Can't help myself.......

Bull calf

Cadbury

Jaffa

Well here is the lastest addition to the crew-meet Jaffa the Friesian cow, who was due to calve in April but surprised us by having a lovely little jersey x heifer calf on the 22nd instead! Which caused a fair amount of panic-goats to move, sheep to shuffle, horses to shoo and a milking machine to organise! Luckily we got it all done and we've been milking Jaffa twice a day since, she produces about 15L of milk a day-which despite the stereotype is quite creamy-we named the calf Cadbury and we also bought another bull calf while we have plenty of milk to feed him! Cadbury is currently getting about 6L of milk a day, which she drinks from a bottle like a pro, and the little bull gets a simular amount but he drinks his out of a bucket. Overall they've fitted in to the farm very well :)

I'll be posting the results of the sheep's pregnancy scans next month sometime-cross your fingers for me!

Nessa

I know, I know

I'm absolutely hopeless at keeping my blog up-to-date aren't I? Well here's a well deserved update :) We're still milking the ewes once a day (yes even Christmas day!) we got up to 54 ewes in milk this season and we found milking them very enjoyable (most of the time anyhow.....wet sheep, ick!), we also milk recored so we know our best ewes and who to keep rams and young ewes out of, we also had one c-section performed on farm (very interesting :)) due to a case of lambing sickness, we got 2 live lambs and the ewe milked beautifully! We also had one malpresentation which required assistance, but overall the ewes did very well delivering healthy live lambs-even the yearling ewes, one of which even had triplets! I've chosen my breeding groups for this year and have put Amun (awassi) in with the main milking flock and Vlad (east friesian) in with the young dry ewes, I can't wait to see the lambs! Hopefully I'll see some more colour this year too. I'm hoping to take some pics of the 2009 lambs (all grown up!) soon, including a pic of our very handsome up and coming herd sire Cairo whose dam peaked at 3.5 litres per day! He's promising to be a big boy once mature! We're looking at a June/July lambing and we'll hopefully have around 80 ewes to milk for the 2010 season, not including the ewe lambs which will only be put with the ram if I think they're big enough later in the season. We've really made some progress with our cheese room, we're now the proud owners of a 160L pasteurizer/cheese vat and we're moving ahead with council and sydney catchment authority approval, so we should officially be making cheese (and yoghurt!) this June, we can't wait! In the mean time there are plenty of things to do, like designing and making labels, and keeping our soap orders moving.

Until the next instalment, and I promise it won't be as long!

Vanessa

PS I've been having some serious computer issues (sorted now thank goodness) so some emails may have got lost or misplaced.

Lambs are growing up

Hi all :)
Long time no see, or type, we've been really busy here with lambing and milking, we now have over 25 lambs on the ground with the large majority being girls! The ewes are milking well and enjoying life.
Nessa

It's official: We're milking again!

Carmen and Carlotta

Monster

Monster

Carmen

In typical sheep fashion I was proved wrong-it was not number 20 aka 'the udder' who lambed first but a very slim looking Dizzy, who produced a lamb whose been dubbed (for the mean time) Monster-a feisty little ram with an appetite to match his name. Number 20 followed shortly after with two lovely little ewes, Carmen and Carlotta. They are all doing well and we are enjoying our new bail-the cement has yet to go in the holding yard though *sigh* I expect, judging by the growing bellies, we will have more babies soon.
Anyway here are some pics of the cuteness to tide you over :)
Nessa

The shed, naked sheep and 'the udder'

Hi all :)
Sorry about my posting gap-been busy around here! Here are some pics of the shed, completed except for the holding yard *sigh* the holding yard is going in next weekend, which would've been perfect as the ewes are due from the next Monday.............however ewe number 20 aka 'the udder' has got me thinking that perhaps we'll have lambs before then, hopefully she can hang on that long, but I doubt it...............but I have been wrong before! All the ewes have been shorn and look quite sleek without their woolly coats, they are getting some sheep nuts to help keep the cold out.
Enjoy the pics,
Nessa

To cement or not to cement that is the question...

Well not really I already know I'm going to cement.........but the way things are going I wonder if I dreamt that part. Some pics of the new shed are above: Some assembly required.
We've had the ewes scanned and are expecting our first babies mid June-so out comes the lamb coat making gear.
Ah holidays.....
Nessa

What holiday?

Ah, this is the time of year the ewes are dry and I have my holiday, a relaxing time of reading and just generally having time to watch TV in the evenings instead of falling asleep in front of it. No milking twice a day, no lamb feeding, no fingernail chewing waiting on ewes to lamb and definitely no scrubbing milking gear! My holiday sounds great doesn't it? NOT! Why? Well building a dairy is not coming in high on my list of relaxing things to do, and yesterday (on my way to a market no less) I spotted an orphan lamb in the paddock-so off I went in my clean cloths to rescue said lamb-amazingly I got to the market on time. So now I have 2 hungry mouths to feed! So much for a holiday........the ewes start lambing in June! Anyway meet Lola the latest addition to the household, Henry is unimpressed after all Henry has priority's 1.eat 2. sleep 3.play in that order, Lola also has priority's 1.eat 2.yell 3. sleep, and boy can she yell, she yells morning, noon and night, she yells before her bottle, she yells after her bottle, she yells when she sees a shadow, yep she's a yell-er (even the neighbours heard her!) it's quite a rude shock for Henry who is for the most part the silent type and is used to being the centre of attention. Lola can also eat, she loves eating, her bottle is consumed in record time and I'm sure she'd have more if I'd let her.
Nessa