Monthly Archives: October 2006

Sightseeing, eating, drinking, chatting with Geoff and Edwina

Balloon guy called at 5:00am to say there was too much wind high up for the ride to take place today – I was hoping that Geoff and I could have taken a hot-air balloon ride across Hastings early this morning.

Sightseeing, eating, drinking, chatting with Geoff and Edwina around Napier all day.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 7°C—18°C; no rain. [?]

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Luncheon At The Mission

Helped Geoff bang in a post before taking the post rammer back to Stortford Machinery at 10:00am.

Harry arrived at 11:00am and we all went to The Mission for lunch – including Karola’s old school friend and local farmer Cynthia Chalmers.

Guided tour of the Homestead grounds and orchard in the afternoon.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 11°C—18°C; no rain. [79.0]

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Geoff and Edwina Robinson Arrived

In the morning I finished driving in the posts along the planting area – had to hand-dig 4 that went in crooked or split.

Geoff and Edwina arrived late afternoon

Hawkes Bay Weather: 14°C—21°C; no rain. [78.5]

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Fence Posts – One Banged In Every 10 Minutes

Banged in 21 posts having to repeat 4 due to post splitting or hitting something and going off on an angle. So, only 6 more to do and the 4-metre wide planting area can be protected with an inner netting fence. Karola went to help at a Woodford House reunion – the class above hers so she knew lots of people – Karola and Cynthia Chalmers served on a memorabilia stall for the reunion attendees; Cynthia came round for afternoon tea afterwards.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 13°C—24°C; northerly wind; no rain. [79.6]

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No More Lambs, No Fewer Lambs.

Drove the Fergie down to Stortford Machinery and brought back the post rammer, hired for the weekend.

No more lambs, no fewer lambs.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 6°C—19°C; no rain. [79.4]

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Thistle Be The Day

Much of the day spent battling thistles – in the nick of time as many were in flower and just days away from seeding. Huge quite beautiful varigated thistles in a few massive clumps but mostly Scotch thistles. Don’t seem to be many Californian thistles so far this year – Karola’s roundup blitz last year made a difference.

Ran the petrol generator for 30 minutes just to make sure it was ready if needed. Got 20l diesel for the Fergie.

Sheep all OK.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 5°C—20°C; no rain. [79.8]

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27 Lambs And Holding

A much brighter day – mostly sunny. Gave #211 the rest of her antibiotic and another 120mm of Ketol – still concerned that she may not make it. Tagged the triplets of #212, ram lamb #626 and #628, ewe lamb #627. Shed both ewes out of the Island paddock into the Front paddock with the rest of the ewes and lambs.

Moved Nelson and the 3 remaining ewes – hopefully pregnant, though I’m not so sure – into the Ram paddock aka Geese enclosure.

I mowed around the big oak and bamboo with the topper/mower, and remowed where the bamboo had been cleared off the Triangle paddock. Karola unloaded a trailer load of bamboo rubbish onto the bonfire and filled and emptied 2 more trailer loads of dead branches and weeds from around the Homestead lawns. I dug a small shelf into the gently sloping side of the ha-ha for the water trough to sit in. Now it is out of sight from the Homestead and you can see whether there’s water in it from the top of the ha-ha – neither were true before. Huge varigated thistles are in bloom – we have very little time to stop them seeding.

Geoff Robinson – our guest next Sunday to Wednesday – called from Auckland – they’d had wet weather in Australia and Auckland so far.

Telecom rang and we agreed to change our Wellington broadband plan to $29.95 a month from $39.95 or so. This gives me 200MB per month plus $0.02 per MB for excess so it’ll be significantly cheaper given our occasional use down there – even when in residence I used less than 1000MB a month. Also they confirmed that the local exchange is eqiuipped and we could have ADSL at Karamu should we wish to change from Airnet’s direct line-of-sight wireless Internet connection.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 8°C—18°C; 5mm rain. [79.6]

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Bicka Uncooperative In Fridge Light Challenge

Sad day – Karola’s orphan ewe lamb died in the night – not sure why; sometimes they just do. It’s buried near the other 4, under the oak tree in the Triangle paddock.

