Monday, August 9, 2010
More horse pics
For some reason the back end pics of Benhorse are all in the wrong places... can't figure out why so here is a special sequence of bum shots!
Benhorse update
He's been here 4 weeks now, here's a new lot of photos:
Definite big improvements since day 1!! I did his teeth on Friday, they were fairly awful especially on the offside and I think I'll do them again in 6 months as I couldn't get rid of as many problems in there as I wanted to. He was just like Oscar too - sucked up the drugs big time. At least Choc is a cheap drunk. It was a bit of a makeover day for Benhorse on Friday - teeth, tetanus shot, feet trimmed, and sheath cleaned (it was very YUCK).
Georgia had her first sleepover at a kennel on Saturday night, which she LOVED. I was up north working and Ben was working too so she went to K9 Heaven - Country Club for dogs. Talk about spoilt... she fitted in really well apparently, just as well, as she's off there this Saturday too as I'm away working up north again.
The goats headed off on Friday to their new home, Rosie and Caramel loaded onto the trailer fine but Basil was a bit thick about it and needed some encouragement. Rosie and Caramel just saw the hay there and got stuck into that.
Still very soggy here right now - we are all a bit over the rain! The driveway is a mess and paddocks are fairly wet too. Oscar will be ridden this week for the first time this season so hopefully that goes ok. He had his feet done on Friday too so is all good to go now :-)
Definite big improvements since day 1!! I did his teeth on Friday, they were fairly awful especially on the offside and I think I'll do them again in 6 months as I couldn't get rid of as many problems in there as I wanted to. He was just like Oscar too - sucked up the drugs big time. At least Choc is a cheap drunk. It was a bit of a makeover day for Benhorse on Friday - teeth, tetanus shot, feet trimmed, and sheath cleaned (it was very YUCK).
Georgia had her first sleepover at a kennel on Saturday night, which she LOVED. I was up north working and Ben was working too so she went to K9 Heaven - Country Club for dogs. Talk about spoilt... she fitted in really well apparently, just as well, as she's off there this Saturday too as I'm away working up north again.
The goats headed off on Friday to their new home, Rosie and Caramel loaded onto the trailer fine but Basil was a bit thick about it and needed some encouragement. Rosie and Caramel just saw the hay there and got stuck into that.
Still very soggy here right now - we are all a bit over the rain! The driveway is a mess and paddocks are fairly wet too. Oscar will be ridden this week for the first time this season so hopefully that goes ok. He had his feet done on Friday too so is all good to go now :-)
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Introducing Benhorse
The new horse I mentioned in the last post has been here for 4 weeks today and is starting to look a little less like an SPCA case.
He was fairly wormy when he arrived too, so almost looks worse a week after arriving here as his pot belly has gone. He's really starting to get cover over his ribs now and even filling out around his backside.
I have been taking weekly pics on Sundays, here's some pics - which actually flatter him a bit :-(
Did a short session of groundwork with him on Friday, first time I had a bridle on him and he was all good. Very easy to work with and interested in what was happening too.
The goats are heading off to new pastures soon as well - they are going up to Waipu in a couple of weeks. They have been escaping a lot and it's time for them to move on. Am a bit sad - especially about Rosie and Basil.
I have planted my garlic to be harvested in summer - planted around 35 segments and looks like most of them have come through. The rocket I planted about 6 weeks ago has come to a standstill although I managed to scrounge enough to have with dinner last night. We are going to try and grow some spuds for the first time too - I think now is about the right time to plant so will have to hunt out some seed potatoes. And onions next month too I think.
