Friday 4 April 2014

an over night surprise.............

These 2 calves joined us on Wednesday.........the grass has started to grow at the other property where most of these have come from.........one mob of cows is improving slowly but the other one seems to be going backwards which is quite normal problem after you start to get some feed...........they will start to go the positive way but the feed needs to grow and get a bit more goodness into it.......
calves are still struggling.........
The one eating at the trough we have nicknamed "one eye" as he has pinkeye in one eye making him blind at the moment...........he should come good......drank well last night but not good this morning.....maybe a few weeks old........so trying to get him onto milk as they still need it but atleast he is eating ok........
This one is "skinny" she's not drinking well at all.......maybe a week old.......had a very hard life..........eyes are ok but a bit weepy so trying to prevent them getting worse with pinkeye..........used the blue spray hence the "blue eye shadow" look...........lol......
The other blind one they brought home in the last week or 2 is still blind.........think maybe he is starting to see some shadows so hopefully he will get some eye sight back...........but he has quietened right down and is drinking well..........
the little black flies we have at the moment are so thick and at the calves eyes all the time............
look at the vibrant green in the background.............
With a bit of rain around the blowflies have been busy breeding too...............yesterday afternoon we had the lambs in to do them for "blowfly strike
We have to treat them with some chemicals to kill the maggots otherwise they will die...........
We only had a couple blown which was great.............
but it was so good to see the lambs fit and strong........this is what they should have been like a few months ago when we weaned them........boy that was a disaster............we lost about a 1/4 of them which is a huge loss which will affect us for years but that's life with a drought........we had feed issues and in hind sight we would have still weaned them when we did as the ewes went better but we would have done a different feed program.....once we realised what was going wrong it was a bit late......basically they needed more protein then what we were giving them...........
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the over night surprise is the storm we got during the night gave us 14mms of rain.........quite heavy at times..........and a chance of a bit more today so that would be nice...........lots of lightning about............
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Also calling Marcelle.........and anyone else interested in starting a blog but not sure how to do it or what to write etc......use the contact form on the right side of my blog and email me..........it comes to me privately so please include your email so i can contact you back...........
it is an amazing spot to be...........and if you make the leap from a lurker to a blogger you won't be sorry........
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ok off to do the thankless job of house work and some bookwork..............
Catch you later
Chookyblue

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Chooky so good to see the green grass in your pic and thankyou for sharing your life on the farm,as us city slickers have no idea of what farm life is like,i find it very interesting,hope you have a wonderful day my friend.xx

Farm Gate Creations Incorporating Hummingbird Quilting said...

That greenery looks lovely...there is always something to contend with on a farm.

Cheryll said...

You sound relieved & so much happier so it's marvellous how some RaIN can improve the outlook of the "country" folk doing it tough most of the time in this drought stricken country of ours! All the best with those cute little calves. :)

Chris said...

Hi there, I hope the little calves improve day by day. I'm just stopping by to say how delightful your blog is. Thanks so much for sharing. I have recently found your blog and am now following you, and will visit often. Please stop by my blog and perhaps you would like to follow me also. Have a wonderful day. Hugs, Chris
http://chelencarter-retiredandlovingit.blogspot.ca/

KERYN B said...

Hope things continue to improve the green grass looks wonderful.

Larissa said...

Woohoo!!! GREAT to see all that green in the background!! ... Sorry to hear about all the troubles the poor lambs are having - hopefully things will clear up soon!!

Susan said...

Poor little babies - but so nice to see green and not dust. My heart is happy for you Chookyblue.

judy said...

hey Donna just thought i would pass on a tip for pinkeye.we glue a denim patch on there eye.keeps the sun off and by the time patch falls off there eye is healed.had great success with this over summer.with cows,bulls and calves.sure hope you keep getting some rain

Jenny M said...

Good to read you got some rain. Hope plenty more comes your way!

suz said...

so wonderful to hear you are finally getting rain. Will keep saying prayers for all your animals and that rain continues to come your way

Raewyn said...

So great to see the green and hear you have had some good rain. Still plenty to do though - hope things continue to improve.

jude's page said...

Good to see the green, isn't it a wonderful sight after the brown of summer, do hope it keeps going for you, and yes it is one thing after the other when you have animals and trying to get the feed right. Keep writing, love to visit.

Willow Grove - Kez said...

Nice to see the green. Damian looks like the dog, ready to pounce on the sheeps backs. The sheep are looking good from here.

Leanne said...

So good to see it is greening up ........ Hope things continue to improve.

Googy Girl said...

love seeing the green, it must look amazing

Googy Girl said...

love seeing the green, it must look amazing