The time has come again to give you an update on what is going on around here.
We had no joy in finding good water with the drilling rig at 50 metres. So it was time to consider options. The first option was drilling deeper, but there was no guarantee we would do any better. The second option, the money no issue option, was to try somewhere else on the farm. This would mean we needed a new power source and we would have to change a lot of the current water system (option two quickly discarded).
I decided that before we went any further I should check on the price of a new filter, to compare it with drilling. It turned out the cost of a new filter wasn’t that much different to drilling deeper. If we had known the price before the drill came we would have just changed the filter. Hindsight is a great thing. So now we are waiting for the new filter to be installed. They tell me that this filter has better media, which means it won’t need changing every year and so it should be cheaper to run. Here’s hoping.
We are now over half way through calving and it all seems to be going well. The dry weather has helped to make things a bit easier, although our pasture cover is down a bit. But the cows don’t seem to need as much feed as when its wet, plus we have quite a bit of hay left as well.
This year we have our first calves from red breed sires on the ground. Last year I decided to change because I felt we were losing too many young cows due to bad udders and maybe we could gain from a bit more hybrid vigour. Plus I like the look of red cows. The calves are looking good, and they seem to be a bit heavier and more solidly built than in previous years. We have taken quite a hit in BW but hope they will make up for that later.
I hope everyone is getting along well with calving and keeping their chin up despite all the gloom around.