Loving Life On The Ponderosa

It has been a while since I blogged about the animals on the Ponderosa.

Our chickens have been going great guns with eggs, although now the season has become cooler, production has reduced.  We lost a few brown shavers over the season which is normal and we did not hatch any eggs over the summer which means we need to look at purchasing some pullets to bring up our numbers again.  We just have to figure out what breed.  Although the brown shavers are great egg producers, they are not very good eating so a little research is in need.

We did not have the greatest of seasons with our beef particularly after blogging how well our beef have been over previous seasons in FAREWELL TO OUR CALVES - PART 2.   We lost three bull calves at birth, two of which were twins then 6 months later we lost a heifer calf to bloat.  Given we had reduced our heifers from 8 to 5, we were down to only one calf for the season because we were convinced the remaining heifer was not going to calf.  Miraculously prior to Christmas, a bull calf was born.  If I am honest, I was devastated and worried that we had done something terribly wrong and that it would impact into this seasons calving.  Imagine my delight when the first of this season's calves were born and seeing the calf move as I was heading to check that it was alive.  Then being overjoyed to find a second calf had just been born to another heifer within minutes of me checking the first calf.  Two calves on the same day!!  Within three weeks, our third calf was born.  Bullet the bull has been busy!  Although we are still awaiting the results of the final two heifers.  As this season's calves have started, we have since sold the two calves from last season.  The price per head of beef is pretty good!

Our calf that came just before xmas

The sheep are doing fantastic!  After blogging about them in LAMBS ARE OUR NEXT VENTURE, we have acquired two more sheep.  Another ewe named Shawshank and a ram named Rollroaston.  Both of the new additions are wiltshire sheep, which means they self-shed their wool, are resistance to diseases and are prone to having twins or triplets.  The "sheepeez", are nicely pregnant and it's fair to say that I am very nervous about when they lamb.  Firstly, because we've never dealt with lambing before, and secondly because we've never had to deal with sheep having more than one lamb at a time.  Within the next few months, it'll hit us like a tonne of bricks.  We will have anything from two lambs to six lambs or possibly more.  Eeeek!  The plan for these lambs is to put them in the freezer, but you never know what else might come of it.  

The view from the chook run

 We have also acquire two more fox terriers.  Lexi and Sloan (I'm sure those that are into Greys Anatomy will get it).  They are such great companions for my husband while I'm away with study and have just learnt how to catch rabbits, mice and rats.  They are not too keen on the stray cat that comes around yet ... BUT it will only be a matter of time.

Lexi is on the left with her sister

Sloan

 
As a side note, we were offered a couple of kunekune pigs last week.  Under any other circumstance, we would've taken them in a heartbeat.  Unfortunately, we had to say no.  Pigs are on the cards for the Ponderosa, however not just yet.

Happy living peeps!

Farewell To Our Calves - Part 2

Reflecting on my post FAREWELL TO THE CALVES, time really has flown by so quickly.  Since that post, we decreased the number of beef we have,  achieved 5 more additions to the herd, and just recently sold them to our neighbour in preparation to the next lot of additions which we hope will arrive about August this year.

On top of that, we've learnt a lot about feeding the land so that it has enough nutrients to boost the grass production over the entire year.  This isn't a cheap exercise, but if we keep on top of it regularly, I expect the benefits in our beef will outweigh the costs tenfold.

We also gave haylage a try instead of traditional hay bales to help feed the stock.  It apparently has more nutrients than traditional hay because the grass is cut while it is still green.  Looking around neighbouring land, I only saw huge haylage bales which need a large tractor to transport around.  Fortunately for us, an old high school friend of my brother in law who lives down the road, produces smaller bales which can be lifted by hand and transported on a small trailer or a wheel barrow.  A great solution for lifestylers who want the benefits of haylage, but don't have the capacity to buy or need a full on tractor. 

I have to say that having beef on the land is pretty fulfilling and I'm looking forward to seeing how the next 12 months is going to bring.

Happy living peeps!