Damp drizzle but all the other lambs and ewes seeme OK – the majority of them in the Front paddock are enjoying the relative dry and wind-protected conditions under an old Macrocarpa tree in the corner near the orchard road entrance or under the eucalypts – the lambs find lots of nooks and crannies to hide away in. Even ewe #211 – she of the 3 dead lambs – seems a little better today and #212 with her 3 live lambs has them cantering along as she rushes from eating spot to eating spot – still spending time in the shelter in the middle of the Island paddock behind Karola’s well placed hay bales, warm and snug. We gave #211 another 120ml of the sugar-booster Ketol and she gets the other half of her antibiotic injection tomorrow.

In the morning I went shopping – for me always a speed trial – 2 hours. Found what I needed at White Traders – replacement nut for my tow bar ball – and another ball with nuts and washers that has a longer shank which may be an improvement – the tow bar ball is anchored on the tractor towing bar which is much thicker than a car or light truck so, using my current towing ball, there’s hardly any thread poking out to put the nut on. It should clear tomorrow so maybe on Thursday I’ll put it to the test. $5 for the extra tow ball and the nut.

Dropped off 5 saws at The Saw Doctors – including my special Sylki pruning saw. Dropped off 2 pairs of secateurs for sharpening at Inox for Karola. Banked our $80 refund cheque from the local electric power company for overcharging, and a $60 rebate cheque from Farmlands. Got a new bulb for one of the fridges – but we can’t see if it turns off when the door is closed. Karola suggested putting Bicka inside the fridge to tell us. Bicka wisely said she’d not cooperate. In and out of New World in 20 minutes.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 9°C—16°C; 9mm rain. [80.0]

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Another Ewe Saga

Damp day, though mild, and being Labour Day Monday there’s nothing open.

Highlight, or the opposite, of the day was when Kathy Barclay who used to rent the cottage and now lives with her two daughters and Alsatian dog in Wilson Road knocked at the door and said one of our ewes was in trouble, trying to have a lamb. I was surprised because all the ewes visible from the road have had lambs; went to check and it was ewe #211 – one of 2 ewes that had weak lambs last Thursday – lambs I thought would never make it. Sure enough #211 was in trouble and so we got her and her lamb into the Triangle paddock where we could keep an eye on her and I rang Kaz and talked it over. With Kaz’s advice and some coaxing from Karola I did an internal investigation. An unpleasant surprise, I repositioned and pulled out a dead lamb – it’s legs were not in the right place – if they’re not in the diver pose their shoulders stick out and they’re too big to emerge. Karola suggested I look again – another dead lamb; one more time – and a third large dead lamb to be repositioned and hauled out – I refused to go looking for more. The ewe wasn’t really enjoying this at all and was thoroughly exhausted – possibly going to die I thought. So, as suggested by Kaz and Karola, we got medicine for her. That meant calling up the vet on Labour Day Monday – Roger McAlister was on call and not that thrilled (we found out later) because he’d only just got home from an afternoon delivering 3 puppies by caesarian. Anyway, no doubt at considerable cost, Karola went into Hastings to the Vet’s, Roger came back in from his home, and we got antibiotic injection and oral drench Ketol for poor #211. 30 mins after 120mm of Ketol – which is primarily a very digestible solution of sugars for energy – #211 was back on her feet and eating again. What a palaver – and we are now not at all certain that maybe she stole #619 from the younger #409 who might in fact have had twins. Anyway #619 is stuck on her current mum, #211, so that’s how it’ll stay.

Ewe #212’s family are still alive and looking a bit livelier – though we’re still giving some milk to the smallest ram lamb. Ewe #212 likes camping in the open-sided shelter where Karola’ has put up a few hay bales for wind protection.

Karola’s orphans are energetic and vocal as ever, chomping through more than their future worth in An-Lamb powder – but then it’s the experience, not the profit that drives us.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 10°C—15°C; 5mm rain. [79.8]

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Gill and Ben Depart for Wellington – Heavy Rains Forecast

Gill and Ben left for Wellington mid morning.

More colostrum medicine for the lambs of #212 – they still seemed undernourished although at least #212 had them all close by – wasn’t abandoning #628 so completely.

I mowed under the Canary Island pine and where the pile of bamboo had been; then the mower got detatched from the Fergie because the tow bar ball had vibrated loose and the nut fell off.

