Monthly Archives: October 2005

Most of the day was spent in grubbing out thistles – Scotch and Varigated. I started with the geese enclosure and the new driveway – I think I got most of the thistles there. Then I started on the rest of the Back paddock – which turned out to have a huge crop of thistles, many of which were in flower or about to flower. I think I got all the ones about to flower, but there’s a lot more growing up fast.

I also weeded round the Pittosporum trees and the Titokes along the drive, and checked the Rangiora. 17 of the original 18 Rangiore along the wings of the new drive entrance are thriving.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 11°C—19°C; cloudy, 2mm rain. [79.2]

Today I did Karola’s bi-monthly GST – all done by 2:30pm so rest of the day free. I continued with assembling fence wires; gave myself a mighty blow to the shin with a piece of rusty pipe I was using as a lever when the ‘pre-loved’ #8 wire broke yet again. I found that I’d been carefully placing myself ‘in harms way’ on the wrong side of the lever when I increased the strain. When the wire breaks the strainer and lever fly off in the direction you’re pushing; it’s not a case of rebound.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 13°C—20°C; overcast all day, no rain. [78.6]

At last the sheep are on the new grass – well I’ve rationed them to about 1/3 acre for now, and during the day only. The morning was taken up with putting netting over the remaining gaps in the reconstructed road boundary fence and across the orchard drive, and then putting up electric temporary fencing for a lane to and from the Middle paddock and around the 1/3 acre of new grass. The sheep were delighted, eating weeds and grass.

The brown bantam hen took her two chicks outside for the first time today – she went back inside for the night – sensible mum.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 9°C—22°C; sunny till late afternoon, light northerly wind in the afternoon, no rain. [78.6]

I continued constructing the fence between the orchard and the new grass. This included tinkering about with the height of 9 of the 23 posts to try and make it more level. It also involved hours of fun assembling the 7 wires from bits out of old fences previously deconstructed and saved for just such an occasion. Tonight the fence has 7 wires strained up and stapled to the posts, but not yet tied off. There’s also the tidying up such as filling in the holes containing the stay-post blocks and trimming all sharp pieces of wire.

Karola suggested I disguise Bicka’s medicine in food – which proved very successful. And Bicka isn’t sneezing so much today – in fact she behaves like a starlet, just moving from sun to shade and back again to get just the right degress of warmth and comfort – lying in all manner of very relaxed poses. It was a glorious day again today, in fact I got slightly too much sun.

I’ve advised Andrew Taylor of Surveying The Bay that we want to go ahead with the title boundary realignment. I’ve also asked Roger Rolls if he’ll shedule our hay paddock for cutting and baling in about 7 weeks time – I’m waiting for confirmation on that.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 8°C—23°C; sunny, light northerly wind in the afternoon, no rain. [79.0]

The day began with feeding the 3 bottle-fed lambs who’d spent the night in Bicka’s pen. Then Murray Cranswick arrived and we spent the rest of the morning doing the docking and ear tagging. We docked 43 lambs – I have yet to get a final tally on how many are ewe lambs – and gave them ear tags. Their numbers are 501 – 543. The tags look unwieldy on the smaller lambs – there’s a large yellow double tag with BRACKENBURY in small letters and a big 3-digit number on one ear, and a small circular ear stud with just the number in small print on the other. The theory is that even if the big tags should be detached, you’d be able to identify the animal from its ear stud tag. So, the 9 hoggets are numbered 401 – 409 and the 20 ewes are 201 – 220. Perhaps I’ll spend some time watching the flock and pairing up mothers and offspring.

After lunch I took the 3 bottle-fed lambs back to their foster home – I didn’t put the big tags on these 3 lambs, just the little circular ear stud, as I thought the children feeding the lambs might not like the big tags.

On checking the broody brown bantam hen I found that both her eggs had hatched today – two tiny live yellow chicks. I gave the hen some water and pellets, consumed enthusiastically.

