Well, this week has had its ups & downs! The 13 chicks that hatched in the incubator last week were all successfully transferred to Chookingham Palace, & have bonded with the other dozen or so already there. There is now lots of cheeping, but despite some of the colder evenings, it all has a fairly happy tone overall. The 2 new piglets, Rebus & Roux, are still very shy, but are eating well & growing, & their excavations in their pen are getting deeper. The corn & beans have germinated in the buckwheat paddock, & despite the very dry hot days this week, the mulching there & in the vege garden is keeping things moist underneath. However, the soil is getting dry enough to make it difficult to harvest the last of the carrots. The fruit is ripening well, & I will need to harvest the currants very soon.
The most difficult thing these last 10 days has been dealing with the cow with the youngest calf - born just 2 weeks ago. Because I was concerned about her last week, the vet came out, & said that for a number of reasons, she needed to be culled from the herd, the sooner the better, as if she became sick (which was extremely likely) she would be almost be impossible to treat. And, her calf was scouring badly & needed penicillin. Anyway, we arranged for the stock agent to come out, & arranged to sell 4 animals (the cow & 3 steers) at today's cattle sale. So after wading through all of the current paperwork to do with that process, the truck arrived early before the cattle were yarded, & to keep the story short & printable, only the cow & 1 steer were sold today, & not for great prices either, but that wasn't the point of course. After 2 unsuccessful bottle feedings of the calf, this evening's feed finally turned the corner, & the calf (now named Shadow), finally drank all of the bottle by himself. At last! So, a mixed week all in all.
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