Karola and I moved the electric fence to enclose our remaining 3 pregnant ewes and Nelson on the lawn along the top of the ha-ha, including the tall palm, Chinese Hawthorne, and a Feijoa bush.

It drizzled almost constantly all afternoon. We checked on #212 and she had a serious limp – she’d been limping a bit for a week or so but now it was chronic – and probably interfering with feeding her lambs. So we caught her again and I attended to her terribly rotten back right foot – Karola was nearly sick at the sight of the poor ewe’s diseased, maggot-infested foot. Still, with removal of the separated horn and dead tissue and digging out the maggots and application of some footrot spray both she (ewe #212) and I were feeling much better, though after the indignities I’ve inflicted recently she’s a bit wary of being caught by me. At Karola’s suggestion I gave #212 some sheep nuts and she forgot her grievance, temporarily at least. Lambs have had more collostrum medicine and some bottle milk and we’ll see what’s what in the morning.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 11°C—17°C; 2mm rain. [?]

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The Saga Of Ewe #212

Karola’s pair of orphan lambs are vigorous and determined – feeding well and letting us know when they think it’s meal time.

Gill and Ben went off to the Napier estury for a walk and some twitching.

I switched the Fergie mini-forks for the topper/mower and mowed the geese enclosure and the large areas of nettles in the Middle paddock – the bit that tucks in behind the geese enclosure.

During the mowing I managed to break off a low-hanging branch off one of the fir trees. Later in the afternoon we had a photo-shoot where Gill hoist me up in the Fergie bucket to saw off the broken branch cleanly near the trunk. Ben and Karola took photos.

Ewe #405 had ram lamb #625. Ewe #212 – the one that had been fussing and bleating for several days – finally decided to have her lambs. Karola called me in the morning because #212 had a lamb head out but it wasn’t getting any further. So I delved in and found its front legs – which were straight back instead of bent and forward as if about to dive into a swimming pool. I pulled the legs out one by one then heaved and woosh, one ram lamb. A couple of hours later we saw #212 with two lambs in tow – ram lamb #626 which I’d helped deliver and ewe lamb #627 who had arrived unassisted. After Gill and Ben came back late afternoon we went out to see #212 and she was obviously trying to have another lamb, but without success. So I delved again and found the lamb with its head pointing backwards and legs backwards too – so I turned them round and go everything in the right orientation and then, amazingly, a third lamb was born; ram lamb #628 who was a bit smaller than his siblings and was abandoned instantly by his mother.

All three triplets were small and #212 was pretty knackered after all the labouring and the lambs didn’t seem to be getting milk so we gave them collostrum medicine every 3-4 hours and even gave the littlest 3rd-born a bottle of milk just to keep it alive and interested.

We all went out to the Westshore Fish Restaurant for dinner and took a look at #212’s family when we got back around 10:00pm. #212 and one lamb were visible near the open-sided shelter in the middle of the Island paddock. The 3rd-born was stumbling alone along the fenceline, abandoned at the near end of the Island paddock. No sign of the other lamb. We searched by torchlight and quite by chance I heard a faint bleat – the missing lamb had fallen down a post-hole. The top of its head was just below ground level, and it fitted snuggly in the round hole with no possibility of getting out. We (Karola, me, Gill and Ben) corralled the family and got them all under the shelter boxed in with hay bales for the night.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 5°C—24°C; no rain. [?]

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Gill and Ben Arrived Mid Afternoon

Ewe $206 – reported as having twins yesterday – turned up with triplets today, an additional ewe lamb #623. During the day ewe #209 had a ram lamb #624.
The weak lambs #619 and #620 that I didn’t expect to survive were still going – not as bouncy as most of the others but definitely still alive and being fed.

Leaky pipe irrigation to the Yews and the Australian section was turned off today.

Intending soon to do some mowing with the Fergie and the topping mower I did things needing the mini-forks today, before changing implements. So I moved three tractor loads of old posts from near the Green Shed down with other piles of posts near the rhododendron tree, two tractor loads of heavy chunks of oak branch from the same place into the geese enclosure where there’s a pile of branches waiting to be made into firewood; two trailer-loads of bits of old nail-filled wood and rotten battens and the like from there over to the bonfire site. I also took a trailer-load of lemonwood branches from near the big oak – where we’d cut off a torn branch earlier in the week.

