Cell grazing

Our next-door-neighbor's dad came over for a drink the other night. He told me all about cell grazing. And we are going to try and adapt it to our property. Although we only have 1.5 acres, we also have the use of Gilbert's land next door, which is probably another acre. And we could also probably use some of Harry's 100 acre block across the road.

From what I can gather the key principle is constant rotation of stock through small paddocks.
It's based on the idea that livestock will eat the best pasture first. And they will eat it right back- this destroys hummus in the soil.

By keeping the livestock on the move, their impact on the environment is reduced because they graze more evenly across all paddocks.

It also reduces parasites because the host is removed before parasites have a chance to hatch- oh, and the other thing is you don't just go from one paddock to the next. You must move several paddocks away- to reduce the possibility of parasites finding the host.

In big properties the cells are set out like a wagon wheel, with the water supply in the middle.

The livestock are moved ever day.

Here we will only have three paddocks and I will move them weekly.

And now to the vegetable patch, we have around 60 pumpkins. The children have made a little stall in the cream shed selling our 'sun-cured chemical free' pumpkins for $2 each! So far we have made six dollars.

Chook update

The chook survived the dog attack and she has started laying again.

The dynamics in the chook shed has really changed since we lost two of the girls. The two chooks killed in the dog attack were the new ones that arrived with the rooster. Now that they have passed (as John Edwards would say) the other chooks have accepted the rooster.

The rooster hasn't started to crow yet.

The cows are doing well. Now that we have two, does that mean we have cattle?

As for the vegie patch- it is a little neglected. I picked the last cucumber last week and apart from that, the only thing coming out of there at the moment is marigolds.

I made some yogurt last night, but haven't baked a loaf of bread for weeks. I have been pretty busy with my job and business. I am also doing some post-grad study- I so wish I had not thrown myself into that- thank god for my house-dad.

Dogs Kill Chooks

On Sunday we got home late, after sunset. The chooks had not been locked up. Two dogs came onto our property and killed two of the m.

A third chook has been seriously injured. She has spent the past few days just sitting in the chook shed. Yesterday she ventured out, but is just sitting down next to out water tank. The rooster is cuddling up to her - poor thing.

The two dogs traveled from the valley next to us, about 7kms.

The children were pretty upset about it- but at the same time they are learning valuable lessons about the life cycle.

Bill felt very guilty that he had not locked them up for the night- it was the very first time we had left the chook shed open after dark.

Mayhem in the chookshed

The old chooks don't like the new chooks; the rooster is terrified and one of the new chooks is dead.

I didn't really understand, fully, what 'the pecking order' meant - but now I am witnessing it in my own chook shed. Since bringing home three new chooks and a rooster our old chooks have been very mean and are actually pecking the new chooks.

Hopefully it will sort itself out soon.

THE ROOSTER

I bought three new chooks today and a rooster. I was planning on not mentioning to Bill that I had got a rooster, because he doesn't want one. But he noticed. He said, "Did you buy a rooster?"
So, I confessed. He seemed okay about it.
The chooks are kind of mongrels. I'm not sure what the breeds are.
The vegie patch is full of weeds. I have fallen behind because I have been so busy with work. I got in a did a fair bit of weed-pulling this afternoon. I need to get in and recover areas with cardboard and really get a propogation area happening.I am looking forward to winter so I can have a bit of a break from it. I put more potatoes in today.
Rosie is doing really well.

DUNG BEATLE vs Buffalo Fly

Rosie is settling and feeding well. Brandy alternates between being motherly and jealous. Yesterday when I took a bucket of milk out for Rosie and forgot to bring some pellets for Brandy she head-butted Rosie and then overturned her bucket (what a bitch).

I woke up this morning before sunrise and as soon as Brandy saw the light go on she began her moo-song. They were both waiting at the gate to be fed.

I ran into a friend, Tara, yesterday who had just been to a workshop on dung beatles. She told me they prevent buffalo fly. I mentioned this too my husband and he said- yes we have dung beatles, I see them in the poos the children do on the lawn :)- I will never reprimand them for not usung the potty again!

Tara said the idea is to increase dung beatle populations by importing them- they turn the manure to compost quikly and the buffalo fly has nowhere to lay eggs. You can order them and just put them on poo in your paddock. I think I will give it a go.

BUFFALO FLY- natural recipe

Brandy has been suffering from a buffalo fly infestation since her last holiday with the beef-cattle up the road. Her eyes were crusty and bloody. I had to use antibiotics from the vet.

For the treatment of the actual fly I ordered some organic stuff off the web. It was essentially a canola oil base with essential oils mixed in, but did not list which oils on the bottle. It was expensive at $29 per litre, plus another nine postage. One application is around 500mls. I have found I need to reapply it about every 4-7 days. So, I decided to have a crack at making my own.

We had a dinner party a few nights later and passed the bottle of organic buffalo fly stuff around the table. I got everyone to have a sniff and write down what they thought was in it- one of our guests was a winemaker- so he was very helpful.

Here is the list we came up with: eucyliptus, pine, orange, lavender and lemon myrtle.

So, I made my own concoction and added some neem oil for good measure. It works just as well as the bought stuff for just a fraction of the price. Essentially, it is a deodorant and can be used on backscratchers or just sprayed directly on- this is how I do it.

If it rains it needs to be reapplied. Otherwise just use when you notice more than 100 buffalo flies on your cow.