Here's to 2008- a good season for all!

[M O P]

I thought I might as well start a new thread for 2008- was waiting for someone else to do but no one has so here we go! :D

I hope all the preg ladies have a wonderful year and everyone else is happy and healthy!

[Mischief]

Good morning Kazza! Thanks for the NEW THREAD! I might even be able to keep up with this one!

We are in desperate need of rain! Our tanks are getting low and the dams are getting dry.

What is it with Cows BTW? We have 3 cows...it has been flamin HOT and they the stoopid things have been camped out on the hillside in the full sun! :rolleyes:

[misskittyfantastico]

Thanks for the shiny new thread Kazza!

We're getting rid of a few hundred wethers this morning....we're waiting for the truck to arrive. We were getting a bit concerned about the feed situation so figured we may as well sell them now. We got $30 a head, which is less than they're worth but what are you gonna do?

I hope you get some rain Kat. We got over an inch at the beginning of Dec (more than we've had in one go all year!) Unfortunately we'd JUST finished shearing, so we lost quite a few sheep to exposure.

I hope everyone is well.

Sxxxx

[BiNdI86]

Hi everyone,

well as for rain, it's been great here. We've been getting storms every afternoon/night for the past two weeks. I have to mow my grass twice this week :thumbsup:

sending you some rain vibes Mischief :goodvibes:

well, we got a new dog (soon I know) but I was looking around and found a b!tch the same as Pyro. We have NEVER come across another like pyro, so I showed Trent and then went to meet her.

She is 10 months old and a real sweety, she was at the local pound and the pens were SO SMALL. They only got let out once a day (and me being a softy) as soon as I relised she was great with kids, she was in the ute and heading home:smiliedance:. We have named her 'Flame' (following on the Pyromaniac theme:laughing:)
She just looked so lost, but as soon as we got her home and showed her some love she's really opening up and all ready barks at anyone outside the house fence.:cloud9: She jumps on the trampoline with Tahlia and Pyro is happy again.

Other than that we are going hammer and tongs with Tomato's (the big ones) and grape and cherry tomato's.

Kazza, love the photo's of Hugh at christmas!! The ice bucket one is a classic.

and preggy ladies, show off your tums so we can see how you are going!!:p

[Mischief]

MissKitty - Im sorry to hear you lost sheep. And it must be rotten having to sell the wethers for less than they are worth! Fingers crossed for rain and lots of feed growing in the very near future!

Bindi - I love the name Flame for a doggy. Reminds me of that Old TV show Gladiators! Does anyone remember that? :)

I know what you mean about getting dogs that look lost. Every time we have gotten a dog its because they looked like they needed loving! I swear they can turn it on and off to make us fall in love with them!

Still no sign of rain here. The sun is shinning brightly today, and is forecast to keep shinning for several days. Every time they tell us that its going to be showers they dont appear!

Went out for lunch today with a girlfriend I havent seen for ages... Was so nice sitting in the park and eating my salami sandwiches. Im addicted to Salami Sandwiches at the moment, probably not good since we are TTC. :rolleyes: Isnt that suppost to be one of the no no's? Salami, and Prawns... :p :D

[Bellas_mummy]

Hi everyone one and Happy New Year:smiliedance:.

Hopefully i will keep up with this thread better than the last.

Sorry about loosing some sheep Missy Kitty, the rain never seems to suit everyone. I was so glad when we had 2 inches the week before Christmas as we were going away and it looked after my garden, but poor DH then had heaps of spraying to do so no one wins.

I would love a good rain now but it doesnt look like it is coming any time soon.

I am 23 weeks preg this week and very excited that it is all going quickly finally. We have so much to do but at least everything is ordered we just need to move furniture and paint which is not too bad.

I am such a city girl that i dont even drive manual. Which caused quite a problem the other night when DH called up on the CB to say that he and the boys were bogged out the back of our farm whilst they were spotlighting and could i come get them. So i had to drive the brand new manual ute which i had never driven and then halfway to getting them i got bogged:rolleyes:. So in the middle of the night a pregnant woman was holding a torch and tryign to dig the ute out of the sand and argue with her husband over the CB. I am still too embarrased to see my neighbours as i am sure they would have all had a good laugh about it. Eventually i did manage to work out how to put it into four wheel drive and i got out. And i do love my DH very much, just not when he is questioning me on the radio if i know my lefts and rights:laughing:.

I think i am slowly becoming a country girl after this.

Hope you are all well :goodvibes:

[Mischief]

Hey TTC! :)

Congratulations! Dont worry, I couldnt keep up with the last thread either! Bunch of chatter boxes these rural girls!

I drove Stevens Hilux up our drive last night! So excited, I didnt even stall it! HAHA! I havent driven manual for over 2 years! :o

[Bellas_mummy]

Mischeif, your comment about driving last night makes me feel soooooo much better that i am not the only silly girl who doesnt drive manual :laughing:

[4fabbokids]

I thought Id jump on and say hello!

Im new to Bubhub and to be totally honest I logged on to read the thread about the 2 ladies in the Egg Donation section....it was telly the other night and I couldnt help myself - it was such a touching story.

Anyway, I ended up browsing the forums and discovered this section and thought YAY :yelclap:- I thinkIm going to have to join as I in a 'remote' area....hubby and I live on our property in western/central NSW. We are approx 30ks from the nearest town - not as remote as some of you but remote enough in my opinion!!!
We have sheep, cropping and a small Border Leister stud.....we have 4 gorgeous children, 3 boys and 1 girl. Our eldest son is going into Yr11 in Sydney at a boarding school whilst our other kids - 13, 10, 7 are still attending the little catholic school in town. They will all have to go away to school as the nearest school that has Yr 10, 11 and 12 is 48kms away - there isnt a bus stop close so its not an option ATM.

The drought has been shocking as most of you know....thankfully we have had some rain recently and our lambs are looking nice and fat!!:thumbsup: All in all this year is looking pretty good so far.....hopefully the rain will keep on coming but little bits at a time - not like it has been for some of you!:rain:

Anyway - just thought I d say hi and I look forward to dropping in every now and then!!:)

[BiNdI86]

Welcome 4FabboKids :wave:

Glad your getting a bit of the wet stuff.

ok..funny story about driving manuals. A friend of mine's dad used to put her in the ute at 3yrs of age, put it in Low 4 (it pretty much drives itself, just putts along) and make her hold the wheel straight. He'd then jump on the back and load hay.

He would know how far from the fence he was by how loud she would yell "DADDY FENCE" then when she got loud enough he would jump in and turn the ute around and start again :laughing:
Probably dangerous, but really funny now we look back on it!:laughing:

[Mischief]

4FabboKids - Welcome to BubHub. Any chance you live near Coolah? :) Thats Central West NSW! I used to live there as a kid! :yes:

TTC - Yeah I know what you mean! I feel better knowing another country girl doesnt drive manuals too! :D

Bindi - LOL @ that story! :) Kids are the cutest!

How's everyone going today? Its quiet here at the moment!!!

[4fabbokids]

Thanks for the welcome guys!:wave:

Yes Mischeif, we are sort of near Coolah, we are about 40ks east of Dubbo. If we are going to QLD or north we usually drive through Coolah...they used to have a truckstop on the northern part of town that had the best hamburgers but last time we went through they had closed:(...shame cause they were yummo.

Im chuckling at the manual driving stories...I learnt to drive on an automatic but my first ever big trip all by myself to SYdney was in a manual - I will never forget stopping at the set of lights near woolomoloo which is on a steep hill (sp - and I dont think they are there anymore) trying not to stall the car while panicing that I was going to roll back into the car behind me...I ended up stalliing it and kangaroo hopped into the car in front:rolleyes:...luckily not much damage and and nice man in front...

DH has a hilux manual that I will only ever drive if absolutley and utterly unavoidable...besides, it always smells of grease and sheep anyway!!:barf:

[Mischief]

Is the old Hanes Hardware and Supermarket still in Coolah? :D They used to have EVERYTHING! LOL

[StormAngel]

Hi all, just popping in to say hello, I've been so slack at not posting!
Still dry here & no rain in sight!

[M O P]

DH has a hilux manual that I will only ever drive if absolutley and utterly unavoidable...besides, it always smells of grease and sheep anyway!!:barf:
oh, yeah Fabbo-
you'll fit in here real well! :laughing:
Welcome and thanks for the laugh.
I've never ever driven in Sydney so I'm not saying a word, but :yes: hill starts suck.
I'm glad you said you're from western/central NSW-
cause we're close to Broken Hill that's our definaition of Western NSW- we've since learnt that's Far Western NSW and western NSW can take in any part of NSW that's pretty much not in Sydney!

Nice to see you StormAngel. :)

TTC- I love that story.
It's a great story to tell your friends from the city when they think lead a boring life in the country. :laughing:
BTW I thought Angus & I were the only couple to have domestics over the radio!!

Flogga I hope you're well- haven't seen you for a while so just wondered. :flowerz:

[floggadog]

:wave:hellllooooo, I'm here:D
I feel like I shoul;d be puffing cause I've just caught up:laughing:.
I only just found out there was a new thread & I only looked cause I really had to tell Miss Kitty that Robin Hood:cloud9: Is starting soon with the next series.
I'm soooo exited.

Okay, Hi & welcome to you Fabbo
& now I have to go cause hubby is threatening to turn off the power to the house to get me off the computer.
Sheesh... I've only been on for 10 minutes:rolleyes:

Will catch up, now i've found youse lot, soon.
Catchya

PS good decision re new dog Bindi;)

[Velouria]

Hello ladies of the land,

I am back from Tassie (well have been back since New Years but just sooooooo busy doing STUFF that I haven't been able to get on the computer).

Hear is a brief synopsis of the goings on at the Farm since I last posted.....

Tassie was great. Chris's family over the moon about the baby, and not at all surprised that Chris and I kept it a secret for this long. We were inundated with gifts for the baby from MIL who I think is a bit upset about not being close to us (distance wise) when the baby comes. She has said a few things that makes me think she will find it hard to not be around. But she has Chris's brother and his girlfriends baby (due in April) to keep her busy.

Whilst we were away the dorpers got into the orchard and decimated our trees. We were heartbroken as we worked so hard to establish this orchard and had only just started to train the trees to grow the way we wanted them to (espalier). Thankfully it looks like we have only lost one lemon, one cherry and a peach. Dad and Chris erected a more permanent fence to keep the ladies out for good -but I still catch them looking longingly into the orchard from their side of the fence.

One of our ducks had 11 ducklings!!! OMG I couldn't believe it when my friend rang on Boxing Day to tell me. 11 is heaps. But they are so cute all cuddled up together (I will post a piccie in my photo album). Does anyone want any coloured Muscovie Ducks??

Pammy is a mummy again :smiliedance:. 10 piglets this time, and all of them in perfect health. Chris caught a bit of the birth on the video camera (I was still in bed as she had them at 1am last Saturday morning). Piccie too will follow on my album. They are so cute but seem to be a lot smaller than the last litter (which isn't surprising considering how many there were in such a small space). Only two were stillborn and none born alive have since died which is such a relief as last time she crushed two :(.

We picked up our Emmaljunga pram on Thursday night!! It is massive and all nice and red and grey - really sporty and just perfect for zipping around the farm (except I don't want to get it dirty). Its weird to think that soon we shall have a little person to put in it. We have ordered all of our baby stuff and it should all arrive by mid Feb at the latest. We have cleared out the spare room and it is now officially called the nursery.

Baby is doing really well. At my last doctors appointment he said that I had a "good sized baby" - whatever that means. I have an obs appointment in two weeks and I guess I will get a better idea of the size of the baby (not that it matters really, but I would like to know if I am expecting a whopper). I don;t so much feel kicks now as I do feel the baby rolling around and the Hiccups, my goodness everyday a couple times a day the little one has a bout of them.

I am heading up to Perth for 5 days next week as we are having the house sprayed for termites and we think it best that I am not exposed to the chemicals (never mind my poor DH). I have about a million and one lunches and dinners with people who want to catch up before the baby comes so I don't anticipate it will be entirely relaxing. But at least Ma and Pa have a pool I can wallow in.

I hope everyone is well and you have recovered from Christmas/New Year festivities. Hello to the new ladies and welcome to the funny farm :flowerz:

Sorry no personals at this time as I must dash as the dogs need to go to the vet for their vaccinations and I am still in my moo moo!

Cheerio :wave:

[Mischief]

VEL! You are in trouble! You should have come and seen me! :)

[M O P]

VEL! You are in trouble! You should have come and seen me! :)
oh and she's scarey too Vel! :devil: :raspberry:

[Mischief]

Thats right, Karen is TERRIFIED of me! She's quaking in her boots all the way over in SA! :D And soooo she SHOULD! :p :raspberry:

[Velouria]

Oh so sorry Kat,

Where in Tassie are you?

Next time I promise :yes:

BTW - I got all confused with your new name Kazza, but it is lovely. Must be time for some more photos of Pearl yes????

Posted pics of our new farm animals on my profile page (more pigs and more ducks).

Our next door neighbour (absentee landholder) popped by on the weekend whilst Chris and I were cleaning out the pig sty and I only had on my moo moo (and no undies or bra - what a skank!) I was really embarrassed as I seem to have a permanent erect nipple (just the one to add to the embarrassment). Chris tried his best to stand in front of me but it was no good. Plus he wanted to have a good old chat and all I wanted to do was disappear behind the shed :o.

Anyhoo he came over to tell us that he is employing a roo shooter to cull the roos that keep getting through his fence and stuffing up the electric fencing. I felt a bit bad as, whilst we have set up our side of the fence with three hot wires (to keep the goats in), we don't turn it on as the goats don't seem to want to get out (cause they are spoiled rotten no doubt). Perhaps he wouldn't be having as much trouble if we kept ours turned on :confused:.


Thankfully I will be up in Perth so won't have to contend with the dogs going mental at the sound of the gunshots during the night...poor Chris.

[misskittyfantastico]

Hi ladies:wave:

Not much posting from me atm......I just feel big and hot and tired!

I'm glad to hear that you're all doing well.

Flogga - Robin Hood! YAY for Robin! :D

I really don't have much to report, just wanted to pop in and say helloooo to you all:hugs:

[M O P]

Vel- Don't you just love the unexpected guest!

We had a friend and his b-i-l roll up about a week after we got home with Pearl-
I was still in my pjs- it was lunch time
and our house was a mess!
I had to move a heap of cr@p off the table just so they could get their coffee cups on it :o

Oh and the nipply thing is great too :rolleyes:
At our town's Chrissy show it was really cold and about 3 people said
-you look really cold-
eventually I got what they meant :eek:
BTW - I got all confused with your new name Kazza, but it is lovely. Must be time for some more photos of Pearl yes????
.
glad you like it :)
Here's Hugh & Pearl (http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n11/kazcrawf/002.jpg)



Really looking forward to this weekend-
we're having some professional shots done of the kids- with their cousins.
Hmm, not sure if I told everyone but we have a niece now.
Annabel is about 2 weeks old.
A friend who's a children's photographer is doing them at my home town.

[floggadog]

Hiho :wave:
Vel - you are one very busy girl. I've just found your pics & they're lovely. Makes me wish I was on a farm for love & not profit:rolleyes:.
Glad to hear you & bub is doing well. Will you be going to Bunbury to have bub?

Kazza - Your babes are like peas in a pod:flowerz:
Have fun with the babe pics. & I hope your season is better this year.

Miss Kitty - Sunday Feb 3rd @ 7.30 is when Robin Hood starts. Daylight savings isn't going to make getting my kids to bed by 7pm very easy - I may have to drug them:laughing:.

Well... where on earth are Bearskin & Duchessa???
I'll have to round them up.
Gotta go
catchya soon :hugs:

[M O P]

:hugs: Flogga- thinking of you

http://www.bubhub.com.au/community/f...d.php?t=150348 (http://www.bubhub.com.au/community/forums/showthread.php?t=150348)

I had to go in to town this morning to pick up our 2 work dogs-
Angus left them off their chains last night as we'll be away for a few days and they took off-
not really like them.

They were very lucky as some very nice people from Broken Hill picked them up, 10km out of town, walking up the middle of the highway.
They were so lucky they weren't hit and I'm so glad they didn't cause some grey nomad to have a crash trying to avoid them.

[floggadog]

Thanks Kazza, I won't go into full details again girls but basically my hubby was bitten by a Tiger snake on Friday & if you follow Kazzas link above you can read what happened.

I'm tired & upset & now have to add sheep feeding to my list of jobs besides visiting Rob in Hospital. We have something like 9 or 10 little mobs of sheep & I'm using the tractor & hay feeder that he wisely never taught me how to use :rolleyes::banghead::doh:.
Anyway - I'm off to bed.
Kazza, glad you got your duppies home OK.
Naughty things:rolleyes:

[floggadog]

Helloooooooo........


is anyone out there????????????

[M O P]

Helloooooooo........


is anyone out there????????????
:yes: :D as per usual :o

[floggadog]

Hi Kazza,:wave:
how's life in SA today?
Did you receive any of that wet stuff the east coast has been having?
How are your babes?
My littlest has just woken up & I'm about to go to town & find out which teachers the older 2 are having this year.

Oh & I just PM'd Duchessa & Bearskin the link for this thread.
Who else isn't here?

[M O P]

:wave: Flogga- are your children back at school now-
or do they go back next week?
I got a surprise yesterday that the Broken Hill schools get an extra week hols.
(good though, got to have lunch with a g/f who is a teacher :))

We've been having plenty of storm build up- lots of thunder & lightning- but no rain action, well i took 2.5mm out Aust Day.

We have our wethers going to sale next week that have been down at my parent's farm.
They took a little while but in the last few weeks they have really started to take off.

We had another bad sale last week-
older girls- $27
:thumbsdown: Angus was down about that

[floggadog]

Don't the prices just suck? We were hammered with our baby beef. Our last lot of rams the guy got out of us for $260 a head. & Rob came home today saying he heard some blokes talking on the 2way - they were saying super prices have tripled making it $1000+ a tonne.
Hope your Whethers sell well. :)
Oh & my kids start school on Monday...which isn't soon enough, they've just made a big pattern of blue permanent marker on my wool carpet. They are bags of trouble ATM.

[Mischief]

Im here! Sorry! LOL!

Morning (read... all day) sickness is keeping me away from the computer! I wake up, feel sick... Oliver goes to bed, I have an hour or less on the PC and dive for the bed for a nap till he wakes up again.... LOL

Hows life going? :D

[floggadog]

Ooohhh Mischief, what has made you ill??? (or have I missed something?)
Sending you get well wishes from WA to Tas ! Soak em up ;)
My kids have sent me over the edge. Today they have filled hubbys' new secondhand antiquie cupboard with chook grain then added 4 half grown chicks & 2 kittens, all of this in the shed they've been told they are not allowed in, spreading around the grain which I'm not supposed to have in the shed. They've coloured in my floor with permanent marker, they've destroyed a bit of polystyrene packaging spreading it from the loungeroom to the front porch..... on & on it goes, so when Rob came home I told him I couldn't go near them , if I did I couldn't be held responsible for what I might do.

So that's my life today, all I need to do is get them all to sleep & await my bottle of white wine (or maybe he'll bring me the whole box) Anyway, I NEED WINE...NOW

[M O P]

, they've just made a big pattern of blue permanent marker on my wool carpet. They are bags of trouble ATM.
oh no- as Hugh would say (:laughing: sorry Flogga, I'm trying not to laugh- promise!)

Oh- and I just saw the rest of what they've been up to! :eek:

[floggadog]

Ahhh, it's all good now, they're all asleep & my wine is chilling in the freezer & yes he brought me home the whole carton :D.
Off to dull my senses ;)

[M O P]

have fun Flogga!

[Bearskin]

Hi All :)

I only saw this thread a few days ago; I was wondering why I wasn't getting any email notifications of new posts for the old thread....my brain is going to total mush right now.

I've got 4 weeks and 2 days to go...baby is lying sideways ATM and seems to have no intention of moving. If bubs hasn't moved by 37 weeks we are going to try an external turning as I really do NOT want a C Sec unless absolutely necessary.

I wonder out of all the Rural pg ladies due around the same time who will get the ball rolling and go into labour first? If getting pg is catching around here, hopefully labour will be too!

