ADVENTURE'S DOWNUNDER OR FARMING IN PARADISE:An Old Rams view.

[The Old Ram-Australia]

Hi gang,glad you could stop by(friends and ghosts alike),some good news on the lambing front and of course there's Q&A as usual.

Saturday:although it was a"foggy" start ,it cleared to a "super spring day".First job was to get that heap burnt(un-be-known to me Jenny had decided to burn another heap close to the house).Once I got it started it took about 2 hours or so to get it down to a "hot heap",so I thought I would do a bit more to the vege garden.The compost I started last xmas has gone so well,but I know there is a "huge" Black Snake that has been Wintering under it.(I have got some pic's ,but need to wait til my off-peak to load them for you to see ).Jenny came over this afternoon and saw what I had and said"I will have some of that for my garden".Anyway back to my day ,after the vege garden I went for a walk to see how the ewe's were going ,it seems that some of the ewe's got "sick" of waiting and there were 8 or so "new lambs"down on the flats(hope the weather stays good for a day or so).

After lunch I got the dogs and we moved the "old ewe " group with the rams to another small paddock to clean it up so I can spray it next week.I hope to be able to shear 3 woolly one 's early next week and draft off the rams and move them away until xmas.Later this"arvo" I had a look at the ewe group that had gone early,there seems to be quite a few "little " lambs in the drop and I wonder if it was a dry finish to autumn or the 2 week "cold snap"which has slowed there growth in "utro"(we have decided that next year we will go back to 1st week October lambing and risk the "fly-strike " at marking)....Fed the dogs and its time for a beer.

Q & A:..DL.Transporting the stock.We have not noticed anything over the years( sometimes I think its the owners,who are stressed ,rather than the stock)....On the Garlic ,I'm going to just use "store bought" bulbs as well,Jenny bought some Purple Garlic this week and we are both going to try it(the vege thing is very competitive,last year she kicked my a#*e in the tomato competition,but then I am always looking to do things a bit differently).....I took another look at my "beds" and they are more like 2ft in height (its old "cliplok"roof sheeting ,Jenny used old hardwood in her beds and they are not as high as mine).The problem we have is that in the summer we get a really hot "westerly " wind,it comes from the "desert regions" in the middle of Aussie.By using the "shadecloth" when the temp gets 35/40C, with a humidity level under 10%,I thought I would sink some water containers into the soil "up-wind"of the plants it may increase the humidity and so effect on yields.(Jenny will say"another hair-brained idea"),but I don't care,my garden ,my rules and if it should work I'm sure she will do it next year and probably claim it was her "idea" all along(LOL)

On the subject of your land I would look for a slope between 20/30degs ,clay is good as once it is wet it holds moisture really well,but I would "rip" it across the slope first and give it a good dressing of Gypsum,before adding any thing to the surface.We have used a mineral mix for the stock for years and years and when it comes out the other end it has been processed by the animals "gut" and everything is in a form that the plants can "take up" straight away.( We have never used P or N to encourage plant growth)
Sheep and 4H is a great topic which we must chat about sometime,I have some views on the topic which may bring some "ghosts" to life(LOL).Let us know how you get on with the Ag guy.

Well "you lot"I think that will do for tonight ,its been another "long day" and I needs my "beauty sleep",so we hope you can make it back again next time,stay safe and we hope the "big wind " stays away from your place.........................T.O.R.......................

 

[tarheel]

I haven't been to Australia yet, but always hoped to go. I'd be interested in hearing about everything there. Lynn

 

[dragonlaurel]

Good luck with the new lambs. I hope they catch up fast for you.

Thanks for your concern. The hurricane never came close to Arkansas. I hope it turns out okay for them up North.
I grew up in Florida and went through enough hurricanes. That's one reason I live waaaay inland, and in the mountains now. I feel much safer here. Downtown gets some flooding, but we are far above it. The mountains on our other side have a nice forest on them which helps avoid erosion, rock-slides, and they protect us from tornadoes. If they ever had a forest fire there- I would leave for a while.

Veggie growing competitions sound like fun. I used a thumb-tack to pop tiny holes in soda bottles for slow watering before. It took too long to fill a bunch of small ones. I should have used the 2 liter bottles. Making up some new ones will be easy enough.

