 weeks of stressful work in London. Fingers crossed for it all going smoothly.

Anyway, I might not get chance to blog again until I’m over in the UK.

So until next time.

Another weekend, and lots achieved

Well, theres another two days down, this weekend was really good. First of all, on Friday evening I started trying to repair the exhaust on the tractor, I was putting a rubber hose between the two pieces, but whilst doing that, the join onto the manfold got really weak, and I decided that it was time to try and weld the exhaust up there too. Minor problem being it was inches from the fuel tank..This didn't cause many problems because it wasn't attached! It had bolts, just no nuts! After whipping that off and putting it aside, the tractor looked kind of naked, but I still couldn't easily get to the manifold to weld, the FEL was in the way. I had been thinking about removing the FEL for a while, but hadn't got around to it. So I started removing the nails (yes nails) and very small split pins that were holding it all together. I got stuck on two parts, the hydraulics and one pin (about 1cm diameter) that had bent. I ended up removing the hydaulics at the FEL end, and sealing the connectors with tape, and tieing the pipes to the tractor frame. The bolt, a few minutes with the grinder and handsaw dealt to that (along with a bit of effort with a pry bar).

On Saturday morning, I realised it was all well and good having disconnected the FEL, but the tractor was backed into the barn, and the FEL comes off the front and it's quite a large bit of metal..So the next problem was how to move it. Steph wasn't quite strong enough to lift it, so we put the bike under one arm, and I lifted the other whilst Steph controlled the bike. The bucket was on a dolly and we managed to wheel it away from the tractor and twist it and then back it back into the barn...I'll drag it outside next weekend.

So now I still had no tractor and things I needed to do (as last weekend I sprayed out the paddock). I cleaned up the exhaust and put it all together (and held it all in place with the single most usefull thing on the farm, bailing twine!) After a few false starts with the welder, I got it all holding, and seemed reasonable strong (all relavant to it's initial condition of course, and the fact that I can only weld around the front). A few minutes later, the fuel tank was back on (with bolts and nuts this time), and I fired it up...and it all worked, and there were only a few spare pieces.... I'm sure they weren't needed.

With the tractor up and running, I put on the rotavator and started preparing the top paddock (it was in a real mess from winter, ruts about 30cm deep!)

Also somewhere in there Paul came around and we got the 3 ewes shorn, and the goats, whilst we had them all in we docked the lambs.

Just as the light was fading and the temperature dropping, I decided to call it a night, and headed back to the barn. I had the great idea of going over a few ruts to make it easier on Sunday, unfortunalty the exhaust fell off...guess my welding wasn't that strong.

Then this morning, I once more removed the fuel tank etc, and stuck a few more tack welds on the exhaust and finished up rotavating the paddock (it looks really good now).

After a cup of tea etc, we went into town to get rid of some rubbish and do the weekly shopping, and pick up some vege seedlings and the remaining hay for the year.

After a few hours trundling from Masterton to Featherston and home, I spent the afternoon harrowing the paddock, I was quite impressed, Strider learn't how to ride on the back of the bike, he spent the entire paddock on the bike, kept my back nice and warm.
Then whilst I was putting everything away (mower included), I figured I might aswell mow the front and back lawn with the tractor! Much easy then using the push mower.

Apart from that and planting the veges (after Steph prepped the beds) and cleaning out the rabbits, not a great deal was done. But it was a good weekend.

Till next weekend, hopefully I'll be sowing the top paddock and spraying out the middle paddock.

Here are some assorted photos of the naked tractor and the goat during shearing.

 
 
  

Lamb update

This morning around 8am, the last ewe finally dropped her lamb. That's lambing over for the year.
Also here are some photos of the other lambs too.

 
 
 
  

Our deformed sheep

Count the legs...

  

Another bunny update

Just went out to hang up some washing, and bounding around the cage was "Spirit" (the three legged rabbit! Obviously not too worried about the absence of it's foot.

Still going

Yep, it's still going, gave him (not that I have sexed it yet) a proper dose of Intracillin this evening. Last night the needle was really hard to push in, so I got a very small needle and syringe, and tried again this evening. It was still very hard, but then all of a sudden it became easy. We've had this a few times when we were injecting Devil Spawn, anyone know why, please post a comment.

But as you can see, whilst I was dealing with the kit, Jag brought in something else for me to play with... Thankfully it still could fly.

 
  

Bunny update

Just a quick note, the bunny survived the night, and currently is doing well.