My SIL had her twins on the 31st; she had a healthy boy and girl which is great. Pity no-one bothered to ring and let me know (thanks MIL) and with Dave away in the truck, a friend rang the next morning and updated me (she found out the night before). Still haven't heard from any of Dave's family re the twins - Dave and I are the black sheep ATM anyway; SIL had a little birthday party for her DD and didn't bother to invite Zoe then had a family dinner that nght and we still didn't get an invite either and this is Dave's goddaughter...they are all strange I tell you! (Just having a little whinge :laughing: )

MissKitty - Stock prices do suck ATM, especially in WA and SA. Dave is doing his 2nd load of 1 1/2 yr old Merino ewes out of WA this week; they are being sold for $30 + $20 p/h home so the farmers over here are buying great breeding ewes for $50. At markets here and in Sth NSW they are being sold for $90+ and 1st cross $110+. We had 8 inches in 4 weeks around here and all the dryland and irrigated lucerne is going nuts so everybody wants to restock and the guys in WA are running out of water - its a bloody tough game farming - but no need to tell you ladies that :)

Bindi - so glad to read you got another doggie. She sounds lovely and you are a big softy but if she loves kids then you cannot go wrong.

TTC - can relate to not driving a manual car! Dave used to laugh at me all the time for stalling the ute, getting it bogged, couldn't park it, would stall it feeding/moving sheep down the road but after a few years I would now drive the ute anywhere!

Welcome Fabbo - good to read you have had some good rains and the tucker is growing. Its been pretty wet around here too - but it just helps the Bathurst Burrs grow :(

Flogga - bet you are glad school starts soon after reading about your wool carpet! So cute one minute and little devils the next. Good to read your hubby is all ok - I'm still shocked he tried to move the tiger snake with a stick.

Kazza - sorry but I had to laugh at your story of unexpected guests arriving. I hate being sprung in my pj's but it happens all too frequently ATM. You must be relieved about your dogs too; they are lucky to not be hit or shot.

Vel - glad to read all is going well with the pregnancy and I bet you spend every day in the pool when you head to Perth you lucky thing. I'm still laughing about you being sprung in your moo moo - mum bought me some white pjs when I was pg with Zoe and I'm up one morning without a bra on (and you know what your nipples look like when pg) and Dave tells me he can see 'everything' just as his dad comes driving up the driveway for a coffee - thank god for long driveways!!

Mischief - congrats of your impending arrival. i'm sure you announced it but I haven't had a chance to say congrats and hope all goes really well.

Alright - this has gone one long enough so I better go and get some sleep before I drive to Shepparton to buy the twins a birth present each. Dave has the sads with me for not going to visit yet so I should get organised and get over my narkiness...I thought it might be nice to give then some time to bond and establish feeding etc before visiting but Dave tells me I should have been there yesterday.

Cheers,

Michelle

[M O P]

:wave: fantastic to hear from you Michelle

[Duchessa]

Wow wee! Lots has happened during my long absence!

Mischief! Congratulations to you. I hope your m/s goes away ASAP. There is nothing worse than spewing all day long while trying to hold the threads of a home together.

Bearskin - I am pleased to hear that your preg has progressed without mishap. I am in the same boat as you - my little belly bub is transverse too and we are 37 weeks. I am doing everything I can, but she is pretty comfy. Best of luck with yours - I hope she gets that head down and bum up as soon as she can manage it. It would certainly take a little stress away.

Velouria - sounds like you had a lovely time in Tassie, though that wasn't such a great homecoming to sheep in your orchard. I am glad that your preg has nearly come to it's conclusion without mishap, as you had a bit of anxiety and trouble at the start... Yay for Pammy's piggies. I would love a couple of them :D

MissKitty - hot and tired it sure is! What is up with our shocking planning?? This is the second time I have carried right through summer, though I have to say it was worse with the twins (though on the upside, it was easier to get some rest with that first preg, hey?).

Karren - I can't believe that so much time has passed since you became the mother of Pearl (and I love your new name too). She has turned into a big beautiful baby girl :goodvibes:

Flogga - thank you so much for the round up, I know I have been rather absent. Bummer about the carpet! You must have been a "little relieved" to send those kids off to school last week! They were rather lucky to get out alive, I reckon :D Talking about getting out alive - what an awful, frightening experience re your dh being bitten by the snake!! I have just read through the thread on tenter hooks. I am so glad that he is home and progressing back to his usual self. :hugs:

Hello Bindi - your new dog sounds like a hot dog! Did you ever get to move the pony home?

We are doing well re the weather. We have had a mid summer break with a couple of inches over a couple of weeks and everything is green again. We have stacks of feed and despite having several hundred fallow acres waiting for autumn we are severely understocked. Unfortunately for us, sheep aren't as cheap around here as over yonder west... We shore 140 bales this year, we have sold a third of them for a great price and the next two thirds will probably sell even better - which is fortunate as we have spent a frightening amount on the renovations (farm and house) over the past 12 months and need the extra dosh.

I am 37 weeks and looking forward to being able to run around without a belly soon. It has been hard work parenting two nearly 3 year olds over a hot summer with it. Pregnancy is just SO different when you already have kids, and when your husband is so darn absent. We are planning to birth this one at home and have everything in place for that - it is very exciting.

Now I must go and entertain my bored and stroppy kids - I promise to keep up better from now on.

[floggadog]

Ooohhh goody, you're here :hugs: :D
Great to hear from you both, Duchessa & Bearskin. Looking back at the posts it was starting to look like the Floggadog thread again:o.
Duchessa - I have 20 cows & a bull looking for a home, they'd love your spare feed. I'm amazed at the difference of prices , Well bred Merino ewes were selling for 20-30 odd dollars a head at a clearing sale we went to on Tuesday. Which is clearly why Bearskins hubby is trucking them East (at those miserable prices). Dams on our farm haven't had proper run off for over 2 years now & are looking dismal, which is way better than alot of properties north & East of here.
:fingerscrossed: For good rains this winter.
Bearskin - I'm sure your SIL would be all visited out anyway & badly in need of some rest (well that'd be what I'd be telling her if she should whinge at your absence) . Glad to hear your & everyone elses pregnancies are progressing well.

Oh well , I thought I'd put in a few pics of my kids.
Jordi (http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u40/floggadog/Jordi.jpg) Alyssa (http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u40/floggadog/alyssawren.jpg) Lindsay (http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u40/floggadog/lindsayParrys.jpg) & Olliver (http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u40/floggadog/Olliver.jpg).

Alyssa was feeding a Splendid Fairy Wren at in our Friends garden. They come for meal worms & are very amusing to watch.

Anyway gotta go, Grandmas on the phone:)

[floggadog]

Rob just set me straight on the Clearing sale ewes. They were passed in at $23 / head.
One mob sold to Fletchers ( abotoir) & the rest are now off to the saleyards.

[Duchessa]

Flogga, your children are handsome/beautiful/scrumptious! And that blue wren is so much bluer than our version. Wow @ the prices of the ewes. That is very sad. We just paid $40/head for well grown but not fat wether lambs and even our older (3 y/o) wethers would be worth $60+ over here if we sold them now (they are fat as butter). It is so sad that the west and the east are so far apart sometimes - we could all help each other weather the weather with some stock and feed trading at times like these but the trucking so often makes it impossible.

I'll be praying for rain for you. We've had a strange season - not a hell of a lot of rain, but it just seems to keep trickling along at very fortuitous times.

[Velouria]

So good to hear from you Duchessa and Bearskin and really glad to hear that you and your bubs are doing well (although temporarily in the wrong direction - fingers and toes crossed that they will turn for you . Just curious Duchessa, but what are your options for a homebirth if baby doesn't turn?

Not much to report other than having trouble sleeping and being really grumpy (esp with my DH) He has started to panic about the birth etc and keeps trying to plan everything down to the smallest detail which is getting on my nerves no end. Plus he has reverted back to his old lazy self - just when I need him the most to pick up some slack. I am still doing the majority of household chores despite him promising me he would take over! Then he has the nerve to tell me to take it easy and rest - well good one but who is going to unpack the dishwasher/do the washing/ironing etc????

Anyhoo I am sure it will pass and we will get back on track but at the moment I could quite happily strangle him.

Congratulations Mischief I am so pleased to hear of your pregnancy. Keep us posted with all the details as you go along. How exciting - another baby on this thread

Flogga - yes we will be having the baby at SJOG Bunbury. (although if I had my way I would have it at home, but no way would DH entertain that idea - boo!). I must say that at this stage (35 weeks) I am more concerned about actually being responsible for the baby rather than the birth itself. I feel well informed and have been practising my active birth positions (although its murder on the old thigh muscles) and my hypnobirthing techniques. If that all goes out the window in favour of an epidural etc then so be it. I am hoping to go with the flow. I know what the pain was like when my fibroid started to play up in week 13, and if contractions are anything like that then no amount of deep breathing is going help me!!!


Pammy and the piglets are getting into the chook pen again so its time to reconnect the electric fence - thats if I can prize DH away from the soccer.

Talk to you all soon. Stay well
Jill

[Bearskin]

Grumpy Vel - it must be going around :laughing: as I have been just filthy lately and hung up on Dave twice yesterday. Men - they just don't get how uncomfortable and hormonal pregnancy gets in these final weeks.

Flogga - your kids are gorgeous! $23 p/h for Merino ewes is just terrible; its so tough when your dams start running dry. Ours all did last summer and people were selling Merino wether lambs for $9.

Duchessa - good to hear all ok with you; you've had rain and the wool will come in handy as prices get better. We have a fair ales ourselves in the shed which Dave might sell when he gets home for this bub to arrive. Hope your home birth is great - I am so jealous as I really wanted a h/b but Dave was too scared. Re. transverse baby - I have been trying swimming, really tight bike shorts, hands and knees but baby is not turning - a friend rang tonight and told me that baby will turn when he is ready and to relax but I am getting worried about getting pushed into a C Sec as they are so quick to cut around here :(

Thought I might bite the bullet (so to speak) and show you ladies what has been growing around here:

19 weeks
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k142/Gracie123_02/ZoeMay2007002.jpg

23 weeks
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k142/Gracie123_02/ZoeMay2007023.jpg

36 weeks - OMG I'm huge!

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k142/Gracie123_02/ZoeMay2007042.jpg

I went from barely a belly to massive at about 25 weeks...people have been asking me when I am due from about 32 weeks. Dave kindly told one woman I only had 2 weeks to go when I had 6 - he is a lovely man!

Oh I am adding a pic of Zoe with her new friend Maxie - its love overkill right now and Dave will be cranky when he gets home and finds another cat around the place but Zoe loves Maxie so I think its great!

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k142/Gracie123_02/ZoeMay2007046.jpg

Cheers,

Michelle

[floggadog]

Awww Michelle, your baby bump is lovely. Wish it were me :D.
& Your gorgeous girl has grown heaps. Kitten looks like a black ball of mischief.
:fingerscrossed: bub turns for you in time.

[BiNdI86]

Wow ladies!!

I've had a LOT to catch up on:D

Well I've been MIA for a while, if I ever get on here it's only to search for something!!

It's been hectic here as Tahila just started Kindy (thurs and Fri's) and tomorrow she starts her tiny tot's dance classes:bee: (it's going to be soooo cute!)

Well her first day went excellent (a little too good for mummy's liking!!) :p

We got an interview on the Wednesday and they said she could start the next day, so we made sure we had everything organised and at 9:05 I dropped her off (they made the parents be staggered so they could talk to us one on one) and she trundled in ahead of me with her bag on her back and hat on her head ( mummy had to control herself:()

I left at 9:07:crying: I talked to the teachers then went to see Tahlia (expecting to stay for the first 20min) and Tahlia said "bye mum"

Me: "Mummy can stay if you want me to"
Tahlia: "No that's ok, bye"
Me: "you know I'm going home and I'll be back later to pick you up"
Tahlia: "I know, bye. Bye Alexis"

So I went back to the teacher and told her, then went home to my very quiet house. I must admit I got so much done and the break was good. Tahlia loves it and the teachers say she looks like she's been going for months!!

I'm so proud of my baby!! I'm relieved she took to it so well and I definately think she was ready for it. (sorry for the story, I HAD to tell you all)

The other funny thing is the '3 amigo's' as we call them.
Tahlia went to Playgroup with Luke and Taliya. We didn't tell each other about putting them in Kindy and now they are in the same class, after talking to their mum's last Friday we've all relised that they will be in the same dance class..hahahaha talk about timing!!

I'm glad everyone is happy (well..apart from preggy hormones) and well and all the babies are nearly baked (apart from mischiefs)

Bearskin: Your belly is adorable, as is Zoe!

Flogga: the pics of your munchkins are excellent. You've got a bunch of good looking babe's there. Love the bird feeding one!!

I promise I will be around more, now we're a bit more organised.

Have a great day
xx

[M O P]

:wave: ladies-

first I must say

Turn babies, turn
your exit is located at the bottom!
:fingerscrossed: are crossed for you M & S

Bindi- :yelclap: well done Tahlia

Flogga- Bindi reminded me your children were on a previous page-
they are all gorgeous- I'd hardly believe you when you say how much mischief they got up to in the holidays :devil6:

And I hear you on the terrible sheep prices-
we're selling the wethers we sent down to finish off at my parents and now we're looking at getting $35 tops - prob be more like $30 if we're lucky.
So all the effort we went to of trucking them down, Angus running back wards and forward to check on them and jabbing them with everything he could get before they went, we'll be lucky to get an extra $6 before expenses :hair:

Vel- Angus was the same around here- saying he'd do more but he only had so much time himself.
I hope you feel better soon :)

[Velouria]

Lookee Lookee at what fell out of one of our Dorpers!

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z220/velouria_pics/DSC_5260c.jpg

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of some more in the next week or so.

He is so bewdiful:cloud9: (and loud). :fingerscrossed: and toes crossed that they all have a trouble free birth like this one.

Seems like I am the last thing on our farm to give birth. Not long now (I just got freaked out by my ticker)

:wave:

[Duchessa]

Wow Bindi, what a big day for you all... I can't imagine what it will be like to send them off to school, but what a confident little girl you have raised :goodvibes:

How are you going, Bearskin, with the bub? Mine is still refusing to knuckle down. She turned breech again for most of the day today, but apart from that she has been layed out like a lazing lizard transverse, posterior with her back arched up into my stomach. My heart burn is just atrocious. re the c/sect thing - you ought to try to push to get them to let you trial by labour - I have heard so many anecdotes re babies turning during labour, and the contractions are so good for them, even if they do end up coming out via c/s... I hope he/she has turned and it isn't an issue anymore :fingerscrossed:

Vel, kick that husband up the bum for all of us :D My own needs a swift few kicks too, but he is trying in his limited, rather handicapped way, to recognise I'm pregnant. He was going to fly to Brisbane for a few meetings this week, but he did think about it and put it off... instead he is going to Melbourne via car for a couple of days, which will only put him 7 hours away at the worst - see he's rool smart :rolleyes: (I have two weeks left). Your dorpers are divine! I love them. I wanted to get some for our killing sheep, but the wool contamination thing is a no go. They really are gorgeous.

Thank you Kazza re your turning vibes :flowerz::flowerz: turn, turn. Listen up and listen good belly babes!

My girls turned 3 on Friday - we had a really lovely day together. They were just so sweet and grateful for the fuss that we made of them (it was only a small fuss, but don't tell them that!). Here's a shot of them blowing out the candles: http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa55/Imperatricks/IMG_2267-1.jpg

And my belly @ 35 wks: http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa55/Imperatricks/BellyShot35weeks.png

[M O P]

Vel- :cloud9: gorgeous!

Duchessa-
I couldn't see your pics-
but I hope your girls had a lovely day anyway :sunshine:and my fingers are still crossed for you & Bearskin :fingerscrossed:

We are gearing up for shearing-
trying to get the house back in one piece as we'll have 2 contract musters- 1 gets here tomorrow- and a child care worker :thumbsup: here for about 2 weeks.
The child care worker is part of the Outback Childcare scheme where she will live with us for 2 weeks and look after the children- and play games and do lots of things with them.
I can't wait!
I've timed it for not just shearing but BAS as well but for Hugh to have someone playing with him all day will be fantastic! :smiliedance:

[Duchessa]

I think I fixed the link...

Kazza, that two weeks of childcare sounds FANTASTIC! Do you have to waste it all on shearing? :(

[floggadog]

Hi ho, Very sturdy little lamb Vel. Congtrats. I can't wait for lambing to start. Only 9 weeks to go. Calves should start in 5-6 weeks & my heifer 'Milk' is going to be a first time Mumma.
Wow Duchessa, not long to go. I can't work out who is due first?
Kazza - you make the most of your childcare help. Also hope you manage a bit of 'you' time while you have the extra help.
Bindi - glad the first day went well. My DD was a bit like that. I still remember her first trip on the bus. She didn't even look around. I followed the bus to school & stalked her all the way to her class:o. Alyssa is in year 2 this year & Lindsay is Pre primary. 3 full days this week:smiliedance:. Only 2 more weeks til he is full time as well.

We shore our ewe lambs yesterday. So good to see them without their clothes on. They're 9 months old now & I'm going to pick out my top 50 odd for next years breeders. The ram lambs are to be shorn on Wednesday so again I can sort out the culls. Rob is out spraying Goosefoot or Mintweed or what ever you want to call it.
He is being quite attentive ATM as I cracked the sh!ts with him last week. Him reacting to feeling like cr@p (cr@p) after his Harry Butler feat & me reacting to him booking his vasectomy.
Oh well , I'm off to bed. Stayed up reading that Kathy lette book last night 'How to Kill Your Husband'. ( that had him worried too but it was coincidence...really;)) so I'm tired.
Catch you all soon.
:hugs:

PS Duchessa I can't see your pics either???

[floggadog]

Your girlies are so pretty. Beaut pic of you all on the beach too.
I love the double choc birthday cakes :)

[Bearskin]

Bindi - my heart bleeds for you! Tahlia sounds like a very confident young girl but it does break your heart. I took Zoe to childcare when she was 11 months and she just toddled off after the older kids, no kiss goodbye or anything. I was in tears and couldn't drive to work for 10 mins due to sobbing in my car.

Vel - what a cute lambie :) Have you got your bag packed yet?

Duchessa - I love the photo of you and the girls on the beach! Your girls are just gorgeous; blonde curls and butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. Have they got dad wrapped around their fingers? Sounds like your husband is trying at least but 7 hours away - you could be finished labour and back in bed before he gets home! Dave is aiming on fitting in 2 more trips to WA before the baby is born and I'm 37 weeks today....
I've got my fingers crossed that your baby gets settled into a head down position soon! I asked my OB last week about a trial of labour but he refused that option outright.

Kazza - 2 weeks of childcare will be great esp with shearing and BAS due; try and slip a day/morning/arvo in somewhere for yourself maybe too?

Flogga - Are you not keen for Rob to get the snip or did you have to push him to get it done? Dave is keen to get it done but I am reluctant as he is only 30 but I'm not that sure I want any more kids either! And we start lambing in 3 months too - I love lambing. Dave is talking about rigging up a platform with a cage on the back of the bike for a car seat for bubs so I can still check the ewes twice a day. :rolleyes: I said I'd just go in the ute although when Zoe was little I used to put her in the sling and ride (very slowly) around the ewes each day.

Well - talk about silly Dr's and Midwives...baby has not moved position for weeks; plenty of kicking but same bum poking out the top right hand side and head supposedly left bottom with back curled around the bottom of my uterus. Saw midwife 2 weeks ago and definitely transverse still. See OB last week and baby still transverse and he schedules an U/S and books external version. Have ultrasound today and sonographer tells (and shows me) that the head is down in the pelvis, bum up on the right and the hard lumpy thing on the left is hands and feet. Bub lying on his side. :smiliedance: I am damn sure baby has not moved from Thursday last week - not moved basic position for weeks! And I thought I was being silly feeling so much pressure against my cervix and bladder. So now I'm off to cancel my acupunture (Thanks for the advce Kazza!) and ECV and if Dave doesn't get home in time I might just get my freebirth (with Zoe as helper) too :laughing: Dave is so petrified I will have baby at home he wants us at the hospital after the first twinge but he's got another thin coming if he thinks he can tell a woman in labour what to do!

Right - better get to bed as its BAS tomorrow for me as Zoe in childcare for the morning. I hate doing BAS; its just so time consuming and a little boring.