He was fairly wormy when he arrived too, so almost looks worse a week after arriving here as his pot belly has gone. He's really starting to get cover over his ribs now and even filling out around his backside.I have been taking weekly pics on Sundays, here's some pics - which actually flatter him a bit :-(
He is coming on really well, much better than I thought he'd be after only 4 weeks here. He's in a paddock on his own so he doesn't burn off too much energy running around with the others. They hang out together by the fence though and are all getting on ok over the fence. The first 
week or so 
that Benhorse was here he hardly showed any interest in the others - it was all 
about food!!
week or so 
that Benhorse was here he hardly showed any interest in the others - it was all 
about food!!Did a short session of groundwork with him on Friday, first time I had a bridle on him and he was all good. Very easy to work with and interested in what was happening too.
Georgia is over 4 months old now and was speyed a couple of weeks ago - not that you'd know it, she bounced back extremely well and you can barely see her scar now. She is not too popular around here right now though as she mortally wounded a chicken on Friday night which was pretty awful. So she has now been introduced to her new friend - the chain. She seems happy enough being chained up to her kennel - it is long enough that she can get into her bed, get outside and have a wander and go to the toilet.
The goats are heading off to new pastures soon as well - they are going up to Waipu in a couple of weeks. They have been escaping a lot and it's time for them to move on. Am a bit sad - especially about Rosie and Basil.
I have planted my garlic to be harvested in summer - planted around 35 segments and looks like most of them have come through. The rocket I planted about 6 weeks ago has come to a standstill although I managed to scrounge enough to have with dinner last night. We are going to try and grow some spuds for the first time too - I think now is about the right time to plant so will have to hunt out some seed potatoes. And onions next month too I think.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
More animals...
We picked up our three little pigs this morning - 3 weaners, 9 weeks old. We have creatively called them Brick, Stick and Straw (after the 3 little pigs story). They have settled in well - haven't tried to escape - and in 3 months we'll have a freezer full of yummy bacon and pork and a ham for Christmas.
Georgia is still growing like a weed, she is 11 weeks old now and is noticeably heavier each time I pick her up - or so it seems. She is great in the car now, really keen to get in and settles down well on the back seat. She's also been sleeping through the night too - earliest she wakes is about 5.30 which is not tooooo bad and usually we just take her to the toilet (she knows 'go toilet' really well now!), breakfast and then she'll have another sleep for an hour or two. Works well!
She gets her final vaccination tomorrow so then we'll start exploring some new places I think - which means she'll have to get better with her lead and collar. I don't usually put it on her when we go for walks around the farm, she just sticks close by pretty well and comes when you call her.
And she loves the quad bike!!
A new horse was meant to be arriving this afternoon too but that's been put off until next weekend - which might not be a bad thing, it is horrible weather today - heavy showers and windy.
Planted some more beetroot and rocket last week, and will have to put some more broccoli in soon too. The last of the previous batch of beetroot is ready to pick and cook up too.
Ooh and we got some wild venison a couple of weeks back - very very very yummy. Might have to hunt down some venison recipes - all I know how to do is pan fry it! We also got some sausages which are really yum.
Heaps of space to run round and grow in
The pig hilton - they love to burrow into the hay
Georgia is still growing like a weed, she is 11 weeks old now and is noticeably heavier each time I pick her up - or so it seems. She is great in the car now, really keen to get in and settles down well on the back seat. She's also been sleeping through the night too - earliest she wakes is about 5.30 which is not tooooo bad and usually we just take her to the toilet (she knows 'go toilet' really well now!), breakfast and then she'll have another sleep for an hour or two. Works well!
She gets her final vaccination tomorrow so then we'll start exploring some new places I think - which means she'll have to get better with her lead and collar. I don't usually put it on her when we go for walks around the farm, she just sticks close by pretty well and comes when you call her.
And she loves the quad bike!!
A new horse was meant to be arriving this afternoon too but that's been put off until next weekend - which might not be a bad thing, it is horrible weather today - heavy showers and windy.
Planted some more beetroot and rocket last week, and will have to put some more broccoli in soon too. The last of the previous batch of beetroot is ready to pick and cook up too.
