WWOOFing

S
Our son has done the work to register us as hosts under a scheme called Willing Workers On Organic Farms.

We now have a host number - VM 259 - and we are waiting for someone to tell us they want to work with us for 4 to 6 hours a day in return for board and lodging.  Someone who does this is called a WWOOFer.

We are not a certified organic property.  We don't have to be - it's enough that we are mainly organic and don't ask our WWOOFers to use any chemicals or non-organic remedies. 

A neighbor has been hosting WWOOFers for some time - and we've had a couple of groups of them around to dinner - just to give her a break.  They were all nice kids.

We have quite a lot going on at present, so it will be good to have some help.  The two Maremma pups take quite a lot of time.  They are fed 3 times a day and taken for a short walk each time.  We're also trying to socialise them to the animals they have to guard as well.

Josie is doing well with the chooks, but still needs to be supervised.  The sobering part is that she will need to be supervised until she 'matures' - which could be a year away!

Polo is also doing ok with the sheep, but we definitely need to supervise his interaction with the ram.  Even the ewes are a bit aggressive with him.  He, for his part, is wanting to run around and play.  When the ram does try to butt him, Polo stands up for himself by barking and 'charging' back in a 'get off me' sort of way.  Having observed it a couple of times I think it's borderline what he should be doing to establish his role as their protector.

People say that it's best to get a pup and train them yourself - but that's a non-trivial undertaking.

Yesterday we drove down to Buln Buln in Gippsland and bought 6 fresian steers from a dairy farmer.  Our reason for doing so is that we just don't have enough cattle to eat all our grass at Moora - let alone at the leased farm at Benson Rd.

We now have 6 steers of about 6 weeks old.  They were advertised as weaners, but are really a bit young for weaning I think.  We have a bag of milk powder / calf formula and have started out giving them 2 litres each once a day.  The farmer gave us an old feeder - which I think was a hint to continue giving them milk for at least a week or two. 

We will probably get another 6 in a few weeks, but will see how these ones go first.  Whereas we grow our Belted Galloways to sell the meat direct to consumers, we intend that the dairy breed steers will be grown through to the end of Spring next year - and sold on the market.

Moora is 57 acres.  Benson Rd is around 100 acres.  I think, with the effort going into cell grazing, we can look at eventually having a herd of 50 Belted Galloway cows - plus the growers that come from that.  Taking the steers through to 24 to 30 months will give us about 125 head.  At present we have nearly 60 - so with a few more calves ... we'll be half way there.
F