Farewell To Our Calves

I've been reflecting on our beef over the past few weeks and just how far we have come with them.  Last month we sold our calves - all 7 of them to allow their mothers to "beef up" some more - so to speak, and prepare for the arrival of their new babies.  That's if Bullet the Bull did the bizzo.

I have to say, I've learned so much from these calves and I blogged about it in NEW ADDITIONS - PART 3.  Their wellbeing improved tenfold feeding off their mothers and I can honestly say that when we sold them about 3 weeks ago, they were about 10 months old, and one of them was still getting milk from her mother.

Our neighbour has been keeping an eye on our beef and made some initial enquiries.  He was particularly interested in one of our bull calves which I knicked named "tipi bum bum".  Mid way through May, my husband Gig asked him if he would be interested in buying all the calves and he jumped at the chance.  Within a couple of days, our 2nd addition to our beef whanau were gone.

 

Gig still believes that the balance of our beef versus the size of land/feed we have is not quite right and now our summers are more dryer and our winters less wet, it is taking it's toll on the land/feed.

 

We know for sure that a few of our cows produce some really good size offspring so the plan with the next lot of calves is to review the mothers and look to cull the numbers back.  We currently have 8 cows and 1 bull and realistically I think we should look to have no more than 5 cows and 1 bull.

 

Right now though, the focus is to ensure the new up and coming addtions expected in a couple of months, go well and I'm excited but nervous at the same time.

 

Happy living peeps!

 



Beef Are Bulking

I've been reflecting on past posts about beef -  more importantly my last post about the NEW ADDITIONS - Part 3 and I can't believe how fast time has gone.  Our calves will be 12 months in July and we will look to let them go over the next few months.  Hopefully Bullet has done his job again, which means the 4th additions will arrive around July-August this year and we have to make way for them to arrive.  We simply don't have enough land to sustain them all.

In saying that, all our beef are conditioning well and we get some great feedback from neighbouring farmers about it.  The beef industry is pretty strong at the moment and will continue for some time as the demand for beef keeps rising so the better the conditioning the better the return.

Out of the 7 calves we have this time round, two are bulls which means they should fetch some good dollars as they tend to condition better than the heifers.  The better of the two is Rua (aka tipi bum bum) and our neighbour has his eye on him for future breeding, but we will see how it goes.  We sold our last lot of calves to our neighbour and he had to take them to one of his other properties as they kept wanting to come back home.

Our beef is pretty low maintenance really.  Apart from making sure they have enough feed, water and keeping their health in top order, they pretty much look after themselves.  Although calving period will be a demanding time but it's a challenge we signed up for and I'm excited to see what happens this time round.

Happy living peeps!

New Additions - Part 3

It's been a little while since I posted anything about our beloved new calves and upon reflection on my blog NEW ADDITIONS - PART 2, it sure has been an experience.

There is a lot to learn with calving as there more risk than I thought there would be.  Learnings:

1. All our heifers are fertile (which is good for production). 
2. All our heifers produced good size calves (which is good ... but very bad if you're not prepared).
3. Have a holding area close to the house with all the equipment when the heifer is ready to calf.  Simply pulling the calf to assist won't cut it and it keeps mother and calf safe once its all over.  We lost 2 calves (which is bad .. and sad). Rua was born late at night and fell through the fence into the nearby drain and drowned. Waru was stillborn as she got stuck during birth.
4. 4 out of 6 surviving calves are female (which is good for further production ... and great because males will grow larger).  Now we just need to decide what to do with the 2 males.  Turn them into steers OR keep them as bulls.
5. A heifer that has lost their calf goes through some trauma and still has good milk so there are still some risks.  Decide whether to place another calf with her.  We gained a calf from a local farmer to replace Waru.  We called her Iwa and after covering her with the scent of Waru, mother embraced her as her own - although it was a tough couple of days to begin with.

I managed to capture some early photo's of some of the newborns. All calves were born over a period of 7 weeks.

5 of our 7 calves we have gained.

