Christophers Comment

Posted by on 1 November 2010 | 0 Comments

CHRISTOPHER’S COMMENT: October 2010

I said at the start of my last comment that the weather for the start of October looked promising and it certainly was but by the middle of the month we had the most horrendous winds (and cold) that made us feel that winter had come again. But they eventually subsided and we ended the month with perfect days, much appreciated by us all at Taruna Farm - people and animals.

We completed the tailing by the 6^th  which enabled Hugh and Kirsten to take a few days off - thoroughly deserved after such a full on lambing. We ended up tailing 152% which wasn’t too bad considering how wet it had been. Hugh’s records show that we lost 159 lambs from our ewes and a considerable number of those were due to exposure – understandable. The Hogget lambing did not go nearly as well with quite heavy lamb losses due to difficult births (dystokia). Consequently we only tailed 70% in our hoggets so there is room for improvement there next year.

Most of the ewes are now set stocked. One mob of 200 ewes is on a rotation around seven paddocks as an experiment. Half our hoggets are set stocked and the remainder are rotating around six small paddocks of chicory. It is important to keep the chicory in a vegetative state at this time of the year for it to produce well over the summer. Nodding thistle is also becoming a problem so the suggestion has been made we spray out the paddocks in the autumn, plant a short rotation rye for the winter and return to chicory next spring - food for thought.

Talking of thistles; this is the time of year when they are at their worst. Hugh and Candice have been performing a heroic job in grubbing and a lot of the farm is looking as clean as it has ever looked.  I assist when necessary but claim no credit.

Bulls all arrived in the first part of the month and are out with their respective heifer mobs. Only one mob of 57 has been artificially inseminated this year.

Off the farm, the World Rowing Champs started at Lake Karapiro late in the month so we have our fingers crossed the wind does not get up and spoil the racing. Janet’s brother Stuart is one of the 500 volunteers helping to run the event and what an amazing job they are doing - well done to them all. We hope to go to the lake on Wednesday.

Hugh has been training hard for the teams event of the Karapiro Half Ironman on 14 November and Candice has recorded two very good results on her bike – a first in a 204 km race in Gisborne and a first also in the K2 (Coromandel) 190 km race. Brilliant. Grubbing thistles must be good training!!

Finally, happy birthday to our son-in-law Stuart who turned 41 on the 30^th October and a reminder to our two little cooks in Warrnambool, Australia - we can’t wait for those special meals in the playhouse.