Gill and Ben arrived on their way back from the Coromandel Peninsula – they’re staying for a couple of days. I test-drove their new Volvo S6 turbo – very quiet, safe, responsive and smooth.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 9°C—24°C; no rain. [79.8]

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Lamb Custody Battle

A day possessed by lambing. We woke to see 2 lambs in the Triangle; ewe #211 was with them both and was scuffling with ewe #409 who was trying to muscle in. Both lambs were quite small and not very lively. AFter breakfast we investigated and it turned out that one of the lambs belonged to ewe #409 – they had a ram lamb each; #211 probably had hers first so he’s #619 and #409 has #620. Both lambs must have suffered in the custody battle for they were fairly weak and not drinking. We gave them collostrum medicine. After the lambs were tagged and all four sheep moved in with the rest of the ewes with lambs we stayed and watched them for a while.

We caught #211 and she had milk OK – and in fact #619 was up and about so, despite being small and weak, he may survive. However #409 is a problem, we caught her too and it seemed she’d very little milk. From the outset she had been backing away from her lamb when it tried to drink. By the time we intervened the lamb was only sucking weakly and wasn’t very interested, so we were probably a bit too late. Anyway we’ll see what tomorrow brings. This is #409’s first lamb and she may have a very tender udder which makes it hard for her to let the lamb drink.

Ewe #212 is bleating a lot – not in a pained way, just calling out, and she’s keeping herself a bit apart from the other pregnant ewes – so maybe she’s about ready to lamb.

Ewe #206 went off into the Island paddock, up the far end, and had twins around lunchtime – two more ram lambs: #621 and #622. The lambs were cleaned up, drinking, and walking about in minutes – #206 seems like a very good mother so we left them alone for the rest of the day.

I finished off yesterday’s tasks – filling in the holes I’d made prospecting for irrigation pipes in the ex-Braeburn orchard area, and taking down the obsolete guide wire in 7 long rows of young apple trees. The wire had grown into the branches in many places so it is a good idea to remove it, but it took a long time.

Karola went to a Napier showing of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” while I cooked my usual pork stir fry.

Bicka is a bit miffed at all the attention going to lambs so I’ve kept her with me in the Landrover for most of the day.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 11°C—20°C; southerly wind; no rain. [?]

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Bicka Slips Collar After Being Washed

Bicka lost her collar and tag so I went to Havelock North and got replacements.

Karola fed the two orphaned lambs 5 times today – they will be down to 3 times a day in about a week, it’s quite time consuming.

I filled in 1/3 of the holes I’d dug last month looking for irrigation pipes in the orchard. Alan Ladbrooke, Adam and Ivan all worked on changes to the irrigation pipes – Alan hired a chain digger and dug the trenches; it’s about 1/2 done. When finished it’ll have sealed off the main pipe runs into what is now part of the Homestead title and it’ll have rejigged the distribution so that there are 4 more or less evenly sized zones, including the new peach trees and of course minus the Braeburns I cut down.

I also moved a heavy pile of high-tensile wire from behind the big shed with the Fergie. The wire was originally used to support and train young apple trees and is now bound for the recycling depot. I also began removing the support wire from 7 rows of apple trees – the last trees to have a support wire; I’m about 1/3 of the way through. The wire isn’t needed but isn’t doing any harm to the orchardist operations, however it’s a real pain having to duck under it when chasing sheep or Bicka or geese around in the orchard so I’ve been meaning to take it down for many months.

Karola has finished dealing with the felled bamboo in the Triangle paddock. I helped but only for about an hour taking some bundles of bamboo rubbish over to the bonfire site.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 2°C—17°C; no rain. [79.4]

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Cold snap from the south

Colder blustery day with occasional light showers – going to be cold tonight. No work outside today.

Ewe #203 had twin ram lambs, #617 and #618.

Ducklings all deceased now – I suspect the hens encouraged them to eat the wrong sort of food and maybe that just killed most of them off rather than rats – I found 3 little bodies myself.

Karola has 2 lambs she’s feeding and they’re responding well. The triplet mother and her remaining lamb seem fairly contented so taking 2 away probably was for the best.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 5°C—14°C; southerly wind; no rain. [79.3]

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Lambs Tales

Went out at 1:00am this morning, a ewe had been bleating for ages. Found her lamb quite well, hunkered down against the wall of the Ha-Ha at the bottom and just not bothering to answer her mother. I reunited them and the noise stopped.

