freemotion
Food Guru
Thought maybe it was a cultural thing. Here in the US back in the 60's and 70's some referred to their spouses as "my old man" or "my old lady."
ADVENTURE'S DOWNUNDER OR FARMING IN PARADISE:An Old Rams view.
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Thought maybe it was a cultural thing. Here in the US back in the 60's and 70's some referred to their spouses as "my old man" or "my old lady."
Denim Deb
More Precious than Rubies
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And the thing that was confusing about that was that others referred to their parents as that! It could be confusing figuring out which was which!freemotion said:
Thought maybe it was a cultural thing. Here in the US back in the 60's and 70's some referred to their spouses as "my old man" or "my old lady."
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The Old Ram-Australia
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G'day Gang,thanks for "popping by"once again...............
Ok.OK.I will refrain from comedy in the future,anyway the "old girl",SORRY the truck also has a "dying" fuel pump,so that with the injector clean will happen on Monday(about $800 later she should be running well again)
Australian Echidna Facts
There are some unique creatures amongst Australian animals. Here are some Australian echidna facts, what it eats, where it lives and when it breeds, ...
www.gondwananet.com/australian-animals-echidna.html - Cached - If you do a Google search there is a heap of "stuff".
Questions and Answers:Free,I will see what we can do re some photo's at shearing.
Dragonlaurel:I will take your question up about your friend in a later chat......On the face of it Swales may not be the answer in his/her case.Can you get a photo of the hill?The reason being that if the grade is too steep,putting a machine on the slope may"destabilize" it.Are the whole 10acs on the side of the slope?Is it fenced into just one paddock?
We do hope you have all managed to miss the storms we saw on the T.V. news?
After the last week I'm hoping tomorrow is going to be a "quiet day",although there is a cattle sale on in town(6000 head listed)but then maybe the rest will be better for us.
In the next "post" or two I will start on the "Preparing for the next drought".I hope to be able to talk about the lessons learned from the last one and how we will use the info gained can assist us to maintain production without "degrading" our environment
So till we see you again ,stay safe and we look forward to catching up ..............................T.O.R......................................
Ok.OK.I will refrain from comedy in the future,anyway the "old girl",SORRY the truck also has a "dying" fuel pump,so that with the injector clean will happen on Monday(about $800 later she should be running well again)
Australian Echidna Facts
There are some unique creatures amongst Australian animals. Here are some Australian echidna facts, what it eats, where it lives and when it breeds, ...
www.gondwananet.com/australian-animals-echidna.html - Cached - If you do a Google search there is a heap of "stuff".
Questions and Answers:Free,I will see what we can do re some photo's at shearing.
Dragonlaurel:I will take your question up about your friend in a later chat......On the face of it Swales may not be the answer in his/her case.Can you get a photo of the hill?The reason being that if the grade is too steep,putting a machine on the slope may"destabilize" it.Are the whole 10acs on the side of the slope?Is it fenced into just one paddock?
We do hope you have all managed to miss the storms we saw on the T.V. news?
After the last week I'm hoping tomorrow is going to be a "quiet day",although there is a cattle sale on in town(6000 head listed)but then maybe the rest will be better for us.
In the next "post" or two I will start on the "Preparing for the next drought".I hope to be able to talk about the lessons learned from the last one and how we will use the info gained can assist us to maintain production without "degrading" our environment
So till we see you again ,stay safe and we look forward to catching up ..............................T.O.R......................................
aggieterpkatie
Swiss Army Wife
My DH has referred to me as "the old lady" more than once.freemotion said:
Thought maybe it was a cultural thing. Here in the US back in the 60's and 70's some referred to their spouses as "my old man" or "my old lady."
Hey, TOR, I posted some pics of my sheep pasture in my journal. You should head over and take a peek at how I run 2-6 sheep and 1-3 goats (depending on time of year) on 1/3-1/2 of an acre and keep it green.
dragonlaurel
Improvising a more SS life
Don't worry about keeping it all serious. You should hear what we call our cars sometimes...
I could have used one of those echidnas at a place I lived once. Had a termite buffet for it waiting in the walls.
A pic of my friends property would have to be taken from the sky to help much. I don't think they've even explored all 10 acres, due to a family of wild pigs on the low area. This is their first year on the property and they hurried to get a home on it before winter.
His lot is a long (sorta) diamond shape that's all on the side of a hill. The road goes by it at the top of the property. Steep driveway to the parking area, dog run, home and garden area. Some soil was brought in to mostly level the front yard. The other soil on the property is mostly clay.