Cheers,

Michelle

[Duchessa]

Just had to pop in and say "YAYAYAYAY!" - I'm so pleased Michelle :) That is such a load off - hopefully it is a good sign of a genetically wired well behaved bub :D

[Velouria]

Thats fantastic news Michelle - good little bub doing the right thing all along - what a star :yelclap:

Duchessa your girls are just so cute. Those curls and rosey cheeks, they are such stunners. You look fabbo too in your shot. I am not brave enough to post a belly shot as my stretchmarks are just vile.

Kazza - what a marvelous idea about the childcare assistance. That must really give you a nice break (and like the others, I too recommend you prioritise some time for yourself, in amongst the BAS and shearing).

Flogga - I read that Kathy Lette book on my honeymoon!!!! Just thought I would scare hubby straight off the bat.

Speaking of DH, he has picked up his act a bit more which I am pleased about. I have to get over my worry about nagging him to do things and just tell him I need it done (as that is what he complains about - that he can't read my mind to know what I need to be done around the house [although how it's not plainly obvious that the floor needs to be vacuumed etc is beyond me - must be a guy thing]) Anyhoo he is getting into major planning mode now and even said to me yesterday that he is going to stop having late nights (he stayed up til 2am to watch the soccer) just in case I go into labour. He wants to be well rested and ready to go at a moments notice. I on the other hand am quite content to let things just go at their own pace and I am not going to be flying out the door to get to the hospy as soon as I feel a twinge (like you Bearskin). Everytime I get up at night to go to the toilet he wakes up and asks me if I am alright - he really is so sweet with his worrying. He is going to freak right out when the time actually comes:eek:

We have an obs appointment this afternoon so hopefully I will get some idea of the orientation of the baby. I have no idea whats where anymore, or even if the baby is an appropriate size for dates. We have our birth plan written up , but I am not sure if we discuss it with him or just bring it to the hospy on the day. Its all a mystery to me.

Will keep you posted

Ta ta
:wave:

[BiNdI86]

ohhhh getting closer Vel :goodvibes:
I'm so excited for all the mummies to be!!
Your lambie is super cute, all though DD asked what's wrong with it's head:laughing: (I explained that it was just painted differently to it's body..LOL)

Dutchessa- your girls are stunners!! I bet daddy has the shotgun already by the door for when the boys start flocking:laughing: The beach photo is beautiful (I'm starting to feel clucky again) You are one glowing pregnant lady.

Kazza- That childcare thing sounds fantastic :smiliedance: It'll be a great break for you (even though you will be busy)

Bearskin- Yay for baby being bottom up!! I just hope Dave makes it in time..hehehe

and Flogga- :laughing: about booking the snip!!

wow, I can't believe that most of the preggy mummies are on the home stretch, yay!!

Well Tahlia had another first last week...................................

her first Dance lesson!!! She loved it and we even came home with her firstpair of tap shoes. It's so cute.

Well I'd better go (grumpy, wingey baby calling me!!)

[M O P]

Michelle :smiliedance: great news!
Also your news makes me feel not so silly as I remember saying to the Obs how my baby's head was poking out my side and she said- "no, that is it's bum" so we all get mixed up!
And you look great!(and I'm so jealous of your new looking white bathroom! I'll have to post pics one day of our very tired and very RED one)And Zoe is gorgeous :bee:

Duchessa- your girls are gorgeous too :bee:
Maybe I'm just biased but all our children are so cute!

The best thing about Outback Childcare- it is all covered under the govt childcare scheme- so the max we'll pay is $280 for the whole 2 weeks :yelclap:

Vel- glad you got your man in to gear-
I'm sure he'll be a great help to you when the big time comes!

Bindi- your DD is too cute asking about the lambie

[Velouria]

Morning all,

Ah how cute is your DD Bindi with her lamb comment! What a classic. How sweet that she is doing tap dancing too.

Well some mixed news after my obs appointment yesterday. On the positive side bubs is the right way up and is measuring correctly for its dates (huge relief that I am not going to have a whopper). Unfortunately my blood pressure is high. It was high last weekend (during my domestic issues with DH) and when I saw my GP last Monday she said to monitor it over the course of a day and fax her the results (we have a bp monitor at home). Well despite a slight rise it seemed to be ok so no action was taken. When my Obs tested me yesterday it was the highest it has ever been (158/93) and he was asking me if I have had headaches, tingling fingers visual disturbances (all of which I have had to some degree lately - but for some reason just dismissed as one of those things). Anyhoo he sent me off to have a blood test as apparently they can test for the likelihood of pre-eclampsia in your blood, and if it comes back positive then I will have to go to hospy for a little bit to be monitored. I also have to continue to monitor my bp at home and if it gets over 140/91 I am to ring him and he may tell me to come in to be admitted. What a bummer :(.

So I am just moping around the house now - bored out of my brain. There is nothing on Foxtel to watch and I have read all my books. I can't sit for any great length of time at the comp either as it hurts my back - I am a misery guts at the mo that is for sure.:gloomy:. But on the bright side I don't have that long to go now, esp as my Obs has begun to mention induction/c-section in the even of pre-eclampsia. Could be that I have a Feb baby instead of a March one - just as long as it isn't the 29th Feb!

Will keep you updated on how its all going. Send some good :goodvibes: my way.

Jill
:wave:

[BiNdI86]

awww Jill

:hugs::hugs::hugs::hugs::hugs::hugs: (sorry that's all it will let me have..LOL)

I hope you are ok and look on the bright side...hmmmmmmm.....you can get some rest before bubby comes along. (sorry, can't really think of much at the moment)


here are some lower BP vibes
(((((((( BP VIBES ))))))))


ETA: Vel, everytime I come to this thread Tahlia keeps asking to see the 'two coloured sheep' picture LOL she loves it.


ETA (again) Alexis started pulling herself to a standing position on the furniture yesterday!! woohoo!!!!!! She's growing up so fast (and thinks she is so clever!!)

[Duchessa]

Jill, that really sucks. Fingers crossed that it'll fall and everything will be ok. You are so close now! Drink heaps of water and meditate, if you can just hang in there...

Bindi, dance classes and little tap shoes sound divine :bee:

Karen, you are so right - we all have rather beautiful children, don't we? And I am so not bias :D I am moxaing madly at the moment. I had two sessions yesterday (one with the doc, then she sent me home with a stick) and I have had one today, need to do another one. I have LOTS of contractions and activity, but lil belly bub is still hiccuping in the wrong end of my torso :( I am hoping that I will wake up in the am with a head in my pelvis (though I won't be mentioning this particular fantasy to my dh :P).

[misskittyfantastico]

Hi lovely ladies:wave:

I'm in the city with a dodgy laptop, so have been pretty slack on the posting front.

Jill - I hope your BP settles, it just sucks when it goes kerflooey.....I'm sending buckets of good vibes:goodvibes::goodvibes:

Duchessa - Good vibes have been dispatched to you and your bump too - head DOWN little one!!!:goodvibes::goodvibes::goodvibes:

Michelle - Wonderful news that bubba is doing the right thing! I've run out of my allowance of good vibe smilies!

As for me and my gigantic bumparoo? Well, after seeing my OB yesterday, it seems that I'll be meeting him/her in one week! With my kidney issews it was always going to be touch and go and it looks like it's go! Bubs is engaged though and I'm a few cms dilated, so I may well (really, really, reeaaallly hope so) go into labour spontaneously.....I can't believe it will be happening so soon!

I hope everyone else is doing well, sorry I haven't done personals for everyone - I'm thinking of you all though! xxxx

[floggadog]

Hello big belly & flat belly girls,
I'm excited today as my cousin ( Duchessa, I think you've come across her - Mumof6 ) has had her 7th bub, healthy so far as I know. Oh & it's a girl. I've been in the shearing shed for most of the day & am waiting to ring her after dinner.

Jill, take it easy & remember the bigger picture. Sitting around is a small price to pay for a healthy full term bub. It's also gotta be better than sitting around in hospital. Hope everything goes well & they keep a really close eye on you.
If you feel like cr@p (cr@p), make sure you get yourself checked out ASAP.

Miss Kitty - sending you instantaneous natural going into labour :goodvibes:. Hope it all goes well.

Duchessa - spank that baby on the bottom & tell it to get head down. Is there some groovy yoga moves you can do to encourage bub?

Oh I'm gonna have to come back & finish later as I need to cook dinner & ring my cousin & get the kids bathed & fed & into bed & on & on....
back soonish;)

[M O P]

:goodvibes: Jill
yep take it easy-
trust me- not trying to sound condescending -
but after you have your baby- you'll appreciate the quiet time you get now!


I am moxaing madly at the moment. I am hoping that I will wake up in the am with a head in my pelvis (though I won't be mentioning this particular fantasy to my dh :P).
:laughing: I'm sure he'd love to share that wish Duchessa-
btw- how are you going doing your burning- Angus rigged me up a burnt paper clip that worked a treat as a holder for the stick- there was no way I could get down that far to hold it!
:fingerscrossed: still crossed for you

Bindi- :yelclap: clever Alexis

Flogga- I take you didn't get back soonish :D

[floggadog]

Flogga- I take you didn't get back soonish :D

Kazza - I sat here & tried but I was tooo stuffed.
So I'll have another go tonight but I'm already on my second pain killer in the form of a green can with nice cold stuff in it :D, my back is out between my shoulder blades & I can't wait for a male massuer to get his hands on me at 10am tomorrow morning.
Shearing is finished :smiliedance: we only have the backpackers & 2 ram lambs to shear in a couple of weeks. My house smells & I'm hot but I don't care cause all my babies from last year are naked.
Rob is out spraying again tonite as we've had strong Easterlys today & the wind has dropped now. Can you believe I had to explain Bubhub to him the other nite?:eek: So I showed him our thread & the bit where Bearskin talked about sheep prices & the bit where Duchessa talked about feed in the paddock & I explained where the rest of you were from & as at first he said 'why don't you go out & make some real friends?' :doh:
He understands now that you are all real women with real farms but he is worried cause everyone here is either preggers or with a new bub except me & he knows I'd have one in an instant. I sent him to bed then sick with explaining my cyberlife:rolleyes:.

Floggadog has excelled himself in the last few days & almost become a 'P' plate sheepdog. He is awesome in the shed & improving in leaps & bounds in the yards. If I'm walking I can use him in the paddock but I don't think he will ever be a paddock dog. Our first in command - Bevis badly broke his dew claw the other day so he is on light paddock duties & of course the old fella 'Wizz' still tries to put his 2 cents worth in but really, when the sheep are long gone & he still thinks they are there... Oh I wish he could see.
Anyone know a backyard cure for cataracts???

Hang on ... need another painkiller...whoops...drank all the geen ones...onto my BILs goon juice now . my back is feeling much better.

Right, so ...

Kazza - That CCW is a bargain. Wish I could get me one of those & spread it out to 2 days a week. But really , you deserve it. I hope your CCW is lovely & shearing goes well for you.

Bindi - Alexis is trying to stand already? How old is he now? Oh they grow up waaaayy to quickly.
Are you getting the rain I keep hearing about over there?

Bearskin - No I don't want Rob to have the snip. He cannot, mentally, handle anymore children & I cannot handle him having the snip. Whilst I don't want anymore kids ATM , I feel destined to have 4 kids of my own. But I can handle stopping at 3, I just don't know how I'll react if he has the snip & I'm not ready. My subconcious tells me I won't handle it well at all. Not yet anyway. It's harder than I thought it would be.
As for the carseat on the bike. It'd be fine...if bub was a year old, but not a newie. The ute sounds way more comfy plus there is 2 little ones not one. What if Zoe manages to get the bike moving whilst you're not on it? Naaa, stick to the ute.

TTC, Storm Angel & Mischief - hi, would love to hear from you.

OK, I've dribbled enuf. Someone elses turn...

[M O P]

:laughing: Flogga-
you tell Rob I am real (and I think I've finished having children Flogga- so stick with me & you'll be right!)

Oh- and enjoy your massagie (as Angus calls them :D)

[Velouria]

Hi ho ladies of the land,

Firstly thank you so much for your positive vibes - much needed and appreciated :hugs:

Unfortunately the blood test has come back showing I am on my way (if not already suffering from ) pre-eclampsia - BOO!!!

Looks like I may be either induced or have a c when I get to 38 weeks (the last week in Feb). It will depend on what my bp does as to whether we can afford the time to wait for an induction to work or if it will be a quick in out c-section (I am trying to be light hearted about it all and not think of all my preparations for an active, hypnobirth which is what I wanted - ah nevermind, there is always next time :thumbsup:)

Bindi - Here is a picture especially for your gorgeous daughter

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z220/velouria_pics/DSC_5225c.jpg

MissKitty - Yeehaah you are so close to seeing your baby. I am so excited for you and hope all goes well for you and your family.

Flogga - I LOVE that you have a dog called Bevis:laughing:. I have always wanted to have a pet called that (but so far have been out voted). Well done on finishing the shearing (sorry to hear your back is sore though). There are few things as satisfying to look at than a paddock full of nude sheep (not in a preverse way of course).

We had our boars castrated yesterday. All went well except Pammy has gone feral and has been attacking the piglets. We put it down to the fact that they have a different smell (due to antiseptic spray) and perhaps she is confused and thinks they aren't her own. She even started on the girls though, so we have been forced to separate them and start weaning a little earlier than expected. Poor little fellas, they go through all that drama only to have their Mummy reject them :(. Bad Pammy!

Anyhoo I am off to Donnybrook to check the post. We are waiting on a Play station coming. We bought a fancy flat screen TV and they had a promotion where you could send away for a free Playstation. It has taken forever but hopefully today will be the day!

Ta ta for now
:wave:

[M O P]

Jill- at the end of the day you will have your baby in your arms no matter which way they come out :hugs:
now go get that Playstation :fingerscrossed: and kick back and take it easy

[BiNdI86]

Jill - I bet we are the first people who you've never met who have a picture of your lamb as their computer background :laughing::laughing: (She loves it that much!!) I'm fond of the little cutie myself!

I hope you are taking it easy and enjoying your new playstation (DP is addicted) I can't believe how close it is until you meet your little bundle!! By tge way I think you are having a boy :D

Flogga - Alexis is 8 months old tomorrow :( she is growing up so fast, then again I remember when all you gal's on here were telling us you were pregnant. And yep still as wet as ever up here, not flooding mind you, but nice and wet. We got 80mm in one hour the other week (thought we were going to float away!)

Yay for MissKitty and seeing her beutiful bundle very, very soon, can't wait to hear the news and cluck over the piccys (hint, hint, nudge, nudge :pLOL)

I hope your bumps are behaving Duchessa and Bearskin, and Mischeif is not too consumed by Morning sickness!

[Velouria]

Hi everyone,

Well guess where I spent last night?? Stoopid Bp went up to 157/97 so I spent the night in hospy. Thankfully it has come back down with no ill effect on bubs. I am back to monitoring it four times a day and then reporting to my obs. If it is consistently above 140/90 then I am back in hospy, most likely until delivery.
On the plus side though my wee wee was clear and a repeated bloodtest has shown that my uric acid level (the pre-eclampsia indicator) has come down. So I am confident that there won't be a repeat performance and that I will cruise along nicely until delivery :fingerscrossed:

BINDI - I can post another 5 more piccies of the wee lambies as we have had a run of births this weekend (1 boy and 4 girls so far). You could do a montage for your computer:D. BTW - I also think I am having a boy too - I get that vibe somehow

Thanks everyone for your good vibes. I agree completely with you Kazza, about the end result being the most important factor, rather than the delivery itself. Obviously I would like to do it as planned, but after seeing my sister come out the other side of a cesarean without any probs I am much more relaxed about it. The only thing I do still worry about is being induced and having it all happen too fast for me to be able to cope with the pain. But I know my options for pain relief and I am not going to be a hero.


Good news re- Pammy and the piglets. They are back playing happy families again, just in time for us to separate them for weaning mind you, but we are glad she isn't holding a grudge.

Take care everyone
Jill:wave:

[BiNdI86]

oh also I forgot to tell you guys.............................................. ............

I'm the President of the Kindy Committee at DD's Kindy :doh: (only remembered that I haven't told anyone on here after reading PoshBecks thread)

The exact same thing happened to me, I had to go (Trent stayed home) I didn't want to be a committee member (no one else did either it seems:laughing:)

Then some how I ended up as President, I came home and told Trent I was going to resign the next day:o because the old president was a power hungry B!tch who scared the be-jeebers out of me, telling me that I owned the center now (what the hell was she smoking:confused:) and I have to tell the Director of the center that I AM THE BOSS NOT HER.

Five different parents came up to me the next day and said that she was a psycho :laughing:

It should be fun and it will be a great chance to meet new people....will fill you guys in on how it all goes.

Talk care everyone and hope you all have a great day.

xx Bindi

[M O P]

hey Bindi Mrs Presidento :D
don't you love the whole no one else is doing it so I will

Jill- :hugs: sorry you ended up in hospital

MissK- thinking of you :goodvibes:

We start shearing tomorrow, I can hear all the team rocking up tonight- can hear techno music :rolleyes:
Angus has taken off down to my parent's to get his wethers on a truck first light Thurs but I think in the end he does have someone looking at them on property tomorrow as well.

Most importantly though-
Mary- my saviour :flowerz: has arrived and
Hugh & Pearl love her :bee:

[Bearskin]

Good work Bindi - nothing like a dictatorship! The last president sounds like a nutter. Thats why I vowed to never go to kinder meetings/AGM's even to 'make up numbers'. The b@stards still roped me in last year....nominated me for committee anyway 'in my absence'. Cheeky!

MissK - hope all is good and you and bub are healthy and bub is ready to come out soon.

Vel - sorry to read you have been in hospital but good news that your urine is all clear. Remember - back on the couch even if you start nesting and want to suddenly clean out the pantry or pot plants!

Duchessa - hope all is travelling well and bub is ready to go.

Flogga - I know what you mean about the vas/snip; Dave is keen to get one and although I don't want any more children ATM I might change my mind in a couple of years and the snip is so final. As women we have to right to change our mind constantly and know what we want all at the same time! As for online friends, Dave came in here one night and looked at everyone's photos of their farms/stock and understood who I talk about sometimes :) He said he's like to see some more machinery though....

Kazza - I hope this shearing mob is better than last year's nasty lot! Thank god Hugh and Pearl love your nanny too - that will make life easier for you over the next 2 weeks. Have you got to cook for the shearers or have they brought their own cook? I love cooking for shearers but for us its only smoko and lunch, not breakfast and dinner as they don't stay on farm. They all try so hard not to swear during lunch if I'm in the shed...then Dave walks in and lets rip with the language and its open slather. Zoe's already taken up the challenge with letting 'F**k' drop :( I tried to explain to Dave the more he says it the more she will but he thinks it funny now.

Here's my news for the week - Zoe has toilet trained herself! She just started sneaking off, taking off her nappy and going on the potty. She has been in undies ever since (except for night/sleeps) and went to childcare today in undies and no accidents. She's clearly a child prodigy :laughing:

Better go and finish packing my hospy bag....I bet you all I go to 42 weeks and Duchessa, Vel and MissKitty will all have their babies and I'll be lugging this stomach around till mid March :laughing:

[floggadog]

Morning all. I'm sitting here sipping on my plunger coffee, Alyssa & Lindsay at school & Olliver being entertained by Telly monster, although not sucessfully.
The weather is cool ATM & TBH I don't think we've had summer yet. I'm sure March is going to be a stinker for heat.Rob has finished off his spraying & is carting the hay we bought from various hay customers. We sold 56 of my ewes on Monday to the abotoir, The buyer offered us $1 a kg dressed weight, but they take a guess of the weight on farm. Well I thought they weighed more than the 70 kg he quoted us & out them over the scales. The skinny ones were 70-75kg & some of the heaviest were 95kg.He wouldn't take the skinny ones. I whinged to Rob that we were getting ripped off & he said the ab's don't take them over 70kgs as they won't fit in their boxes:rolleyes:. Still think we were ripped off but at least we're not feeding them anymore. A few of my old semi pet ones went too:(.
Alyssa's teacher rang last night to let me know Alyssa will be getting a merit certificate at the assembly today . That's my girl :D. As for school P&C 's or kindy commities etc. I refuse to get involved whilst I still have a little one at home. Too hard to organise care for Olliver & the others at meeting times. Plus we have plenty of opinionated pushy mums at our school without me putting my 2 cents worth in. NOT saying that you are any of those things Bindi . As you said, you went under protest, but it sounds like you're going to have to let that side of you shine so you can be heard. Congratulations Ma am.
I spent Friday & Saturday clucking over my cousin & her sweet baby girl. She is absoloutley gorgeous . I took my good camera in & we managed about 100 photos of her & her Mumma in an afternoon. Her name is Chevelle . Her birth weight, 8lb 7oz, was exactly the same as Alyssa so it was wonderful to hold a bub so similar to size as my first.