Watered the rest of the Rangiora for a couple of hours.

Ducklings – one dead and the pair down to 1 and the triple down to 2 – leastways that’s all we saw today. Karola flushed a pheasant off her nest in the felled bamboo we’re clearing – so she put the 2 eggs under one of the broody bantams – one that is actually sitting conveniently on no eggs. I found another bantam nest in the green shed with 8 eggs.

Quads and twins still alive and kicking. And ewe #217 had triplets – #614 and #616 ewe lambs, #615 a ram lamb. We called out the vet because #217 had a dropped belly and I worried there might be a 4th lamb – but no, it’s a strained tendon, not lethal thank goodness, if a little unsightly and maybe uncomfortable. The vet, Richard McAlister from HB Vet Services, pointed out that #217 had a damaged teat on the left side – probably due to mastitis last year forming scar tissue. Upshot is that we have ram lamb #615 and ewe lamb #614 (tentatively named Florence) in a cardboard box in the outside office, being given special collostrum medicine and goats milk every couple of hours. Time to get onto Trade-Me perhaps – yuou can get over $100 for an orphan lamb in Auckland via Trade-Me Karola says.

We tagged all the lambs – now there are 16 lambs and exactly half the ewes have lambed. All the ewes with lambs are in the Front paddock.

A long and sizeable branch of the old Lemonwood tree under the dripline of the big oak tore and hung swinging dangerously today in the wind so Karola sent me up on the bucket of the Fergie and we got it down.

Karola carried on with cleaning up felled bamboo. Meanwhile I continued with my Baldrickian plan to drag bamboo over to the bonfire area – I took down a 5m section of fence and put up a couple of metal gates; then I was able to drag a huge pile of bamboo waste across the Triangle and to the bonfire site.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 11°C—20°C; southerly wind; no rain. [?]

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A Hot And Windy Sunday

#408 had ram lamb #612; #218 had twins, one stillborn, one ewe lamb #613. Yesterday’s twins are fine and the quads, with a very good mother, are hanging in there though small and weak by comparison. Karola continues to push the ewes with lambs into the Front paddock where they have oodles of pasture, grass and weeds of all sorts, which should make for a healthy diet.

I repainted the new drive front gates Karaka Leaf (the new name for Karaka Green) – over the top of the metallic dark green which was, in Karola’s words, “THE WRONG GREEN”. Also released the Rangiora on the other side of the new drive entrance and the 2 Rimu, a Titoki, a Karaka, a Totora, and a somewhat dead Spruce. Gave them all blood-and-bone and mulching.

Ducklings all still alive when last seen late afternoon. I think there’s a Mallard duck nesting under the oaks in the periwinkle behind the garage. Saw a rabbit behind the green shed and heard lots of big rustling things as I walked back and forth along the new drive – big rats I assume – poor ducklings.

Karola gave Bicka a groom and shower. Karola alos worked on at clearing the felled bamboo in the Triangle paddock.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 13°C—25°C; southerly wind; no rain. [79.1]

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Twins and Quads

Odd jobs in the morning while Karola went shopping in Hastings. Put electric fence alongside the orchard drive tree planting so that we could let the 5 ewes and lambs into the Front paddock (aka New Grass); also mended the lead to the water trough there. In the evening Karola sent the 5 ewes and lambs through – ewes were delighted.

More bamboo clearing up today – another day should do it.

Still have 6 ducklings though they are a snack for a rat just waiting to happen, especially as the white bantam with 3 ducklings spends the day along the new drive in the thick grass which literally russles with rats as you walk by.

Ewe #215, (lost her big tag) had quad ram lambs (#608-#611) and #219 had ram twins (#606-#607) so suddenly we’ve over doubled the lamb count; they’re all alive and on their feet tonight so fingers crossed that they’ll make it through the night – quads in particular are just too many for a ewe who can only count ‘one’, ‘a few’, ‘lots’.

