Wild wilderness

Getting about the bush along the creek, sunrise in the valley, ewes in the hill country before lambing.

Blackberries

Have had an interesting couple of days, spraying blackberries amongst the tree plantations around the farm. I have seen some sights and areas of the farm not experienced before, poking about all the hard to reach places.

Weather: a perfect 22 degrees, little breeze.
Topography: footholds rare to find, mostly steep, covered in long grass and branches
Wildlife: saw our first black wallaby, tiger snake right where I needed to spray which then disappeared under the grass, Rosella parots and plenty of Jack Jumper nests.

Hard going getting about with the knapsack. The hose on the sprayer behind the tractor could only reach a small percentage of the area, and was harder to drag through the trees. Between the wet feet, thorns and wicked cramps I did enjoy those 'special little spots' and taking in the views when stopping for a break. Some of the patches had gone a bit wild. Will have to keep on top of them next year.

Next job is shearing some lambs while the weather is fine.

Green green green Autumn

It is a great time of year in Gippsland, when there is no mud but the grass is literally jumping out of the ground. Its a good chance for these young lambs to grow out. Most days are in the 20's this month. Perfect growing conditions.

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.