Me and a dog named Blue

Micha Johansen has inherited a dog who is as crazy as Trevor Mallard with Spotify and a speaker, but a lot less mean.

WELL HECK, I SPENT WEDNESDAY, March 2, glued to my screen, watching, mostly in horror, the live videos of the parliamentary protest. A protest that I supported at the core, as I abhor the mandates inflicted upon people, for making a choice that was ethical to them.

A protest where the supposed leaders of our country inflamed with their goading, (‘not the biggest protest I’ve seen – PM Ardern) and downright callousness and division with labels of ‘feral’ and ‘river of filth’.

Perhaps if we had some maturity in Parliament, and some accountability from our Labour Government, things would not have escalated as they did.

I think what annoys me the most is that, like the Groundswell protests, the anti-mandate protest involved citizens Ardern appears to have utter disdain for. So, rather than engage, she simply dismisses as ‘fringe’, and ignores, even though both protests have covered the length and breadth of New Zealand.

Ardern famously said ‘no one protested when I was elected’, well they sure as heck are protesting now, while she hides in schools and avoids any scrutiny, by choosing which media she will deem worthy of speaking to.

But even though I am a bit of a political tragic, there is certainly much more to life, including a brand new, big red, Northland pound dog named Blue.

I have always been a bit of an animal rescuer, and I always go for the ‘well no one else is going to re-home that one, so I will take it’, and, much to TJ’s dismay, that is what I went with again.

In my defence he was listed as a Kelpie X, then, when I saw him hop out of the delivery car in Hamilton (six hours away and two days before Christmas) my heart sank to my stomach with the realisation that I probably have more kelpie in me than this fella does.

We have come to the conclusion that he is definitely Mastiff, with traces of Lab (there always is), maybe Huntaway, maybe German Shepherd, possibly German Pointer. So we simply refer to him as a Northland Special. He is as crazy as Trevor Mallard with Spotify and a speaker, but a lot less mean.

It has taken some time, as he is around two, but we now get to have him off lead whenever we are outside, and I can call him off of the chickens when he thinks he might like to have a little play.

Amazingly we managed to get through without him killing anything, touch wood. He seems quite happy to destroy anything and everything else he can get access to, with clothes pegs being a particular favourite. The best thing is that he makes me laugh every single day, as he is such an utter clown of a dog. So even if he wasn’t what I wanted, I’m sure as heck glad he is what we got.

Dairy wise we are on the home stretch for the season. Our incalf rate for next season is about 91%. A little low for a naturally mated herd, but still acceptable. We managed to sell 110 of 130 calves, leaving the usual hodgepodge for us to rear through until two, when they either go to the works, into the herd as heifers, or into our freezer.

Once again, to make up herd numbers, we will buy 15-20 in-calf cows as replacements. With all of our mating done by Angus bulls this means we don’t rear any replacements ourselves, except for a few of the beefies that TJ has the embarrassment of slotting into the milking herd.

Grass growth has been good. We had a lean few weeks over summer, but then the big rains hit and off it went again. It’s not Taranaki grass, but we do stay green, so swings and roundabouts really.

And finally, after humming and hawing over whether to get myself a riding horse, the trainer of my 5% racehorse offered me the chance to buy into the half brother of my now, big fella. I leapt at the chance. So I am now the proud 5% owner of another wee legend in the making, making me a very happy camper.