What's going on ...

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Haven't blogged for a while - so here are some photos of recent goings on as we head into Spring.

 Spring means new arrivals.  This little sweetheart looks as though her mother had a fling with a Friesian bull.

The cows are now in a separate paddock and clear of last years calves.  Sometime in the next month they'll be looking after new ones.

The second photo shows my daughter in law learning a useful skill.  Elastrator rubber rings are part of family history - with both my grandmother's brother and Kristina's grandfather part of patenting the idea.  They went on to sell a lot of them!

Doing the tail is easy enough, but the castration task needs care.

Not much fun for the lambs, but then ... I didn't enjoy being vaccinated when I was a little tacker.  They lie around for half an hour, but are then up and running again.

 
The first of our Maremma pups is now at Moora.  We've called him Polo - which is short for Napoleon - and the other one is likely to be called Josephine .... Josie perhaps.

He seems like a very bright little thing.  As gorgeous as any other pup, but showing signs of being suited for the work he has to do.

We are gradually getting him used to (and bonded to) the animals he has to protect.  Each day we take him on 2 or 3 walks around the area he has to watch most closely.  At least one of the walks is on a lead.  He didn't like it the first couple of times, but accepts it now.

He is already in the paddock - and isn't allowed near the house.  He has a kennel.  The first night I wasn't sure whether he had worked out where to sleep, but he has now.  The other problem is that it is not going to be big enough for him for very long.  The gates keep him from playing with the chooks - at the moment his only contact with them is supervised.

We've all reading a book produced by a scientist at the Cooperative Research Centre for Invasive Animals.  It's a very useful document.
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