Rinse Wash Repeat

So much of what we do, working on the land, is repetitive, and cyclical. And so it came that it was again time to take off the weaners at the prickle farm. Not being able to wait another week until the school holidays, but giving us a sleep on on Saturday morning, we trotted off to the prickle farm bright and early one Sunday morning.

The troops were keen…ish. The weather may have been fresh.

Which could explain why we came across this little black kitten trying to complete his morning ablutions in peace, he got a slow start thanks to the cold morning.

Georgie was convinced she was going to be able to catch it, so I let her run with it. I am totally surprised that she was able to get this close to the half grown kitten, but looking at the condition of it as it finally scampered, pickings and water must be pretty slim. And probably explains its odd behaviour.

Some more bonding with animals as we mustered in the cows, waiting for babies to mother up (the rush of calves having The Husband flick back through his book to see what brought so many cows into cycle at the same time).

The baldy cow and her hard to pick calf, is The Husband’s favourite paddock-shifting cow. This old girl, when she sees the gate come open and hears him call out Comeorrrn to the cows, is nearly always the first to come through. She not only comes out of the mob to the gate, she calls and calls and calls her mates and they all start moving. She has a very distinctive call as well, if she’s not close by when he calls them, he can hear her coming. Cows do have distinctive personalities.

Also noted in the photo, is two sneaky calves having a feed off one cow. Clearly only one is hers….not sure which one is actually hers but the biggest one has a rude shock coming to him !

Next the walk down the laneway, kids on foot encouraging them to keep moving and keep the calves heading the right way. They love this part, the chance to lay hands on a cute little quiet baby, with a watchful eye out for any grumpy mama that might object. So far no kid has been snotted. (don’t fret, I also have a watchful eye out, my radar being a bit more highly developed than theirs!)

Boy child relished the chance to drive solo for a while. As you can also see, the grass isn’t green and abundant (that said, its a pretty bare spot normally)

And the followed a never ending afternoon of drafing cows one way and weaners the other. Never seemed to run out of cows, and in fact at around 530 I called it quits, needing to be home at some sort of half decent hour, and then return the next day to finish the job. Rinse wash repeat…just instead with dust and cow poo. SO MUCH DUST.

Pleased to report that there were no poddies to bring home as well. Much dust was brought home, as evidenced on the bathroom floor when child two and three removed jeans – they’d spent the afternoon rolling down the loading ramp and raiding the esky for food.

There was however, a whole lot of steps (16.19kms!)  as recorded with fancy new gadget (called a FitBit). What’s more amazing is that I was standing in one spot for most of the afternoon, with forays into the yard to help pen up every ten minutes or so. (I do not know what it constitutes as an “active minute” but I have to say I felt like I’d been pretty active by the time I got to bed!).

My work out gear is a bit different to most though?!