Sorry no post yesterday but I was on a special mission to buy some new HVP team members. I travelled to Euroa with some neighbours, to select some dexter cows. It was an all day event but quite enjoyable actually. Taking the back roads all the way there and back, turned it into a very nice day driving through some beautiful countryside. Passing a lot of these paddocks made you realise how lucky we are in South Gippsland to have so much rain and therefore, so much long, green grass.
Dexter cows are a heritage breed of miniature cow. Perfectly suited to my little place where this small breed will be on the move ahead of my sheep and hopefully not pug up the place as much as a larger breed would. They are also a great size down the track when it comes time to putting one in the freezer. Quite enough meat from one of these little dudes! I am buying a cow in calf and a young, newly weaned steer. The cow (red one standing), named Northern Star (may change this once I get to know her), will calf in August/September so I'll have a small herd of three. The little male ( the black one sitting down ) is yet to be named but I will get that changed once I get to know him as he settles in. Not sure when they will be delivered but they will first go to my neighbours place, along with the three that she is buying, to adjust to the new feed. We will transition them from the hay diet they are currently on so that the lush grass here doesn't cause too much of a problem for them. It was a great day and I am very excited to be having a new type of animal join us here on the farm.
I didn't get much done the day before to report on, just a little clean up after a nice day Sunday and then put my feet up to enjoy a read. I was given a book 'Dark Emu' which I've been wanting to read for awhile so gave myself a treat and spent a number of hours getting in to that. Thanks Jim and Jude!!
I wandered out to the garden to just have a check at what I've got growing so thought I'd include a few photos here. I still have some borlotti beans that are not quite ready to harvest. My carrot patch is fantastic and I hope with cooler weather the growth will slow down and maybe this patch will see me through winter. Kale is thriving at the moment along with greens such as lettuce, tatsoi and perilla. My cucumbers have performed beautifully over summer and while there are still a few on the vine to harvest, I know that their day is just about done. Lots of other things growing at the moment also. Now that the hard work of putting in the structure of the garden is done, the challenge will be to have it productive and harvestable throughout the cooler months. We will see how that goes!!
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