Bearskin - I agree with you 100% we do have the right to change our minds constantly. It's called a womans perogative, which is a word I love cause Rob doesn't understand what it means;).
Anyway - no more mention has been made of the snip & I think I'll end up telling him I can't go through with it, not to be a b!tch, just because I'm not ready. As for machinery photos - pfft what does Dave think we do? Talk about farming?
I've got a great pic of Robs tractor which he nearly rolled into the dam, I'll scan it later & show you,
'Yay Zoe' on the TT front. I let mine find their own way around TT & had no stress involved at all. As for your big belly - sheep work in the sheep yards broke my water everytime. Heaving my huge ar$e over the fences & squatting down worked a treat.
Kazza - Did you know if I shortened your new name I'd have to call you MOP? Sorry , it just came to me.BTW, did I ever tell you that Pearl was my Great Nannas' name? It has always been on my girls name list & I'm so glad someone I know has Pearl as her name.
now... Kazza - So very happy your CCW has turned out to be a gem. & with Mary as a name she's sure to be genuine. Are the quarters very close to your house? How many head do you have to shear? How many stand is your shed?
Vel - Were you trying out the hospy bed before your little holiday? :p I hope you're still going along OK. How's the playstation? I refuse to have one in my house. My DSS has to visit a friend halfway through his stay to get his fix.
As for being induced, my water broke with my second but I had only mild contractions, so they put me on the drip, much to my disgust. They had the dose very low & I still took 10 hours to have him. It wasn't the hard thumping contractions I've heard about with the drip.
Just make sure you & Hubby are well informed & your hubby has a very clear idea of what you want as when you're in labour you may not be able to think clearly about what you do & don't want.
I'll never forget going through the transition with Olliver & being in 'the zone' & the Bl00dy ,midwife was asking what I wanted for breakfast. I can remember thinking "WTF?" or something along those lines.

Oh well, I've written another essay. See? who needs That's Life mags when you've got our thread:laughing:.
Off to clean up Lindsays room. He gave me clear instructions that I was to have it done by the time he came home. He's just like his father.

[M O P]

Flogga- we have a six stand shed and about 4000 sheep to shear- some didn't turn up :rolleyes:
:( for your semi pets
So glad I've made your week by being someone you know with a Pearl! :D
Michelle- they have their own cook :yelclap:
but of course there are 5 adults here to feed as well.

Mary is just fabulous!! :smiliedance:
Not only do Hugh & Pearl think the world of her she is also happy to grab a broom or tea towel, so I love her too!
She can move in!
She loves babies!!

ETA- incase anyone has missed this-
http://www.bubhub.com.au/community/forums/showthread.php?t=156268

congratulations Steph, John & Millie on the birth of your new little farmer

[floggadog]

congratulations Steph :hugs:,
Thanks Kazza, I would have missed it :D

[BiNdI86]

:babydust2:Congratulations Steph and Family!!!:babydust2:

Can't wait to hear details and see pictures of the new cutie!!

[Velouria]

:flowerz: Yeah MissKitty!!! :cloud9:



Huge :hugs: for you and your family.





I may be joining you sooner than I thought, as I was in hospital again due to my bp (this time 160/100) which is a bit scary. Dr did a check and I am already 1cm dilated and 3/4 effaced. Babies head is engaged so looks like we are locked and loaded :p. If bp does not settle then I will be induced sometime next week!

Confined to bed until my next appointment with him on Monday morning (apart from a quick browse on the Hub - Dh is at work and I won't tell him if you guys don't :D)

Will keep you posted.

Keep well and keep happy everyone

:wave:

[floggadog]

You'll get through this Jill :hugs:
You just rest up & don't read any blood pressure raising threads ;)
When is your Due date?

[Bearskin]

Congrats Steph, John and Millie on your new arrival :hugs: Hope you are well, bubs is well and everyone is loving your new addition.
Look forward to seeing some pics of the little one.

Vel - you do as you are told and stay in bed! I'm sure everything will be okay and your little one will be here soon, happy and healthy. :hugs: Looks like the ball has started rolling anyway so I've got my fingers crossed you go into labour soon.

Kazza - 4000 sheep to shear; thats a big job. Do Angus and the IL's work in the sheds as well? Where we used to lease had the best shed ever with raised boards so picking up the fleece and sweeping was so much easier than picking it up off the floor - I loved working in that shed.

Flogga - plunger coffee! I am jealous :) As for the abbs, we sold 600 lambs over the hooks a couple of years ago on forward contract and once they weighed over a certain amount we got less per kilo as it had something to do with the OHS guidelines and heavy dressed weights. :rolleyes:
Good work on Alyssa getting an award of school - that must be lovely to watch.

As for me, the stupid OB tells me on Wednesday that bubs is transverse. Cannot find the head (maybe baby is headless??) so decided to do an internal to see if he can find it. Never again is that man putting his hands on me - he was so rough and I'm scooting backwards on the bed to get away from his hand - it was like I was an AI ewe :(
Anyway so he books me in for an ECV the next day with the other OB in town even though I insisted that bubs was head down due to extra pressure on bladder and cervix, hadn't felt bub move sideways or position etc and he tells me no, baby is transverse.
Get to hospy Thursday monring; the other OB sees me in the labour ward, has a feel and tells me that bub is head down and no need for ECV. Really? The midwife and I had a laugh (she is my ABA group leader) as we both think my original OB has no idea what the hell he is doing. Hope he doesn't come to my labour anyway - the mids only call them in an emergency.

Dave is home Sunday and that should be his last long haul trip until after the baby is born. It better be anyway!

Mum has been staying with me all week and had a fit tonight as Zoe and I took off on the motorbike so the doggies could have a run and swim. She sprung me trying to harrow the horse paddock - honestly all these things are going to bring on labour I tell her!

Right - better go and finish my BAS as I get to see our ordinary accountant on Wednesday and tell him he is getting the sack for doing such a crappy job. Dave wont come with me the sook!

Cheers,

Michelle

[Velouria]

Hey ho,

Well ladies the time has come.......I am meeting my baby tomorrow :cloud9:

Obs is going to induce tomorrow morning as bp is still high, plus now there is protein in my wee, plus there is not a great deal of amniotic fluid around the baby which is another indicator of the pre-eclampsia starting to effect the baby

I am excited and nervous at the same time, but quite relieved that there is an end date to this worry over my bp. Unfortunately the chances of having an active birth have been reduced as both baby and I will need more careful monitoring, plus the obs is recommending an early epi to reduce my blood pressure.

So next time I talk to you all I will be a Mum :). I will ask my sister to post details of the baby when she gets a chance (and possibly a photo or two).

Good luck to you Bearskin and Duchessa incase you have your little ones whilst I am offline.

Thanks to you all for your support and well wishes too. I have really appreciated it :hugs:.

On an unrelated note - one of our ewes has suspected mastitis (or a blocked teat). We are having the vet come round to take a look at her as her udder is really swollen and her lambie is not thriving (its a bag of bones really). Hopefully the vet can fix her up as I don't know how we could manage a newborn and bottle feeding a lambie at the same time. We may have to farm her out to a friendly local lady who takes in all manor of animals to look after. The trials and tribulations of farm life - it never ends


Stay well, stay happy

Jill:wave:

[floggadog]

Goodluck
Jill & Mr Jill
:babydust2::babydust2::babydust2::babydust2:
Can't believe it's nearly time
best wishes
to you both.
Will be waiting to hear your news
:hugs:


oh & I hope your ewe gets better;)

[M O P]

:flowerz:Jill- I have only just read your post so you will be a Mummy by now :bee:
I hope it is all going well.:hugs:
How exciting :smiliedance:


Michelle- we have a full contract team for shearing so all we have to do is keep sheep up and back line them afterwards.
This team is so slow- but they are doing a good job so I shouldn't complain too much.

Yesterday the blokes came in for lunch complaining how the team is slow and even slower as they were down a shearer due to him being laid up in bed with a toothache-
so the ex dental assistant in me came out.

I went over and saw the poor guy- face swollen out the side. He's from WA, not in his own area.
So I got him to come over to our house and rang the RFDS Dr in Broken Hill who prescribed him 2 lots of antibiotics and some pain killers- there is a house near us that has a RFDS chest so they gave me all the numbers, I sent him back to bed and drove over to get all the drugs.

:yelclap: the RFDS- he is back at work this morning

[floggadog]

Kazza - well done on your dentist/nursing of your shearer. I agree, yay RFDS.
As for slow shearers, I'd rather that than sheep cut to ribbons. I'm not up with how contract paying works but I'm hoping it's not costing you more for the rousies & woolclasser.
Anyway, gotta take the kids to the bus. TTFN :)

[BiNdI86]

:goodvibes:Congratulations Jill!!! (and Mr Jill as well :laughing:)

I hope your new bundle is settling in nicely and that motherhood is coming naturally (of course it is, you will be a fantastic mum:hugs:)

Can't wait to hear the details and I hope you ewe's boobies are fixed and lambie is thriving.

[misskittyfantastico]

Hi lovely ladies:wave:

Just popping my head in to say g'day and let you know how we're getting on.

Hamish has just been a dream so far - soooooo different to Millie, she came out screaming, and just didn't stop! Hamish, in a word, is content. He's feeding really well and letting us get some sleep, so all is good - we'll keep him:p

Here's a link to some piccies and I've posted a birth story, for those that are interested.

http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m236/misskittyfantastico_2006/Hamish%20Joseph/

Jill - You're a mummy!!!:smiliedance::yelclap::smiliedance: I can't wait to hear all the details!

Duchessa - Congratulations on the arrival of Saskia! (I've been lurking in the homebirth thread) You're an absolute superstar, I can't wait to hear your birth story!

Michelle - I hope you and bubba are travelling well, that OB sounds like a right idiot!

Lots of love to you all

Sxxxxx:hugs:

[floggadog]

Beautiful pics Miss Kitty, You have a beautiful family. Glad to hear he is sleeping well. I found my boys to be way more cuddly & placid than my daughter, well the first boy anyway :rolleyes:.

Has anyone heard news from Jill?
I look everyday but nothing yet.

And...

CONGRATULATIONS
Duchessa
& Mr Duchessa
&
Miss Duchessas
on the arrival
of your new babe.
:babydust2::babydust2::babydust2:

[M O P]

:flowerz: babies everywhere :smiliedance:

congratulations Duchessa! :sunshine:

[Bearskin]

You're right Kazza -babies everywhere :yelclap:

Beautiful pics Steph; you look radiant and Hamish is just gorgeous. Millie looks so cute holding her brother. Your DH sounds like he was a tower of strength during the labour too - your birth story made me cry.

Jill - I hope all is ok and you are having a wonderful time with your new baby and that your labour was safe and healthy.

Duchessa - congrats on the birth of Saskia. I am in awe of your footling breech unattended homebirth - you did a fantastic job. Hope you are resting well and all ok.

No baby here yet and not feeling like it will be for a while yet - but at least Dave is staying close to home now.

[Mischief]

Sorry Im so irregular in this thread!

I pop my head in to say hi and there are new babies jumping out everywhere! :D

CONGRATULATIONS TO MISS KITTY and DUCHESSA, JILL I hope your bub is here too!! :)

WOW! :) Stop making me clucky! LOL... Ohh... TOO LATE! :)

[misskittyfantastico]

I just saw this in the March birth announcements

"Velouria wants to let you know that Owen David was born at 2151, 26/2 weighing 6pd 13oz. Both mum and bub are well (and i'm an aunty!!!)"

Congratulations Jill and welcome Owen David!!!!!:hugs::smiliedance::goodvibes:

[M O P]

thanks Steph- and Jill's sister!

[Mischief]

Yay! Congratulations! Oh and I LOVE the name Owen..! :D

[floggadog]

Yay
Jill & mr Jill
Congratulations
on the
safe arrival of
Owen
nice size too
:babydust2::babydust2::babydust2::babydust2:

[Duchessa]

Hello lovelies :)

There is far too much excitement in this thread!!

Jill, well done YOU for carrying your boy through such a tricky time. I am over the moon for you. xx

Steph, congratulations on the arrival of your little boy Hamish. You have a beautiful and very happy looking family. You don't exactly look like you have just given birth there, girl! Gorgeous:flowerz:

And thank you all for the kind words re the arrival of Saskia :goodvibes: She is just blooming, and of course, gorgeous. I have just put up her birth story with some photos linked to it. I felt a bit sheepish about posting it, but in the light of it being Homebirth Awareness year, I thought I should try to do it justice.

Michelle, I can't believe your horrible ob. I so hope he isn't around on the big day and I'm so glad that the nice one reconfirmed babe's position. Can't wait for your news :D

[Nex]

How did I miss this thread for so long?

Dunno about you but as happy as we've been about the rain and the grass, we've been stressing about the Drought assistance ending for us in March....But got a letter the other day to say it's been extended until september! YAY!:D

Ordinarily I'd have been philosophical about it and gone out and got a job, but as I'm due yesterday it was looking a bit hairy as we have no other income at the moment. Even DH's cattle money from the family trust is being held back to pay bills there...necessary but hard to take...isn't he worth paying too?

It's lovely to see the cows getting fat and satiny, especially the blacks, they are so shiny in the sun and I love to see them. After getting so thin and dull over winter last year.

[M O P]

:wave: Nex!
I don't know how you missed us either :D

D- I have read your amazing birth story-
you should not feel sheepish at all-
:yelclap: you should be very proud!

[Mischief]

*clears thoat* I would like to announce that ALL the women on our little farm are PREGNANT! LOL

Its official, my dad took a look at the cows yesterday and said they are definately pregnant, and he would say they only have about 4 weeks till they calf. :) Its very exciting, our 3 will become 5! :)

LOL

[Nex]

Did you all know that a cow and a woman are remarkably similar?

Cycles are the same..about 28-30 days
Gestation is the same length...9 months
IVF technicians often come from the Vet embryo field and/or are trained on cattle embryos because they are so similar to humans.
Cows get all dopey and placid in the last stages of their pregnancy. Often we can tell which cows are in calf simply by the way they are acting. My DH says my pregnancy brain is affecting me the same way.
Lactation in cows has been studied extensively. Why hasn't lactation in humans?
Colostrum is essential for a calf, and a baby. We've had hand reared calves who miss out on colostrum and then get fed on calf formula. They never seem to do as well. Guess who'll be breastfeeding!

[Duchessa]

Ha ha - one of our dairying mates has an embryologist friend who is specialist in bovine embryology who has offered to sex some embryos for them (they have 3 boys) and for us (we have 3 girls) and do all the flushing, implanting etc... Generous offer, but fortunately "we", well ME, ain't interested in a fourth, and that generous offer didn't make it any more attractive :laughing::laughing:

[Mischief]

Duchessa - Very funny! :) I could state the obvious, 3 brides for 3 brothers! LOL :D Hubby has some friends who had 4 boys called Black, and had friends called White who had 4 girls!

[Mischief]

Oh and Nex, I know exactly what you mean about the breast feeding. We have lost many a lamb who was orphaned at birth and couldnt have the colostrum. Same with calves, if they dont get those first few days at the very least they never thrive!

[M O P]

Duchessa-
I'm really disappointed that after the wonderful birthing experience with Saskia you're not prepared to do it all over again :laughing:

I think I put on here once before the recipe for colostrum- well a substitute.
Next time you do a killer, save the blood,
leave it over night- apparently- haven't actually done it myself- the white blood cells will float to the top-
you skim that part off and freeze it-
then when you have an orphan inject it in to them.

I have no luck either with orphans who've missed out on colostrum- they will go a few days then that's it.:(

[Nex]

I think I put on here once before the recipe for colostrum- well a substitute.
Next time you do a killer, save the blood,
leave it over night- apparently- haven't actually done it myself- the white blood cells will float to the top-
you skim that part off and freeze it-
then when you have an orphan inject it in to them.

I have no luck either with orphans who've missed out on colostrum- they will go a few days then that's it.:(

That's a new one for me! And do-able too as often we have the orphan because we've had to shoot the mother :no:

I've heard of raw egg as a colostrum substitute, but to my mind that just gives them chicken antibodies! I try to get some colostrum to have on hand in the freezer from the local dairies but it's not always available.

I'll be collecting some blood in future!

[Bearskin]

Jill - congrats on the birth of your boy; I'm looking forward to reading your birth story.

Right - I'm off to the hospy in an hour or 2 40+3 days and contractions every 5 mins apart so am letting Dave sleep now and going into the shower before waking him up. I am SUCH a nice wifey!

I reckon harrowing the horse paddocks on the motorbike this evening did the trick :laughing: Mum was horrified and yelling at me from the house but what's a girl to do when there is horse poo everywhere and might be going away for a few days?

Hopefully I'll have some news in the next few days - I wont bother trying to get Dave to log on and update you all as he has no idea!

[floggadog]

Goodluck Michelle. Hope everything goes well.
Will be awaiting your news.

[misskittyfantastico]

Oooooh!! A baby bearskin! :smiliedance::yelclap:
I'll be thinking of you. I hope all goes wonderfully and can't wait to hear the news! :goodvibes::flowerz:

[Mischief]

Goodluck Bearskin, thinking of you! :D XXOO

[Velouria]

Hello all,

Just a quick post as I am on my hubbies laptop STILL IN HOSPITAL!!! We are now at day 11 and I am just about at the end of my rope. We have had to deal with attachment problems, supply problems, jaundice and now possibly lactose intolerance. I will fill in the details if/when I ever get out of here, but it looks like we shall be hitting the two week mark in hospy. Owen is not putting on any weight and doing really runny green poos so they suspect he may have a problem with my milk. I am having to express for 5 mins prior to each feed to get rid of my foremilk as they think I have an over supply, plus due to my largish boobies and flat nipples I have to breastfeed using three pilllows, a rolled up flannel and a nipple shield!!!! To be honest I am seriously beginning to consider formula as I am so sick of all thhe hassle of breastfeeding.

I will post details of the birth when I get home and i am sorry but I am not able to read any of your birth stories as I am on dial up which takes forever, but huge congratulations to all the new Mums on this thread, I really hope you are enjoying your precious bundles.

Sorry this is a bit of a whinge post but I really miss the farm and my dogs and just want to be out of here, but at the same time I want to take my son home healthy. Owen is a little cutey and when he is well fed is easy to settle. I worry about him all the time and spend vast sums of time just staring at his cute little face. Pictures will follow I promise.

Take care all and hopefully I will be back on line from home in a few days.

Jill

[floggadog]

Hi Jill, so good to hear from you. The first few weeks when everything is supposed to be 'just a learning curve' can be so bl00dy heart wrenching. But guess what - it won't stop there. If it comes to it & you have to bottle feed - hold your head up & know you're doing the best you can to keep your baby healthy & gaining weight. In a few years time no one will know by looking at him how he was fed. My first had trouble with my flat nipples as well. I ended up with one nice Midwife giving me a nipple shield & laying on my side tummy to tummy with bub. She fed properly for the first time like this at 20 hours old.
Are you having advice from midwives or Breast feeding consultants or ABA? If you can get advice from one specialist & stick to their help you'll probably get alot further than conflicting advice from 6 midwives. If you can't or haven't get your hubby to ring the Australian breastfeeding assoc in Bunbury & get their advice.
Big hugs & hope it all comes together for you soon :hugs:
& congrats to you be great to see you're pics when you get home & can post them.

[Bearskin]

Hi All :)

William Robert arrived at 1.40pm Thursday weighing 7pd 12 after the cheeky monkey decided to turn fully posterior just before entering the birth canal and presented face/forehead first - very painful! Had to get some help at the end to get him out after over an hour of pushing and trying everything to get him to turn around but he finally made it!

