Little d'Uccle

Here is our little d'Uccle chick, now 5 1/2 weeks old.  He looks to be a cockerel and the colour looks like it will be silver millefleur!  He is very pretty and perky.  Quite a character. Yes, he will be staying here at Burrow Downs for a while so we can see how he develops. If he turns out as nice as I think he may I may have to see if I can get him a couple of nice girls!

Support your local show

On of those great institutions which so reflect Australian country life is the local agricultrural show. Growing up in Queensland I have vivid memories of my Grandfather working on the fruit displays at the 'aggie' shows, including at the Ekka in Brisbane. All the fruit and vegetable growing associations in those days would build these marvellous themed displays, building pictures with their fruit and vegetables. I also remember my mother entering in the cooking competitions with her wonderful cakes.

As a teenager I rode and showed horses at shows, and enjoyed the fun with friends and competition at the small agrigultrual shows and the excitement of the big events - the 'Royal' shows (which are big agricultural shows held in the cities which 'bring the country to the city').

Now I show dogs so I still get to go along to a lot of aggie shows, run in towns all over the state. Something I thoroughly enjoy.  There is nothing like the fun and festivity of a local show and I still feel the excitement going to the big 'Royals'.

While horse and dog events often predominate, there are often lots of other things to see and do and to take part in. Of course there are the sideshow alley rides, fairy floss and dagwood dogs, but also the vegetable and baking competitions, art competitions, crafts and other animal competitions and displays. Everyone in the family can have a go at competing in something.

It would be a shame to see these wonderful events die. Already they are changing and many small shows struggle.  During the Equine Influenza outbreak where for several years horse could not travel or be shown, many small shows suffered a lot, and some will take many more years to recover. 

I like to do my part by entering and supporting them and we always have a good time.  I would encourage everyone to have a go. Seek out some local shows near you, find out what events they are having, and put in an entry or two. Keep the country crafts and traditions alive. At the very least go along. I am positive you will have a great day out. See http://www.agshowsnsw.org.au/ for information on agricultural shows in NSW. Google for info in other states.

Eating what we grow

One of the things I really enjoy is being able to eat the things we grow.  When it comes to vegetables, there is nothing better than eating what you have picked that day.  This year the vegetable garden has been a challenge as we have had unusually cool weather all summer.  Things haven't grown quite the way they usually do.  We have still managed to feed ourselves reasonably well from our own garden, but I am finding we have not so much surplus this year.  This mornings haul from the garden doesn't look too bad though so I decided to take a picture for you. We have scarlet runner beans, roma tomatoes, zucchini, button squash, carrots, capsicums and parsnips. Strangely enough this year has actually been the first year I have been really successful with capsicums.

Lambs growing up

The lambs have now all been weaned.  They are growing fast and with the abundant feed we have at the moment are doing well.  I am pleased too that the ewes didn't lose condition at all this year despite leaving the lambs on them until 5 months of age. We are supplementing the lambs with some sheep pellets each day, mainly so they get used to us after being out in the big paddock with their dams.  I like the sheep to be able to come when called for a bucket.  Makes them so much easier to put in the yards when we need to if they will go in willingly themselves. They are shedding their first coats now too, though they don't always lose it all the first year. Photo is of the Wiltipoll lambs today. A big change from the tiny babies they were when they were born in September!

Natural Rodent Control

Build a house anywhere and before too long the mice move in. On a farm there are lots of tasty things for mice to eat and mice can quickly build to plague proportions if you are not careful.  I wont use baits to kill mice. There is too much danger of some other animal getting in to them around here.  So we need to use other means to keep them at manageable levels. I say manageable as there is no way we will ever get rid of them. And I don't mind mice really.  As long as they dont eat and poo on everything in sight!

We need to keep mice out of all the animal feed which is an easy and tasty target for hungry mice, so the golden rule here is that feed is always secured in mouse proof containers. Food for chickens and sheep etc is put straight from the bags into the drums when we get it home.  And we try to minimise any spillage when handling feed.  The food in the chicken pens can be an issue as the chickens do love to spread it around.  For this reason our pens have a mousemesh floor to prevent burrowing.  We learnt that early on when the gravel floors of the first pen we built became pitted with burrows and tunnels. We had wire down to prevent predators, but it wasn't small enough to keep the rodents out too.

Our biggest help though for keeping the rodent population under control is our cats. Through the ages cats have helped man keep mice and rat populations at bay and they do just as good a job today. While our cats spend most of their days and nights in comfort sleeping peacefully in the house and are definitely well fed (though they will tell anyone who will listen otherwise), they do a great job in the evenings as mousecatchers and definitely earn their keep. There wouldnt be a week when they don't dispatch a mouse or two. And they do like to show us their successes!