ADVENTURE'S DOWNUNDER OR FARMING IN PARADISE:An Old Rams view.

[dragonlaurel]

The frost killed stuff is still good for something.

Our native grasses are Big & Little Bluestem, and Indiangrass. I think they produce more in the warm season.
The Ag bulletin says oru warm season grasses are:
Bahia, Bermuda, Big or Little Bluestem, Eastern Gamagrass, Johnsongrass, Switchgrass, and Buffalograss, Millet, Crabgrass, Corn and Sorghum.
Dallisgrass - grows fine but can get ergot. Johnsongrass and Sorghum can build up Prussic acid. So I would have to be careful about those.
Our cool season grasses are:
Phalaris, Fescue, Wheat, Prairiegrass, Rye, or Oats.

Alfalfa might work on slopes where it would get more drainage.
Rye is good but I'd have to keep an eye out about ergot.

I could grow some mangel beets, turnips and clover for feeding them later too. Beets and turnips are miserable in our summer, but grow better in fall here.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day gang,firstly I'm sorry about being so slow in updating the journal,I will en-devour to try harder in future(but I'm OLD,well that's my excuse anyway).

Saturday:Because its July its Tax Time,so about 5 hours on the computer to complete all the stuff for the Accountant.The final numbers don't look to bad at all.I also did the budgets for the coming financial year.All of our input costs are based on last year plus 5% for inflation and returns are based on "guesswork"(LOL).......In the "arvo" took the dogs and moved the stock to their new paddocks,mostly just next door,no worries!.

Sunday:There was a bit of a frost so I did not "venture " out too early,managed 2 &1/2 hours spraying before the shoulders started to ache,lucky I've got tomorrow(and the tomorrow after that).Did a tour of the "mix containers" and topped them up,the usage has gone up with the fall in the temperature,everybody seems to be doing "just fine".

Monday:Managed another 2 &1/2 hours of spraying ,before it got two cold ,fed the dogs and retreated to the house and fire to catch up on some reading.Jenny has been raking op all the windblown stuff from the tree's,it's the 2nd time in a couple of weeks she has had to do it.....I think I have 1 more day in the present paddock and it will be finished and after that I will only have 20 acs to go and it will be all over until the mid-spring when I will do the clean-up of anything I missed this time.

Q & A:...Dl ..I know some of the species you named,are they native or do you have to introduce them into the pasture?The main thing with pasture's is"diversity",the key seems to be have some of everything.On the subject of your land ,consider looking for "marginal" cropping land,it will be a little cheaper but will have the "fertility" you require.If you buy "poor country"although its cheap the cost of getting it productive can be "huge".Your livestock projects will require "quite " productive land if you are to be successful in the long term.Its a case of capital cost v/s input costs ,if you invest a little more at the start your ongoing costs will be less.I have suggested this course because you appear to want to grow winter feeds as well....Are there Alfalfa var.available that are suitable for you area?Examine the cost of planting and pest control and how long it will be productive v/s purchasing from a local grower?..In the past we have used alfalfa chaff,but found the quality of same to be quite poor,so we got a "garden chipper" and brought the best qual hay baled and just chaffed it as we needed it(lot less waste ) .

~GD:I thought you must be an "old salty",so which group did you fall into"junior or useless"?(LOL)....When we were out on training exercises we used to have a cook with a mobile kitchen,to add to the stores we used to "shoot a roo" or a sheep to help with the food supply....How lucky were you "breakfast cook" must be the easiest job in the Navy?

Well its nearly time for my TV show to start,now I note a lot of people are " following our adventures ",so how about some comments , or something,don't just read and go,we want to hear from you,otherwise we might just get tied and give it up,best wishes from your friends downunder.....................................T.O.R..................................

 

[Wifezilla]

It's so hard for me to imagine frost right now. It was 104 here yesterday!

 

[~gd]

Well I was both junior and useless the First day; a new hand is actually dangerous until he knows the ropes. Not an easy job, up at 4:30 or 5AM depending on the schedule and what was going to be served. Serve from 6-7 AM later if the cook wanted to keep friendly with the group ashore that night. The Cook was allowed ashore any night he wanted and since his family was ashore the standing joke was that Cookie would be standing on the dock when we came in at night and would cast off our lines when we left in the morning. Usually only 1/3 of the crew got to go ashore and 2/3 were on ship just in case since we had no guns we never figured out what they expected us to do just in case. 8AM muster on deck when they told us what our mission for the day was. (sometimes we towed targets for surface gunnery, sometimes we launched and recovered drone targets for antiaircraft practice and some days we did both at the same time) If a ship had a hot antiaircraft fire the boys would buzz their bridge to prove they werent as good as they thought.
Meanwhile back on the mess deck we would be cleaning up after breakfast and starting to prep for the big noon meal. Started serving at 11:30 sharp for those that had to go on watch at noon, next the crew that didnt have a watch and finally those that had been relieved at Noon. Clean up and get ready for the cycle to repeat at 5:30-6:30. Clean up again and prepare a snack for the watch that went on at midnight, Hurry hurry because the movie started at 8 PM on the mess deck. So your day, EVERY day ran from 5:30 to at least 8 PM. It was not considered good duty. I havent even mentioned the magic coffee pot but that is a story for next time. ~gd

 

[dragonlaurel]

No apologies needed about being off for a couple days. Your regular life comes first. I'm still you spend time

with all of us when you can. Our tax time is in April, so it's out of the way for most people. Unless you have your own business, then some do it quarterly.