Bicka has a chronic snuffle/cough so I took her to the vet. NTF (no trouble found) but I got some antibiotic and anti-inflammatory for her – it may be spray or pollen causing it I suppose. Getting the pills into Bicka was a real ordeal; she wriggled and struggled and kept spitting them out – I’m still not sure she didn’t just hide it in her mouth until I let go and then spit the big one out again. Bicka holds no grudges though – as is becoming a habit she slept on my lap while I watched TV again tonight, then went quietly to her bean-bag bed.

The mower man returned late afternoon and finished the lawn. I spent a couple of hours on the fences.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 7°C—21°C; sunny, light northerly wind in the afternoon, no rain. [79.8]

I went to the dentist in the morning; then washed dishes, washed clothes, washed Bicka – the last being the most interesting. I also put electric fence round a large piece of the lawn and let the sheep graze it for a few hours – Mike Croucher the mower man said he’d be coming late afternoon. The sheep really liked the dandelion – the grazed lawn area had little bare patches where they gnawed it down to the root.

Also chopped the larger thistles from the Top paddock, which is shut up for hay. And mowed Bicka’s pen.

And I strained up the 8 wires of the moved fence between the Top paddock and the orchard. The strainer that lifted was reseated by Johnny Cranswick and this time it didn’t move. The strainer at the other end did lift a little but I’m hoping it’s stopped now and will be OK.

In the evening I went and collected the three bottle-fed lambs ready for docking and ear-tagging in the morning; they’re in Bicka’s pen for the night and Bicka is shut in the porch. I got the ear tags from Farmlands this morning – numbered with 3-digit numbers where first digit is the year. I noticed that one ram lamb was limping and had scald so I applied antibiotic spray.

There’s still a lot of water at the bottom of the strainer hole Johnny dug yesterday.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 5°C—21°C; mainly sunny, northerly wind in the afternoon, no rain. [79.2]

I requested an extension of half a day for the post rammer and spent the morning frenetically ramming in posts. Total for the long weekend is 60 posts.

Johnny Cranswick came and continued putting in strainers and stay posts. When he dug the hole for one of the large gate posts for Karola’s avenue entrance (to the Homestead from the orchard drive) he hit water just a metre down. The water table does get very close to the surface after a serious few days of rain. We’ll have to delay doing the 3 affected strainers for at least a few days.

When I took the post rammer back, Mike Smith (the man in charge of hiring equipment at Stortford Machinery) helped me park and disconnect it – and we had a close shave. I’m still not sure what caused it but the rammer iconsists of a very very heavy block and a 3m tall gantry it rides up before dropping onto the post; it is very heavy and when attached to the tractor 3-point linkage this sets up some pent-up energy in the hydraulics it seems. Anyway, we parked the rammer on its two main feet and a little parking foot out the back and began to unhitch it from the tractor hydraulics. We took off the top link and the two lower links suddenly bounced up, throwing the rammer up and backwards – luckily not onto us and also luckily it came to rest on the barbed wire of the security fence – this is similar to what they have around airfields. If the fence hadn’t been there the rammer would have fallen right over and maybe smashed some of the tractor as well as crunching into the wall of the next door building. Anyway, we were lucky.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 8°C—20°C; mainly sunny, northerly wind in the afternoon, no rain. [79.5]

Chris, Bridget and Natalie went home today; Bridget and Natalie both have colds.

Chris made two observations about the fence post ramming, showing his true engineering colours.

• Chris noted that the platform holding the control levers on the ramming machine were precisely 1.1m above ground – the height that standard fence posts need to leave above ground. So, as long as you accept that the top of your fence will follow the contours of the ground – which is fine on flat ground and OK if it’s a farm fence – you just bang in each post till its top is level with the platform – no measuring, no fuss.
• Chris wondered if we could just use the bottom wire as our guide and assume that the rammer, once made level, will bang the posts in straight. Most fencers digging their own post holes use a top and bottom wire stretched tight between end- or angle-strainers as their guide to where the posts should be. Because we had top and bottom wires as guides, the tractor had to come from one side or the other to bang in each post, and there was quite a bit of time manoevering to the next post. By removing the top wire and just using the bottom wire you could drive along parallel to the fence, moving between post positions much more quickly.