I got my physiological/natural third stage too and we had over an hour of skin to skin contact until I delivered the placenta with the cord still attached - even though the OB was very angry about it and thought it was 'stupid'...but I'll put more detail in my birth story :)

Vel - I agree with Flogga - contact the ABA or an LC . Those first few weeks of BFing can be so hard for mum and bub and it really is a learned skill. You are doing your best and don't forget that - hope you get home soon and Owen and you can sort out your feeding.

I'll post some pics later - I've got one very jealous 2 year old ATM and the poor little sweetheart is struggling so she needs some extra attention.

Michelle

[floggadog]

Congratulations
Bearskin Mr Bearskin
&
Miss Bearskin
on the arrival of
Willam Robert
:babydust2::babydust2::babydust2:


Glad to hear he's safe in his Mumma's arms:D
Your birth story sounds intriguing.

(trying to concentrate here but having trouble with kids wanting to have emoticons explained:rolleyes:)

Couple of things to try for your jelous one - a doll with it's own nappys & bottle with dissapearing milk so she can be like Mum.
Giving her important jobs like handing you the nappies, burp rag, hanging babies clothes up.
If you have a toy library nearby - put it into use so she has special things every week.
& of course,as you will be doing already,lots of cuddles, book reading for just her & one on one time .

Well that's our little run of farm bubs over for now.
Still 2 to go this year I think????? Mischief & (feeling really rude cause I can't remember her name) Mum to be in SA. Oh & reading back is Nex preggers as well???

Hi Nex, glad to have another farming mumma here.:)

As for orphan lambs & calves, can't say I've had the same devastating results. We always make the full cream milk, egg, cod liver oil & propel glycol mix (even pentavite) & the little ones do brilliantly. I try & keep fresh colostrum in the freezer but only use it on the really sick ones.
Gee that reminds me - only 6 weeks til lambing.

[misskittyfantastico]

feeding, xcuse the dodgey typing!

YAY michelle! Welcome William:yelclap::hugs: So glad you got the birth you wanted!

With the gorgeous 2 year old - I've stored some little toys and stickers for when I'm feeding...we blow bubbles too


Vel - my hugs and love to you - I hope all improves soon, well done mumma for all your perseverence thus far:hugs:

Hamish aka Hammers:p has fed ALL day, he generally feeds every 2 hous round the clock, but today has been full on!

Nex - welcome! I hope your bub comes soon!

xxxxx

[M O P]

Michelle, Dave & Miss Z
:yelclap: Congratulations
I hope you're all doing very well and welcome William Robert- can't wait to see your pics and hear all about it.

:hugs: Jill- hang in there- it will get easier
It was 9 weeks before I was feeding Hugh properly and without pain- it was a very long 9 weeks-
but after that it was easy- and even easier with Pearl-
but as Flogga said- you are trying your hardest and that is all you can do-
if you end up going down the formula route- it certainly wouldn't be from a lack of trying



I'll be collecting some blood in future!
I forgot to say Nex to defrost the concoction first but you prob worked that bit out.

Steph- I had a little chuckle that Hamish is already Hammers- one of Angus' great mates at school is Hammer- although now he's an adult he's mainly Hamish`

[floggadog]

Hiya,
I'm feeling sorry for myself today, suffering a crappy headcold that some toddler sneezed onto my babe a week ago :mad:.
I'm also sad as DD's pretty pony died last Friday.:( I miss him so much. He had such a beaut nature & was like another fur kid to me. DD is OK. I don't think she really became very attached to him. Rob buried him on Saturday & we held a 'funeral' on Sunday & had a picnic next to his & our other passed pets graves.
My old mare only just noticed yesterday that he wasn't there. She has a thing with the bull ATM so wasn't paying him much attention.
On the upside my gorgeous (well I think she is) heifer Milk surprised us with a pretty little red heifer calf at her feet on Sunday. We thought she wasn't due for a while but clearly she was with the bull earlier than we thought.
I might get around to posting pics later, my head hurts to much ATM.
Oh well, I might try & get Olliver down for a sleep & go to bed for a while myself.
Hope all your beautiful bubs & yourselves are happy & well.
Take care :hugs:

[M O P]

:hugs: Flogga

[Velouria]

Hi ho lovely ladies,

We are finally home :smiliedance: after 14 days in hospital. Boy what dramas we have had, but thankfully we appear to be making progress. Owen is now putting on weight and his poos are that lovely mustard yellow colour. Feeding has improved and now that I am home I have dispensed with two of my pillows and the flannel - but still need the nipple shield though, but Owen is used to it now. I am on some medication to encourage my milk supply and at the moment it feels like it is either a feast or a famine, but I have been assured that it will settle down.

I was going to write a more substantial post and perhaps even write up our birth story but Owen is asleep and given the night we had last night I think I should grab a nap myself before he wakes up again.

Congrats to you and your family Bearskin on your baby boy. I am looking forward to seeing photos too (I will post some of Owen next time I promise)

Off for a nanna nap now
:wave:

[floggadog]

Glad to hear you & Owen are home Jill & he is putting on weight. You sound very relieved to be back on your farm.

I'm sure I'm overposting here :o. But I wanted to share some pics while I'm on photobucket.
So here we go...

Alyssa (http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u40/floggadog/alyssaatjordisfuneral.jpg) & her special cross she painted for her pony. At his funeral.
Milk (http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u40/floggadog/Milkchocmilk2.jpg) & her baby Chocmilk (http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u40/floggadog/Chocmilkdrinking.jpg).
Olliver (http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u40/floggadog/Olliverinmyute.jpg) in my feed ute.
Olliver & Lindsay (http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u40/floggadog/OlliverLindsayfencing.jpg) fencing.
Alyssa Lindsay & Rob (http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u40/floggadog/Robkidsfencing.jpg) fencing.

There is never any pics of me as I'm always behind the camera:D

now I wanna see baby pics:yes:

[M O P]

:hugs: glad you're home Jill and things are improving for you both-

by all means- have a nap-
every chance you get- have a nap :yes:
can't wait to see your photos

Flogga-
:no: you're not over posting and I really liked your photos!

[misskittyfantastico]

What gorgeous kiddies you have, flogga......that picture of Olliver in the ute is just priceless!

I'm sorry to hear about Alyssa's pony:( and I hope that you're feeling better.:hugs:...oh, definately NOT overposting!

Vel - You bloody legend! :yelclap: I'm so glad to hear that Owen is doing so well - what a clever mummy he has. It must be lovely being home! And yes...nap!

We're doing pretty well here - The sleepless nights are catching up with me a bit and Millie is pretty demanding (what 2 1/2 year old isn't?) at times, but we're getting there!

We're lambing atm, so lots of cuteness to be found! Hopefully we won't lose too many.

Here are a couple of kiddy pics

Hamish
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m236/misskittyfantastico_2006/DSC04026.jpg

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m236/misskittyfantastico_2006/DSC04025.jpg

Millie
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m236/misskittyfantastico_2006/DSC01229.jpg her "camera" smile

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m236/misskittyfantastico_2006/DSC01239.jpg

I can't wait to see the beautiful new bubs!

xxxx

[Velouria]

Hello all,

Just had a visit from the CHN and Owen is now 3051g which is another gain of 31g -woo hoo :smiliedance:

I finally got around to posting our birth story too and some piccies. Speaking of piccies - how cute is Hamish :cloud9: what a darling. Flogga loved your happy snaps too. The look of concentration on Oliver's face in the ute is priceless

Misskitty - I loved reading Hamish's birth story. I was suprised that Millie's birth was almost a carbon copy of Owen's (except I tore and you had an episiotomy). I only hope I can have a similar birth experience with my second as you did with Hamish

Duchessa - I have never read a more inspirational and emotional birth story. You were so brave and confident throughout. Well done and I loved the photos (esp of your daughter holding Saskia - what beautiful curls she has)

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and well wishes. I think we are on track now and that despite the initial hurdles we shall be just fine. You are all such a great source of encouragement and advice, and I thank you sincerely for your words of wisdom (as no doubt I shall be relying on your guidance in the weeks/months to come)


:wave: Jill

Some more piccies of my wee darling

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z220/velouria_pics/DSC_5651.jpg

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z220/velouria_pics/DSC_5655.jpg

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z220/velouria_pics/DSC_5676.jpg

[M O P]

Jill-
isn't it amazing how excited you can get over a few grams when your new born's being weighed?
:yelclap: good boy Owen- you gorgeous little guy!
I love the pic with his hand next to his face :cloud9:

Steph- :yes: your 2 are so cute too! :bee:
Have you tried Master H in his new nappies yet??

[Duchessa]

Awww Jill, what a lovely looking little boy you have! I love that shot of him on your knees :bee: You did such an awesome job under duress - he's a little ripper mate! What Kazza said about the boobying - it takes a long time. With the girls it took a good 3 months, though things have been a lot easier this time around.

Thank you for your comments re the birth story - it seemed so pedestrian and unremarkable at the time - so normal! It is kinda strange to get such beautiful feedback :)

Steph, those kids look terrific! Hamish looks like he is going to grow up a character :D And Milly is so growed up already!

Flogga, that is so sad re Alyssa's pony :( Awful. The photo of her with the cross is lovely. And the one of Oliver in the fencing ute is a classic!

Nex, congratulations on the birth of your little girl (hope you don't mind me breaking the news in here :D) - she is gorgeous. HOpe your boobs are settling down.

Me an' me lil' mate Sas are going gangbusters. She is feeding really well and I'm having a ball with her - tis so nice to bond with just the one. She put on over 500gs in the first fortnight! LIttle piglet :D John is OS for the week so this is my test - can I survive with 2 x cranky 3y/os and one two weeker... It has been three days and no one is dead or even injured yet!

Here's a shot of the three girls, Bonnie, Saskia and Freya.
(http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa55/Imperatricks/IMG_2673.jpg)
Saskia a week old. (http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa55/Imperatricks/IMG_2646.jpg)

[M O P]

Duchessa- I hope you are coping on your own-
actually that is dumb question-
I know you'll be doing just great!
Your girls are just gorgeous!

[BiNdI86]

Hi everyone :wave:

I've finally found some time to get back to this thread.

*please don't ask about presidency, I think I'm going to kill someone or something*

What absolutly stunning baby pictures everyone!! (and of your kidlets too Flogga:p)

Vel- Yay for William putting on the beef:smiliedance:

MissKitty, I can't believe how much Hamish has grown since I last saw photo's and Millie's 'camera' smile is so cute, it gave me the giggle I needed!

Dutchessa - well it's taken me this long to say it, but..... WOW your birth story is amazing and I just can't find the right words to describe how strong and inspiring you are:hugs:( yep it's taken me that long to still be speechless:laughing:)

You are all such amazing women and I hope everyone is having a good day,

well I have to go, got to see what D1 and D2 are fighting about.:hair:

[BiNdI86]

I hope everyone had a


:babydust2:
:babydust2:HAPPY EASTER:babydust2:
:babydust2:


We had a great time and the kids had a ball. Got my cousin coming to stay for a while (she's gone off the tracks a bit and giving her mum breakdown #2) so we're trying to give them a hand and see if we can get K to clear her head a bit and grow up (she's 20 acting like a spoilt 12yr old:banghead:)

So a few weeks of hard labour in the middle of a paddock should knock some sense into her LOL.

[M O P]

Wow Bindi- that is a very nice and huge gesture of you to take in your cousin-
hope it goes well :fingerscrossed:

We had a very quiet Easter-
I too hope everyone else had a good one.

We were supposed to go to a 21st on the Sat night but Angus & I were both sick with a really horrible cold so we had to stay home-
which meant we didn't go in to Broken Hill and get our Easter eggs- luckily there were some people here camping and they gave us some.
I also made up for it yesterday in town and they were all 50% off- I said to Angus- perhaps we'll get them after Easter next year too! :laughing:

While we were in Broken Hill yesterday we had to go to the motorbike shop for some parts and Hugh thought he was in Heaven!
He ran straight up to a 50 and tried to jump on- so I helped me up and then after a bit he decided he'd try jumping over to the 80!
He has only been on Angus' bike a handful of times but some how it must be bred in to him!! :laughing: But he'll be waiting for a few years yet!

[Nex]

Hi everyone!

I've been a bit busy this week with my mum up for a visit. Why is it though that when they come to 'help' I end up being far more busy and active than I would if I was at home on my own? Being my mum she always manages to guilt me into doing stuff when all wanted to do was relax for a while! Don't get me wrong...she's not laying any kind of a guilt trip on me deliberately, but I always have more incentive to do stuff when someone else is around!

It's hard to believe that Layla is two weeks old already. She's such a good bub. Hardly complains, feeds and sleeps like a dream. Should it be this easy? Could it really be this simple?

I've said to my DH I can't have another baby now. After a dream pregnancy, easy birth, and angel baby, next time can't possibly be as good!

[M O P]

It's hard to believe that Layla is two weeks old already. She's such a good bub. Hardly complains, feeds and sleeps like a dream. Should it be this easy? Could it really be this simple?

I've said to my DH I can't have another baby now. After a dream pregnancy, easy birth, and angel baby, next time can't possibly be as good!
sounds like you're doing a great job Nex!
well done

I had 1 fantastic preg and 1 pretty good one,
2 'easy' labours and ended up with 2 great sleepers so you could possibly do it again!!

[Nex]

:D thanks that's great to hear!

did anyone else get washed away last night? we had 20mm of rain fall in an hour at 4am this morning!

[M O P]

half your luck on the rain :)
we had a few sprinkles on a few occasions but Broken Hill had 29mm- in a really heavy dumping

[floggadog]

Hello
hope you all had a relaxing easter without too much over indulgence;).
We had visitors which meant a day of house work for the Friday & part of Saturday for me.
Kids didn't eat too much chocolate & enjoyed 2 Easter egg basket hunts.
Mum held a family bbq which was less than interesting as my brother I don't really talk to was there and we didn't talk & neither did his wife :rolleyes:.
We headed home early... too tired & couldn't be bothered.
Hubby is busy as always. He had me out scooping a dam a few days ago. That was fine til he decided to try & roll the tractor on the dam bank. After lots of swearing & eye closing (me) he got where he wanted to go. Apparently the tractor stalled on him at one stage. I told him it was because it didn't want to end up in the dam like last time. (another story with photos, might have to dig those ones out:D)
The next day when dragging the next dam on his own he managed to tow the second tractor into the dam. Some excuse about a tangled cable followed.
Poor bl00dy tractors.
The kids have had a yucky phlemmy cough this week & Olliver now has viral asthma. & is throwing a tantrum:hissy: ... I'll be back

[Bearskin]

Hi All :)

Sorry - long time no posts but have found myself a little busy lately. William is growing quickly - he is a little guts but I'm not helping as second time around I'm not so worried about 'routines and schedules' and every time he looks hungry I feed him. Zoe is still feeding too so the world of tandem feeding has opened up a whole new experience for us all. I have been offered a free sitting from a photographer who needs some tandem feeding shots for the ABA; if we sign the release for her to give to ABA we can have the photos for free so we are going to sit for those in a couple of weeks.

Dave has been away a little bit but its funny how quickly you adjust and end up bathing both kids together then curling up on the couch for boobie and bed. I now know why some friends of mine prepare dinner at 10am though - the hours between 4pm and bedtime are challenging.

Zoe is still struggling a bit with jealously; she can be wonderful one minute helping me then the next a screaming mess on the floor. We have been doing heaps of painting and crafty stuff and she loves it so that helps and I finally got her to the park for a play and catch up with friends today.

Congrats Nex on the birth of Layla - hope she stays contented and happy.

Vel - I remember the weekly weigh ins with Zoe; she was a slow gainer in the early weeks and it can be really scary and stressful but just keep doing what you are doing as its working. :smiliedance:

Duchessa - it must be different to feed only one bub; feeding twins must have been quite a challenge! My SIL is still feeding her twins and watching her get 2 bubs ready for feeds, change, bath and bed over easter looks bloody hard!

Flogga - sounds like a tough few days at your place with the kids being sick and a stressful family get together. Hope all the kids get better soon. You need to dredge those photos of your hubby out too! How is your mum going?

Kazza - bugger about you and Angus both getting sick but its all good when you still get Easter Eggs.

Bindi (aka el Presidento :)) - hope your cousin is doing ok; you are right a bit of hard work will smarten any 20 yr old up quickly

We got a very nice thunderstorm here a couple of nights ago and got 18mm; the sky was amazing with sheet after sheet of lightning.

We had an Easter BBQ at SIL/BIL's place Easter Sunday; already my SIL has started the competitions about weight/length/development between her twins and Billy. I cannot fathom why people get like this - it drives me batty and I try to avoind the conversation or change the topic. On a happier note my MIL (who has been great lately) picked up some illegal fireworks when in Melbourne a few weeks ago (can you imagine a 60yr old woman trying to buy fireworks 'on the sly') so we set those off and Zoe loved them; kept screaming "More Nanna, more" and some of the neighbours enjoyed them too :)

Right - better go to bed as we have 'the twins' christening in the morning (hope the church doesn't fall down around us heathens) and then heading to Melbourne for a 60th. I am desperate to get some shopping done as nothing fits Zoe and the weather has suddenly turned cool.

Here are some pics of William, Dave, Zoe and me.

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k142/Gracie123_02/DSC00440.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k142/Gracie123_02/DSC00422.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k142/Gracie123_02/DSC00421.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k142/Gracie123_02/DSC00453.jpg

[M O P]

Flogga- I'd love to see the dam/tractor photos :D and I hope your troops are better soon :hugs:


Michelle- make sure you show us all your tandem pics!
Try not to listen to your s-i-l but I hear your frustrations and understand that is easier said than done!!
You have a gorgeous family! Those photos are great.
Does Dave have a work shirt on in the back ground of 1 pic? :laughing: Angus insisted on wearing his work shirts when he stayed with me in hospital- fine but a few had grease stains- :o- I was so embarrassed.

[Bearskin]

Yep - that is Dave's work shirt! He loves wearing them everywhere; at least he stopped short of wearing his Stubby work shorts as well :laughing:

He took his shorts off during the labour and put them back on as the OB came in. After I had passed the placenta I told him to take his shirt off and have some skin on skin time with William and he got all shy in front of the midwives :rolleyes: They were laughing at him since an hour earlier he had been strolling around in his lovely undies...

SIL's - got to love them! She is doing it pretty tough anyway with the twins and a 4 and 2 yr old at home as well so I try and ignore the random 'comparison' comments. I should be used to it by now as Zoe and her 2 yr old are 9 days apart!

Dave just rang; he loaded some cattle for a local client this evening; just on dusk and their yards are on the main highway. Neither bloke (brothers) showed up and Dave was loading with the nose of the truck on the highway and no-one to direct the traffic. They finally showed up 1/2 hr later with stubbies and half p!ssed; Dave was furious as he still had 6 more to load and it was dark by then; the blokes made some smart aleck comments so Dave just refused to load the last 6 and left.

Dave has great customer service skills some days :laughing: but I don't blame him; we would be liable if someone hit the truck and its just too dangerous.

[M O P]

:laughing: imagining Dave getting around in his jocks!

:yelclap: good on Dave I say with the loading of the cattle-
as if he has time to be wasting.

Men have their own way of handing things don't they-
Angus was draughting his sheep he had over Summer at my parent's to load the remainder of his wethers to send to market when the truck driver- not the red shirt agent- rang him to say the agent needed to buy 12 wethers and couldn't be bothered going to the sale so could he please set aside 12 sheep and whatever his tops make- they will pay that for the 12.
So crafty Angus though- "bugger you- slack guy" and proceeded to leave out the 3 wethers he was bring home as they weren't good enough to sell and then pulled out the other worst 9 sheep he could find- leaving him with 1 very straight and even line for the market.
I personally would not have done it as it wasn't very nice but he was pretty cranky and we got $45/head :D

[M O P]

does anyone use Phoenix for their books?
am doing my cert IV in Rural Business Management and the course instructor is also a Phoenix instructor and it sounds fantastic
AgData the QLD company who produce it are sending me a sample CD to trial it

[floggadog]

nope, never heard of it.
Let us know how you like it.
Maybe a link???

Oh & good on you re course. Where are you doing it or is some of it correspondence?

[M O P]

It is in my home town Flogga and run over 2 years- once a fortnight and is for women only so I am going down every other time- so once a month and doing the rest at home.
It works out well as Mum can look after the kids and it only goes from 9.30-3 so great hours for those with children.
My s-i-l is doing it too.

