Focus on the small stuff

APRIL 1 MARKED THE BEGINNING of our fifth year onfarm, and I am finally beginning to settle in. All of the large expensive jobs have been completed, so there should be much reduced financial panicking by me, and TJ might even get an increase in his monthly allowance.

With the large jobs now done we can start to focus on getting the million smaller, tidy up and development tasks underway. Getting the shed up to standard and getting back into riparian and shelter planting are probably the two key tasks to start off with. Of course by we, I come up with the jobs and TJ gets nagged into doing them. I’m thinking I need to change my technique, as after 14 years TJ seems to have built up some sort of immunity to my method.

The biggest job of winter will be the cowshed pit. A permanent puddle exists where the old pit meets an extension. We need to empty this puddle, and then dry it out, so we can put down a fresh, smoother layer of concrete. This has already caused arguments, as I question the smoothness of the concrete in regards to slipperiness versus easy cleanability. Obviously there are thousands of dairy sheds around the county, so clearly it can’t be that hard.

Our first two years of riparian plantings are starting to show some dividends, with toi toi and cabbage trees establishing best, along with Kowhai and Totara in other areas. A local Mangatainoka plant centre recently closed down, so I have quite a selection of trees and grasses patiently waiting for the cooler, wetter weather to arrive before being planted out.

As of May 13, a riparian plant centre is opening here in Eketahuna and then there is Akura Plant Nursery in Masterton so we are getting to be pretty spoiled for choice in regards to plant availability. Not to forget the contribution of Horizons, the regional council, if one gets their request in, in a timely fashion.

We dried our herd off on May 6, which is the latest day by about four weeks that we have dried off since we have been here. This has led to us having done our highest productivity, which helps out with the balance sheet, and puts us in a comfortable position heading into winter, with bills for winter grazing, and replacement cows, about to be heading our way.

Having used Angus bulls across our herd for the last two years, we now need to buy some replacement cows, before heading into the 2021- 22 season. We have seven dairy cross Angus in-calf heifers, who weren’t suitable to sell as beef weaners, so they will be merging into the herd, leaving us a shortfall of about 14.

A phone call to the local stock agent with our requirements resulted in a trip over to Feilding to inspect a group of 18 sale cows, of mostly Jersey breeding, which suit our land best, having a lighter hoof print, and a bit more stability on the hills. I didn’t get to see them, as we couldn’t all fit on the farmers side-by-side bike, but TJ says they’re nice small cows, and he’s a good judge, not to mention far more experienced than I.

These days, any trip anywhere, means I get to indulge in my latest hobby, cemeteries. My obsession began when I discovered that a great aunt’s ashes had been left at the funeral home since 1994 (she is now on our bookshelf, until I get a chance to spread her with her sisters). So with a full account on Ancestry.com, and sites such as FindAGrave, and BillionGraves, I not only hunt down and photograph my own ancestors’ headstones, I also fulfil any requests for that cemetery that other people may have. If you have a hankering for history and cemeteries I have created a Facebook page ‘Headstone Hunter NZ’, so by all means check it out.