I tried Chris’ suggestions and they worked very well – the posts were just as straight as when we did it with measuring each post and using top and bottom guide wires – and I did 10 posts in an hour, more than double the previous speed. In fact, after Chris and family had gone today I put in 26 posts, finishing the posts for the 94m fence between orchard and new grass and doing a 44m piece (11 posts) along the orchard drive – there’s another 98m (24 posts) to do along the orchard drive.

At one point I was rather alarmed to find that the pin holding the top link of the three-point hydraulics to the rammer had come loose, had lost its holding clip and was almost out of its socket – they’re not supposed to do that and if it had come right out before I noticed it the entire derrick could have crashed down on the drivers seat, though probably not while I was in it. This is not your safe desk job!

Hawkes Bay Weather: 6°C—18°C; mainly sunny, southerly wind turning to northerly in the afternoon, no rain. [??.?]

A glorious sunny start to the day. A lot of fresh snow visible on the Kawekas. Sheep moved to the Triangle paddock.

Bridget’s husband Chris and I spent much of the day fencing. We cut down one Braeburn apple tree on a corner that our new fence would make too narrow for the orchard mower. We then put in the posts for a short span of 24m, banging in 5 posts. Then we began a 94m span, pounding in 8 posts with another 16 to go.

Francis Wier and his girlfriend called round to leave his old car – he bought a newer one yesterday – until he can find a buyer for the older one.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 4°C—17°C; mainly sunny, southerly wind turning to northerly in the afternoon, no rain. [81.5]

Ground is sodden, surface water everywhere. No outside work today.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 8°C—14°C; occasional showers, southerly wind, 4mm rain. [80.5]

In doors all day. I gave Bicka a shower so she was clean for the visit of Bridget, Chris, and mokapuna Natalie who arrived around 5:00pm.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 9°C—13°C; rained continuously all night and day, southerly wind, 107mm rain. [79.7]

The boundary roadside fence is nearly done. The moved fence in the Top paddock is also nearly done. Now we’re working on a fence between the orchard and the new grass, extending out from the Homestead to the orchard driveway on the northern boundary, and then going down the driveway to the public road.

Johnny Cranswick arrived around 9:30am. He put in three strainer posts before leaving around 4:45pm. He is amiable, does a careful, tidy job, just as his father said he would – and he talks and talks. $25 an hour.

I went to GoldPine and got some more fencing supplies: 40 1/4 round posts, 400 battens etc. I’m using up strainers and stay posts that I already had here. Also bought some railings for Karola’s “entrance” off the orchard drive towards the front of the Homestead.

Later I drove the Fergie into town and brought back the post rammer. Since then it’s been raining steadily.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 11°C—19°C; mainly sunny, northerly breeze and rain in the afternoon, 4mm rain. [79.5]

Johnny Cranswick called – he can’t come till tomorrow.

In the morning I went to town, bought a small bolt-cutter, a 3.6m length of bungy rope, and a carpenter’s leather apron – all as suggested by Murray Cranswick. Later I made the batten guide from the bungy rope and made a wire clip to fasten a batten to the crowbar. Then, all afternoon, I attached battens to the roadside boundary fence. By nightfall I’d done 40m, just under half the fence. That’s 60 battens each with 8 staples. The apron not only makes handling 100s of staples easier, it is a good protective layer when you’re banging in the staples using yourself as the workbench.

I moved the sheep from the Triangle into the Middle paddock, to rest the Triangle. QUite soon I expect to let them out by the day into the new grassed area – the enlarged Front paddock (which has been combined with some of the orchard and with the Tall Trees road frontage paddock) – and the Triangle will be their night paddock.

Julie Ladbrooke brought back the bantam cockerel she borrowed – he then fought the other cockerels to reassert his place in the pecking order. Julie said that the black bantam’s 4 chicks were 3 cockerels and 1 hen.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 11°C—18°C; mainly sunny, westerly in the morning, northerly breeze in the afternoon, no rain. [79.8]

Around lunchtime it got quite hot. The max/min thermometer measured 23 degrees on the verandah.