Phoenix is a system where you can enter all your farm results in as well as your financials-
they are just tweaking it to include wool test results- which, you might remember is what I was after.
Everyone says it's expensive- but no one says what is actually expensive iykwIm?
Here is a link to some info-
http://www.agdata.com.au/index-tess1.php?ItemNo=3015

[Farmgal80]

We farm in Lake Grace, WA, which is pretty rural, about 4 1/2 hours from Perth.

Been lurking here a little while, as me and hubby were 'thinking' about TTC, I was going to do something about it in May, but anyway, period late, tested this morning, and you can figure out the rest!

To be honest though I am freaking out quite a bit!

I just didn't expect it to happen so soon.

[M O P]

:yelclap: :smiliedance:
congratulations farmgal :flowerz:

and welcome :sunshine:

[Velouria]

Hello farmin ladies,

Gee I didn't expect to be so busy, but I just never seem to have enough time to post on Bubhub. Fortunately little O is all tuckered out from visiting his Dad at work and getting lots of cuddles from all the clucky women there, so I have a few spare minutes. Here are some updated pictures of the little guy who will be 8 weeks old tomorrow. He is getting his jabs on Wednesday - poor wee fella :hugs:


http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z220/velouria_pics/8weeksold_2.jpg

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z220/velouria_pics/7weeksold_4.jpg
Life on the farm is ticking along nicely. All our Dorper lambs are thriving. We have to do some of the ewes feet this weekend though as some of them are in atrocious condition and if we don't do it soon they could become lame. Dh and I have been busy looking at 100 acre properties to buy. We are thinking of selling our Farm and building a new house on 100 acres or so. We saw a beautiful block of land in Nannup (about 45 minutes from us) but it is a little on the expensive side so we are doing some comparison viewing of blocks around here. So far nothing matches it though. I am enthusiastic about building a new house and Chris is really keen on the tax breaks he will get if we move to 100 acres ( he has explained it all to me but I just trust he knows what he is talking about). We would probably move to Greenbushes (in company housing) whilst the house was being built but that is ok as it is a fairly nice house, the only problem being what we would do with our animals in the meantime, but I am getting way ahead of myself :D

Aaaahh Owen has woken up and I still have washing to hang out so I will have to go. I hope everyone is doing well and welcome to the new ladies. Hugs and Kisses to all the bubs and I hope they are doing as well as my little man:cloud9:

I hope to continue this post soon, but that depends a bit on O

Ta ta 4 now :wave:
Jill

[M O P]

Jill-
little O looks very healthy and happy-
and very cute :D

[floggadog]

Hello everyone, welcome farmgal & congrats. You're only a few hundred kms from me farmgal & I think I've only been to Lake Grace once to work on a farm sth of town.
Kazza - I had a look at that website. It looks great. My FIL who became computer literate at the age of 67 has set up some of the programs they offer with Excel or Access. Now all I need to do is learn his system & I'm away :D. We met another couple a few years back who came to buy rams & they were telling us of a similar setup they had purchased for $1-2000. They were very pleased with it.
Still think you're bl00dy awesome for getting back into studying with 2 little ones & a property to help manage.:yelclap:
Hi Vel - How did Owens jabs go? Hope he is OK. Olliver was supposed to have his 18 mth jabs a month ago. Owen is looking beautiful & I'm glad to see you've slipped into the 'Mum in the PJs looking glam' with ease. Good luck with the property hunting.

Hi everyone else - where are you???

Things are moving along here. The cows are calving, I have 3 lambs in the paddock, I've finally painted my new loungeroom (which was built 12mths ago) Skirting boards to be painted, cut & installed this week. I've got a few doors (9) to paint as well. Robs sewn some ryegrass around the place, all the cull animals have been sold and my new horse is coming on trial this weekend :smiliedance:. Oh & I shouted myself to a new saddle but don't tell my hubby.
The kids only have 4 days of their holidays left then it's back to the daily grind. Lindsay has been asking all holidays when he gets to go back to school. So that will work out nicely as far as painting & horse riding is concerned. As for Olliver his Dad will have to install a baby seat into the tractor;).
Best of all we've had a terrific start to the season & hope it will continue. The tanks are even full. The dams went up 3 foot with one front which is the first real run off we've had in 2 years.

Anyway, enough of my dribble.
Best wishes to you all for a suitably wet start to the season & a trouble free lambing season.
Oh & hope all the little bubs & big brothers & sisters are happy & healthy.

All the best
xxx

[Farmgal80]

Hey Flogga, we have been to Mt barker a few times, we know both the Bunker & North families as my hubby went to Muresk with them. We're actually getting a worker from there for seeding too, he's coming next week. Big relief to have him as well as our farm exchangee from South Africa, as well as hubby, to do the seeding. Have enough people now to work almost around the clock which will be very efficient.My hubby has been a pain (and I have stopped listening to him now) last night he was telling me all sorts of stupid things like
'I could just birth at home & call him up on the 2-way when I'm finished' or
'I'm not coming in to the hospital at all I'm just gonna wait outside till you're finished' and
'I'll go to ante-natal classes with you but only to watch the other people and laugh at them huffing and puffing'
I don't think he quite 'gets' things does he?
I ended up saying that he'll do as he's told and that's that and he had the good sense to agree with me :laughing:.
He came home from a clearing sale yesterday (a deceased estate tragedy) with a telehandler to replace our loader which is both affectionately and seriously named the 'deathtrap' so that should be very handy and just in time for seeding too. The seller had mental health issues, resulting in complusive buying (had an enormous amount of gear for a samll property) which resluted in farm forclosure and then suicide. Very sad.

[floggadog]

Hi Farmgal, from memory my hubby tried similar excuses. None of them worked.
Very sad about the deceased farmer. My hubby buys alot of what I mainly call junk but not to that extent. Kinda takes the thrill out of the good price when you buy under those circumstances.
My saddle I've just bought is brand new with tags & was sold because the ladys' horse died. Great price but I don't have the best of feelings about buying it.
Hope seeding goes to plan for you & well done on finding workers. Not the easiest task at the best of times.
Anyway...back to painting :)

[M O P]

:smiliedance: great news about your rain Flogga-
perhaps you can bring some with you when you come to visit me :D
after the kids are back at school, your skirting boards are all done and the tractor seat is organised, of course, as we have 4 weeks until our new lounge arrives and it's going in the former formal dining room (it's now a junk room- everyone has one don't they?? :o)-
but first the dusty mauve needs to go from the walls :yes:
Oh- and your secret's safe with me.

FarmGal- that would have been a very sad sale to go to :(
(you are going to fit in real well round here with a husband who loves bringing stuff home from clearing sales :laughing:)

[misskittyfantastico]

*pokes head in*
Hi ladies - I'm still alive....I'm just no good at this tandem parenting thing - not to mention, seeding is well and truly underway....crazy, it's not even May!
I miss you all - welcome farmgal - I'm in WA too, hope you've been getting some rain....I'm in Bruce Rock - I used to play hockey against LG
Loves to you all
xxxxxx

PS Are any of you on facebook?

[Bearskin]

Hi All!

Welcome and congrats Farmgal. Your DH sounds very funny - I don't know many blokes around here that went to antenatal classes. My mum came with me for most of them...

All you WA girls are getting some rain and it is dismal here; dry, yellow and everyone is scared we are getting another year of drought. We start lambing 20th May and nothing on the ground for ewes to eat; we are feeding the hay we bought months ago but only have 6 weeks left so will see how we go. Everyone is holding off sowing as well but I think we sow later than WA anyway as your harvests are always earlier too.

Vel - Owen looks very happy and healthy. Hope you find the property you want; we built on 110 acres and it was great but a little pricey due to extra costs like power, septic, tanks, slab etc

Flogga - how is that horse going? Hope it works out for you and is a sweety and you get some time to ride.

Kazza - dusty mauve?? Yep you are right about the junk room! We've got a junk room storing boxes of baby clothes, all my horse gear etc. Bet you are getting excited about the new lounge - I am jealous as we still have the old couches I bought with my ex 7 years ago.

MissKitty - yes I have facebook. PM me..I really shouldn't put my name out there should I??

William is growing like a weed; I'm still tandem feeding so my milk supply is excessive and the little guy is, at 6 weeks the same size as Zoe was at 13 weeks...but breastfeeding is not helping shift that baby weight :( My old neighbour saw me on Saturday and said congrats on the new baby, had a hold and then congratulated me on expecting another one so soon....that has got me motivated to borrow a friends twin pram and start walking these dirt roads. Dave thought is was hilarious...

I should go - I am supposed to be putting in 3 qtrs worth of bank statements into MYOB so we can do some estimates for end of financial year and I keep putting it off :D

[Farmgal80]

Plenty of time yet to be a tractor widow.
I think I might take the time to do a bit of sewing. Bought some material in summer but never got around to it - might have to make some dresses for next summer for when I'm all big & fugly :rolleyes:. God I hate summer.
By the way any of you ladies have any experience with horse sulkies??

[Farmgal80]

We haven't started seeding yet - maybe they have forgotten? :laughing:
It may have something to do with 'flowering windows' although that to me sound more like what grows in a cottage garden than what happens out in the paddock - I'm a bit clueless in that area...

ps I'm a facebooker too, pm me for my full name.

[floggadog]

Good morning ladies.
Farmgal - I think the mods have been playing with your posts? :confused:. Probably they're suggesting you don't put your full name on open forum but I don't get why the rest of your post changed? (Unless it was you of course)
I bought harness for our pony we had but never really got to use it. We did have a farrier give us a great explanation of how to go about training him though. I can tell you most of that if you want.
As for being a seeding widow. I've not had the pleasure of being one of those, I'm usually a hay season widow & there is an ever increasing chance of that running into harvesting widow seeing as the $500 header never got sold:hair:. ( sorry, you'll have to read last years thread for that story but basically - clearing sale)
As for facebook - nope, never, I spend enough time on the computer without giving myself more excuses to waste time. Plus I've heard there is a bit too much info that has to be shared to join. Not my thing.
Which is why I love this thread :D.

Bearskin - sorry to hear your weather has been so dismal. That's the thing I hate about summer - the dead, dusty & dead look of things & when that continues it makes things seem hopeless.
But chin up, it's not May yet. I'll send a nice big front with your name on it & may you be truely sodden with rain by the end of May - just like this guy -> :gloomy: but happy:).
Great to hear William is going so well & good on you for tandem feeding. You are a star. As for your ex neighbours comments - how f*****g rude. Geeze it's only been 6 weeks. Why do people expect women to snap back into place like a lacky band? You keep doing what your doing & don't chance over doing yourself. I have a friend who was so determined to loose weight with exercise after bub 1 she nearly lost her milk. So don't chance it. Be proud of your belly, after all it worked hard to give your your gorgeous boy.
As for the new mare. She has been put in the same paddock as my old girl & after several hours of running around (my mare trying to keep the new mare away from her boyfriend -the bull) they ate from the same pile of hay this morning. I was hoping to start riding her today but my stirrup leathers have had the bomb & new ones are a 100km round trip away & the new saddle isn't arriving til tomorrow. So I'm being patient.
Miss Kitty - did you see the last Robin Hood episode? Well that sucked. It won't be the same now. They could have killed off one of the dodgy characters.
As for the 2 kid thing. It's not all roses & chocolate is it? Trying to keep a 2 or 3 year old amused whilst trying to absorb every precious moment of your new bub just isn't the same as having one. On the upside in a year or 2 they'll keep each other highly amused taking the pressure off you (unless you go for number 3)
Hope seeding is straight forward with plenty of followup rain.
Kazza - do you want your own personal raincloud too??? Oh & I'd love to come & visit. Hubby wants to go back to Tassie next year but hasn't decided if it will be by plane or car. If we drive we'll go past you & visit for sure.
Tell us about your new lounge. I'm having the new room but not the new lounge, well not yet.
We have a 2 & a half seater & 1 beanbag for 6 of us. & yes Dusky mauve is not very inspiring. I shall have to post a before & after pic of my lounge room & office. The carpet we bought from a clearing sale doesn't fit ( hubby is really pleased cause now he can have it for his music room) so we'll be putting in new carpet (what a shame;)) This will hold up the finishing of the room even more as I have to get hubby to Albany & that could take months.
As for the junk room - mine has morphed between 5 different rooms over the last 11 years. Don't know what I'd do without one really.

I'm supposed to be off to school dropoff this morning but Alyssa is still sleeping. She has suffered a cough every night for the last week which I'm thinking will probably be diagnosed as asthma. We knocked her out with Painstop at 5am (gee that works well), it's nearly 9am & she is still snoring her head off. So first day back & she'll be missing it.We're off to the doctors' this arvo.
I have more lambs in the paddock now & haven't caught & tagged one of them so I'd better get off of here & do something about it.
Great catching up with you all.
Have a great day.

[Farmgal80]

Flogga - just my silly computer thats all :p

[floggadog]

My computer has had those moments as well. You can delete a post completely if you wish. Or just leave it there & we can tell you the baby brain is kicking in alreading ;)

[Farmgal80]

flogga feel free to tell me about the harness training - either on here so everyone can be amazed or you can pm me!
This is what i have done so far:
1. Hooked it all up. Looked a bit wrong.
2. Walked for a little bit. All going well.
3. Started to rain.
4. Mare chucks a spack, unhooked her, and hubby wheels the sulky back to the shed :hissy:

[floggadog]

Farmgal - before I start dribbling on - how much training has your mare had towards going in a harness, being mouthed in a harness & bridle, being harnessed & pulling a weight?
Has she done any of this?

On the subject of horses. I finally rode my new one today. I'm teaching myself & her the natural horsewomanship :D thingy & stared with 3 simple exercises that I think we both managed OK. So it seems she has the ability to think which is a bonus. She did everything on a loose rein while my old mare stood in the cattle yards 5 metres away & carried on like a pork chop. I can't trot or canter like I used to be able to 9 years ago & think that the extra @r$e I now carry needs to go.:o
My SIL & a friend who brings her daughters for music lessons (both self confessed horse experts) are both coming this arvo to give her a once over. That shall be interesting.
Think I'll stay home & leave em to it :rolleyes::laughing:.
Must remeber to take the camera.

Gotta go & get the dog from the vet & kids from the bus.
Catch you all tomorrow.:wave:

[misskittyfantastico]

Hey lovely chicks

Flogga - OMG! Yes I'm seriously cross, re RH....also horses, they scare me:o My mum was big into horsies, but I like them from a distance.

Although, driving into town the other day, I saw a beautiful big, brown horse wandering down the main road (lucky I didn't hit the bloomin' thing) and recalled someone at playgroup mentioning they were getting a new horse. So I bravely stopped and made lots of click, click noises and called the woman's mobile and all was well.

Bearskin - tell em to bugger offski - I've recently had a similar experience - I am also walking!

As for us? "Just keep swimming"comes to mind.
S xxxx

[M O P]

Michelle-
I am v. excited about our new lounge as our old one is at least 50 years old!
I kid you not.
It was Angus' grandmother's in her grand house in Adelaide and apparently when Angus' parents got it recovered they were told the construction is so great and so Angus' mother refuses to get rid of it.
That's fab but it's so uncomfortable and full of dirt!

And so glad we're not the only ones with a junk room!

[misskittyfantastico]

And so glad we're not the only ones with a junk room!

You mean there are other kinds of rooms?? And yes, I'm still talking to you, Bluey:p

[M O P]

You mean there are other kinds of rooms?? And yes, I'm still talking to you, Bluey:p
:laughing: x 2 :p

[floggadog]

Love the avatar Kazza - one of my fav morning programs. :D
You go to daycare Miss Kitty? I gave up after I had DS1. Too much gossiping for me & I always forgot it was on so the gossip was probably about how hopeless I was. :rollseyes:
Well done on the horsey rescue too. :)
Kazza - can I ask where the family heirloom is going to end up & how you're going to explain its' absence???

[misskittyfantastico]

Love the avatar Kazza - one of my fav morning programs. :D
You go to daycare Miss Kitty? I gave up after I had DS1. Too much gossiping for me & I always forgot it was on so the gossip was probably about how hopeless I was. :rollseyes:
Well done on the horsey rescue too. :)
Kazza - can I ask where the family heirloom is going to end up & how you're going to explain its' absence???

Playgroup? Yeah, I have to go - it's all I have lol, also, I'm the president!! I still get gossiped about though.
We have a "fantasy star party" happening tomorrow - it's Millie's first "dressup" she's a fairy and I'm a witch....stay tuned for funny photos!!

[floggadog]

Sorry bout the playgroup/daycare thing. Hubby kept calling me to the telly to watch something he was interested in & I couldn't concentrate.
OOooo I didn't realise we had 2 presidents here. Are there any more lurking???
I think you'll make a great witch :D be great to see your pics.

[M O P]

Kazza - can I ask where the family heirloom is going to end up & how you're going to explain its' absence???
not sure yet

[misskittyfantastico]

Hello lovely ladies,

I hope all is well with you....I'm snatching some time to share a few piccies with you of fairy Millie and witchy me - the party went well, I only frightened the life out of one little girl!

Millie
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m236/misskittyfantastico_2006/DSC01364.jpg

Millie again
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m236/misskittyfantastico_2006/DSC01363.jpg

One more Millie
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m236/misskittyfantastico_2006/DSC01354.jpg

Witchy-poo
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m236/misskittyfantastico_2006/DSC01360.jpg

Hammers
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m236/misskittyfantastico_2006/DSC01299.jpg

[M O P]

wow Steph-
I would never have recognised you!
Your fairy is very cute and Hammer looks like a smiley boy!

[floggadog]

You girls look so pretty.
& your bub looks like he's in a good paddock ;).
Thanks for sharing.
I'm a bit tired - been chasing ewes & bubby lambs about. Just waiting for another one to lamb so I can go to bed:sleeping:.

[Bearskin]

Hi All :)

We had a couple visiting with us from Williams WA over the weekend; they flew over to have a look at one of our older trucks for sale. They had spent 3 days in Melbourne first and spent a fortune shopping the came up to our place, bought the truck and left this morning. So glad to get rid of the truck as it was just sitting in the yard not working so now its one less truck that needs servicing, maintenance etc. The very nice couple from WA were absolutely fascinated by our Vic obsession with Lupins, cross breeding of sheep and some very suspect neighbour's lousy sheep. I guess when you have thousands of acres theres not much chance of your sheep rubbing up against the neighbours fence and getting lice! We have treated our sheep every year for lice and some b@astard always skips the dip and then their lousy sheep jump the fence or rub up against ours and its back to the drawing board.

We start lambing this Friday - after all the talk of selling the pg ewes they are still here and ready to go. Zoe is really excited as am I however Dave is less excited as its still dry and dead around here with nothing to pick and we are still feeding them.

Lovely pics MissKitty - esp the witch! Nice hair too :)

Flogga - I'm not the presedent of the kinder/childcare assoc but I am on the committee :laughing: Playgroup - well thats another story but I'm trying to avoid the presidency but as I'm on the kinder committee and we use the centre for playgroup I'm slowly being drawn into the fray.

Kazza - has the family heirloom found its way to the shed yet; maybe you could recover it in your spare time and restore it to its glory days :laughing:

We had our photography session today; the woman got some great shots of us tandem feeding so fingers crossed one of the photos gets in the ABA calendar so I can show everyone (MIL and Mum) that you can tandem feed!
William is a little monster; he is growing like a weed and is already in 00 growsuits :eek:. Zoe never grew that fast. I've had to go through his drawers to clean out the too small clothes; got a bit teary thinking this will be the last time I get to use those tiny little overalls....
Poor William had a little accident last week; Zoe, William and I were feeding the horse and he had thrown his rug off. I grabbed it out of the paddock and walked over to the tie up area to hang it up to dry off and Zoe pushed the farm pram over to the gate, horse bent over the gate and bit William's hand. The scream - I have never heard anything like it, Zoe was crying and yelling at the horse. Thank god the horse only mouths and closes his teeth over, not snakey biting or the little bloke could have lost his hand. We rushed up to Ky hospital (I drove and cried the whole 40 minutes as did the 2 kids) but the Dr said there was nothing they could do anyway as all the bones in his hand are still cartiledge and all should heal up very quickly. Lo and behold the next day swelling had gone; 3 days later the bruising was gone and only a couple of scratches now but it scard the living hell out of me so we have new rules now - the farm pram gets jammed up against the back of the horse shelter so it cannot be moved.