It has been a few months now adn the calves are growing fast and eating grass and hay.  Now the challenge is to manage the feed for them all over the summer & autumn periods.


All 7 calves, with their mama's

Although this was a whole different experience to calving that I blogged about in  NEW ADDTIONS. The risks were far higher, but in comparison, I still believe that this is the best option. 

I still don't claim to know everything about beef but one thing is for sure - it's great living, loving and learning on the Ponderosa!!

Happy learning people!!

New Additions - Part 2

The first of the next generation of beef has arrived!  Born on a very cold and frosty night/early morning, the calf is healthy, feeding well off mum and integrating into the rest of the herd.

To be honest I thought it would've arrived last week sometime, but the wait was definitely well worth it.

Less than a day old .. trying to get it's balance properly

Integrating well with the rest of the herd and exploring everything and anything! - 5 days old

Never wonders too far from mum and can't understand what this hay and grass is about - just give me MILK!

Reflecting on my past blogs OUR PERSONAL CASH COW and BULLET THE BULL, we know for sure now that Bullet (or Roger as my husband calls him) has done the bizzo. Hopefully within the next week or so, this calf will have a friend to run around with as a couple of our cows are showing good signs that it won't be too long before they become mothers.

Today marks 5 days since the calf was born and we have done nothing but simply monitor the calf to see if it hasn't wandered too far away from mum, or that mum has rejected the calf for some reason.  That means no early morning  wake ups or multiple feeds which is definitely much easier than our past experience with calving.

Happy living people!

Our Personal Cash Cow

Reflecting on my past posts regarding our wonderful beef, I can't help but realise just how fast time has past me by which is a constant reminder to me that I haven't been enjoying the lifestye the Ponderosa has to offer as much as I would like at present.

Bullet is still with us, and we hope he has done the business properly, however we had to get rid of our wonderful calves.  Not because we wanted too, but because the Ponderosa wasn't big enough to sustain 14 beef without bringing in more feed to help out.

We (or should I say my husband) has worked hard to ensure the paddocks used for grazing has been as organic as we can keep them, and as a result our beef were growing extremely fast.  An awesome result, if you want to get a return on your investment but it was sad that we couldn't keep them longer.

Don't get me wrong.  The original plan for the calves was to get the experience of calving, see how much work was involved, how it fitted into our lifestyle, how cost effective it was with an end result of selling them or putting them in the freezer when they were at least 2 years old.

The Calves - Approximately 2 months old

The exercise was well worth it and although I didn't personally enjoy the early morning feeds, there was a sense of accomplishment at the different stages of their growth.  They didn't quite make it to 2 years but the return we recieved exceeded our expectations.

The challenge for us now is to get that balance of beef right for the Ponderosa.  We hope Bullet has done the business which means all 8 of our cows are in calf, due by July at the earliest.  The next exercise is to see if calving with mothers is much easier than without.  I have a feeling that it will and I'm excited to experience the first calf being born.

Happy living people.

Bullet The Bull

Just when we thought we had enough beef on the Ponderosa .. we have another one, but only on a temporary basis.  His name is Bullet the bull and he makes 14.

He arrived late on a Sunday night from our family farm in Te Hoe o Tainui .  Dad put him straight in with the sheilas so I didn't have an opportunity to have a good look at him or to stand and watch how he settled in for the night ... I had to wait until the morning.

So, when I walked to the edge of the paddock the next morning, he appeared on the far side. As he started walking towards me, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself as I stood and watched him figure out he was full of a paddock of strange females.

I thought he would be quite happy :-) as he sniffed around, but as he got closer and closer it was clear to me he had had a pretty rough night.  In fact, he looked like he was dumped in the mud and left there to sleep.  Poor thing.  I'm not quite sure what had happened that night, as dad assured me that he wasn't covered in mud when he loaded Bullet onto the trailer.

Bullet the bull - the morning after!!

