Day 279 of 2025

 
I've been going for my daily beach walks again while down visiting Mum.
I love seeing this cache of toys near one of the paths.

See you tomorrow,
Raewyn

Day 278 of 2025

 
Who would have thought it?
Three weeks ago we did not think this day would happen.
Celebrating Mum's 88th birthday with a lovely gathering of family.

See you tomorrow,
Raewyn

Day 277 of 2025

 
While it looks really lovely, the Wisteria has got well out of control!
It needs some serious trimming done on it this year!

See you tomorrow,
Raewyn

Day 276 of 2025

Just another scenic shot.

#3 mob are now on this part of the farm.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 275 of 2025

The two cats mostly get along now. 

This is the closest they've got to sleeping next to each other, which was very cool to see!

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 274 of 2025

Just for a bit of fun, I tried.

It's very hard to get a selfie with a calf.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 273 of 2025

A big day for Ganma today with three energetic kids for most of the day.

Loads of fun.

We all slept well.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 272 of 2025

A visit with the kids next door.

Xavier shows me how much Rocky the goat has grown.

The girls have pet calves, Maple and Autumn - Highlander cross - which are extra cute and fluffy!

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 271 of 2025

It was time to bring that huge mob (shown yesterday) to the shed and sort out the next weaning mob.

In the end, only four smaller ones (green spray paint) were deemed not quite ready for weaning.

So after their feed, the 40-to-be-weaned were drenched, vaccinated, etc, in preparation for going out the back of the farm (the runoff) in a few days time.

(EDIT And just to get the story right; there is another mob of 30, one of 15 and 12 calves still to be born!!)

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 270 of 2025

While I was away, half of #1 mob was weaned.

The rest of the mob was put with #2 mob - which has made it huge.

Even though the feeder has 50 teats, 44 around it is too many......one calf steps sideways and it creates a domino effect with the calf at the other side getting bumped off!

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 269 of 2025

GD#2 was a great help while I was away.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 268 of 2025

So nice to be back home again.

One little pussy cat was pleased to see his Ganma too.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 267 of 2025

Things weren't looking the best for mum but amazingly she has been making a good recovery.

Here she is enjoying my sister's Banana Bread.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 266 of 2025

I finished one ball of yarn - one cat 'blanket' and started another!!

Very easy and mindless hospital crocheting.
(Apologies for the delays in posting!)

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

 

Day 265 of 2025

In contrast, my brother went to a lot of effort to describe his menu of Pumpkin Soup and Garlic Bread!
(Gluten is poison for me!)

See you tomorrow,
Raewyn

Day 264 of 2025

 

The one who's on nights at the hospital organises dinner in the afternoon.

So I wasn't home when the others ate my offering from last night.

I discovered a bit of judging went on in my absence!!

See you tomorrow,
Raewyn

Day 263 of 2025

It was my turn to prepare dinner tonight. Meatballs.

We've set up a roster for dinners, etc, while we all spend time with mum.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 262 of 2025

My aunty's garden must be looking beautiful right now!

See you tomorrow,
Raewyn

Day 261 of 2025

My sister-in-law and I found a Spotlight...and some yarn for random crocheting while sitting around!

See you tomorrow,
Raewyn

 

Day 260 of 2025

 

Back down in the Bay of Plenty spending time at the hospital with Mum.

A bonus is also spending time with all her siblings who also visit.

We also enjoyed massive muffins and scones for lunch at a nearby cafe!

See you tomorrow,
Raewyn

Day 259 of 2025

Yaay - more signs of springs -won't be long and the wisteria will be a buzzing and a humming in a mass of blooms!

See you tomorrow,
Raewyn

Day 258 of 2025

 

A view I don't usually photograph, looking back up at the sheds.

Mr Bull just hanging about.

See you tommorrow,
Raewyn

Day 257 of 2025

As would be expected at this time of the year, it wasn't great weather for beach activities at Russell. It was very windy. Surprisingly it was smooth sailing on the short ferry ride back and forth!

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 256 of 2025

YD and son-in-law's Fathers' Day gift was to give us 24 hours away - not usual for this time of the year.

While it was all hands on deck back home, we enjoyed a leisurely dinner at The Duke of Malborough in the historic town of Russell. 

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 255 of 2025

The school's annual production this year was Aladdin and all of the four of ours who attend the school took part, with varying roles. They had a blast.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 254 of 2025

Another update from the cat chapters.

Tammy and Georgeous are co-existing......there's a lot of chasing; we're not sure if it's pussy cat games or sorting out the pecking order! We're pleased that we are no longer having to keep them separated.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 253 of 2025

I came back into the calfshed with another bucket of milk to see this!