I turned on the leaky pipe irrigation to the Australian section this evening.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 16°C—23°C; southerly wind; no rain. [79.0]

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#406 Had A Little Ewe Lamb, #604

I completed mulching of the Grisilinea and the Rangiora along southern side of the railings of the new road entrance. It took 3 trailer loads of mulch from the 2/3 truckload left over on the orchard drive Ngaios – 1/2 the last trailer load will go on Titoki and rest of the Rangiora along the new driveway.

Karola and Gerald soldiered on with the clearing of the bamboo pile.

This evening Karola went for a swim at Napier heated baths on the waterfront and we had dinner at the West Shore Fish Restraunt.

Final score is 6 Muscovy ducklings out of 12 eggs: 3 with a brown hen, 2 with a white hen, 1 with a brown hen who is still laying her own egg each day. I gave them all oatmeal and some layers pellets soaked to make them soft – but I’ve no idea if the ducklings ate it – their hen mothers did.

… and 2 more lambs: #406 had our first ewe lamb, #604. #401 had ram lamb #605.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 14°C—26°C; southerly wind; no rain. [79.2]

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Ducklings Plural

5 ducklings now under 3 different hens. Muscovy duck eggs apparently take 35 days to incubate – compared with 21 for chooks and 25 for ordinary ducks. The white broody hen has left the nest with 2 ducklings; I put the rest of her duck eggs under another hen.

No more lambs yet but the 3 lambs beginning to gambol and jump as lambs will, quite delightful.

Karola and Gerald continue clearing bamboo and cutting fronds off the better poles. I continued mulch spreading on the Grisilinea’s – 80% done now and I’ve completely finished the 2 truckloads of mulch dumped nearby – so tomorrow will need to scavenge from other piles but I don’t think we need buy any more right now.

Karola and I did some tree surgery on the Holly and on a conifer near the garage – Karola drove the tractor while I risked all standing in the bucket being hoist up to reach offending branches.

I did a little more hand mowing of the geese enclosure – I think it needs the paddock mower so won’t do any more with Karola’s little mulching mower. Set the possum trap (Timms) baited with peanut butter. I’ve been putting peanut butter in it every couple of days or so for the last fortnight and something keeps eating it. The trap is in the geese enclosure (aka Ram Paddock) so maybe it’s the geese – or rats.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 11°C—23°C; southerly wind; no rain. [79.8]

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Frosty Night, Helicopter’s Delight

Last night there was a frost, which was in sharp contrast to the last few days. Karola got not a wink of sleep because of the windmills and helicopters doing their frost prevention duty all night.

Another couple of ducklings hatched today but the mother hens are sticking fast in their nests.

I got another 20 litres of diesel for the Fergie and 10 litres petrol for the lawn mowers.

Gerald did bamboo clearing by himself; Karola was preparing for the lunchtime visit of Ian and Margaret Hay-Campbell and Jenny Hendery.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 1°C—19°C; cold southerly wind; no rain. [79.8]

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Repositioned Electric Fence For The Summer

No extra lambs. Put tags in the lambs ears, Talked to Kaz in the morning just to get last minute confirmation I’d be doing it right. They do wriggle though, and #603 pulled away before I could let go with the applicator and tore his tag out. He’ll be “the one without a tag” – well lets hope he’s the only one.

Mike Croucher mowed the lawns. After that I re-assembled the electric fence along the lawn-paddock boundary so that it took in under some of the big oak and down behind the bamboo, and a strip along the top of the ha-ha including the Chinese Phatinea, Chiese Hawthorne, and the pigeon’s big palm tree. The grass is growing so quickly that we’ll not be able to keep it grazed down without potentially making the sheep sick – so I’ll have to mow the Middle paddock and New Grass paddock and keep the sheep where they are.

Karola and Gerald continued with their bamboo tidying.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 3°C—15°C; southerly wind in the afternoon; 3mm rain. [79.7]

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Sunny Days For 1st Karamu Lambs of 2006

Monday – another sunny day – 3rd in a row – just wonderful – a rain shower just after dusk. We went to Jenny and Noel Hendery’s place in Napier for a dinner party; Bicka left to look after the Homestead.

Overnight ewe #216 had ram lamb #602. This evening ewe #402 had ram lamb #603. I’ picked up the button ear tags numbered #601 – #630 from Farmlands today and so should get on with putting them on before we lose track.

