move em out rawhide

As you will remember, we've had some orphaned calves since before Christmas (poddies we call them, literally. "POOOOODDDIIEEEE" we call out to them at feed time, and they come scampering). That's nearly six long months of calves scampering and pooping and eating my garden. Normally I lock them out of the garden, but as you also might recall, it forgot to rain here over the wet season. They've been getting a little hungry and I have had the place looking like Fort Knox, with blocks up preventing them from eating bits of garden I prefer them not to, and shed doors chained shut. They've had a bale of hay to eat, and pellets and copra morning and night, but like growing kids....always hungry and looking for something yummy.

(Tealeaf, who turned out to have a ruptured navel, liked to eat his hay close up...getting down to the bottom end of the big bale of Flinders Grass hay I had given them)

The time had come (and the garden pretty much trashed), and yesterday they got loaded onto the horsefloat (oh, were it so easy as that in reality!) and shipped off to granma's place. There they'll join her two poddies, and frolic off down the paddock where there's more grass, some molasses and treats in the mornings (more pellets).

Rudolph, the bigger red calf, really LOVED the pellets, and also loved a good scratch. Dasher, the smaller one, also love pellets too, but not so much the scratching.

And Tealeaf, well normally there is nothing better than he liked than a scratch on the bum, but obviously all camera shy this day. Stinker.

Now they're gone off to slighter green pastures, I can start to repair the damage they've wrought on the yard - and not step in fresh cow poop every day. And the left over dregs of the hay will go onto the garden as mulch. They had given most shrubs a pretty good prune (amazing what they thought edible!) so I just need to go around and give a tidy prune and mulch.

Now I just have to deal with the chooks that come along behind me and fluff in every garden bed....