Our native grasses are Big & Little Bluestem, and Indiangrass. I don't know where the others were originally

from, but they seem fairly common. I'm sure most properties will have a mix of native and the other grasses around here. I would add a mix of pasture seed on any bare areas, but keep whatever grasses/forage grow well.

Gotta check the Ag office to figure out good varieties and timing for planting alfalfa here. I'm likely to be starting out "on a shoestring", so I doubt I'll have much of an irrigation system. July and Aug are very hot and dry here so haying around then, instead of watering, should work. The ads here usually have hay starting at $ 3.00 per square bale. Round bale prices vary so much, it's hard to makes sense of them.

Since I don't expect to have much $, I will have to get a good deal on some medium land. Renting land is an option, if I could live there, but paying rent on 2 places would be too expensive. Hubby would not want to go along with that either.

Rural land criteria- higher to lower price:
Flatland with houses or farm buildings, ponds/year round creek.
No! - Smaller plots of steep, rugged mountain areas with pretty views- marketed for high $$$ vacation homes.
Maybe - Developed acreage with road access, utilities to it -or- buildings present.
My goal *** Rolling land -part mixed woods and part open with good road access or some improvements.
Totally unimproved or just logged- but not recovered, no access to paved roads.
No- Remote, totally wooded, no utilities/improvements, no vehicle access, wetlands or too dry.

Most of the land (between mountains) is 500-700 ft. I wouldn't buy a piece of land that was mostly rock or very steep. I want my food garden, so I have to have decent dirt. The animals need the same thing. I would probably get a soil sample before I bought land. The animals will improve it too. Some fencing already there would help alot. If not, I could do moveable fencing for the first few animals. I'd probably use a couple goats to improve the pasture the first year, then add a few sheep. Most land looks great in May. I would prefer to look during the off season, so I can see how the land handles it.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day and welcome back,if this is your first time ,please be aware that we "welcome questions",its the "fuel' that keeps the journal going.

Tuesday:This morning it was -7C and light rain was falling,it stopped briefly mid-afternoon(just enough time for me to go over and feed the dogs and make sure the "wool clip" was covered.......Just before dark it started again as as I write it is quite heavy( we managed 14mm(36pts)in the daylight hours) and they say we could total 100mm(4ins) over the next few days(we live in hope they are right for once).......So today was mainly "surfing" ,sending a few E-mails and catching up on some reading.Tomorrow looks like more of the same( I think I can cope with that.)

Q & A: Wifezilla.We consider ourselves fortunate if we only manage a few days above 40C(100F) during Jan/Febas the rest of the time is 32/37C(80/90F I think that's right,if not someone will correct me I'm sure).

~GDlease accept my apologies,as breakfast cook I thought you would prepare lunch to serving time and then "stand down".What sort of a rotation were you on,7days on and 7 days off? Was all your time in US mainland ports?

DL:..As our farm is our business we do have to do reports each quarter as well,but the end of the financial year is the big one and usually takes me about 4 hours to complete and E-mail the files to our accountant,then do the budgets for the new financial year and chat to Jenny about any "major" decisions that might have to be made.This year there were a few questions foe our accountant as we are going to "retire " the business in Dec 2012,so we only have one more year of Tax benifiets to go..........It is great to see you getting "stuff" together for when you make the "big" move ,all this research now will make so much difference when the time comes and you are limiting your chances of major errors in your decision making processes....You seem to be building a very clear picture of the type of land you need for your farm,along with other desirable's to look out for.......I do hope that as you find what looks like an attractive proposition you will post a link so we can have a "steeky-beek"and if you visit it post a few pic's on our journal.

S*#T pressed the wrong button.

Well it looks like tonight's one will be a short one,so to all of you we hope you stay safe and "cool",regards ,..................T.O.R........................

 

[dragonlaurel]

I wasn't sure if the quarterly thing would apply to you or how other countries handled that. At least it's done now. Are you going to retire completely or ... ?

Thanks Lots of pics while land-hunting. I'd want to remember the process and be able to compare stuff about the places. Then just delete the pics of the ones I don't get.

I would probably start recording the process of getting it all going too. I have a journal here, but don't post in it much. It's mostly for recording the Big Steps or new projects so I can look back on everything later.
I wrote about back when I was living totally off grid too, so people could get an idea of what that was like.

 

[~gd]

I SEE you Are listed as on line what the bloody heck do you think I would do with 7 days off out to sea we didn't have deck chairs or pretty lasses bringing us iced drinks at sea In port the regular crew would get 1 day off and 2 on. Mess cooks got time off If the cook thought he could do without you for a night and he felt you deserved a break. ~gd

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day ~GD,"Settle down",I was just wondering how long they thought you could" DO "14 &1/2 hour days with-out a break?the rotation thing related to when you were in port.......I can see now why Fathers "locked up" their daughters when the Navy came to town.

NOTE:just had to reply to ~gd ,journal to be posted later on .............................T.O.R....................................

 

[dragonlaurel]

I was one of those daughters. Grew up near NTC-Orlando. With two teenage daughters, Mom was always a bit nervous. I worked on the base for a summer job, and a Xmas job when I was younger too. The Navy boys I hung out with were mostly nuke school though and they had way too much to lose- so they mostly behaved.