Murray Cranswick came round after breakfast and we attached the two barbed wires and completed the straining up of the road boundary renewed fence. We then started the job of putting 5 battens between each pair of posts. Murray has lent me his bungy cord marked in six equal intervals. The idea being that when you stretch the cord each interval expands equally so you stretch it between the posts and even if it’s a bit longer than it should be you still see where to put the 5 equidistant battens. He also showed me how to convert the crowbar into a handy tool supporting the batten when you bang staples into it.

After lunch we took a look at the moved fence in the Top paddock with the twisted strainers, one of which has actually popped up by 300mm or so. Murray untwisted the strainers with a combination of pushing or pulling using the Fergie and a trick with crowbar and wire that let us turn each post like a capstan. We got the popped up strainer reseated and then strained up the fence. Unfortunately the strainer just popped up again. Murray will ask his 27 year old son Johnny to come round and help me fix it tomorrow. I also want Johnny to help me with a new fence between the new grass and the orchard – a replacement for the old boundary fence on an angle between the Front paddock and the Orchard. I’d like to use the tractor mounted post rammer again.

Alan Ladbrooke and his worker Ivan planted the 120 apple trees today in the space made available by moving the fence.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 7°C—19°C; mainly sunny, south-westerly in the morning, northerly breeze in the afternoon, no rain. [79.7]

The stump fire is still burning so I used the Fergie to move the wire-entangled eucalypt stump from the boundary fenceline to the fire. It started blazing within minutes. Encouraged by this I used the trailer and Fergie to load up some large semi-rotten trees from the Island paddock and cart them to the blaze. I left two large old rotten trunks and several pieces of oak which could be firewood.

I attached the sprayer and used the Fergie to Roundup a 1 metre wide strip round the Top paddock which is set aside for hay. This will minimise weeds encroaching from the margins. I have been surprised how long a sprayed area remains bare – hope I don’t regret my spraying spree.

After lunch I continued putting the wires on the renewed roadside boundary fence – all six plain wires are up and pre-strained ready for tying off perhaps tomorrow under Murray Cranswick’s direction. The top and 3rd wires will be barbed – to repel human invaders – and I found the coils saved from 2 years ago on the roof of the shed in the Island paddock.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 9°C—20°C; mainly sunny, northerly breeze in the afternoon, no rain. [80.1]

The apple stump fire that Campbell and I set while he was here last week is still burning inside its cone of ash.

Today I counted the lambs and twice I got 40. I also rechecked the records and we are supposed to have 40 here and 3 being bottle fed elsewhere. That tallies. A lamb must have been hiding when I tried to count them yesterday.

The moved fence is looking good – just a few battens to put on and it’s done – except that overnight one of the strainer posts has heaved itself up, pivoting on the stay post. If you don’t securely fasten a crosspiece or foot to each strainer post then you get what I’ve got – the strainer twists in the direction of the wire tension, making the stay less effective as its contact point is off-centre – and the strainer can lift a few centimetres leaving a large gap under the bottom wire and threatening to pop right out if you apply more tension. This was quite irritating so I left that job and went back to the renewed roadside boundary fence for the day.

I intend to lay out and fix the 6 plain wires and 2 barbed wires and loosely strain them up before inviting Murray Cranswick back later this week. I told him I’d be ready on Tuesday. Today I got half of it done – adding 4 wires to the 2 already in place.

At lunchtime Alan Ladbrooke came over and we had a long serious talk about the orchard lease. In a nutshell things have gone from bad to much worse in the NZ apple industry and for some of the varieties Alan already knows it’ll cost more to tend and pick the fruit than he’ll get for selling them. We discussed some ways in which we could help his cash flow – by that I mean the orchardists have to borrow for 8-12 months before they get paid for the last season’s crop and any way of deferring expenses is a help. Alan’s bank manager apparently has advised him to consider walking off his leased orchards if the lessors won’t reduce their rents to about half the current lease payment. Meanwhile the local papers are full of apple orchardists unable to afford the clearance of their bankrupt orchards and the potential disease hazzard for other growers if derelict orchards are not tended.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 9°C—22°C; mainly sunny, westerly breeze turning to northerly in the afternoon, no rain. Hottest place in New Zealand, again. [80.9]

Found a dead sparrow on the verandah this morning, and a little further along a dead mouse – gifts from the cat I suppose.