Glad to hear that transporting goes fine for you.

" Sheep and 4H is a great topic which we must chat about sometime,I have some views on the topic which may bring some "ghosts" to life(LOL).Let us know how you get on with the Ag guy. "
- I can't say much about 4H here, since I was never in it. I grew up in the city. I didn't live "in the sticks" till my 20's- and found out I loved it.

I don't know what breeds the closer sheep people have and the Ag office wont be open till Monday to ask. I got info sheets on many types of veggie & fruit growing and on lots of topics about raising farm animals a couple years ago. Some good advice there, but other parts of it are useless to me.
I want to grow plants that are open pollinated, so I can save seeds year to year. Most of the plants they recommend are trademarked varieties of hybrids.
Most of their advice/instructions are angled towards the huge producers, not a small farm. I can scale some of that down to fit.

I still appreciate the general info- like the preferred ph, moisture preferences, etc. different crops want.
It's also good to know what else will be trying to eat crops up before I can, to protect them.
They also had free plans for building sheds, barns, small greenhouses, coops, root cellars, stanchions, etc. on the website. I saved those.
They tend to know lots about the potential health problems of livestock, but some of those problems are rare for small producers. (Some are from confining many animals- close together.)
Found out this area has good selenium levels, so white muscle disease should not be an issue. (big relief)

That kind of slope sounds doable. 20 degrees would be more comfortable for walking, but 30 would be good for solar gain here, or trees.
The soil is usually a bit acidic here, so the gypsum/lime is probably needed. After the first year my animals will take care of the the needed nitrogen additions. Soil testing will tell more.

Thanks for taking the time to help me.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G,day Gang,welcome back and a special welcome to "tarheel",but I have a question "what made you join the SS forum?Were you previously a "ghost" ,who just came and looked?When time permits ,try to go back and have a look at the older posts...Q & A was set up for people like yourself,you can ask anything you like of us ,but the answer will reflect our views on the subject matter,remember,the only "silly" question is the one never asked.So to today.

Sunday: First job was the rose pruning one,all they need now is a "dose" of liquid manure and we will have a nice flush in November.Next,was to go around the fox baits,2 more went in the last 2 days.A check of the ewe's revealed that we had a few more lambs born today.Took Ruby and mustered up the old ewe's and the rams ,so I can shear the woolly one's tomorrow,draft them off and put the 2 groups onto new feed.Sharpened up the gear,so everything is ready to go in the morning.....Got a load of "compost" for Jenny's vege garden.....You will recall I had spent a fair bit of time on the floor of the conservatory,so today Jenny got to work and made a step for outside and started the finishing of the inside(pic's in due course).

Q & A:.DL.The vege competition is "serious stuff" for her as she is in it to WIN it.For me its a bit of "fun"....The 4H thing is a high return market if you can "produce " the right product ,its worth exploring.....There is a lot of worthwhile info at "The Grazier's Guide to Pastures",its put out by the Dept of Ag and has a lot of good advice on acid soil pastures.(I was trying to put up a link and managed to "lose" an hours worth of typing,DAMM IT.)......Most of the health issues in books you will most likely never see,as healthy stock on clean ,healthy pastures rarely contract them.....I hope your acid soils are kinder than ours, as ours are 4.5/5.0 all the way down to the bedrock(Granite Sand based),I have heard it said you could add Lime for a 100 yrs and still not change much,so the trick seems to be encourage the "Native Sps" and add improved var to complement them......I'm happy to help in any way I can as it ads interest to the journal.

I thought the pic's of the compost heap and vege garden might be of interest so here they are.

The first shows the heap,next 1/2 the soil is moved ,next add the least decomposed layer to the newspaper ,next add the new compost and then put the soil back on top.

Ok ,gang ,after my "disaster earlier ",that will do it for tonight ,regards ........T.O.R.................................

 

[dragonlaurel]

Checking about the 4H is a good idea. Gotta run to the library so, so I'll see if they have The Graziers Guide.

Sunshine, fresh air, normal exercise and eating what nature designed them to have, seems to handle lots of potential disease problems. I have a feeling that the further people push them from living that way- the more likely they are to get sick.

