18 March 2017

Autumn

Winter preparation has begun. All the cows have been pregnancy tested and the new heifers have been freeze branded. Probably half the milking herd is on holiday now, fattening up and resting before calving season begins in May. With so little rain this month, the difference between our irrigated paddocks and non-irrigated is extremely obvious now. Feeding the cows after milking takes the rest of the morning to complete.

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Firewood collection has started, a little late because of the heatwave and Total Fire Ban days. In the past eighteen days, eight of those have got over 30*C. For reference, in all of December we only had seven days over 30*C. In January we had ten. And February, which is usually the hottest month of the year, only gave us nine days over 30*C.

 

On Monday and Tuesday this week though they are forecasting 10-20mm of rain each day, and a temperature drop to under 25 for the following four days. We cleaned out the shed for our calves this week, two hours work spread over two days. It’s now ready for clean bedding to be laid down so our calves can be warm and dry when winter arrives.

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1 comment:

  1. Great work Jaz, another season knocks on your door. Glad your'e getting the warmer days before the coolness sets in.
    Nice to read from you again. Hugs xx

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