I spent the morning finishing off the tightening of the moved fence wires – succeeding in breaking the wires a few times and breaking the hubs of 2 permanent strainers – I think they must have been faulty so I’ll take them back. The technique for straining that gave good results was to tighten the fence in about three places – ensuring that the wires could run freely to each end when the final tighening was done in the middle.

Later I put up rails between the strainer post and the Scott’s boundary to the south. One more day might do it – replacing battens and also tightening/tidying up the old fence between the north end of the moved fence and the gate that Karola and I installed last month.

Try as I might I could not count more than 39 lambs – and I counted many times.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 8°C—19°C; mainly cloudy, northerly breeze in the afternoon, no rain recorded, some light drizzle in the afternoon. [80.9]

The brown bantam hen is still sitting – on 2 eggs only.

I moved the sheep into the Triangle; I tried to count the lambs and got approximately 40 – but they’re very hard to count.

Murray Cranswick and I went to Farmlands and ordered ear tags for the sheep – big yellow tags with large numbers on them – hopefully Karola and I will be able to read the numbers at a distance. We’ll tag all the sheep and lambs when we dock the lambs in a week or so.

Later I went into Hastings and got prescriptions for Tami-Flu – now we’re on a long waiting list for that anti-viral medicine.

I spent the afternoon straightening and straining up the moved fence – the wire kept breaking which wasted a lot of time. However I’ve nearly finished now with tight wires the full length of the fence.

Bicka vanished at about 7:00pm and didn’t return until after 9:15pm – she’s never been out so long after dark before; I was highly relieved when she turned up again.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 11°C—14°C; raining in the morning, cloudy most of the afternoon, southerly winds, 2mm rain. [81.3]

This ‘practice’ fence I’m working on, adding a sliver of land to the Orchard out of the Top paddock, is highly instructional. It’s a practice fence because it may not need to last more than 5 years if we go ahead with the legal boundary realignment between the Orchard and Homestead titles.

• The southern end strainer has twisted about 1/6th turn because the stay post must have been a bit off-centre and the wires pull more to one side, the stay pushes on the other, and round it goes. I suppose that if the strainer had been dug in (rather than rammed in) and had a crosspiece or foot anchored to the bottom it would resist twisting more. Anyway it seems to have stabilised for now although it groans when I put a heavy strain on a wire.
• I’d already strained up three wires from the southern (Scott’s boundary) end and I noticed that while the top wire is tight all the way along from strainer to strainer, the other two wires were quite loose at the far end. So I first of all bashed the battens into position with the axe – many had been pulled on an angle by the initial straining up. Then I tightened the wires – still the middle and bottom wires were loose at the far end. So I moved the place I’m straining up to the middle of the fence, which meant wiring up the original straining point with new joins and then clearing battens from a section near the middle.
• I have only two straining kits so can only strain up two wires at a time – but I’m fitting permanent wire strainers onto each wire once I’ve got the slack and kinks out of it with the straining kit and this looks like it’ll work well. I got the top, 3rd, and bottom wires strained up again and with permanent strainers attached top and bottom before the rain came down. This time the fence is taut from end to end.

Adam Ladbrooke came over and continued ploughing and discing the area for new apple trees – he says he may get them planted tomorrow.

I am considering shutting the Top paddock – what remains of it – for hay. It’ll take about 8 weeks I think, so could be ready in early December. In preparation I’m thinking of spraying the edges of the paddock to leave a weedfree space where the hay making equipment can’t reach. Adam says they’ll be spraying their side of the fence anyway later in the year, just to keep the weeds down where they can’t mow.