Karola and Gerald attacked the untidy heap of cut bamboo today, straight bits were defronded, the rest made into bundles and taken over ready for the bonfire of apple stumps next month.

I did another hour or so mowing in the geese enclosure. Bicka came in with me and thought it’d be fun to chase the geese. She ran into the undergrowth after them; seconds later she emerged even faster, pursued by an angry goose – most amusing.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 8°C—23°C; 1mm rain. [79.7]

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First 2006 Lamb Born Today

Karola set up and started watering the 4-metre orchard drive tree area – Ngaios, Lemonwood and Karamus.

I fixed the handle of the little hand mulching mower and the fastener on the old wooden gate under the Lime tree.

Ram #003 and ewe #404 announce the birth of ram lamb #601 – the first of the 2006 season, delivered with personal help from me, it had a big Romney head, it was her first lamb.

I began mowing the geese enclosure – it has responded to my recent mowing with much more grass crowding out some of the weeds.

Karola has been weeding and mowing and clearing – making a big difference around the Homestead.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 8°C—20°C; no rain. [79.6]

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Ewes Given A Grass Treat

Put up the 2nd of the pair of gates at the new road entrance – pleased with the outcome, they seem very level.

Spread mulch on about 1/2 the Grisilinea and used up most of the mulch so may need to get a couple more truck loads next week.

Still no lambs.

Let the ewes into the area round the Canary Island pine with its ring of 8 totara trees in tree guards – the grass is long and the Mallum is luxurious and the ewes and Nelson just loved it.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 2°C—15°C; no rain. [80.3]

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Gated Community

Felicity and Geoff set off after breakfast at about 8:30am. Desert Rd closed due to snow but Napier-Taupo Rd passable with care.

We began spreading the mulch on the Grisilinea in the south-eastern corner despite still being a biting cold breeze. Unfortunately I ran over a mother Muscovy duck (from Scott’s ducks) in the thick weeds with the Fergie; she expired as I picked her up after seeing her flap around. She left a nest of a dozen duck eggs so, at Karola’s suggestion (to be repented at leisure if they hatch) I put a few under each of 3 of the broody bantams, swapping them for the large numbers of bantam eggs they’d been sitting on. All 3 bantams carried on as if nothing untoward had happened.

Karola wants the two old iron farm gates, so carefully scraped down and painted by Gerald, to replace the existing modern green metal gates at the entrance to the new drive; we put up one of them this afternoon.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 5°C—12°C; southerly wind; no rain. [79.1]

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Miserably wet, cold and blowing a gale

Miserably wet, cold and blowing a gale, so no work outside today.

Felicity and Geoff came up for the night from Wellington on way to Auckland on Friday – a “Windy City Strugglers” gig.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 5°C—11°C; southerly gales; 2mm rain. [?]

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Inclement Weather

Inclement weather so stayed indoors most of today. Watered the Grisilinea and set up a couple of windbreaks for the ewes – out of hay bales – to give them shelter from the worst of the wind should they decide to have lambs.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 9°C—13°C; southerly gales; 3mm rain. [79.7]

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Karola did much mowing and weeding

Rained on and off today – Karola did much mowing and weeding; I stuck indoors with the computers.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 10°C—18°C; 11mm rain. [79.6]

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Some Rain – Wet But Not Quenching

Just as I finished watering the new trees it started to rain and it rained intermittently all day.

Gerald did some thistle chopping in the Middle paddock dogleg until the rain started; he then began cleaning and organising the garage.

Two truckloads of mulch arrived for the 55 Grisilinea in the L-shaped area in the south-eastern corner. $120.00.

I ordered 30 yellow button tags for the lambs-to-come. Each tag has a male and female part; the female part has a number in range 601 to 630 and BRACKENBURY. The plan is to tag each lamb as soon after it’s born as possible but to delay putting on the 2nd larger, heavier tag visible at a distance until we’ve chosen the ewe lambs to keep.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 10°C—16°C; 2mm rain. [79.6]

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Far From Gloomy Sunday

Quiet day, more watering and a long walk around the place discussing what’s been done and what needs doing since Karola has been away.

The Yews had 24 hours weeping pipe irrigation, as did the Australian section. The ground was wet down at least 100mm and over 150mm either side.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 9°C—22°C; no rain. [79.1]

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