Lazy Autumn rest time

The cycle of life begins again on the farm as the ewes recuperate in their favorite shade spots along the creek, not having to walk in for milking every day. They have no schedule, and can rest themselves in preparation for the coming winter and lambing. The rams are happy too, back with the girls and doing their daily patrol.

Meanwhile the dairy can get some maintenance, we can chip away at farm work that can't be done in the wet, and the aged cheeses ripen further in the cellars.
There will be a short period when Moyarra yoghurt and soft cheeses won't be available, but there is plenty of Prom Picnic and Venus Bay Blue maturing and developing deeper flavors until the fresh batches come along next season.

Sheep Cheese on Pizza

Local shoppers crowded to see Bronwyn's cooking demonstration and taste the regional pizzas topped with local ingredients and Red Hill sheep cheeses Baa Black Log disks held together with grated Cheviot Pass. The pizzas were cooked in a stove top pan and the samples were quickly demolished.
We have been enjoying our sheep yoghurt with plentiful fresh berries and stewed fruit of the season, and also using it in Tzatziki dip with our sheep yoghurt and fresh ingredients from the garden.

In hot water

In line with Red Hill Dairy's environmentally sustainable philosophy solar hot water has been installed for the dairy this week. Its is great having free hot water all day. These things need to be done early to recoup the investment.

Mustering along the creek

Most of the mob of hoggets were missing from their creek paddock today. I knew they would be down in the plantation along the creek, as there aren't enough wires in that fence yet, and the shrubs and weeds in there are irresistible. Still, they were nowhere to be seen. I discovered that the boundary fence over the creek had been flattened in a flood, and there had been a lot of sheep action around there so decided they had to be along (the neighbors) creek.
They weren't hard to track. I followed the flattened grass, fresh sheep shit and the native parsley weed that they had chased all the way along, eating whole patches down to the ground. It took me longer to find them than I expected, about an hour's hike through the bush, camped under a river gum out of the hot sun. There were no other fences along the creek to stop them. They could have ended up anywhere.
I was glad I was wearing my long necked heavy boots, as I encountered a number of black snakes, sunning themselves. There were also a lot of wombat and fox dens along the creek bank, and difficult to find a foothold in long grass on steep sections. I was getting thirsty so took a drink from the creek along a bare patch after scouting for snakes. Sucked it up like a horse to avoid the floaties on top. It was fresh and clear. I filled my hat and tipped it on my head. Diddn't make me feel too great when I found an old dump of dead cattle a bit further along - downstream so that was alright.
The creek is looking good these days now that the trees have grown up well. Some nice pockets of shaddy flat spots and lagoons. There are also some 6m cliffs on the bends where floods have washed away the banks, and sections the size of a small house have disappeared, leaving fence posts hanging.
The ewes begrudgingly made their way back under the fence into their steep paddock of rank unpalatable grass. It's only a matter of time before they find their way back in there so I'm off now in the cool of the evening with a dog to muster them all together into a paddock on the hill that's had the fences strengthened already.

Hard Loch Cafe

Our cheeses can now be found at the cafe in Loch, when you need to stock up between farmers markets. You can meet the cheese maker personally on the second Saturday of every month at the Coal Creek farmers market in Korumburra, and occasionally at The Foster Produce market.

Prospect East Friesian milkers

In the milking herd this year we have had the first descendents of our Prospect ram. He has given us reliable results of lambs on the ground every year and still going strong. When joined to good ewes the offspring (as pictured) have been overall as good as their dams (in their first year), although you can't work miracles and lambs out of ordinary ewes didn't make the grade or make it into the herd. The ram has thrown the characteristic of 'W' shaped udders, with generally good let-down.

All of you who are interested in East Fresian sheep, I encourage you to pop me an email, let me know why and where you are from. Lets build the growing network :)

Shearing in the dairy

The weather is starting to warm up now and the ewes have been huffing and puffing in their long coats. A good time to whip the wool off and now they are much happier, fitting into the bail with ease. We have had some wild weather during and since shearing, but thankfully our tree shelters and natural topography provided good protection. We were lucky to keep them all dry in sheds before the rain started and got them all shorn together. They make quite a sight now with their stark black and white contrast. Together they give the paddocks the traditional look of Frisian cows, and we have also had the Magpie jokes.