The sheilas need to get used to Bullet, because his only purpose is to sow his seeds.  Our plan is to multiply our beef, then at some stage sell some older cows, put some in the freezer, keep what's left, then as time goes by ... start all over again.   Well, that's the plan anyway.  I don't claim to be an expert on beef, in fact, I don't even know if it's going to work, but I am excited at the prospect of what's to come with our beef.

Our beef .. in total harmony .. NOW

Happy living people!!

New Additions

Meet the new additions to the family.  Calves ... yay!!!  Although we have plans for our 8 sheilas, my husband decided to add to the collection of beef ... all 5 of them.  

The idea with these 5 is not just about understanding what's required to farm calves, but to sell them as yearlings or older.

It's been an experience of feeding them twice a day with milk until they were slowly weened off to grass (although my husband did most of it).   

A very strange feeling of them sucking on your hands thinking it was the feeding time.

It was even funny weening them out of the shed to a paddock with electric fences.  Fair to say they were not happy at first, but with time they got very used to it.

They are now in the same paddock as the sheilas, but that has even taken time for all of them to get used to them.

Aaaahhhh, it's great looking out at the land to see them all getting bigger by the day.

This is Daisie enjoying the shelter

This is Mischief because she's always the first to explore.

From left to right - Herbie, Dopie, Biggie, Mischief and Daisie

Life on the ponderosa sure is great!!

Have a great night people.

Winter Has Come & Nearly Gone

Representative netball takes up my winter months which means four days a weeks from June through to August is taken up by either planning, managing, mentoring, organising, supporting, fixing, meeting, travelling, and everything in between for the Eastern Waikato Netball Centre.  Two of the four days is generally Saturday and Sunday which means I haven't spent alot of my weekends at home living the life of the Ponderosa.  I don't complain though, because netball provides me with an opportunity to help the community, particularly youth through the sport and work with some of the most amazing and caring people I have met.

In saying this, there has been much achieved over the winter months and with the fresh frosty mornings we experienced earlier in the season provided me a good opportunity to pot some tulips and plant daffodils on one side of the driveway.  

The tulips are just starting to show and the colour is absolutely spectacular.  Next season I hope to pot more tulips so that we can enjoy these elegant flowers throughout the entire spring months.

I managed to bake another birthday cake for my dear friend Dora.  This one being for her daughter Jaydes 18th birthday.  She is such a free spirit with a caring and loving nature and I was more than happy to oblige for her.  I experimented with the frosting to get the textured look and although the photo doesn't give the cake justice, it was eye catching.

The Sheilas aka One Direction, are having a ball frolicking in the paddocks and showing off to the neighbours cattle with all their feed.  Although it hasn't been all roses for them as the continuous rain we experienced later in the season meant the land became ALOT soggier than we would have liked.

On top of this they received a small surprise in winter.  Three more additions arrived to join the herd and although one has migrated well, the younger two are still finding their way.

All eight of them are growing well and I have found myself standing at the home gate gazing out into the paddock admiring just how beautiful they are.  

Oh yes, my husband named the new additions - roast, sirloin and scotchie.

The Sheilas ... one missing from the photo

The winter months hasn't seen alot of egg action from "the gals" aka chooks and on a sad note, we lost one of the gals.  Precious (the black one) wondered into one of the paddocks one day and it took us a week to find her.  We haven't quite figured out exactly what happened to her, but the local hawke found her quite appetising and once we found her there wasn't much left at all.  

At first we thought a stoat had gotten her and was very worried it would come back to clean up the rest, however that's not the case.  We also wondered whether the local magpies got to her as well.  We have between 4-6 magpies that hang around in the pine tress along the road and I've witnessed them chasing or attacking other birds around the property.  

I suppose we will never know, and although we are down to 8 chooks now and as the end of the season is winding up and the weather is getting warmer, they are starting to produce more eggs daily which is great.

The gals enjoying left over chocolate cake :-)

This is only some of the happenings on the Ponderosa during the winter months with alot more still to come.