Ooh and we got some wild venison a couple of weeks back - very very very yummy. Might have to hunt down some venison recipes - all I know how to do is pan fry it! We also got some sausages which are really yum.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Pupdate
Georgia has managed to sleep right through for the last two nights, bliss! Or at least if she did wake up she kept quiet about it. Nice to get up at 6.30 instead of 2.00, 4.30 and 6.30!
She still loves chewing her pig ears, which is fine by me, they keep her quiet for ages and last for 2-3 days. Unless she drops one in her water bowl and then its usually all over. She has put on almost 1.5kg this week, only 1kg last week but that was with her v&d episode, so fair enough.
We go to the last night of puppy preschool tonight, that usually tires them out heaps which is great. She thinks going to the vets is a blast now - we stopped in yesterday to say hi and she was hurtling around looking for other puppies to play with. She also knows exactly where the treat container is kept behind the counter now. Clever girl!
She's still trying to make friends with Sonny - he tolerates her but draws the line at toooo much boisterous play. As for Sheryl.... well she just jumps up somewhere high and looks down on Georgia with disdain.
Have had a heap of rain here in the last 24 hours, although Monday was ok so we managed to drench all the cattle. They are now in a paddock, that has been empty for a while so hopefully that will get them to pack on the weight and we can sell a few of them soon and get some $$$.
Our pigs should be ready this week too - we are getting three this time around and Ben has finished fixing up the shelter in the pig enclosure so should be all good to go.
She still loves chewing her pig ears, which is fine by me, they keep her quiet for ages and last for 2-3 days. Unless she drops one in her water bowl and then its usually all over. She has put on almost 1.5kg this week, only 1kg last week but that was with her v&d episode, so fair enough.
We go to the last night of puppy preschool tonight, that usually tires them out heaps which is great. She thinks going to the vets is a blast now - we stopped in yesterday to say hi and she was hurtling around looking for other puppies to play with. She also knows exactly where the treat container is kept behind the counter now. Clever girl!
She's still trying to make friends with Sonny - he tolerates her but draws the line at toooo much boisterous play. As for Sheryl.... well she just jumps up somewhere high and looks down on Georgia with disdain.
Have had a heap of rain here in the last 24 hours, although Monday was ok so we managed to drench all the cattle. They are now in a paddock, that has been empty for a while so hopefully that will get them to pack on the weight and we can sell a few of them soon and get some $$$.
Our pigs should be ready this week too - we are getting three this time around and Ben has finished fixing up the shelter in the pig enclosure so should be all good to go.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Puppy!!!!
We have a new addition to the family - Georgia the Huntaway x Heading bitch. She is 9 weeks old and we'll have had her for 2 weeks tomorrow. She is super cute (most of the time) although it has been 2 weeks of broken sleep, and mopping up the odd puddle. She is getting heaps better with toileting outside now though and is growing like a weed!
Pics :-)
5 weeks old - when we first saw her
7 weeks old - first day at home
9 weeks old
5 weeks old - when we first saw her
7 weeks old - first day at home
9 weeks old
She has settled in really well - happy to run alongside the quad bike, barks at the cows (who just look at her stupidly), and is mostly good with the horses although hasn't had much to do with them yet. Her and Sonny seem to get on okay, but Sheryl won't have a bar of her! Not surprising really... Problem is that Georgia just wants to bounce around and play but Sheryl isn't that keen.
The rain has started up now - grass is growing a bit, and we have a bit of mud. The quad bike has most of the farm's mud on it I think.... We still have 31 cattle, will probably get rid of 10 in a couple of weeks, probably won't get any more until spring and then get some weaners.
Still picking beetroot, and got some more to plant. Planted some more rocket and also harvested our first cabbage yesterday, yummmmmm! Had it with some venison killed by a friend of Ben's. Very tasty. The venison, not Ben's friend.
The rain has started up now - grass is growing a bit, and we have a bit of mud. The quad bike has most of the farm's mud on it I think.... We still have 31 cattle, will probably get rid of 10 in a couple of weeks, probably won't get any more until spring and then get some weaners.