Each day I look out on the new grass and it is getting greener and filling up with broadleaf weeds as well as grass and clover. Talking to Harry – he called for a chat last night – he thinks I should get the sheep onto the new grass quickly before the weeds get too mature. While young and tasty the sheep will eat weeds and grass, and the grass will recover from browsing more quickly; once the broadleaf weeds mature the sheep will try to avoid eating them.

The 9 hoggets broke out of Back paddock today – just bumped and pushed and shoved on the gate until the admittedly insecure wire fastener undid itself. So they’re back in with their mothers and younger brothers and sisters.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 9°C—21°C; mainly sunny, turning to rain and cloud by early afternoon, 19mm rain. [81.6]

The moved fence is tacked up in place but the wires aren’t tight, nor are the battens evenly placed. Today I strained up the top, bottom, and 3rd wires, and stapled these three wires to all the posts. It is now mainly stockproof.

Meanwhile the Ladbrooke team came and ploughed and disced the area to be planted – Adam Ladbrooke’s tractor broke a front wheel which slowed things up a bit.

The three fostered lambs are thriving; the 40 lambs here are all well. I gave the 9 hoggets a bit more feed by letting them into the ornamentals behind the big oak tree – not much grass as it’s quite shady, but they enjoyed playing on the large pile of mulch there.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 9°C—16°C; mainly sunny, early southerly wind switched to northerly late morning, 7mm rain. [82.0]

Dropped Campbell off at Napier airport at 9:30am. A day for paying bills and housework.

Lambs, ewes and hoggets all checked, too damp to do much else outside.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 11°C—15°C; cloud and drizzle all day, 7mm rain. [82.3]

Dentist in the morning. Campbell and I then bought a grinder at Mitre 10 for about $60 – not the cheapest ($17), and certainly not the most expensive ($400+). The primary purpose is to sharpen spades/shovels, axes and the like. It also did an excellent job of roughening the upper edge of the Fergie’s clutch pedal – the pedal was so worn with years of use that it was dangerously slippery and when wet my boot slipped off the clutch repeatedly – not any more however. We also ground the face of one of our hammers flat – as suggested in the Hand Made Fence book – to make it easier and safer for hammering in fence staples.

After the rain stopped I drove the Fergie down to Stortford Machinery to return the post rammer. Campbell drove the Landrover close behind. While going along the Avenue I was showered on several times when the tall derrick of the rammer brushed low hanging oak tree branches. More alarmingly, the rear hydraulics slipped down as I zipped along in 3rd gear high ratio, lowering the rammer onto the road. The metal feet screeched along the tarmac, making big skid marks and a horrible din.

At Stortford Machinery we talked to Mike Smith, the very helpful manager of their hiring department. He tried to sell me a roll-over bar. He did sell me a second-hand adjustable top link for the 3-point linkage. When we hired the rammer his engineer connected the rammer hydraulics so that I could raise and lower the rammer derrick and also operate the rammer – but I then lost the use of the front-end loader. He fitted quick-release couplings, as needed by the rammer. This time, rather than revert to the standard connectors I asked for quick-release couplings for the front end loader too. The engineer fitted them, and replaced a bolt on the gearbox inspection cover that had come loose and fallen out – it was rather disconcerting to have splashes of oil coming out of the hole for the missing bolt each time the rammer head crashed down onto a post.

I opened an account with Stortford Machinery – they observed that someone else had a business called Karamu Orchard so we’ll have to think of another name for Karola’s business.

In the afternoon Campbell and I took the wire and attached battens off 120m or so of the boundary between the Top paddock and the Orchard; we then used the Fergie to uproot 25 concrete posts, and pulled the old fence over to the new line of 21 wooden 1/4 round posts we rammed over the weekend. I stapled the top wire to each post and so, apart from another day of straightening up and straining up the wires, the fence move is complete. The area to be planted in apple trees, extending the 5 short rows, is now part of the Orchard.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 5°C—20°C; mostly cloudy morning, sunny afternoon, 2mm rain mid morning. [82.1]

In the morning Campbell and I finished ramming in the 8 posts for the Top paddock new fenceline. We also added stay posts to each strainer using the chainsaw to shape and hollow the stay and strainer.