Bosco vs The Sheilas - Round One

Living the good life is really starting to ramp up in terms of stocking the land with sustainable products for a healthier life.  It's nearly two weeks since the new additions arrived to the Ponderosa - 5 beautiful Hereford cows.  The idea is to raise them until they are at least 2 years old, sell some to make money and eat some to save money and "The Sheilas" have settled in quite well ... NOW.  

I say now because they arrived all squashed up on the back of my brothers tandem trailer after a 5 hour drive from Maropiu to Hamilton.  Yes, they arrived Clampett styles :-) towed behind Dad's Prado in the dark at 9 pm.  I could only imagine how traumatic that experience would have been for them, especially after my husband told me they had just come off their mothers.  Poor babies.  My husband placed them in the stock yards over night with some hay to try and settle them during the night, with the plan to move them into the paddock in the morning.

I awoke the next morning to the sound of "the sheilas" mooing and I remember thinking to myself how therapeutic it was, although looking back now I doubt that was the emotion they were trying to achieve.

I wasn't there to experience them being moved as Ness and I went off to take care of another job I do in the winter time - netball.  Whilst we were finishing up for the morning, Ness received a text from her husband Bung who I can only imagine was excited by the fresh air and experience of being on some land.  The text read "Better buy a nice bottle of wine on the way home".  Giggling to herself Ness told me "something must have happened" and read the text out to me.  I wandered off engrossed in finishing my netball jobs for the day when Ness popped up and said "oh no ... Bosco (their Boxer puppy which is the size of a small cow), was so excited he chased "the sheilas" and made two of them bolt through the electric fence.  The boys (our husbands) had to round them up from the neighbours property and put them back into the paddock".  I commented that my husband must've been livid.

To be honest, I didn't quite register the significance of what had happened until we got home and the boys explained it to us.  They had to repair the neighbours fence from the damage it had caused.  Fair to say my husband was not very happy, but he got over it pretty quickly and poor old Bosco was securely tied up on the verandah wondering what was happening, especially since our two dogs - PAL and JOSEPH were casually roaming the land.  Little did Bosco know, their introduction to cows was a little more traumatic, each happening on separate occasions many years ago.  Its kind of like an initiation to farming life when our dogs wonder the land and think "oooo whats that big friendly looking beast?  I'll wander over there and show my authority" ... only to be kicked profusely by a mother protecting their babies.  Fair to say our dogs do not enter the paddocks when we visit the Maropiu farm anymore and stay well away from any cow .. NO EXCEPTIONS!!

I wandered over to the paddock fence to see if the sheilas were okay and watched them roaming on the perimeter of the paddock.  Day two, and still traumatised by their move to the Ponderosa.  Poor things.  

Later that day we joked about the events of the morning and I have a vivid image of the boys wondering excitedly over to the stock yards, forgetting that Bosco was even more excited trying to enjoy the fresh air and 9 acres to run around in. (I think he takes after his owner Bung)  5 cows (animals Bosco had never experienced) was something new to play with ... in fact he was that excited, the electric fence couldn't hold him back either - but like I said, he is the size of a small cow :-)  I'm not sure which animal I felt more sorry for - The Sheila's or Bosco?

It took 4 days for the sheilas to settle in and feel safe to wander close to the fence for us to talk to them.  The girls have named them after the One Direction group ... which to be honest is fitting considering the cows look more masculine than the boys in the singing group.  Niall, Zayn, Liam, Harry and Louis

They seem extremely fascinated with "the gals" or chooks and most mornings I awake to see them all grazing in the paddock together.     Aaaaah, this is the life alright.  

We are so pleased with The Sheila's that I've asked my dad to bring two more from the farm in Maropiu to join them this weekend.  That should be interesting to see how they integrate with The Sheilas ... plus Bosco is due to come back down this weekend too so we'll have to be extra careful so that we don't have the same episode we had a few weeks back ... although that would be funny :-)

The Sheilas - Believe it or not, they have just come off their mothers

Bosco ... in his fierce hunting environment of the North Shore in Auckland

Have a great evening people.