Still picking beetroot, and got some more to plant. Planted some more rocket and also harvested our first cabbage yesterday, yummmmmm! Had it with some venison killed by a friend of Ben's. Very tasty. The venison, not Ben's friend.
Friday, May 14, 2010
The slacker blogger returns
So, it's been a while!
Brief updates: We ended up swapping the pregnant heifer for two weaner heifers with the dairy farmer up the road. We got two cute red and white heifers that are known as "the bambis" and tend to stick together in the herd. The pregnant heifer ended up losing her calf - apparently it was a fairly big heifer calf and sounds like it got a bit stuck. She is ok though and making her contribution to society as part of Paul's milking herd.
The garden has been going great guns, since Ben installed a couple of raised beds. We realised that the reason we weren't getting very far very fast with our vegs was because of the rubbish soil. So we now have two raised beds and have planted zucchinis, cabbages, broccoli, spring onions, carrots, beetroot, rocket, lettuce and capsicum. Come to think of it I haven't seen the capsicum plant lately... I wonder if it's been consumed by the cabbages?
I also harvested our first ever garlic in late January, and got one full plait of garlic out of it. Will be planting more this June, beware any vampires!!!
We had a few pumpkins this year too - completely unplanned. They emerged from the compost heap and we ended up with 8 good sized pumpkins. Have had one batch of pumpkin soup so far, yummmm. Also spent what seemed to be days in the kitchen bottling crab apples. Brigid (Ben's sister) gave us a pile of crab apples and I went straight to Google to figure out what to do with the things. So I made about 20 jars of crab apple jelly, and also have some crab apple schnaaps brewing. Not entirely sure how the latter will work out...
The last of the tomatoes ended up being made into green tomato relish too, very yummy. Feeling like the real farm wife now what with all this preserving!
We are getting some more piglets in a few weeks, just waiting until they are fully weaned. We're getting three this year (god help the horses) and will keep one for us, swap one for a hogget and probably sell the other one.
We're also just about to get a puppy!!! We pick her up tomorrow morning - still haven't chosen a name for her though.
And some other gratuitous animal pics:
Brief updates: We ended up swapping the pregnant heifer for two weaner heifers with the dairy farmer up the road. We got two cute red and white heifers that are known as "the bambis" and tend to stick together in the herd. The pregnant heifer ended up losing her calf - apparently it was a fairly big heifer calf and sounds like it got a bit stuck. She is ok though and making her contribution to society as part of Paul's milking herd.
The garden has been going great guns, since Ben installed a couple of raised beds. We realised that the reason we weren't getting very far very fast with our vegs was because of the rubbish soil. So we now have two raised beds and have planted zucchinis, cabbages, broccoli, spring onions, carrots, beetroot, rocket, lettuce and capsicum. Come to think of it I haven't seen the capsicum plant lately... I wonder if it's been consumed by the cabbages?
I also harvested our first ever garlic in late January, and got one full plait of garlic out of it. Will be planting more this June, beware any vampires!!!
We had a few pumpkins this year too - completely unplanned. They emerged from the compost heap and we ended up with 8 good sized pumpkins. Have had one batch of pumpkin soup so far, yummmm. Also spent what seemed to be days in the kitchen bottling crab apples. Brigid (Ben's sister) gave us a pile of crab apples and I went straight to Google to figure out what to do with the things. So I made about 20 jars of crab apple jelly, and also have some crab apple schnaaps brewing. Not entirely sure how the latter will work out...
The last of the tomatoes ended up being made into green tomato relish too, very yummy. Feeling like the real farm wife now what with all this preserving!
We are getting some more piglets in a few weeks, just waiting until they are fully weaned. We're getting three this year (god help the horses) and will keep one for us, swap one for a hogget and probably sell the other one.
We're also just about to get a puppy!!! We pick her up tomorrow morning - still haven't chosen a name for her though.
And some other gratuitous animal pics:
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