Of course I had to take a photo before I told him to get off!

(No animals or children were harmed in the taking of this photo.)

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 252 of 2025

So many shades of brown...and green!

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 251 of 2025

I missed the moment when they were glaring at each other (actually, Tammy cat was glaring, Georgeous was staring with a "will you play with me" look on his face).

At the moment, separation keeps our sanity.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 250 of 2025

Over three quarters of the herd has calved now; the paddocks are looking a bit fuller!

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 249 of 2025

We're still having to keep the two cats separated as Tammy Cat has her nose out of joint with the new kitten. It was his turn to spend the evening with us so he had a good explore of the cat tower.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 248 of 2025

We ended up with 8 White Face/Hereford calves - 5 boys.

These three obliged and lined up ever so nicely for their photo shoot.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

 

Day 247 of 2025

The MOML delivered two calves to their new home today.

The Jersey bull calf is the only dairy bull calf born and we didn't have a home for him.

(For our dairy calves we use sexed semen during mating which means that there's over a 90% guarantee the calves born will be female - future milkers. This saves having a whole lot of (bull) bobby calves which used to go 'on the truck' at 4 days old.)

The other calf was a small twin - which is good and healthy - just a bit smaller than the others.

There's an older lady nearby who likes to rear a couple of calves each year, and these went to her place.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 246 of 2025

Odie 'helping' Gandad bring the new calvers in.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 245 of 2025

Dehorning day for the calves. 

Quite a rigmarole - they needed to be fed by 7am and sorted and in the sheds - an early and organised start needed!

The vet was a bit late so I needed have rushed so much but oh well.

They're put to sleep so it's done painlessly.

(Just the dairy girls as all the Angus beef calves are born polled which means they don't grow horns.)

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 244 of 2025

One little cat getting brave and exploring the house.

Yes he's very similar colouring to Tammy cat, with the addition of white.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 243 of 2025

(Not the best photo sorry!)
I have been waiting and waiting for this new Magnolia to flower - it's one I bought after seeing on a Garden tour a couple of years ago.

After horrendous weather last night I was so pleased to see these blooms still intact!!

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 242 of 2025

I visited the kids and their calves to see how they're getting on.

Lily and Licky.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 241 of 2025

"We see you, and we're coming for you..!"

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 240 of 2025

A small kitten getting brave and exploring the outside world!

(Another little breakthrough as he often hides when we're in the room.)

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 239 of 2025

Mob 1 is out on the farm full time, getting a new paddock every two days.

I love this part of the farm, so beautiful and peaceful.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 238 of 2025

Meet Georgeous, our new little boy.

Very timid still; this was a breakthrough him emerging from under the bed to have a treat!

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 237 of 2025

Whoops, Ganma forgot to shut the gate and these girls came up to greet us.

These 13 calves went to their new home which emptied out my shed a little!

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 236 of 2025

Well when I woke up this morning, I knew several things would be happening.

I knew that my brother, wife and a daughter were coming up for the day.

I knew they were delivering a kitten my nieces had rescued.
I knew that it was my brother's 60th birthday.

I knew I was making cake for said birthday.

I knew that I'd asked my kids (and co) to pop in for cake if they were able.

BUT I DID NOT KNOW that I would have a goat (in nappies) in my house!!!!

A fun day.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 235 of 2025

Rain can have its advantages - a pretty view from the office (aka the Calf Shed)!

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 234 of 2025

We'd forgotten that last year during mating season, while the Artificial Insemination Technician was coming that we'd run out of the Angus bull semen we use.

Friends gave us some 'straws' to use but their Nitrogen bank was empty of Nitrogen and the straws were dead.

So the technician used some Hereford she had spare - there were only 2 or 3 days of her coming until we used our own (real life) bulls so that worked out ok.

And we've remembered why we prefer to use easy-calving Angus bulls - they tend to be easier calving - this guy was pretty big and his mum has a pinched nerve - dragging her back leg a bit. Hopefully it will come right soon.

ANYWAY, we got quite a surprise to see this white-faced boy out in  the paddock!!

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 233 of 2025

Sunny afternoons and content calves means there is more Calf Spam here on my blog!!

This is Mob 2, the second 30 calves, the ones that were sucking Odie's hand yesterday.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 232 of 2025

Odie and friends.

Hungry calves.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 231 of 2025

Another cross-country day....just the local school this time.

No decent photos at all - this was the start of the race - the twins in pink and black - finished in that order too.

It was a bitter cold and wet day - I think most of us there had hoped it would be postponed but it wasn't!!

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn

Day 230 of 2025

Everyone is "just chillin' " in the afternoon sunshine.

See you tomorrow,

Raewyn