New Zealand Life

October 2012

This October has been just as exciting as every other month since we moved. We are all finding that each day on the farm brings us more experiences and fun! This October, we added yet more animals to EVER’s growing repertoire, celebrated Jaynee’s birthday, worked on the farm to make it the best it possible can be, and more! This month was packed with excitement from the first of October to Halloween!

Many days in this last month saw us working both the 120 Webber Road and 2215 South Head Road Property. However, before I go into what we did this month at these farms, I thought I would give a summary of what different parts of the 2215 property are named. The first two paddocks (on the left side of the shared driveway to our property), are the front stockyard paddocks. The foremost paddock contains our primary stockyard on the property. Then, once you’ve gotten through our front gate onto the property, you are on our private driveway to the future EVER estate. This driveway starts off in the “Shed Area,” which contains a small shed on the left side which Dad built in September of last year. This shed contains our Polaris Ranger, or 4-wheeler, which is used to travel on the property. Soon after you pass where the shed is, there is a small bridge (made of dirt) on the right that leads up to two electrified bungee cords. These cords mark the large paddock made up of the cross country meadow, area, and pond. Once you’ve passed the bridge, the driveway has a bungee cord across it. On the other side is the House Site Area. This area contains a seasonal pond, a small hay area, and (of course) the house site. The house site resides at the end of the driveway. If you walk around on it, you can visualize were the different rooms of EVER estate will be. This is where the house will be, this is where the barn is etc. If you look down from the barn-site, you can see the EVER round pen and jumping arena. You can also see a small dirt path that leads off towards the different areas. If you go along the road, you pass the jumping arena, dressage arena, and EVER pond (all on your left). At the end of this path (called EVER Lane), there is a gate. Through the gate is The Bowl. EVER lane slopes downhill through this paddock, and begins to turn to the right at the bottom. As you turn right, you can see the double-gated area that leads to the Back Stockyards (visible from this position), Back ponds, Plains, and Ravine. This is where 35 of the cows in our herd are grazing. As you continue along, you find you’re moving in line with a white, electric tape outlining a big hill. This hill is known as The Knoll. If you go even further along on EVER Lane, you can view the Orchard (on the left), and Meadow Barn, Arena, and Pond in front of you to complete your tour of EVER.

Back to the farm work of this month. Mom and I probably weed sprayed something like 10,000 liters of herbicide on various weeds like thistle, dock, mallo, dandelion, buttercup etc. and we’re finding it is a very difficult task! The thistles seem to have doubled each time we return to the property! We’ve learned that this is because the main root-system can be miles and miles long, so all the new baby thistle are popping up from this massive root system. In order to kill out the system, we have to spray as much as we can in order to kill the root piece by piece. We are still hard at it, and would’ve probably given up a long time ago if we didn’t see success of the thistle dying from the spray. This month we also transplanted pines in the Cross-Country Meadow Paddock. We then sprayed roundup around the pines to kill those weeds so the fruit trees have a better chance at taking hold in the ground.

Mom worked on mowing the meadow area, jumping arena, and dressage arena this month. Mom took the tractor out and did the job while Dad and I took the Ranger and sprayed more thistles. Down by the meadow barn, the outhouse which Ian Fletcher built for us got set up this month. However, Dad didn’t like the old, metal roof it had. So Dad and I put a new piece of roofing on it in place of the old one. It looks very nice now. That’s not all we did this month! Mom and I also went out to the property with an oral drench for the calves one day. In case you are not familiar with the term, a drench is an oral or pour-on medication to control worms and other parasites in and on the cattle. To accomplish this task we first had to herd all the cattle into the front stockyard. Then you have to place the metal dispersing end into the cattles mouth. They are not too happy with this part and they don't like the taste of the medication so there is lots of spitting. The event did not go without difficulties! Mom seriously hurt her hand to the point were it was swelling to twice it’s size within 30 minutes, one calf got sat on by another, and that same calf accidently got about three doses or wormer. Luckily, the calf is doing well, though it definitely had us worried!

On the 120 Webber Road Property, we sprayed roundup on the front fenceline of the property, and around the pines we had planted there as well. The grass is already dying and will be cut down once the herbicide’s job it complete. We also got a huge load of wood shavings delivered. Dad, Mom, and I all shoveled shavings into wheelbarrows and dumped it into the calf’s pens. Our four calves had a great time snorting and stomping in the prickly shavings!

Shaving and spraying aren’t the most exciting things happening here, however! The most exciting are the additions of 5 new family members! Enter Autumn and Fall (turkeys), Crystal, Silver Topaz, and Opal (Silkies)! Surprisingly enough, these five birdies all have the same birthday—10/15/12. I got Autumn and Fall on the day they hatched, and the Silkie Chickens a week later. Autumn and Fall are turkeys hatched on our Webber Road property. They are extremely friendly and love to be cuddled! The Silkies are also very sweet avis. These odd-ball chickens have five toes (not 4) and black skin; they will grow up to have furry white feathers that extend down their legs to their feet. This October 30, brought yet another excitement: Jaynee’s Birthday! Jaynee is now a year old, and got a special beef bone to celebrate. This coming-of-age is especially exciting, because it means is she completely ready to really learn how to herd cattle!

This Halloween did not bring tick-or-treaters (like it did last year, in Omana) and we didn’t really celebrate. We are continuing to work long and hard to make the property spick and span for our coming visitors!
Summer is quickly approaching along with Thanksgiving and Christmas! We haven’t quite adapted to the switched seasons during these holidays, but that doesn’t change our level of excitement! Allie, Jeannine, and John will be coming for Thanksgiving this year, and will be followed by holidays and visitors after that! November will be filled with preparations, visitors, holidays, adventures, animals, and more!

~ Juli@ ~