The mobile homes roof is about even with the level of the road and they park near the trailer. There is about 40 feet of gentle slope past the home for their garden, then it gets steep fast. The average grade is about the same as walking on a normal staircase and the hillside is heavily wooded. It needs thinned a bit but cuts erosion at least. Big machinery on that hill would be a nightmare. Any work there would have to be smaller scale. This is a pretty piece of land with a great view of course, but a bit of a challenge.
They have fenced areas for their dog and a small fence around their garden to protect it from wildlife. They want chickens and goats, but aren't ready for those yet. He plans to put a few fruit trees close to the home. I was thinking some smaller swales might encourage grasses and similar ground covers to grow on the hillside. For now, he is scattering alfalfa, grain, and wildflower seeds around to see what takes.
Sorry this was kinda long. I wish I'd had a pic.
I could have used one of those echidnas at a place I lived once. Had a termite buffet for it waiting in the walls.
A pic of my friends property would have to be taken from the sky to help much. I don't think they've even explored all 10 acres, due to a family of wild pigs on the low area. This is their first year on the property and they hurried to get a home on it before winter.
His lot is a long (sorta) diamond shape that's all on the side of a hill. The road goes by it at the top of the property. Steep driveway to the parking area, dog run, home and garden area. Some soil was brought in to mostly level the front yard. The other soil on the property is mostly clay.
The mobile homes roof is about even with the level of the road and they park near the trailer. There is about 40 feet of gentle slope past the home for their garden, then it gets steep fast. The average grade is about the same as walking on a normal staircase and the hillside is heavily wooded. It needs thinned a bit but cuts erosion at least. Big machinery on that hill would be a nightmare. Any work there would have to be smaller scale. This is a pretty piece of land with a great view of course, but a bit of a challenge.
They have fenced areas for their dog and a small fence around their garden to protect it from wildlife. They want chickens and goats, but aren't ready for those yet. He plans to put a few fruit trees close to the home. I was thinking some smaller swales might encourage grasses and similar ground covers to grow on the hillside. For now, he is scattering alfalfa, grain, and wildflower seeds around to see what takes.
Sorry this was kinda long. I wish I'd had a pic.
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The Old Ram-Australia
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G'day gang and welcome back,a special welcome if its your 1st time visit.
First a bit of trivia,what did you think of the Wedding?
Sorry I did not know it was the wrong sort of question to ask!!
So to the farm,we did not go to the cattle sale ,instead we finished up the "big" clean-up.
Today when I took the dogs to check on the ewe's ,the neighbor came riding over on his motor-bike and said that we were right to put that "mob" in to clean-up his Alfalfa paddock,it seems that he had his Agronomist out and was told to get the paddock cleaned up as soon as possible.We chatted for a while and he was quizzing me about the "mineral mix" we use on the sheep.He said he was going to spray a culture to "activate" the soil biology in the Spring.This to me seems to be a "huge"leap for a convectional farmer.(I would love to have been a "fly" on the fence when they were chatting on our common boundary)The difference between our two property's is quite pronounced.
Questions and Answers:Katie,sorry I for got to reply to your comment about the new avitar."Don't you think the magic is in the mystery?..............I did have a look at your pic's,it looks like Orchard grass,is it?Is your place big snows and dry summers?
dragonlaural:There are a few things that come to mind on your friends place,Wild Boar is much sort after by some culture's,hunters will"PAY"to hunt wild boar....Are the trees suitable as feed for the goats?Are you in a "big" snow area,how many months will they have to "hand feed"over winter?Are the naturally occurring grasses suitable as graze?(don't worry about the length of the post,as you could be identifying other people's problems,remember this is an interactive journal,I want to hear as much as I talk).We will return to your friends place in the future and discuss further.
Wild Life items in the future ,I will try for a link,so you can read about them for yourself.
I should premise our topic by saying that we do not have a "Degree"between us ,we both left school at 14 and a half,the concepts and views/opinions have NO basis in science and are things that "work" for us,most of it comes down to "common sense and observations" as to how our country works.We en devour to make "Nature" work for us,not us trying to bend it to our do "our"bidding.
THIS WEEKS CHAT
reparing for the next drought.
My God what have I done!The subject is HUGE.its going to take a few posts to work our way through this one.
To start with I think we should examine what we learned from the last one.
You need "good" records.
You must know the limits of your country.
If you have "livestock"(doesn't matter what kind)you must be a Grass Farmer first.
You must have a good handle on what your costs of production are.
If you have livestock are you "breeding" pretty or productive.
Once you settle on species,select what will"naturally " do well on your country.
