Day Two of the Farmy Round up. Wow. It takes two days to walkabout the farmy now. So much to see. Here is a grubby Paisley Daisy…
..with her good friend Queenie Wineti. We tried to breed daisy twice this season but both times it did not take. Then it was too late in the season to try again. A cow is pregnant for nine months and then I will milk for at least 8 months, so it is best if she calves in the early spring. So I am going to wait so that I get her into a better breeding pattern. She and Queenie the little Hereford beef heifer will be bred in the early summer of next year. I am going to try and milk Daisy right through the winter if it does not get too too cold. 
Then we plan to find a little Jersey milk cow to see us through until Daisy is milking again. This is Daisy’s bobby calf. Bobby Blanc. 
Queenie again. She is a lovely little cow, short and fat. I am going to breed her to the smallest bull I can find so that I build a tiny herd. I do not need a lot of meat but all my beef is grassfed. Pasture raised would be a better description as they are fattened on alfalfa/lucerne. 
A while ago my friend Sara at Punkin’s Patch took a big box of mama’s wool and picked it and washed it and carded it and did some other things to it and now she has spun Mama’s grubby fleece into these skeins of beautiful soft wool. 
Yarn they call it here in America. Isn’t that glorious. She has boxed it and sent the wool to me in the post. Isn’t that the most fantastic thing. She has a great fondness for Mama. Thank you so much Sara. Mama thanks you too.
This is the wool in Sara’s garden.
Mama is hanging out with Hairy MacLairy. I am sure they are discussing making little hats for the children!
It is not often we catch Mama smiling. She is our stern policeman sheep.
Warm and windy again.
Good morning. This morning is Our John’s birthday. He leaves the house at 5am for work so he gets up at 4am. By 4.30 am he had discovered that the coffee machine has broken down again, TonTon had skunked himself and the verandah, and the vest I bought him for his birthday present was too small. So he has gone to work holding his nose instead of a cup of coffee, leaving his present behind.
Oh dear. But the good news is that he has fixed the pump. I will be giving it a trial run with the cow very shortly. So cross your fingers.
Now I must run out the door. All the roosters are crowing and I have a stinky dog to deal with before milking. Never fear though -I bought the Skunk Off stuff. I am armed and ready!
Have a lovely day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
71 responses to “Walkabout the FARMY with the Big Animals”
The second glorious day on the Farmy. The wool looks like spun magic. Think of all the wonderful creations hidden in those strands Celi. V.
Bobby Blanc is looking GOOD – loving your photos – the sheep almost look like they are having a conversation – ha! Have a Great One:)
Oh, DO love the look of that wool: what would you so – about 12-ply? Way back in post-marriage poor days knitted Australian-patterened jumpers for the Japanese tourist trade for quite a few years 😦 ! 12-14 days per: $50 cash in hand . . . not exactly the easiest way to make a bob 🙂 !!! Got awfully fed up of koalas and kangaroos!!! But the wools look similar!
Nowadays you would sell them for 2 or 300 a piece i would say. A handknitted jersey would be a treasure. I will try one day, though it is the neck that is going to give me trouble.. no koalas or ribs for me i would be excited if i could just an item of clothing that i could wear from my own wool.. it has a certain symmetry to it.. morning eha… c
Neck: use 5 sock needles, pick up stitches around the sewn up neck on four, 1 row of knitting in: do rib for about 6 inches. Cast off, double up: nice roll collar 🙂 ! Oh, as far as my erstwhile knitting; boss-lady got $250 for each then 😀 ! I was the backstreet ‘slave’ 🙂 !
Oh no.. you were the sweat shop! horrors, probably worked out to be a dollar an hour too.. I will let you know if I start something, but you may end up with a mangled package in the mail and you will sigh, and pull it all apart carefully rolling the wool back into a ball.. that would be a laugh. The note would say.. “Eha. Can you Start me off again, I got in a muddle”.. oh dear.. c
Yep, I was one of some 250 in the sweat shop: it worked out at 80 cents/hour actually! And I cannot imagine you in a muddle 🙂 !
Great time on the walkabout. Hope Our John’s day was better than it started. That yarn is simply delicious looking! I have a girl here who would love to have sheep but Dadda says no. We’ll see. Minds can change. I love the Cascade sheep. No shearing as they shed and they’re about half sized and easy to care for but they’re pretty pricy. Looking forward to tomorrow’s visit with you. Pop over when you get a chance. Our fall is beautiful up here on top of our little corner of the world!
I envy you all your gorgeous creatures… the wool looks wonderful too – really soft… I had a friend who made wool from her English Sheep dog, and knitted it, and it was hard and bristly, which was a surprise!
From her DOG! goodness.. well that would be different! c
I hope you bought stock in the Skunk Off company! I’d laugh, but I know it is not funny. Mama’s wool is so pretty, and I do like that smile. I think Hairy was whispering something in her ear. I hope John has a happy birthday, even if things started off wrong this morning.
Poor John – hope his day got better! And that wool is beautiful (as is that gorgeous pot)…very jealous as I am knitting Christmas pressies right now and can´t get my hands on anything as lovely as that 😦