Better go - I've got work in the morning so still need to make daycare lunch for Zoe. William comes to work with me ATM and manages to save up his pooing for the minute I walk in the client's door - luckily they have all had children before so they know how it all works.

Oh - I got the pressure from MIL about having a double christening....us heathens on the hill must be getting talked about on Sunday mornings. I said I would think about it if the priest would remove the words about 'casting out satan' and 'original sin' but its not likely he would be up for modification of the rites so its on the backburner again.

Hope everyone is well, kids are happy and healthy, you are all getting some decent rain and sowing is going well.

Cheers,

Michelle

ETA - Flogga - do you eartag the lambs as soon as they are born? How do you do this - chase them around the paddock or do the ewes lamb in yards and how do you stop the ewe rejecting the lamb after you have handled it? I'm just curious!

[floggadog]

ETA - Flogga - do you eartag the lambs as soon as they are born? How do you do this - chase them around the paddock or do the ewes lamb in yards and how do you stop the ewe rejecting the lamb after you have handled it? I'm just curious!

To answer your question, I catch them any where from 6 hours to 4 days old by either walking up to them & grabbing them (if fairly new or a super quiet ewe) or using the dog to push the ewe & lamb/s up against the fence or into a corner. I have a small shepherds crook with which I catch them by the back leg. I tag them put a ring on their tail & weigh them. I also treat any minor probs they might have
99% of the time the ewe will stay close or I use the dog to stop her moving too far away. I have been butted over by ewes who have become pi$$ed off with me :laughing:.
As for ewes rejecting lambs - first I don't have merinos which are notorious for being unmaternal. (no not all of them but most) My ewes will let me handle their lambs to the point of following me while I carry their lambs accross the paddock, me handling the lamb to get it to feed (I hate that job), They'll even mostly accept their lambs back after I've had them inside for a night. One old girl took her twin back after 4 days & nights away from her. I handled that lamb every hour during the day & evening, had it wrapped in towels, fed it powdered milk, injected it - it would not have smelt like her lamb but she knew it was.
I do have rejections though. I have 2 doing that right now. I halter them & tie them to a solid fence so they have no choice but to let the lamb feed.
If they reject a twin, I'll put brandy on their nose & on the lambs. They can't smell the difference.

I also wanted to send you & William :hugs:s.
Kids are amazing how well & quickly they heal but it doesn't stop us Mums feeling their pain.
The extra little pair of hands as opposed to when you just had one baby doesn't always help matters either hey? I'm amazed at what all my little helping hands can do in such a short space of time when my back is turned:hair:
Just think of it as a story for his 21st.;)

[BiNdI86]

I'm alive!!!!

hmmm...seems to be the usual header when I finally come back:o

Kidlets are great, Alexis is 11 months next week and standing and letting go of the furniture:eek:

It's been so busy here at present. Flame had 11 pups, resulting in us ending up with 4 ICP (intensive care puppies:laughing:) who I had to hand feed for the first week every 2 hours.

We are down to nine now (she rolled on one and the runt died shortly after birth) They are now 6 weeks old and they are absolutly beautiful!!!:bee: We've even got a couple that have thrown back to the blue eyes of the Husky and look like they are possesed:laughing: but still very cute.

Other than that, I have quit the Kindy and pulled Tahlia out of it!! Massive poo fight going on and all I can say is I'm lucky that instinct snuck in and made me quit because that following week all hell broke loose and everyone is at each others throats.

I'm working now at the company office (our old office chicky chucked a wobbily and left without telling us, just didn't turn up) and doing some riding lessons to touch up my showing.

and Flogga, I'm getting my new saddle tomorrow..wooohoooo hehehe

whoops better go, got a bubba wailing at me, will try and touch base when I can.

ta-ta

[Farmgal80]

Hey all

Things have been plodding along here.
We are back to just the one worker for seeding now, the new dude lasted 2 days, and was sacked as he threatened to hit FIL in the head with a bit of 4x2 "I've hit my previous employer before for less and I went to jail for it" - the reason? FIL had asked him not to smoke in the ute twice and he apparently hit the roof. A bit of an unstable fella and hence the marching orders. They seem to be coping well without him, so one less wages to pay is not a bad thing, as well as less work for me.
M/S has settled a bit but I'm still queasy at times & fairly dozy and I can do without the extra workload. I'm off to have my first OB appt in three weeks, we are only 1/3 way thru seeding and I don't think we'll be finished in time so I'm guessing it will be a very short trip.
DH has advised that we will be going almost completely out of sheep. With the ban on mulesing coming up, he doesn't see how he can do twice the work with the sheep and get the same amount of money. They've always run their sheep very extensively, so to turn around and do extra sheep jetting and crutching on top of everything else, and still probably have to deal with flystrike is not a very exciting prospect. The idea is to get out now before sheep values fall too low (if everyone decides to get out at the same time) and go from 7000 back to about 2000, and then work towards a herd of around 1000 cattle. A bit sad really, as this year, for the first time in 50 years, the farm was awarded Supreme Clip of the sale, with a line of over 200 bales. Perhaps its best to go out on a high note. His dad is a bit sad, mainly as he's always spent time and effort selecting bloodlines, and breeding for fine wool over 50 years, through drought, the crash of the wool price and everything else, and now thanks to the activities of PETA means that what he has been doing for 50 years is unsustainable. But on the upside he does love cattle and I know when we do get the Herefords that he wants that there'll be a big grin on his face. DH is a bit nonchalant about the whole thing. He doesn't particularly like sheep, but they've always made money from them, so as long as we can make money from cattle then that's fine wth him. He takes comfort in the fact that his dad has had cattle before and so we'll be able to adjust ok.

[floggadog]

Hi, just a quick one.

Bindi - It isn't nearly a year is it???:eek: i'm sure you only had Alexis a few months ago .
Congrats on the furkids.
what do you do for kindy now?
& most importantly :D what kinda saddle have you bought??? You must have your horses with you, weren't they at your parents place?
My memory must be going:o

Farmgal - glad to hear your M/S is easing.
didn't you say that guy was from here? What did you say his name was?
Sad to hear about your sheep operation reduction. I know of another cropping/sheep farmer who has done the same. Not for the same reasons though. Glad you're keeping some though cause you just never know what'll actually happen.
Oh & why Poll Hereford? Are they good in your area or are they the breed your FIL has always loved?

My Dad used to have a Poll Hereford stud years ago but we tend to avoid them now because of eye cancer & calving probs.
Sort of like Poll Dorsetts really.

Anyway, I said short, gotta get the kids to bed & clean up as the carpet man is coming to measure up tomorrow:smiliedance:.
Catchya :wave:

[Farmgal80]

flogga the Herefords are what FIL had on the place until about 20yrs ago when family circumstances preceded their removal.
He said the Herefords would be the ones who were always head down bum up eating the stubbles, and the Angus etc would always be asking for more... A few poeple around here have Angus, Santa Gertrudis, Murray Grey, but most people have sheep or have gone into 100% cropping. He said the Herefords did have some cancer issues with the pale faces and eveything, but said they'd come along way in terms of selecting for darker skin around the eyes nowadays? Something that probably needs a bit of research, as there's a lot that has happened in terms of breeding. And we're in no rush as currently the dams are very low...

As for the sacked dude I'd rather not say his name. He actually works for a friend of ours (who rang up and apologised - no need) and in his business he's never had any trouble with him. I think it was a matter of not being able to cope with the circumstances. Some people just can't get along. Funny thing was as I was driving home I saw his car parked on the side of one of the gravel roads and I pulled over, as I thought it was odd, that perhaps he was in trouble. I waved and waved, but he wouldn't look up, or even move, and I began to feel a little odd, I thought OMG has he gassed himself? But he finally lifted his hand, in a go away gesture, and I thought well it still isn't right but I'm going to go on my way. I thought as a woman, you can't be getting out of a vehicle on a deserted country road with someone you do not know. Especially when my my gut feeling was telling me not to. I waited down the road for a couple of minutes and finally he sped off in a cloud of dust. I didn't have my mobile on me so it wasn't until I got home that I asked DH what happened. After I found out, I was glad I hadn't got out of the car.

Oh and Bearskin that was awful about your little boy's hand, that must have freaked you right out! You can never tell with horses and little kids.

[floggadog]

Farmgal - you gotta go with what works for you. Have you not had much rain yet?
This year is our first run off for a couple of years. Fingers crossed it comes your way soon.
As for your workers' name - sorry I should have put a few emoticons after that question. I was not really wanting to know his name.
There are a few questionables in our town as with most towns.
Glad you didn't get out of your car.
Self preservations' a wonderful thing. ;)

Tell me more about your harness training, how is it going???

Hi everyone else. Hope all is well.

I'm feeling very happy with myself ATM.
I've just speed cleaned (in other words a really dodgy clean) my laundry, spare room & lounge & office in waiting. The carpet man has just been & measured it up.
When he finished he decided to tell me all about his & his wifes' journey to having a child through ivf using his sperm even though he'd had the snip. Not really unusual is it?
except he is 72 years old & she is 34.
Man & my hubby worries about being 40 with a small child. he has nothing on the carpet guy :D

Oh & I'm celebrating actually buying Pansy seedlings & planting them. I am amazed at myself & can't wait til they flower.
Now I need to go & plant my vegie seedlings.
Catchya

[M O P]

Hi Bindi- hope all's well
With the ban on mulesing coming up, he doesn't see how he can do twice the work with the sheep and get the same amount of money.

His dad is a bit sad, mainly as he's always spent time and effort selecting bloodlines, and breeding for fine wool over 50 years, through drought, the crash of the wool price and everything else, and now thanks to the activities of PETA means that what he has been doing for 50 years is unsustainable.
Hey Farmgal- that is sad.
This year we're using the anaesthetic spray for the first time and that sounds really promising- as much as anything we want to make it easier on the lambs.
Be dammed if our business is going to be determined by a bunch of ill informed terrorists!! Sorry, just ask Bearskin about them- she has some interesting stories :rolleyes:.
But all the best with your new operations :)

We're also hoping that with the rise and rise of oil (being a major ingredient of synthetic materials) wool will make a reemergence-
we're very optimistic people :D Or insane! :laughing:

Flogga sounds very interesting-
the carpet and the carpet guy!:eek:

We've been busy as you all know painting and doing up a room and it's finished-
Angus really deserves a pat on the back :yelclap: as he did a fantastic job on the floor sander and the floor boards have come up a treat!
And, as my parents are getting new carpet, they are getting us a rug made out of their old floral carpet (from the good bits)- which will look perfect! Just waiting for our lounge which will hopefully be here tomorrow or Sat.

The old lounge Angus took to a second hand dealer in BH and was told if he got it recovered he could sell it for a couple of grand- of course costing a few grand to do. It was delivered to Lifeline- so at least, hopefully someone is appreciating it, cause we sure weren't!!

Will post pics when I get a new camera-
think I've taken 1 too many dust storm shots and mine's died.
I'm getting an Olympus, which is 3 metres deep water proof and very, very well sealed to prevent a repeat!

[Bearskin]

We're also hoping that with the rise and rise of oil (being a major ingredient of synthetic materials) wool will make a reemergence-
we're very optimistic people Or insane!

I agree with you Kazza - its been a big discussion point with our fine wool breeder neighbours that wool will become a far more popular fibre due to the demand for petroleum product in other areas.

Farmgal - yep had a very long email conversation with PETA about their targeting of Australian wool growers and they are b@stards of the first kind. I just watched a doco on the founder of PETA and admittedly I admire a lot of the work they do re. fur production and bird slaughter (I'm not sure I can eat chicken or turkey again...ever and I'm not too sure about pork either!) they are holding aussie farmers to ransom and that approach just breeds bad feelings and anger.

I agree there has to be a better way than mulesing but to hold farmers to ransom and attempt to drive an industry into extinction is terrible and I really feel for your family. The problem with PETA is that they are extremists - they believe no-one should eat met at all or use animals for any purpose including horseriding, pets, wool etc so their good work gets ignored in place of dramatic industry blackmail.

Flogga - did your husband get to meet the carpet guy? Could have swayed him a bit meeting a bloke TTC at 72! Thanks for the info too re. tagging lambs - a friend worked at a stud and she used to hunt the lambs down in the paddock with a dog too :)

Kazza -your room sounds wonderful; we need some pics :) Good news on the retirement of the 'heirloom couch' :laughing:

Bindi - sounds like you got out just in time re the kinder! Hope you can find another kinder somewhere or the poo gets sorted out. I cannot believe alexis is almost 1 - my time flies quick.

We started lambing here and I already have one at the back door! I made a little coat for him out of an old sleeping bag of Zoe's and if he is still alive I am taking him to childcare next week for 'show and tell' as a lot of the kids at the centre are town people and will love to bottle feed a little lamb.
Good news is the ewes are really good mums (for Merinos) and have been mothering up really well even when feeding out hay. I've pulled one so far so happy with that for maiden ewes.
Bad news is the new neighbours (bought the little farmlet on the hill) have 2 dogs that run loose on their place and have found them twice in other people's paddocks :( I took the dogs home and warned them about their dogs getting shot if not careful and then found their kelpie x in a paddock next to ours on Sunday - why don't people listen?

Alright - the house is stirring even though I've been up since 5am so I better go - thanks bubby!

[floggadog]

Kazza - be great to see your pics & hear all about your new camera. Didn't you get a new one last year? Or were you talking about this one???
My parents are passing your place in a few months. They're driving to Queensland for a holiday (Wish it were me).

Bearskin - Good on you for having a go at those terrorists of the animal world:rolleyes:.
Why aren't they chasing down the Jap whalers or the ones who do horrible things to bears or the shark finners??? Probably because that happens in the sort of country where activists can dissapear without a trace :devil:.
Anyway whinging about them is not productive so good on you for seeing a positive in it & finding your way through.
Hubby met the carpet guy before we knew his life story.His story didn't inspire him :rolleyes:
Hopefully, if I get my work done this morning without falling to :sleeping: I'll get to Albany to pick my carpet. I want to be as close to the first on the list as I can be.
I want to be able to sit & watch Cook & the Chef on a Wednesday night without my children & Husband (who have all promised with their life to be quiet) talking all he way through :hair::hissy:.
So I too must get my camera out as I'm GOING to have this lounge room finished ASAP.
Which just reminded me of something so I'd better be off.
Kids are up early, singing Yellow Submarine of all things, so I'm gonna go with that & have a stress free morning of getting ready for school...................................I hope

[M O P]

hmm, Flogga-
our Canon camera has been perfect up until now
you should tell your folks to call in-
we're only 25km off the hwy and we don't bite :D

Michelle- the neighbour's dogs suck-
well, it's not really the dogs' fault-
your neighbours suck for letting their dogs get in that situation!

[Velouria]

Hello Lovely Ladies of the land,

I have been catching up with all of your news without posting any of my own for a while now. No excuse other than I am a slacko. Its great to hear that everyone is doing well and that the animals are behaving themselves (apart from Bearskin's pesky neighbours dogs).

Little Owen is not so little anymore. He has the chubbiest cheeks and now weighs about 5.5kg. He is 14 weeks old and is already trying to sit up. He does what looks like sit ups and uses his elbows to lever himself up. He is not quite there yet but it won't be long I am sure. Feeing is a dream now - to all those who said it would get easier you were 1000% correct. He still is a bt of a chucker but we do a couple of things to minimise the occurrence of that and alwasy have a heavy duty spew cloth to hand after feeds.

Here is a recent picture of the wee man (looking a bit unhappy about wearing this rather comical hat his Nan made him)

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z220/velouria_pics/DSC06500.jpg

Farm life is not so good at the moment. Due to our own fault and bad management and excuses we ended up losing two of our dorper lambs. We put off drenching and vaccinating them for too long and the two smallest ones got a heavy worm burden and died. I am so angry at myself and Chris for not making them a priority. It is so hard sometimes with Chris working long hours 5 days a week off farm, to find time on the weekend to do some animal husbandry (especially since he plays hockey on the weekend - don't get me started on that sore point though:hair:). I had to drench all 50 off them last weekend as Chris is in Tassie at the mo, and I was so knackered and sore by the end of it. I was suprised though at how placid our wethers were. They have little contact with us yet were so much easier to handle than our Dorper ewes. Anyhoo it may not seem a big job for you ladies with your 100's of sheeps but to a novice like me it was a mammoth task, and one that I am rather chuffed I did without injuring myself or the sheepies :yelclap:. We are hoping to jab them this afternoon when we get home from Perth (I am up in Perth to pick up Chris from the airport then back to home - 3 hour trip).

PIgs, goats,ducks and chickens all fine at the mo. Two little piggies off to the abattoir next week which is always a bit sad as they are funny little characters.

We have put an offer in for a 134 acre block in Bridgetown and are waiting to hear back. I have been busy painting our house and tidying it up for when we eventually get it on the market. I will be so sad to leave here but am excited about starting fresh and making all our own decisions about what goes where on our property etc.

Must go as the boy is calling.

Ta ta :wave:

Jill

[Farmgal80]

Well, the unthinkable has happened.
Fairly horrible and all but DH has been a rock so I should be thankful for that.
I'm just so bummed that I have to start from scratch all again. I'd done all the hard work and now :hair:
On the plus side we have finished seeding, the builder has arrived to do our backyard paving and front verandah, my Ikea wardrobes will be here soon, work is busy, so I'm just going to distract the hell outa myself and hopefully all will get easier in time...

[Velouria]

Farmgal I am so sorry to read of your sad news. :hugs: to you and your family and I admire your strength and positivity.

Jill

[funnyfarm]

Farmgal - just wanted to send you a bucket load of :hugs::hugs::hugs:.

Hope you are resting well and take care.

[floggadog]

Farmgal - Words can't express how sorry I am for your loss. Sending you warm healing hugs & positive thoughts for the future.
I'm here for you if you ever want to talk.:hugs:

[Farmgal80]

Thanks for your kind words people.
The builder has been & gone so we now have paving and limestone bordering the front verandah, slowly getting things a bit cleaner now. Before I'd even had a chance to use the area, DH & our trainee had pulled my horse out of the paddock just as I got home from work, and proceeded to clean & trim her feet on the brand new cream pavers. Of course she did a very messy and sloppy green poo on the pavers, which I have yet to be able to clean off :geek:. So while they were being helpful with the horse thing (trainee was a bit scared doing the back hooves and said "tell my mother I love her" :p) ...could they have chosen a better time & place...! :doh:
And the Ikea wardrobes are great & am loving that I can now actually see all my clothes, unfortunately now I can see all the bad choices I have made & will have to chuck a whole heap out.
Going to Perth on the w/end for an Elders cocktail party for the Supreme Clip of the Sale for our wool clip this year... 5.30-9.30 so I'm guessing they don't want us to chug-alug. And theres 'talks' as well apparently... sounding lame... but DH says 'i go to all your industry things'...
The Urea arrived for the seeding program (were going to spread it after, ourselves) but DH says he's not going to bother, as at $1000 a tonne he might just keep it for next year as the price is still going up & up. Apparently there's enough fertiliser in the ground already, and unless we get a really huge rain he's not going to put it out. Its sitting in a huge mound in the shed, I've been racing the border collie up to the top... spilling it everywhere...
Speaking of rain, fingers crossed we get some this weekend...

[Bearskin]

Hello All!

Its been a while - its that bl00dy end of financial year officework that keeps me quiet! Hope you all have finished your BAS and the crops are coming up strong.

Farmgal - hope all is ok with you? I was sorry to read your news and hope you are doing ok.

We marked all our lambs on the weekend; 75% SR so not too bad with maiden ewes. I think I've pulled about 25 this year so far and now FIL's ewes are lambing shortly. They are maidens too and IL's have gone away for 5 weeks so I volunteered to mind 2mobs. Zoe loves it in the ute twice a day; she has been fascinated watching me pull the lambs and tells me 'That's my job; I work too Mum.'