In the afternoon we collected up a trailer load of dead wood and set a hot fire near the heap of stumps with plenty of newspaper and a liberal sloshing of diesel fuel. Once it was well alight we began carting the tree stumps onto it and, to my surprise and delight, this time the stumps burned. By 7:00pm we’d burned the entire heap.

The hoggets are now back in their part of the Back paddock and the ewes and lambs are all in together sharing the Middle, Top, and Island paddocks.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 2°C—15°C; mostly cloudy day, light southerly wind, no rain. [81.9]

Today Campbell and I worked on the new fence across the Top paddock, moving the boundary between Homestead and Orchard so that five short rows of apple trees can be extended to run right through to the Scott’s boundary. We used the hired post rammer attached to the back of the Fergie. It was a learning experience – as it said in big letters on the equipment “Read The manual First”, but we had no manual. The first two posts were 2.4m strainers and these took a long time to bang in not only because of their size but because whe hadn’t used a post rammer before. The 1/4 round fence posts were very quick to bang in, once the rammer had been put into place and levelled at exactly the right spot. We got steadily better and by nightfall had rammed in 14 posts plus the two end strainers. There are 8 more posts to ram.

This evening Alan Ladbrooke, our orchard lessee, called. He’d seen our e=mails and would sort out the bank; also he had put the young apple trees he expects to plant in part of the Top paddock (mentioned above) in wet sawdust in a coolstore until we’re ready for them to be planted.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 7°C—15°C; mostly sunny day, south-westerly wind, no rain. [82.2]

Ewe had twins – all ewes have lambed – 43 lambs from 20 ewes in 12 days.

Campbell and I put in the remaining 8 posts on the boundary fence. These were mostly very difficult because of tree roots.

We also went to Stortford Machinery and hired a post rammer – a very tall gantry that attached to the rear of the Fergie and has a big weight that bangs in posts. I was in trepidation that I’d catch the gantry on overhead telephone or electric wires as I drove the tractor home. No mishaps, though it only missed by a foot or so (300mm).

Brown bantam hen has been sitting for last 3 -4 days.

Bicka is barking all evening again – not sure how we’ll stop her short of bringing her into the house in the evening.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 10°C—19°C; mostly sunny day, southerly wind turned to westerly late afternoon, no rain. [82.8]

Ro and John Acland called in as expected around 9:30am. Cleaning lady came at 10:00am. I went to airport and picked up guest Campbell Ewing at 10:30am. Mike Croucher came and mowed the lawn – very long it was.

Ewe had triplets. One more ewe to lamb; 19 of 20 have now lambed, all this in just 12 days.

Campbell and I did 4 more posts in the boundary fence.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 3°C—17°C; mostly sunny day, brisk southerly wind, 1mm rain. [82.3]

After feeding the bantams, the geese, the cat and the bottle-fed ewe lamb I changed the electric fence to increase the area available to the early lambing ewes to include under the big oak tree and bamboo – there’s some long grass there and a variety of weeds and logs and mounds for the lambs to play on.

I refilled the three water troughs and also searched for a possible leak – I heard the pressure pump turn on twice within ten minutes or so – possibly it was animals drinking but I do wonder if we have an underground leak.

No new lambs today. I took the bottle-fed ewe lamb to the fostering family – they now have three of our lambs and they’re thriving. Bought 5kg of lamb powdered milk and delivered it with the lamb.

Late morning I put in another two boundary fence posts after spending an hour trying to level the minor ups and downs in the fenceline and make it as flat as possible. The bottom wire does now run from end to end without touching the ground.
I was hoping to do more posts but it began to rain – it was then I thought I’d grab the bottle-fed lamb before it got wet. Just as I grabbed it hail began to fall and as I ran the 200m back to the Homestead it got steadily heavier and I was soaked.