The health of your land must be your No1 priority
Thats not a bad start,if any of you can come up with some others ,I'm happy to include them.Well I think thats enough to consider for tonight.(Sorry no pic's tonight,I must PM Nifty and get some more space,LOL)
So stay safe and I'll be watching out for you the next time I log on to chat......................................T.O.R......................................
.
First a bit of trivia,what did you think of the Wedding?
Sorry I did not know it was the wrong sort of question to ask!!
So to the farm,we did not go to the cattle sale ,instead we finished up the "big" clean-up.
Today when I took the dogs to check on the ewe's ,the neighbor came riding over on his motor-bike and said that we were right to put that "mob" in to clean-up his Alfalfa paddock,it seems that he had his Agronomist out and was told to get the paddock cleaned up as soon as possible.We chatted for a while and he was quizzing me about the "mineral mix" we use on the sheep.He said he was going to spray a culture to "activate" the soil biology in the Spring.This to me seems to be a "huge"leap for a convectional farmer.(I would love to have been a "fly" on the fence when they were chatting on our common boundary)The difference between our two property's is quite pronounced.
Questions and Answers:Katie,sorry I for got to reply to your comment about the new avitar."Don't you think the magic is in the mystery?..............I did have a look at your pic's,it looks like Orchard grass,is it?Is your place big snows and dry summers?
dragonlaural:There are a few things that come to mind on your friends place,Wild Boar is much sort after by some culture's,hunters will"PAY"to hunt wild boar....Are the trees suitable as feed for the goats?Are you in a "big" snow area,how many months will they have to "hand feed"over winter?Are the naturally occurring grasses suitable as graze?(don't worry about the length of the post,as you could be identifying other people's problems,remember this is an interactive journal,I want to hear as much as I talk).We will return to your friends place in the future and discuss further.
Wild Life items in the future ,I will try for a link,so you can read about them for yourself.
I should premise our topic by saying that we do not have a "Degree"between us ,we both left school at 14 and a half,the concepts and views/opinions have NO basis in science and are things that "work" for us,most of it comes down to "common sense and observations" as to how our country works.We en devour to make "Nature" work for us,not us trying to bend it to our do "our"bidding.
THIS WEEKS CHAT
reparing for the next drought.My God what have I done!The subject is HUGE.its going to take a few posts to work our way through this one.
To start with I think we should examine what we learned from the last one.
You need "good" records.
You must know the limits of your country.
If you have "livestock"(doesn't matter what kind)you must be a Grass Farmer first.
You must have a good handle on what your costs of production are.
If you have livestock are you "breeding" pretty or productive.
Once you settle on species,select what will"naturally " do well on your country.
The health of your land must be your No1 priority
Thats not a bad start,if any of you can come up with some others ,I'm happy to include them.Well I think thats enough to consider for tonight.(Sorry no pic's tonight,I must PM Nifty and get some more space,LOL)
So stay safe and I'll be watching out for you the next time I log on to chat......................................T.O.R......................................
.
freemotion
Food Guru
Can you access www.photobucket.com from there? Someone here can coach you through it the first time if you find it as confusing as I did at first. But if I can do it, anyone can!The Old Ram-Australia said:
I can barely figure out a remote control or my cell phone....I agree with being a grass farmer first. You must take care of your land to get the most out of it. I get quite snippy at times when someone asks me for compost!
Get yer own! Hee-hee!
framing fowl
On a mission
Hi TOR!
Wedding, watched about 20 minutes but not the whole thing. Very pomp and circumstance and I loved her dress. Fun stuff!
Presidential... that's a lot of money. That's probably about all I really can say about that without violating forum rules.
So the biological cultures that your neighbor was talking about -is that something you did when you got your place? I'm assuming it's similar to the innoculant for peas and beans in the garden?
If you have a chance, I'd also love to see a photo of the property line seeing the difference between your land and his.
Can't wait to hear more details about the drought.
Wedding, watched about 20 minutes but not the whole thing. Very pomp and circumstance and I loved her dress. Fun stuff!
Presidential... that's a lot of money. That's probably about all I really can say about that without violating forum rules
.So the biological cultures that your neighbor was talking about -is that something you did when you got your place? I'm assuming it's similar to the innoculant for peas and beans in the garden?
If you have a chance, I'd also love to see a photo of the property line seeing the difference between your land and his.
Can't wait to hear more details about the drought.
dragonlaurel
Improvising a more SS life
Ram,
I don't care if sombody has a degree or not, if they have good information. You do.
Sounds like your neighbor is coming around a bit. That's encouraging. The world needs lots of farmers to try more ecologically sound methods.
