Time sure does get away from you when you are busy. There is always something going on here that needs doing. Recently though I have been travelling. Leaving the farm to go travelling is not always easy, but this time my OH stayed to keep the home fires burning and take care of everyone. I, on the other hand, was off to the USA to attend the Great Pyrenees Club of America National Specialty Show. That is what they call Pyrenean Mountain Dogs in North America - 'Great Pyrenees'.
I had a great time talking with other breeders and seeing lots of dogs. These trips are always useful as in my opinion if you are really interested in the welfare of a breed and being a 'best practice' breeder, you need to look internationally for information and perspective - not just confine yourself to your own backyard. This can apply as much to sheep and poultry as it does dogs. There is also plenty of good information and ideas internationally which can be applied to our small farming practices. Seeing what other people are doing is how we learn.
Of course travelling can have it's down side too. While coming home reinvigorated and with new thoughts and ideas, there are always jobs waiting when you get home. In my case I came home to the worry of a sick cockerel. We never did quite work out exactly what the cause was, but thankfully now he is back in good health after being isolated from the others and living in a dog crate in our family room for a couple of weeks. I think he enjoyed all the attention.
Anyway, back to the show in the US. The show was held in a big hotel in Pennsylvania at the foot of the Poconos Mountains. The show ring was set up in the ballroom of the hotel and dogs and their owners took over the place for the week, with many dogs staying in the rooms with their owners. I like this about many places overseas - the dogs are made much more welcome in many places. As well as the show itself, there was lots ot buy and silent auctions of all sorts of treasures held every day. My prize purchases included some lovely artwork of Pyreneans doing their job in the fields and a signed first edition copy from 1949 of Madame Harper Trois Fontaine's book 'My Travelling and My Dogs'. A wonderful book from one of the first breeders to introduce the Pyrenean breed into the UK from France with many insights into the breed and individual dogs from the pre and post WWII era, and a very special addition to my collection. You see more pictures and read more about my experiences at the show on my
website.
The June long weekend saw the National Poultry Show being held in Canberra. A once in every four year event, over 5 thousand birds were on exhibition over three days. What a great opportunity it was to meet with breeders, to see quality birds and to go shopping! Lots of free food samples and lots of great things to buy and I did come home with my fair share of new supplies (drinkers, chick feeders, leg rings etc etc).I had arranged for a pair of Bantam Salmon Faverolles from a breeder in Victoria and took delivery of these on the first day. They will hopefully help a lot in my breeding program by improving on a few areas in particular for me. I also arranged to buy a lovely silve quail Belgian d'Uccle pullet who was entered in the show. I love this colour and am so pleased to get some! I have a thing for white animals with 'colour highlights' it seems. There was also an auction held on the final day which was a great opportunity to buy birds, though some of the prices being paid were quite amazing. Some individual birds sold for around $700! I had my eye on a sweet little mille fleur d'Uccle pullet, but her final price of $200 was too rich for me. I did however, come away with a lovely black d'Uccle hen and a silver quail d'Uccle pair so I was happy.
So now I seem to have chooks coming out my ears! I have just sold the last of my 'non-keepers' from last seasons breeding, but still I seem to be needing more pens to house all the breeding pairs and trios. At the moment we have housed them temporarily in dogs runs and pens. All very comfortable, but they need pens of their own (I want my dog runs back!) so we are madly in construction mode at the moment. Things have been made easier too by the gift of some old rabbit cages from a friend. A good clean up and a coat of paint and it has taken on a new life as training/quarantine/broody hen/night cages. By breeding season we should be well set up and ready for the influx of new chicks!