Dave ran over his retired working dog Patch when we were marking; silly old fella was chasing the wheels and Dave didn't see him. He survived but was very sore and hasn't been so good so I ran him over to the vet this afternoon and Patch is having a holiday overnight for x rays. Dave didn't want to admit it but he is really glad I took Patch to the vet - Dave doesn't have the heart for the 25c solution. I've never seen a more loyal, devoted, gentle dog than Patch; it will be a sad day when he goes. He is the type of dog I would leave Zoe with no worries; she can feed him, pull his ears and he just takes it all.

We have had some good rain here too - everyone is trying to not get hopeful in case we jinx it and end up with nasty frosts.

Baby William is getting puddy; he is getting way to heavy to carry and is over 8kgs. He is rolling over every now and then and squeals loudly esp. for boobie but is a pretty placid bub. He just adores Zoe and looks for her all the time and manages to roll/wriggle his way over to her for some play time.

I am also still pretty puddy; its **** that breastfeeding helps you lose the baby weight and I'm still feeding Zoe and the weight sticks to me like sheep poo! I still look 5 months pg and have no clothes to wear so I might get motivated to do something soon...maybe! :laughing:

Right better go as Billy needs a feed. I just found out my Excel files from a client have not saved to memory stick properly so will have to call in and see them some time tomorrow too :mad:

Hope all is well with all of you and your families.

Michelle

[misskittyfantastico]

Hi all:wave:
Looooong time no post - I'm sorry:o
I do a lot of reading while Hamish (aka greedy guts) feeds.

Farmgal - I hope you're going ok:hugs:

Bearskin - Sounds like Will and Hamish could be chunky monkeys together! H has hit the 8kgs and is rolling and sort of scooting around.

Sorry to hear about Patch - DH's old kelpie mickey, stuffed his leg jumping a fence....he's in a cast but it's wait and see if it'll heal...

Ah....freaky, yuck neighbour has rocked up...will continue.

[floggadog]

Hi girls, just letting you know I'm still alive.
Having a good season. We've all been suffering colds & other ailments plus it's been bl00dy cold.
Hope you are all well & your kids are all thriving.
Best of seasons to you all,
Flogga :)

[Farmgal80]

hey guys - I'm back from being MIA for a while, mainly as work has us off tap for a lot of things.
The access to various things changes on a daily basis it seems. I am utterly heartbroken that one of those things that seems to be barred at the moment is ebay, my favourite friend :rolleyes:.
Other than that I went to China for a couple of weeks with the hubby, saw a few places & visited a joint venture Australian-Chinese woollen mill which I was able to hook up with trhough work - awesome experience.
I'm very keen to get UTD again now - its been 4 months since the m/c, time to get back on the horse I think. I'm worried though that I'm going to get a little obsessed about it all - I'm not sure how to handle it. What if it doesn't happen for a long time?
So now I've got another trainee (Danish) coming tonight to replace our South African - although he's not leaving till December, so lucky me gets to cook for four every night - how am I going to cope? I'm going to have to bulk out meals I guess, lots of potatoes & things. Got no idea how harvesting is going to go - so much pressure on me. As if I'm not tired enough coming home from work without having to cook for three other blokes every night. And the MIL gets to sit on her ****. At least I won't have to deal with her :D. In fact i reckon I've only seen the old bag about 5 times this year all up! And she only lives 10kms away! Awesome!
Anyway tell me more bout what you guys are doing on your properties... And the developement of all your kidlets...

[Velouria]

Hello anyone here??

This thread has been a bit neglected of late so I thought I would try and rekindle our farm talk as I really like to hear how it is all going on your properties around the country.

We are lambing at the mo - heaps of little black and white bundles of cuteness frolicking through the paddocks. We have had a run on twins two and so far :fingerscrossed: all the mums are keeping there babies happy and healthy. We did have one ewe who, in the early days seemed to forget she had a second lamb and would often be down one end of the paddock whilst her littl'un was bleating and carrying on. When we reunited her though she was all over the lamb with licks and sniffs and gave it a good feed. Thankfully she is passed thqt now and the lambs have the strength to run after her if she wanders too far.

Just a quick question for you sheep farmers. what sort of records do you keep on your breeding stock and how do you keep them (paper or on computer). Now that we are breeding up our Dorper line we need to have accurate records about who bred with whom , when, how many lambs they had, are they good shedders etc. Is there any info that you guys record such as whether they make good mums etc.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

C'mon ladies lets revive this thread...I miss youse all :D

PS - Owen is doing really well. We are off to swimming lessons now or else I would have posted a piccy or two.

Next time I promise

Ta ta

[Velouria]

http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z220/velouria_pics/?action=view&current=Owen008.jpg
(http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z220/velouria_pics/?action=view&current=Owen008.jpg)
http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z220/velouria_pics/?action=view&current=DSC_6952a.jpg (http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z220/velouria_pics/?action=view&current=DSC_6952a.jpg)


Some piccies of ma' boy for you all

[misskittyfantastico]

Owen is SOOOOO CUTE!!! I just wanna smoosh and smooch those cheeks of his!

Sounds like there are lots of cute bundles at your place. In terms of records - I reckon flogga would be the girl in the know (Flogga! Can you hear me? You're needed!) I'll come back and type more but the kids have woken so....yanno!

I hope everyone is doing ok - busy, busy, busy I imagine.

Farmgal - You MIL sounds oh so familiar! I'm sending lots of baby dust your way.
China must have been an experience and a half!

We're getting ready for harvest - if the rain stays away, we should be getting into the barley next week.

We've had a fair bit of frost damage but as always there are many much worse off.

We lost our sheepdog - his leg just didn't heal. so we're now without a workdog....a puppy will be fun though.

I put some pics of the kids in the photo section, so here are a couple of links

Hamish
http://www.bubhub.com.au/community/forums/showthread.php?t=214270

Millie
http://www.bubhub.com.au/community/forums/showthread.php?t=214272

xxxx

[Farmgal80]

Velouria - there are lots of farm management progarammes on the market which would handle that sort of thing (such as Agrimaster - thats a whole-farm management tool though) for a small flock of sheep you might want to consider making up an excel spreadsheet to track the changes. Would be simpler to learn how to use (as you can add columns of info you want to store as you go) and also a lot less expensive - for a small flock the programmes can be quite pricey - eg $500+. A spreadsheet you can track changes and also make graphs and things to display how your flock is progressing - worth having a play around with anyway.
I don't reaaly have much to do with the running of the farm side of things - leave that all to my husband - so I'm proably not the best person to respond anyway! But from what I have seen the programmes are essentially big spreadsheets anyway...

oh and as you might have guessed I'm UTD again so fingers crossed this one works out... Very disappointed that I will go through harvest with m/s again - first seeding then now harvest - as if these times aren't trying enough without feeling nauseous.

On a big plus though we have got our above ground pool nearly running, so that will be an awesome relief once the weather really starts to heat up.

[Velouria]

MissK what a little cutey your Hamish is. He looks like a real smiler and Millie looks as pleased as punched to be his big sister.


Farmgal
Thanks for your suggestions re- sheep records. I am going to have a tinker around in Excel and see what I can come up with.

Speaking of sheep , has anyone had any experience with a ewe lamb having an anal prolapse. We have an 8 month old dorper ewe with a proplapse at the mo and we were thinking of sending her to the abbatoir as we assume it will be a recurring problem. Its expensive lamb though and as it turns out she is looking like being a really good shedder - ain't it always the way :(

[floggadog]

Hi ladies, I'm still lurking...just. I only visit for this thread & 1 other now. The whole bubhub experience just got to big. But I really miss chatting with you girls.I'll reply first.
Vel - your boy is so very cute. He really is a credit to you. Worth every penny aren't they ;)
Sheep records - I use Pedigree Wizard which is set up for ASBVs but is also free to download & fantastic to store records in. There is certainly provisions to record fleece or shedding type. I run this in conjunction with Excel. I can export my PW data into excel & work with it there. I also do my mating program up on Access as PW doesn't provide that function. You can find the download here...http://www.crt.net.au/~sfield/Now - what do I record? I record lambing ease, lamb deaths, dam temperament at lambing, notable features of the newborn lamb ( any problems or specific markings or fleece type etc.) lamb weight at birth, 3mths 6mths, 9mths & 12 mths. Illness during the life time of a sheep, where sold, when , how much, whether a cull or not.It goes on & on. I cull for prolapse. I also don't cut the tails as short as I used to as this can cause prolapse, I cull for turned in eyelid, bad conformation, bad temperament,bad fleece, low weaning weights ( I cull the dam), mastitis, if lambs have ended up as culls 2 years running. That list is endless too. It's a wonder I have any sheep left. Let me know if you'd like any more explanation or info.

Farmgal - congrats on your tummy traveller - hope you enjoy every minute of your pregnancy. Yep even the MS as I always think thats a reasuring thing.MILs are fun aren't they?!? I have a good one really. I have my ways of dealing with her idiocyncrasies(sp*) & when she becomes too much I retreat & stay away. But honestly, I couldn't farm without her & she was a godsend during my 2nd & 3rd pregnancies.We have an understanding where I visit her but rarely does she visit me. I put up with most of what she says & I help her where I can. my kids need their Oma & are lucky enough to see her most days.How is your Danish fellow going?

Miss Kitty - you too are fattening your child to Hansel & Gretel proportions, he looks gorgeous. Theres' nothing like a healthy chubby bub. Hope your harvest goes well & what you do get off is A grade!& RIP sheepdog, may your replacement live up to your fine work ethics & not rip all of Miss Kittys washing off the line.

Now for my news. We're in full swing with hay contracting. We've had rain to contend with so we have a few grumpy customers. Hubby has been working very long hours & when I saw him this arvo he looked like sh!t. my rams are pretty well all sold. We topped our sale in Albany along with another stud. Our top price was $900 with an average of $717 a head over 20 rams. We also bought a beauty of a stud ram from a stud in Nyabing plus another one that was res. champ at Adelaide royal last year.Can't wait for lambing time next year.I'm off to Albany show this weekend with 4 lambs 2 ewe hogs & the new ram. The kids are entering in the craft & cooking section. They painted very cute paintings this evening for the comp.The farm is overflowing with feed, the ducks have hatched out 25+ ducklings - did I tell you we have 2 pairs of ducks??? We have chickens everywhere, baby guinea pigs & unfortunatly the cat is preggers too. I don't know if I mentioned before my mare I bought earlier in the year. I'm still not riding her as she has dodgy hooves. Just my luck. my house is an absoloute mess but my garden is looking nice.
Olliver is 2 now & is a fantastic talker. He is obsessed by Bob the builder & tractors. He uses his manners & can count. He also somehow ends up in our bed at 3am every morning. I think I sleep walk to get him. He has polyps on his adenoids & is now dairy wheat free to make his life easier & to avoid the operation. His nose blocks every night which is why he wakes.
Lindsay is finishing Pre primary & can't learn fast enough. Unfortunately he hasn't had the extra teaching he should have so I've tried to fill in the gaps at home with learning books. He isn't particularlly sporty but loves music.
Alyssa is still a dreamer, very musical & arty, a very good year 2 student & loooves her animals. We gave her bantam wyandotte chooks for her birthday which she loves.
SO thats us. Hope you are all well & harvest goes well. I'd post pics but my photobucket account is playing up so maybe next time.Bye :)

[Velouria]

Yeah Flogga, it is so nice to catch up with your news. Glad to hear that your kids are all doing well. Ah the Albany show...I have such fond memories as I used to have to man the Customs stand there when I worked in Albany..enjoy yourself (and pick up some freebies at the Customs display for the kidlets whilst your there, they sometimes have some good giveaways)

Thank you for the info re- sheep records, esp the link. I have forwarded it on to DH to have a looksee. There really is so much that you can record about them isn't there. I only had about half of what you suggested in my fairly basic spreadsheet. But it is a good idea I think to have thorough records especially if you are trying to breed up to a decent flock (like we are now trying to do).

Anyhoo time for all my news.

We bought a full blood Dorper Ram who we have named Gordon (RAMsey :laughing:) and are just starting to see his babies appear in the paddocks. We bought another 10 ewes in lamb so that we can put Gordon over their offspring too and beef up our numbers (or should that be lamb up our numbers)
We took a trip over to Victoria to attend a workshop run by the lady who is the main advocate and breeder for Wessex Saddleback Pigs. We learnt heaps and are now in the process of setting up some new paddocks for our pigs as we want to eventually sell their meat at the local farmers markets and possibly on farm also.

Which reminds me - has anyone had any experience selling meat at farmers markets/off farm before. We keep getting conflicting info about what we can and can't do and we are a bit confused.

Pammy currently has a litter of six piglets. Two of which have deformed spines so look like Hunchbacks (but it doesn't stop them from moving around) and one of them is a hemaphrodite :eek: it has girls bits where its boys bits should be.

We are soon going to be getting a buck for our goats. He will only be about 4 months old but it gives us an opportunity to "domesticate" him so to speak before he becomes too big and boysterous - I can't wait as I really love bucks (they have such personality).

We had a reporter come to our place and do a story on our farm and the pigs. It sould appear in the Countryman in the next couple of weeks or so (if you are interested).

we are also about to emabrk on a major redesign of our paddocks. At the moment our paddocks are too large for the number of sheep we have and we want to better rotate the stock through them for worm control, so we are fencing fencing fencing!!! OMG how expensive are star pickcets nowadays..geez.

Last weekend we castrated and tailed our lambies. It was the first time that Dh and I had done it. I did not enjoy it that is for sure (although I would rather be me than the poor lambies). It amazed me how far they can retract those boys bits when they see a big rubber band coming towards them :). I only mamaged to get my fingers caught in the castrator once which I considered pretty good going for me. But I did get kicked in the face and DH coped a beauty in the privates himself -- its not sheep work unless someone gets injured :laughing:

We also bought a goat handler to help us trim the goats feet. That is our challenge for next weekend so I am sure to fill you in on the hilarity and grave injuries that will occur after we tackle that unpleasant job.

Anyhoo the weather here is absolutely foul. There is a sheep weather warning at the mo so I am going to try and get the ewes and lambs up into our top paddock which has a shed for shelter. Then Owen and I are off to swimming! My mum is down from Perth at the moment and she is looking forward to seeing Owen in action in the pool.

Ta ta for now
Jill

Oh I forgot to add that Owen has just gotten his first tooth (after about three weeks of teething I reckon) We are yet to actually see a pearly white but you can feel a sharp bit on his gums and see a little slit where it will emerge from - WOOT!

[Farmgal80]

Good to see everyone has been busy with their farms...
We have been treating sheep for flies like its going out of fashion - DH says he's never seen so many flystruck sheep. Also heaps and heaps of dermatisis - around the ears & head - which are getting struck as well. They filled the boomspray up and compeltely drenched, the whole blooomig lot, with Extinsosad, so that they were sopping, and then backlined them all with Click. So very expensive but fingers crossed it will do the job. The poor dogs, who live only to get a ride on the ute and do a bit of sheepwork, are actually getting a little over chasing down sheep - Sally has been hanging back on the ute, almost having to be tossed off the back to go get the sheep - she's feeling a little overwhelmed with it all. You can hear her groan when you say 'bring it down' :laughing:
The main reason for the big fly population is the incredible amount of rain we've been getting - about 80ml in the past couple of weeks. And quite a lot of our dams are full - half-full! :smiliedance:Strange weather patterns. Why couldn't we have had this rain back in August???
On an upside though a lot of our crops are late, (in order to spread the frost risk, we've been hit bad in the past, some neighbours have reported up to 60% loss on their crops due to frost - we haven't found much ourselves this year) - so due to the lateness, they are a little bit crappy, but they are also still flowering - some will go 5 grain wide - so lots more grain due to the late rain and very soft finish.
So when will we start harvesting? We were well into it this time last year, so who knows? As long as we finish before Christmas!
Flogga do you run merinos?
And vel we may well look at going into dorpers - this fly thing is very tiring

[floggadog]

Farmgal - our last Merinos went 6ish years ago. We have to watch the white suffolks for strike & have had a couple so far this year but only the blowie not the greenfly.
Have you thought about flytraps? Sounds strange as thats what we put in the chook pen or near the rubbish bins. Thay have developed flybaits & traps esp for the green fly. I read recently about a couple who have out them in every paddock on the farm.
I've bought a flytrap lid off of ebay that can be fitted onto any drum & it works a treat so I'll be buying some more to set up at the sheep yards & under the trees where the sheep camp to see if I can reduce the population somewhat.
Apparently one guy set one up on a 44gallon drum. Imagine that full of dead flies :)

[mummy1987]

not sure if i can be counted in here. im down at narooma, nsw which is about 5 hours south of sydney. we have shops here but the closest big shopping centre which has your big kmart/target stores and your fast food maccas, kfc, subway stores is an hour away!

[Farmgal80]

I'm just thinking of when we were growing up, we used to always have a flytrap hanging off a branch near the aviary, we had a beagle that used to eat anything/everything - the flytrap fell off and she ate the contents :barf:and then rolled in it - I can imagine my dogs doing he same thing... :laughing:
The amount of flytraps we would need to have would be ridiculous to be effective though - although as you say they do tend to camp in the same spots etc.

Velouria if you end up doing your own killing - I'll buy off you! We run a lot of freezers & could really do with a heap of pork chops - Pammy's piglets sound pretty tasty! :o I know there are lots of rules and regulations about owner-slaughtering - it would be something you would have to look into very carefully to make sure that you are complying with eg proper hygiene, freezing/hanging methods etc...
I've been thinking about taking some sheep over to... I think it is Katanning, where you bring over say 5 sheep and they kill & vacuum pack 3 for you and take 2 in payment or something? Has anyone done this? I've talked to DH about it but he's not that keen on the idea for some stupid reason like petrol costs or something silly like that... Just seems silly to pay a fortune for lamb chops when we have our own awesome fat lambs just running around. Something that I think I'll definately do next year when I'm not working and have plenty of time to boss DH around ;)



Oh and welcome mummy 1987

[suemp]

hi, can i barge my way in here to ask a few questions please?
well im a gold coast girl for 11 yrs and grew up in sydney however dp has been offered a dream job with good money fishing and crabbing south of weipa. its so remote that supplies get flown in and out. which may not be strange to you but would to me lol

anyways as it would mean a huge change id like to find out afew things. would that mean ds1 would be home schooled or on the radio or something? do you worry about health care being remote? ds2 has some special needs and would need to be flown to brisbane kids hospital should anything happen
how do you cope with the loneliness?
and a strange one but do the hubbies often end up drinking more or less due to isolation. dp already has about a six pack a night
thanks for any info. much appreciated

[Farmgal80]

Sue - seeing as no ones replied I'll try and give a little (very little) help. I know next to nothing about Weipa, fishing, and living in a very very remote community, so bear that in mind...

its so remote that supplies get flown in and out
Depends on how often things are flown in/out - might be daily, in which case wouldn't be a problem, you just learn to adapt. You need to find out exactly what the schedule is. Also if they have any facilities so that things can be shipped in as well - eg furniture? Even the most remote station country is serviced by road freight.
ds1 would be home schooled or on the radio or something?
Sounds like school of the air I'd say.
do you worry about health care being remote? ds2 has some special needs and would need to be flown to brisbane kids hospital should anything happen
Emergency services I would imagine would be the Flying Doctor Service - however this is for emergencies only. For specialist appointments I imagine you would be needing to fund your own travel arrangements, although there is such things as the Patient Assisted Travel Scheme (PATS) which may or may not cover you, depending on the severity/nature of your son's needs. Living in a remote community with a special needs child may be asking for trouble if you can't access the facilities/services that you need.
how do you cope with the loneliness?
Sometimes you cope, sometimes you don't. Its not all smooth sailing but you do learn to adapt, by degrees.
and a strange one but do the hubbies often
end up drinking more or less due to isolation.
Some do some don't - if your hubbies a drinker I'd say when he come in from fishing that drinking would be a natural part of the culture of living up the top end. Something you need to consider as it would be highly unlikely that he's going to learn to drink less, IYKWIM. When they're off the coast I'd be surprised if they tolerated anything less than a dry ship policy.

Sue this sounds like a very remote place and you'd need to weigh up carefully what it is going to be like for your family living like this. It might be ok for say short term... in the the longer term you may be better living somewhere like Weipa itself and have your hubby flyin-flyout from there - and having access to better (or any) facilities.


On another note we have started harvesting.... sort of.
DH has done 18 trips to the bin. Other than that it has:rain:and :rain: and :rain:and the grain is too wet to be harvested... so odd where is all the November :sunshine:???