My friends don't want strangers with guns shooting on their home site
but it would be okay for friends to hunt on the land. Wild pigs are not rare here. They are dangerous and survive way too well in Arkansas.
http://thecabin.net/news/2010-09-12/arkansas-wildlife-officials-want-wild-hogs-killed
Our coldest winter temps run about 10 degrees F. ( - 10 C.) with 3-4 snows a year of up to 6 inches (15 cm.). Most of our grasses do fine till first frost (early Nov) then start growing again in mid Feb or early March. Our last (light) frost is early April.
There are predators around, so great fencing is crucial. I haven't walked their whole hill, but the trees need thinned to grow well and most of them seem young. Goats would would have lots of browse, but not much grass on the hill. They are trying different kinds of seed to see what grows, but I think the soil is pretty thin.
I don't care if sombody has a degree or not, if they have good information. You do.
Sounds like your neighbor is coming around a bit. That's encouraging. The world needs lots of farmers to try more ecologically sound methods.
My friends don't want strangers with guns shooting on their home site
but it would be okay for friends to hunt on the land. Wild pigs are not rare here. They are dangerous and survive way too well in Arkansas. http://thecabin.net/news/2010-09-12/arkansas-wildlife-officials-want-wild-hogs-killed
Our coldest winter temps run about 10 degrees F. ( - 10 C.) with 3-4 snows a year of up to 6 inches (15 cm.). Most of our grasses do fine till first frost (early Nov) then start growing again in mid Feb or early March. Our last (light) frost is early April.
There are predators around, so great fencing is crucial. I haven't walked their whole hill, but the trees need thinned to grow well and most of them seem young. Goats would would have lots of browse, but not much grass on the hill. They are trying different kinds of seed to see what grows, but I think the soil is pretty thin.
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The Old Ram-Australia
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G'day ,thanks for taking the time to stop by and read about us and our adventures.
We do hope you have the time to have a look at "flystrike survivor",the photo's "are"a bit confronting,but the message is worth it.(IMO)
So, today we put the Big mob into the neighbors Alfalfa,they stayed in for about 4 hrs today(til they get used to the new feed).I took Ruby down to move them back out onto our place.She is becoming a pleasure to work,once upon a time when you sent her out,she would "charge" the mob as she was not bred to work in open paddocks,but with patience she is calming down and today she "cast" to the wing on my "hand signal"and as soon as they started to move I called on her to stop and even though she wanted to go forward she stood "stock still"until I called her to "heal".She came back and "sat"behind me until I told her how "wonderful" she was.
Questions and Answers:
Free:I had a look at Photobucket,but declined as they seem to be just a little to intrusive to me.I try to have as secure a site as I can,no cookies,the highest level of security and two programs to scan sites for me.(if they can get into SONY).
framing fowl:I deleted that question,sorry.But,what about the sister!!!!!!!.............................On the culture thing we approached it differently,our soils are really acid(all the way to bedrock)and research conducted that liming was a waste of "time and money".Our aim is for perennial pastures made up of acid tolerant native and exotic species.The deep root systems of these plants mean they are more "drought tolerant"and draw moisture from deep in the soil,the leaf springs from crowns and bounce back after grazing or a dry spell is "far"quicker than an annual based pasture.I believe that profits are gained from how many "extra times" a paddock can be grazed in a year or the extra time the stock can be left in a paddock during a normal cycle.
The method we use is to feed a mineral mix to the "stock"the manure hits the ground in a form the "plants "can use straight away,we do not "slash" or cut hay ,but instead leave all organic matter to decompose on the ground.I believe that our methods are stimulating the soil biology naturally and minerals that have been locked up due to over-use of Super and stimulants to drive growth are now becoming available to the plants at NO cost to us.
This paddock next door has been sown for 4 years in a row ,the last effort cost him$2000 for a 10ac paddock(you have got to cut a lot of hay to get that investment back).I don't know exactly what the "stuff"is ,but I think it is a soil microbe culture,but unless there is organic matter for it to feed on I fear it may fail.(If it does I'm sure he will say its all"witchcraft" and bul#%&@it)
I looked for a photo but could not find one of that paddock ,but I am putting one up comparing our place to the other "proper"farmer neighbor.
This photo was in the drought ,after a good fall of rain.
dragonlaural:On the pig thing ,my first thought was to make a "profit "from a problem.....Your climate is similar to ours,but our "snow' is lighter than tours.....We have spent quite a deal of time on developing our "Woodland Grazing"as a storehouse of winter feed,also by leaving our paddocks in "rough state,"soft winter growth is protected by the dry matter above.