I looked up info on the typical ph for this region. Local ph runs from 5.0 to 7. This area has lots of novaculite (quartz based stone) and various types of clear quartz in spots. Those would not affect the ph but the novaculite could definitely affect digging/tilling tools.
Looks like I'll be eating lots of blueberries- and growing stuff that likes higher ph in beds. Doing soil tests on places that I might buy would be smart too.

That's a nice setup for your compost.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

Gday gang, for those of you who are regular followers of this journal, in the last post the curt nature of the entrys may have come as somewhat of a shock. I had started as usual although I was a little tired after a long day. I had been going for about an hour and was almost finished and was attempting to add a link for DL, when I hit the wrong key, in an instant all of my work disappeared ,stunned I could not believe my eyes. The majority of the stuff I had written I could not even rememberSo what have I learned, compose first on a word document (a hint I remember from ~gd)..Dont attempt to much when you are tired.So lets get on with it.

Monday: The first job was to shear those 3 woollys, it did not take too long, but one of them which had a bad fly-strike on the hip and shoulder the wool was badly distorted and was as hard as nails(next lesson, if fly-struck ,take all the wool off at the time of treatment). Drafted out the Rams from the old ewes and sent both groups off to there new paddocks.Hook up the trailer and go and get a load of gravel to fill a gap under a gate which fronts onto a road(if our stock get out and cause an accident, we are liable ),open the gate so I can run them in from there current paddock.On the way back ,pick up a load of sand to use on a road repair in our driveway.Next job, fill up the water troughs for 3 of the ewe groups and have a look at the lambs..Next job, run those lambs out to their new paddock. This group who I have nicknamed the mad 100 saw me coming (without either of the dogs, I could not bring them because I had to travel through the lambing groups) and split up and ran in all directions (another lesson, you need about 4 grandmothers for a mob this size) because I only had 1 gmother.So about half of them headed up the hill towards the gate and safely throughBack down the hill and get another lot to head in the right direction and through the gate, back down the hill again(this hill bottom to top is about 550mts) to get the rest, get them together and up the hill again, hoping all the time there are none hiding up in the bush.Make up a bucket of mix and fill all the containers..Feed the dogs and HOME, Ive had it !

Tuesday: We had a little light rain last night, heavens its cold,(its 6C) hook up the trailer and off to town for the redgo inspection.All O.K. Check the waterers,check the lambs. Well after all the work yesterday here are 3 more lambs, waiting at the bottom of the hill (where else) so I walk them as quietly as I can up the hill and it only takes 2 goes to get them through the gate..Back to the shed and feed the dogs and home ,I need a caffeine hit, before I pass out from exhaustion!

Q & A:..DL.For that paper I recommended ,if you type in The Graziers Guides to Pastures to Google, when it comes up the first item is from the NSW Dept of Primary Industries.You can download all the stuff I have in hard copy.(its well worth a read)...The second and third pic's are my vege garden.....I do wish we were that lucky with our PH.

Well that's about it for tonight,before I get to tired and make another mistake(LOL)..Hope your visit was enjoyable and we can look forward to your company in the future..our best wishes,............T.O.R...................................

 

[dragonlaurel]

I've lost posts that I worked hard on before too, so it was easily understood. It's frustrating as he!!. You still went to the trouble to rewrite it, and gave good information. Thank you.

I remember you were recently so happy with your warmer spring weather. That's spring for ya. By the time you get to say you like it- it's changing.

Sorry you had more fly strike. No fun there.

I downloaded that Graziers Guide. It looks really good, and I'll be doing lots of reading tonight!

Some of the stuff I want to grow definitely needs fairly neutral ph, even if it means growing those in containers or raised beds. The market garden will have to be mostly stuff that is well adapted to our conditions. Less risk for our bread and butter- then grow some extras for an interesting variety.

