For those who may be interested in some of the things around my place or just up to their waist in snow and looking for a door into summer.
If there is any interest expressed I will post more.
David
Looks like a Bignonia to me . B.capensis? Cape Honeysuckle?
Love your photos, David. My faves are the Pied Butcherbird and the lovely Jersey cow looking seductively over her shoulder. More please!
Tecoma capensis
More, please. Especially Jerseys!
Eccremocarpus scaber OR Campsis x tagliabuana ?Madame Galen? Somewhere in the bigniona family???
I just got done shoveling, plowing 6 inches of heavy wet snow. High Tomorrow is 13 degrees Fahrenheit. I think I will make some fudge.
Amos go it: Tecoma capensis, which is of the bignonias so you and Trish get half a point.
Well now you have outed yourself, so much for all that "I am hermit" stuff
So how about a winter page?
David
Dry by the look of her. When is she due?
And that head (shape, eye, colour) on the chook looks very Australorp like but I can now see those red feathers and they aren't Australorp like. She look like she'll do the job though.
It is a goal in life, so far I am a failure at becoming a hermit. Currently single no kids that shows some success. I still love the country life.
Will work on it... Dream wrecker :) Summer dreams... Cool. Winter Dreams???
Great pictures. They reminds me of something my son said. He was playing with some cards in our garden and just mixed some words and saids green cards. You know, 'green cards'
'David Hare-Scott[_2_ Wrote:
nice idea. something white and snowy I would like to see.
Yes she is dry. That is the problem, she isn't due, she is just fat! We have no practical way to put her on a diet nor put a suitable bull over her. All our agisters (who thought we were wonderful during drought) have abandoned us. Anybody with a 1/4 acre of dirt can feed a horse right now. So where we would like to have 10 horses (and could feed 16 for the summer) we have 3 horses and a cow. So they are all fat.
I will try to get some shots of all 4 girls for the knowledgable to critique.
David
I was wondering the same thing about Mootilda, but afraid to ask. Why a bull, when eighty bucks and a vet up to their armpit could do the same job :) The grass height is amazing, she must be in heaven! Smaller pens and rotate the pens could trim her a bit. But I thought a fat cow would be desirable? But then again my fence cost well over a thousand bucks, all on a credit card :)
I was planning to rotate the cow every few years, milk to beef. Keep the calf pregnant and hope every other offspring is male. Younger the cow the healthier the milk and tastier beef. Is this a bad idea? I am new to this game?
Ok, you asked, winter pictures:
Two problems, you need a yard and crush, and to get the local AI person to come and do one cow for a bunch of newbies. Yes a neighbour would "lend" me a bull (put Mootilda in with his cows for a few weeks) but they are beef breeds that are too big for her. So I am stuck at the moment.
It may not be apparent but the paddock is divided into 5 strips of about 2 acres, we normally rotate them every few weeks. I cannot afford the time or the wire to make them smaller, what I need is more stock. With my soil in this season one strip grows more than the 4 of them can eat.
Ask Fran I am just as much a newbie about cattle.
get very frustrated.
David
For many the winters are frustrating, the cold weather sucks the air you breath. Doing anything outside in very cold weather is much harder on the body, Breathing is more labored. There are winter things that one can do outside, skiing, skating, hockey and ice fishing. Indoor entertainment is the choice for many. For me it is the time for reading and learning new things. I think I am going to get a new book on the family cow.
Ever wonder why more kids are born in October/November than another months?
There is a theory that people born in the cold north are smarter than those in the south. Those in the north must be smart in order to survive. Those in the south food is plentiful in the south 24/7 and the need for shelter is not as great. The north must learn agricultural methods and food preserving. Inventing the fireplace, brick laying, steel making... Tools to survive the coldness.... Just a theory :)
Shields Up!
Ah bugger! A.I. isnt' all it's cracked up to be either. And you don't want a fat girl giving birth either.
Yup. You should see our grass! The girls are disappearring.
I'd like to see them, but as you said, all you need is laying fowl which will do the job.
No. Dairy cows such as Mootilda are generally quite thin when in milk and they tend to stay that way unless they are dry and on good feed like David has. Any cow is far better off when calving to be thin rather than fat.
Fat cows can often have problems with the birth. (Just like humans but don't tell any fat pregnant woman that I said that or I'll get lynched. ) I've spent way to much time assisting in pulling calves out of cows to recommend any fat cows to anyone.
And the other thing is that fat cows will often then have problems as a result of the birth such as post deliver paralysis. Believe me you don't want to deal with a cow on the ground and needing to be turned over at least
4 times a day and then having to try to feed new calf. Keep 'em slim leading up to the birth. But I have to say that I like the look of plump cows, just not fat cows in calf.But then again my fence cost well over a thousand bucks, all
2 days or coping with it.
Now I understand. Here I am living in country for twelve years now. Going straight from city life to the country life. I did not know word "agister". Not in a basic dictionary, but was in Wikipedia. When I learn something new, I feel good about myself. I see the problem.
At first I thought it would be great to have a fat cow. I was thinking in terms of beef. But from a birthing point of view, I can see the problem. Lots more to learn. I also found there are vast resources on the web for taking care of cattle. Web seems better than books .
It is interesting how one seemingly innocent photo can change a subject.
Even with beef they can be too fat as you don't want really fatty meat once it's dressed.
These sites might be of interest to you:
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