I called our orchard lessee in the evening – we were lucky, the same sudden hail in two months time would pretty much wipe out the years crop, but this time there was no harm done.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 7°C—17°C; fine until mid day then rain and some hail, southerly wind, 14mm rain. [82.5]

Karola called from UK this evening.

Ewe had twins – one much smaller than the other but standing OK. Hoggets moved into the geese enclosure where the grass was getting quite long – a couple of days should clean that up. The smallest quadruplet – a ewe lamb – is getting 3 bottle feeds a day and her mother seems to bunt her away so she may need to be fostered out. The lamb is small, neat, and friendly. First thing this morning about 10 lambs came through the (unelectrified) electric fence and gambolled under the big oak and on a heap of mulch there – the joys of spring!

The brown bantam hen is broody again – but as I’ve been collecting eggs and something has been stealing them too, I’m not sure if she’s sitting on more than one egg.

Murray Cranswick arrived around 9:00am and worked through till 12:30pm with me on the boundary fence. About 1/3 of the posts are now in and I’ll call him when I’ve put in the rest and we’re ready for putting the wires on.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 11°C—19°C; some rain overnight, mainly sunny warm day, southerly wind, 2mm rain. [82.5]

Karola went to the UK today.

A ewe had triplets. The lamb we brought in last night died of neglect and exposure, despite Karola getting it dry and warm and giving it a feed. I buried it this morning. 3 more ewes remain to lamb. Gangs of marauding lambs hoon about the place, ignoring electric fences (I’ve turned off the current for now to avoid hurting them) – and playing ‘king of the castle’ on the mulch mounds.

I put in the 2nd angle post in the boundary fence – the tangle of roots was only about 300mm thick, then it was the same soft light clay found elsewhere.

The little quadruplet ewe lamb had a bottle feed mid morning and another mid afternoon.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 11°C—16°C; some occasional drizzle, cloudy and misty, 4mm rain.

Yesterday we caught the quadruplets mother ewe and ensured her two smallest lambs had a drink. This morning we actually bottle fed them and also one of the triplets that has a gammy leg. We did it again mid afternoon.

One of the recent twin lambs was abandoned so this evening we brought it back and dried it off and warmed it up and tried to revive it – unlikely as it was pretty far gone when we found it – wet and cold and lethargic.

The 9 ewe hoggets have been shut in the Back paddock. 10 ewes with twins or singles are in the Triangle paddock. 3 ewes with triplets or quads are in the Island paddock. 7 ewes, 4 still to have their lambs, are in the Middle and Top paddocks.

The regrassed area is looking very green and so far most of the green is grass, not weeds. This rain will help.

I put in one of the angle posts on the boundary fence – in the rain. Not the one that is a mass of roots – that one is going to be difficult.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 11°C—12°C; rained on and off all day, cloudy and misty, 1mm rain.

Ewe had twin ewe lambs today.

I spent an hour or so slowly trimming back the last stump still partially blocking the path of the replacement boundary fence; hit more wires and some embedded concrete too. Core of the stump was very tough and sticky – hard to chainsaw.

I also started on one of the two post holes for the two angles in the boundary fence – the one nearest the large Copper Beech. The ground is cram packed with roots and very hard going. I started in close between two major roots but gave up and moved about 5m from the tree and still it is a mass of roots.

After lunch I collected two more $10 geese from Heather Gregory; this time I clipped one wing of each goose before letting them go. We also visited the two fostered lambs which are still alive – although the sick one is still not so bouncy – but it is still alive and drinking.

The smallest of the 2nd set of quadruplets – a ewe – is terribly light and thin and isn’t getting much milk so this afternoon we caught the mother and held her while the little one had a good drink. We have just finished a repeat performance mid-evening.
We’ve put the true triplets, the quadruplets (now a triplet since we fostered out the smallest one), and the 2nd set of quadruplets into the Island paddock which not only has more grass but also makes it easier to catch the ewes when the need arises.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 14°C—21°C; mostly sunny; strong northerly wind in the morning; no rain.