Goats in season

April 8 2013

I start every morning by walking the dogs up through the east paddocks and taking feed to the cows. The dogs chase each other through the ti-tree thickets and swim in the dams, and I enjoy the view of the surrounding hills. Every morning is different. This week the fires lit to burn off undergrowth in the forests are making everything hazy, but as the sun shines through all sorts of unusual colours appear.

The eucalypts were affected by the very dry weather this year and through out the bush the rust coloured leaves of the dead ones can be seen. Many saplings sprouted after the fires and it is probably natural selection allowing only the toughest to survive. Dead trunks still dominate the far horizon but the closer hills once again have a canopy of leaves. The scenery is looking much less traumatised now.

Finally the first goats have come into season and there is a lot of complaining in the form of loud bleating when we do not take them straight to the buck. I like the goats mated every second year so that we always have milkers over winter and the goats get a chance to recover and pick up condition. The goats, obviously, have other ideas and spend all day to trying to work out how to thwart my plans.

It is pretty noisy around the shed anyway because this week Stevo and Chrisco are putting up the corrugated iron on the walls. Last week they made a wood frame to nail onto, and this week it all gets filled in. I hope the goats appreciate the extra protection they will get from the wind and weather this year. It is still fine and warm enough to dry barley outside on a tarp but it could change soon.

Edd has gone off with the ute to fetch a ton of oats to use as winter goat feed and I have had a permaculture group here for a property tour. This time there were only four students, which was great. They were a lovely bunch of ladies and we had a really fun morning. Some great stories came out and they arrived with heaps of food for lunch. There was so much that we had enough for us, the builders and then some left over! It was really delicious food too.

At the weekend I employed Ti, who was over on a visit, to cut off all the dead heads on the agapanthus that were going to seed. I love their big blue flowers. They cope and look good in the hardest of conditions, but they are officially a weed, so we need to make sure that they do not spread, especially if we have permaculture groups coming!