Autumn Equinox

I need to plant my Autumn seeds and get organised, but we are so busy it has been hard to find the time. I have new veggie beds built, and a load of soil from the feedlot to build them up. Soon!

Yesterday we harvested the last of our potato crop.  Another 9 kgs of spud!  It has worked well for us to leave them in the ground until we needed more in the kitchen.  If I had of dug them all at once I would have needed a lot more storage room inside.

The cockatoos ruined half my pomegranate crop.  I then netted the tree with what netting I had which did keep the cockatoos away, but not the King parrots.  We lost the lot. 

Capsicum and tomatoes are both growing well and will be ready for picking soon. 

Last night we ate steak and vegetable for tea, all grown here.  Today's roast lunch will also be from all our own produce too.  It is a great feeling!

Creek Paddock

A week and a half ago we fenced of part of the creek paddock and moved the horses out there.  Not the little pony, she stayed with us in the house paddock instead as there is too much feed about.

We have lived here 9 months now, and this is the first time we have moved any stock into the creek.  It is still flowing well, clean, and lovely.  We had a splash and paddle while we were there and Gem the pup enjoyed the water too.  I do love the creek, and am grateful to have it.

The road to the East

The road to the East is bumpy and dusty...

But it is a pretty drive.

With the creek, animals and a great view.

I don't go this way often, but it is nice when I do.

Drenching the horses today.

New pup.

Gem is our new pup.  I picked her up after a tip about a good litter of working dog pups needing new homes.  The local vet vouched for both parents as being good dogs and the rest was history.

Gem is a Kelpie x Stumpy tail cattle dog.  She is 10 weeks old.

The children are both excited to have a dog again, and if I am honest I am too.  I really miss Sam, but I am thinking of how much I will learn in starting a working dog pup to work the sheep here.

I am reading this book to help me get started.

Wish me luck!

Storm Damage

Yesterday afternoon, with no warning, a fierce wind storm swept by.

We have some cleaning up to do in the side yard, but thankfully no damage to any property occured.

New Ram

Our Wiltshire Ram got sick moments before breeding season started so we had to quickly buy a replacement or risk having no lambs this season.  Our local agent did a good job and picked this guy up for me at the local sale.

He is a Dorper ram, which I hope will be a good cross over the Wiltshire Ewes we have here. 

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The following was taken from this site which does have some good info:

In my opinion the best cross is the Wiltshire Horn / Dorper or Wiltshire Horn / White Dorper. This is the cross which we have been doing for several years now , and one which never fails to impress us. There are numerous advantages of this cross over others.

Most Wiltshire Horn ewes are excellent shedding sheep; that is they shed their wool cleanly (all over as if they have been shorn).

Using a Wiltshire Horn ewe upon which to base a breeding up (upgrading) program or a crossbred Dorper flock therefore makes a lot of sense, as the ewes and all of the progeny will be easy care. If you use woolly breeds of ewes as a basis for your crossbred flock (or upgrading flock) you are still going to have to shear,crutch and maybe watch for flystrike the progeny of at least the first few crosses.

Wiltshire Horn ewes like Dorper sheep have multiple births, so your flock size increases fairly rapidly.

The secret is out about how good the Wiltshire X Dorper ewes are , so they are in demand and which makes it easy to sell excess stock for good money to people interested in breeding these sheep.

The Wiltshire Horn and indeed the Wiltshire X Dorper ewes are excellent milkers and very good mothers, hence all lambs grow quickly. While it is difficult to turn a purebred Wiltshire Horn lamb off at weaning into the meat market, this is not the case with the crossbred lambs. Even in these difficult times of drought, we have weaned crossbred wether lambs with live weights of 31- 40+ kg at ages of 11-16 weeks of age.

Like the Dorpers, the Wiltshire Horn Ewes are long lived and will keep on producing and rearing lambs in old age.

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