It is the morning cow move. I had drained the water lines the night before. The hose to the tank is free of ice. With a bit of wiggling the brass connector operates. Water is coming down from the yards, a route through 500m of hose. It takes a while to get all the airContinue reading "Heathcliff, it’s me, Floppy"

Cold mornings here on the farm. Some discussions about the CAP moving towards a uniform payment per hectare. Now that would suit me just fine. Australia’s pasture cropping system is something I’d like to try, but a direct drill is way expensive. Bruce King has bald eagles watching his sheep in Washington State. Irish FarmeretteContinue reading "Farm Links from around the Grasspunkosphere"

When the sun is low in the sky it shows up the gentle lines where the vines used to be. The central section was worked about five years back, the two paddocks at the sides a couple of years ago. You can also see the remainder of a couple of bales of hay rolled outContinue reading "The ghosts of vines"

For a few days back there the internet and phone were cut off, so we were reduced to reading email on Jean’s cellphone while standing in a field. After a couple of visits the Orange techies hooked up their fancy meter to the end of a line and found that the fault was about 150mContinue reading "The internet was off"

The herd was in Sleepy Hollow last week. The fertility there is high enough to be a paradise for worms - wormvana. Even though it is still the middle of winter, the worms are out doing their thing. In the poorer, moss-ridden parts of the paddock the worms are fighting the good fight, improving theContinue reading "Wormvana is living up to its name"

Old school American-style filter coffee with a large chunk of French butter whipped in. Drink this early, then come in after the morning cow work for a late breakfast. One year we might turn one of the herd into a house cow and make the butter at home.

This is a photo from Christmas Day showing the collection of my presents. The Rubik’s cube is Otto’s but somehow it ended up by me. So there are a whole pile of whiteboard markers and another pile of pens. I get the feeling that I must have complained too much. Darn kids, always stealing myContinue reading "Now why did I get that for Christmas?"

We’ve had a lot of rain recently. The rain meter at the house measured 179mm for January, which isn’t bad when the annual rainfall is supposed to be 780mm and has been lower the last couple of years. This is the Club Med lake in Sleepy Hollow after the cows have been through. You canContinue reading "A wet and sunny winter"

Jean was taking a photo of this afternoon’s cow move, but somehow a barn cat snuck into the shot. Lucerne is growing on the left, ryegrass on the right and regular old permanent pasture in the distance.