I do think they will"struggle' with Alfalfa though and any sort of "grain" under trees,they could try talking to some from National Parks for suitable native species.(I think we will return to the subject of your friends quite a bit on this journey).
THE NEXT DROUGHT:Keeping records. Examining the past can be a good predictor of the future(I'm sure DR Phil said that once).....Record keeping can be time consuming ,the key is to work out what you need to record.
Rainfall
Paddock grazing(when and for how long)
Numbers grazing by paddock.
Photograph EVERYTHING.
Drenching records(we don't vax anything )
We also use Area-rial photo's with a Topographic overlay and a site overlay over that
The dark patches are trees ,the yellow lines are areas of equal level(10mts between each other)and the heavy black are boundary and fence lines.The dams are the dark patches surrounded by light areas.
Well, that "must 'be enough for tonight (my poor two typing fingers are just about "worn out"),We hope you all enjoy tonights effort and we hope to see you back again,so as always ,stay safe............................T.O.R....................................
We do hope you have the time to have a look at "flystrike survivor",the photo's "are"a bit confronting,but the message is worth it.(IMO)
So, today we put the Big mob into the neighbors Alfalfa,they stayed in for about 4 hrs today(til they get used to the new feed).I took Ruby down to move them back out onto our place.She is becoming a pleasure to work,once upon a time when you sent her out,she would "charge" the mob as she was not bred to work in open paddocks,but with patience she is calming down and today she "cast" to the wing on my "hand signal"and as soon as they started to move I called on her to stop and even though she wanted to go forward she stood "stock still"until I called her to "heal".She came back and "sat"behind me until I told her how "wonderful" she was.
Questions and Answers:
Free:I had a look at Photobucket,but declined as they seem to be just a little to intrusive to me.I try to have as secure a site as I can,no cookies,the highest level of security and two programs to scan sites for me.(if they can get into SONY).
framing fowl:I deleted that question,sorry.But,what about the sister!!!!!!!.............................On the culture thing we approached it differently,our soils are really acid(all the way to bedrock)and research conducted that liming was a waste of "time and money".Our aim is for perennial pastures made up of acid tolerant native and exotic species.The deep root systems of these plants mean they are more "drought tolerant"and draw moisture from deep in the soil,the leaf springs from crowns and bounce back after grazing or a dry spell is "far"quicker than an annual based pasture.I believe that profits are gained from how many "extra times" a paddock can be grazed in a year or the extra time the stock can be left in a paddock during a normal cycle.
The method we use is to feed a mineral mix to the "stock"the manure hits the ground in a form the "plants "can use straight away,we do not "slash" or cut hay ,but instead leave all organic matter to decompose on the ground.I believe that our methods are stimulating the soil biology naturally and minerals that have been locked up due to over-use of Super and stimulants to drive growth are now becoming available to the plants at NO cost to us.
This paddock next door has been sown for 4 years in a row ,the last effort cost him$2000 for a 10ac paddock(you have got to cut a lot of hay to get that investment back).I don't know exactly what the "stuff"is ,but I think it is a soil microbe culture,but unless there is organic matter for it to feed on I fear it may fail.(If it does I'm sure he will say its all"witchcraft" and bul#%&@it)
I looked for a photo but could not find one of that paddock ,but I am putting one up comparing our place to the other "proper"farmer neighbor.
This photo was in the drought ,after a good fall of rain.
dragonlaural:On the pig thing ,my first thought was to make a "profit "from a problem.....Your climate is similar to ours,but our "snow' is lighter than tours.....We have spent quite a deal of time on developing our "Woodland Grazing"as a storehouse of winter feed,also by leaving our paddocks in "rough state,"soft winter growth is protected by the dry matter above.
I do think they will"struggle' with Alfalfa though and any sort of "grain" under trees,they could try talking to some from National Parks for suitable native species.(I think we will return to the subject of your friends quite a bit on this journey).
THE NEXT DROUGHT:Keeping records. Examining the past can be a good predictor of the future(I'm sure DR Phil said that once).....Record keeping can be time consuming ,the key is to work out what you need to record.
Rainfall
Paddock grazing(when and for how long)
Numbers grazing by paddock.
Photograph EVERYTHING.
Drenching records(we don't vax anything )
We also use Area-rial photo's with a Topographic overlay and a site overlay over that
The dark patches are trees ,the yellow lines are areas of equal level(10mts between each other)and the heavy black are boundary and fence lines.The dams are the dark patches surrounded by light areas.
Well, that "must 'be enough for tonight (my poor two typing fingers are just about "worn out"),We hope you all enjoy tonights effort and we hope to see you back again,so as always ,stay safe............................T.O.R....................................