Bunny Update

Well as you can see, the little one is still alive. When I got home, I had another look at the leg, and discovered that the foot was very swollen and hot (not a good sign), and the bone was sticking out!.
Options, well euthanasia (I have CO2 which works well) was one option, or the other was to amputate. The kit was very perky and not too disturbed by my manipulating the foot, so I got a clean scalpel and a pair of scissors, and tipped the kit upside down, elongated the back leg, and snipped the foot off. At this stage I was not feeling that great!
I quickly cleaned it up with iodine, and stuck a sticky plaster on it, then put it in a box out of the way so I could keep an eye on it until the bleeding stopped.
After speaking with a vet friend overseas I admistered a few drops of intracillin, it needed about 0.06ml, it was a real bugger to inject (which is probably a good thing!)
Anyway, it survived all that, and then about a few hours later, I caught one of our cats trying to eat the poor thing.... Jag the little sh!? had the lid off and was trying to catch it, but it kept hopping out the way!!!!!Jag got a timely shove off the bench.
Anyway, it's now out with Mom, and when I last looked it was hopping around the nest box and looking out the door. It's certainly got spirit! I have a feeling that if it survives, it won't end up in the freezer.

  

Bad news

Unfortunatly this morning when I checked the bunnies, I noticed that one of the babies, had put it's foot through the netting on the bottom of the cage, and had damaged it's back leg beyond repair (the tendon had snapped and the bone broken). This evening if it is still alive, I will consider options on how to help the little one. It didn't seem too stressed, whilst I was cleaning the wound it was drinking water off my finger. I'm thinking that maybe a lamb tail ring and iodine might be a good solution.

Tornado

Some of you will know that several years ago, (about 5 or 6), Steph bought me a model tornado (1:32 scale) for christmas, and whilst Steph is overseas this week, I've got it back out and doing a bit more (still only at step 8 of 60 something though).
Here's some photos so far.

 
  

Gee's I'm knackered...

This morning at 5 when I woke up (after not going to bed till 12), I had plans of getting up nice and early, and achieving heaps, alas, here is how the day went..

Once I got out of bed and had breakfast (around 7:30), I dosed the large tank with anti-algae stuff and plant fertilser. Because the algae stuff is removed by carbon, I turned the big filter off. Then I changed the bulbs on the lights and was quite pleased, I would start on the sheep by 8. I got the bike and trailer and went over to Julia's place. Before trying to catch the sheep, we quickly gave "Flo" and the other ophan lamb (who's name I can't remember) their vaccinations, as we know that there are some nasties in the soil around here (Clostridium perfingen we believe).
Once that was done, we started moving the sheep into the little pen, it looked like it was going really well, they were about 1 metre away from the entrance, so I moved in a bit closer and one sheep decided that it was a bad idea, and sheep being sheep, all of a sudden, they all thought it was a good idea to go somewhere else (OK, in this instance they are right, 'cause in a few days, they'll be in the supermarket!)
But it was bloody typical, the ring leader of the great escape was one of the black faced ewes..Those black faced ewes, are trouble, if a sheep is going to bolt, jump, you name it, anything you don't want them to do, it will be them. I'll be glad when we "rationalise" them into the freezer.
In the end we caught them in another part of the property, in a pen about 25m by 3m. Word of advice, that is too big, I spent more time chasing them than loading etc. After three and almost fainting, I can to that conclusion and we resized the pen down to 3x4, which was much more managable.
As you can see, they've put on a lot of weight.

  

  

Because they had to go in two trips, in between I came into the house to get the camera, and noticed the floor was wet, about 1cm of the big tank had been leaked onto the floor. When I dosed the tank, I turned the filter off, and whilst it was off the back pressure was enough to seep through the seals!

After that,which took till around midday, I picked up Julia's dead orphan lamb and skinned and buried it. I then did the charming job of cleaning out the bunnies, which was long overdue. I had a quick hold and an attempt at trying to sex some of them, all I could tell is that some of them were either boys or girls, not both!

During lunch I was sitting there (feeling knackered and light headed), and then I noticed that the flying foxes were doing what I bought them for, cleaning algea.

 
In the afternoon, I gave the lambs a sanding, and they came up really well.

 
 

Anyway, I'm cooking tea (lamb chops, ha, we always get the upper hand!), and looking forward to a glass of red wine with dinner, and a few sherry's before bed whilst watching a movie, not sure what yet.

Later. 

Not so farmy day

So that's what a day away from the farm feels like. Today Steph was heading off to Canberra for a week, so we drove to Wellington for the day. Not a great deal to report, except Steph has got to Canberra all safe and sound. Tomorrow I'm rounding up last years lambs, and sending them on their way, and I have a lamb to skin and salt (one of our neighbours orphan lambs there were trying to bottle raise). If I'm feeling keen I might try and catch our lambs so I can dock them, but instead I might play in the workshop, or start cleaning the office, we've decided that the office needs redecorating, there are too many holes in the wall!

Anyway, with 1 minute till tomorrow, bugger, it's now tomorrow, I might head off and get some sleep.