With the busyness and frenetic activity of the Christmas season upon us, it’s nice to take a bit of time out and tap a few thoughts on the keyboard. My last blog seems like just the other day, but I’ve just checked, and it was way back in September. So Christmas music on in background, cell phone off, here we go, tap tap tapping to Mariah Carey…
The spring/early summer period has been one to remember. I think we were all waiting for the wheels to fall off as predictions of a dry November and El Nino kicked in, but fortunately that didn’t occur. We did have a wee dry spell (with just enough rain to keep things going nicely) but in the last few weeks the threat of an early summer dry has lost momentum. Pasture quality did its usual thing, as it does every year, with seed heads appearing almost overnight. But, as is policy on our place, the mower gets a fair workout for at least a whole rotation as we attempt to keep pastures in a lush and growing state, and let light into the base to give those baby tillers every chance at having a long and illustrious life as they head for parenthood. Our farm is looking clean and green, thanks to Sam’s attention to detail: weed spraying, mowing and fertiliser applications all take priority in the months leading up to summer.
On the spraying note, we have noticed an increase in the yellow bristle grass (ybg) population in the last few years, so this year we have decided that looking the other way just isn’t going to cut the mustard or get rid of the ybg. Consequently, we have started a spraying programme on the worst affected paddocks using Dockstar, as recommended by our Farmsource friends at a recent fielday. I sent Sam along to this fielday and he was keen to go, mainly because lunch was provided, I think. It actually turned into quite an expensive lunch as he came home armed with all this info on ybg eradication and several containers of Dockstar. Time will tell if it proves to be expensive or not. I do know that having a ybg infestation throughout our pastures is even more expensive, and spraying results to date look promising. The main points to note are that the ideal spraying time is 5-7 days after grazing and to allow at least 21 days after spraying until the paddock is grazed again. It must be done prior to seed heads forming too, so mapping any hotspots or paddocks that do get to the seed head stage is important, as these are the paddocks to target with the spray programme next year.
Mating has just entered its final phase, and as I sit here and write, the AI technician has just arrived. We did have a couple of bulls in the herd for weeks 7- 9 of mating, but have now ditched the bulls and started 2 weeks of short gestation AI. This is such a handy tool as it means we can give any late returning cows one more chance at getting in calf and not compromise our calving spread. The plan was to go all AI this year, with the option of bulls if we chose to go this way. Well, you know, best of intentions were had, but we got to the end of week 6 and got cold feet, thinking about those silent bullers that we may be missing. Plus, Sam was a bit over drafting cows every morning. And then I saw this nice Speckle Park bull on a farm we were marketing…and he was for sale…and the word is that these calves are in high demand…therefore I couldn’t resist the temptation…!! This particular farmer also had a Harley for sale……You never know what you might come across when marketing a farm!! Getting back to mating, we used Flashmates this year and had mixed results. They work alright, boy do they work! I just loved looking out at night and seeing the herd in the paddock next to the house, little red lights flashing all over the place. I thought I was on K road, they tell me that’s what it’s like there, although I’ve never been there of course. The downside of the Flashmates was that we did lose quite a few, even though we reglued them after 17 or so days as instructed. We must admit the first lot were glued on in the morning, and the advice is that its best to do this in the evening as the cows should be drier. That may have been part of the reason. However, we reglued in the afternoon the second time and still had quite a few come off. We assumed that if they were missing, the cow must be in season, so we’d put them up for AI. Consequently, our submission rate was high, but I guess at the end of the day, the plan is to get cows in calf, so once we know what our in-calf rates are, we will be in a better position to judge how successful this detection method is. So, plenty to look forward to in the near future…. In-calf rates, how many cows go up to short gestation in the next two weeks, plus, I can’t wait to see my little speckly calves born next year!
We only contracted half a year’s worth of PKE at the fieldays, so our contract has almost run out. It seems like the gamble paid off as prices have come down nicely, I’m getting ready to jump in and contract some more. I would appreciate anyone with a crystal ball telling me when the right time is…..tomorrow, next week, early January? The best price I have seen is $238/t from March 1st on. This is getting very tempting. Oh the agony of not knowing what to do!!
Going forward on farm, it’s time to concentrate on getting the rotation out for summer, keeping on top of the weeds, and doing those odd jobs that have been put off to date. Happy days as College has finished now and Hayze is home, keen to earn money by helping Sam, although he’s caught between the need for some cash and the lure of the Xbox. Times are tough when you’re a teenager!
On the home front, we sold the other house on our farm, which is a real plus. I needed a bit of practice in my real estate sales and thought this was a great opportunity. The sale went without a hitch and now we have lovely new neighbours. However, we didn’t factor in that the previous tenant of the house, which is daughter number two, yes, THAT daughter (the one mentioned in the previous blog with the sick chihuahuas and an interested vet) suddenly had nowhere to live, so moved back in to live with us! It’s so nice to be wanted!! She mentioned something about cool parents and how much she loves us…. I don’t think the lure of cooked meals, free wifi, dog sitting and endless available supplies of craft beer in the fridge had anything to do with her decision. Speaking of dog sitting, it’s not just her dog, the aforementioned interested vet has transferred to a new work position a little further away and couldn’t take HIS dog with him…OR his cat as it turns out. And HIS dog ain’t no small, obliging, cute chihuahua!!! In fact, he could eat a chihuahua for breakfast and still have room for more!! But, I must say, he is nice and adds a new dimension to dog sitting!!
I gotta go, this ramble has to stop. I just have so much to share, I need to get around to writing my blog a bit more often.
Joyeaux Noel, have a great Christmas and remember to take care out there…