Saturday, October 10, 2009

Discussion topic


When to wean?
Do you prefer to;
1. let ewes rear great lambs for a month then have what milk is left over,
2. Share half of each days milk, still get well grown lambs but put up with cranky sheep that don't let their milk down,
3. Wean shortly after birth, spend a lot on milk powder, get heaps of milk but risk stunted poddy lambs, or worse..?

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Drama in the Dairy

The maidens are starting to join the dairy herd and enjoying the leadership of the old girls during training. But this week we had a blast from the past when the electric motor on the milking machine packed it in, leaving us with the age old solution of hand milking. Needless to say it was nice and peaceful but our poor unpracticed fingers, like the novelty, almost wore off. The ewes weren't too happy either, the change in routine sending them off their feed. After a couple of milkings by hand we were all relieved when the motor was finally fixed and back to normal. Milking takes long enough, but twice a long without the machine (ohh what a soothing sound that vacuum pump is). Where is Paul Mecurio when you need him?