Those high walls on your garden beds are probably easier on your back. We just have a layer of concrete blocks around one raised bed and the other has a wood frame that's 9-10 inches high. After a bit of weeding, I start wishing they were higher up.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G.day gang, welcome back both friends and ghosts alike, If you are a livestock person and have soils in the PH range under 6.5 I hope you have a look at the link I gave DL in the last post. Even though it was developed for Aussie much of the stuff is relevant for your soil types. Its about sustainable, livestock production and the long term production with least cost inputs.Here is another good publication
http://www.google.com.au/url?url=ht...vation&usg=AFQjCNEFmigcrj9D896TThko46I60OLuaA

Although the species will vary its the concepts which are important, you just apply your local native sp to the outcome.

It has been our aim to blend both native and exotic to achieve a diverse outcome as in our view its the diversity of pasture that contributes to stock health and if your snow problems are slight the winter/summer pasture mix is the most cost effective means of producing livestock ,without the expense of vets and high cost inputs.In our own case we vax for nothing, we only spray selected weeds (with a backpack) and add no P or N..If you have any questions on our methods ,please post or PM as we are happy to help or explain.

Wednesday: Well gang, spring is back, it was only 0C but sunny ,with no wind. After breakie I set out to move the mix containers for the mad 100,check to fox baits out there and to spray any Ser Tuss that I missed last timeWhile I was out there I had a look at the Hill paddock from the other day to get any weeds I missed last timeGot a load of fill for a hole in the road in the paddock on the way back.After all that it was time to start the last big patch of Ser Tuss(I have got about 4acs left),now after 2/3 hrs with the backpack(how about the next time you go for a run ,you put 6 X2lt bottles of water in your backpack and you will get some idea) I have had it!......Home for a caffeine hit, still have to finish the fox bait line ,feed the dogs and check the water troughs for one of the ewe groupsHave a look at the lambs ,(without disturbing the mothers),it all looks OKThere will be nothing done tomorrow as its shopping day.

Q & A..DL. It was so good for spring to return today. On the fly-strike thing, this ewe had not been treated at all as I recall, she had just recovered herself. When sheep suffer anything unusual they get a break in the wool(which can be a real pain if you are a spinner),in this case the fly lava leave a residue in the wool which causes it to go really stiff and it knocks the edge off of the combs and cutters quick smart.Once your PH gets to between 6.0/7,0 its pretty easy to adjust up/down, the reason my garden beds are so high is I have to beat the rabbits, as I do not have the luxury of Jennys Jack Russell Terrorist to guard my vege patch at night(Tom is a rabbit hunter extraordinaire) .I have some pic's ,maybe next time...On the subject of the "back" after 300/400 sheep being shorn ,nothing is a challenge(LOL)

OK gang its just about all over for tonight ,while I think of it Jenny has finished the conservatory now,so I will post some pic's next time...We hope the start of Fall brings you kinder weather soon(time to sharpen up the saws and axes),so til next time stay safe and we look forward to your return again..........T.O.R..............................................

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day Gang,the "joys" of Spring,Thursday was a super day,even though it was spent shopping,Friday,well that's another story,cloudy, cold and with a mist as fine as fog upon your face.This morning we awoke to a "huge" frost,but its "sunny and clear" now and will be a great day when it "warms up"....

Yesterday (fri)morning was spent going along the fox bait line,we still are losing a few each night (the woods must be thick with them)...Lambing seems to be going OK now,those "little" lambs I spoke about earlier seem to be getting away and they are so "lively",running and jumping around there mothers and them they just fall in a heap and go to sleep until its time for a drink............In the "arvo" I spent a couple of hours working on the vege garden and its all set to go now.I also started the next lot of "compost",seeing this years lot was so successful,the vege garden looks good enough to grow "children" ,I might even give Jenny a "fright" with my results this year(chuckle,chuckle).

Last post I spoke about Tom the Hunter ,here's a few pics.

...Go getum Tom!

..Anything down there?

...My god ,its nearly as big as him!

...In for the kill!

..Your a "great boy"!!

Well,the sun is shinning and I had better think about WORK,two jobs for today..1 check the lambs and 2 do some more spraying.In the next post we will have the photo's of the paving the conservatory,It's a bit short today I know (but the pic's make up for it)so til we welcome you back again,stay safe,our best wishes to you all ..............................T.O.R.............................

 

[freemotion]

Could I borrow Tom for a bit?