Greenvale Homestead

Mothers Day breakfast.

2010-05-08T17:47:00.000-07:00

"Probably one of the best dishes you concocted" were the words from Amandas mouth for Mothers Day breakfast this morning.

A very big claim but hey, Ill roll with it. As such I feel the need to write it down. Numerous times Ive created something only to never be able to recreate due to my lack of documenting the process.

So here is probably my first record of a dish Ive created.It will probably remain nameless until I can think of something to call it. This dish also pays homage to some of the great produce that can be gathered from the Grampians region.I made 4 portions, 2 smaller for Natalie (2) and Ben (5). Through out the whole preparation Natalie kept screaming she didn't want eggs and only wanted Vegemite on her toast. As soon as it was dished up however the idea of Vegemite had vanished, thank god.

I started with a loaf of frozen multi grain bread sliced about 2 inches thick on the angle. Being frozen it made if very easy to scoop out a well in the middle without going through to the bottom. A couple of big hand fulls of Bellellen Grampians Organics kale was wilted down in a fry pan with butter and laharum grove olive oil and smoked garlic again from Bellellen Organics.

Some butter and pig fat was put in a second fry pan and the bread was lightly toasted. The wilted kale was put in the bottom of the bread well, a Green egg broken over the kale, crumble some goats cheese feta on top and sprinkle with fresh sage. This then went in the oven for around 20 mins.While the eggs were baking I fried some Greenvale wessex saddlebackbacon and then kept warm, In the pan the bacon was cooked in cherry tomatoes were then fried. I served this with a side of fresh fruit. Complemented with freshly ground black coffee and apple juice for the kids.

"Where does bacon come from Natalie" asked Amanda

"From the grass" responded Natalie. We'll get there.

6 hour slow roast Greenvale Lamb for lunch, and we'll break with tradition and have Yorkshires, Bens favourite.

"Can you cook a whole bunch of them and put them in the pantry so I can eat them whenever I want" asks Ben this morning

THREE WOMEN INJURED.

2010-03-28T22:17:00.000-07:00

THREE WOMEN INJURED. WILLAURA, Monday. - On Saturday

evening the groom on Mr. W. J. Austin's Greenvale Estate was driving four of the maids employed at the Greenvale College reaching the bottom of a hill leading from the homestead something went wrong with the undercarriage of the vehicle, with the result that it was overturned The occupants were thrown out. The groom retained his grasp of the reins, and, seeing that the girls were injured immediately went for assistance The girls were taken back to the homestead where Drs Patterson and M'Laren, of Willaura, happened to be spending the evening. Miss S Portel sustained a broken arm, and her sister (Miss J Porter) is suffering from a contused wounded shock Miss G Delahoy sustained concussion of the brain, several painful bruises and shock Miss L Heywood and the groom escaped with minor injuries.
February 22, 1910

Country Homes for Wounded

2010-03-28T21:52:00.000-07:00

COUNTRY HOMES FOR WOUNDED.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ARGUS

Sir,- I saw a letter in "The Argus" froma farmer's wife offering a home welcome to convalescent or wounded soldiers returning from the war who have not homes to go to.

I think the idea an excellent one, andwould be glad to take three at a time tillthey were well enough to resume duties.We in the country find it hard to keep intouch with active workers, but there aremany like myself wishful to help who wouldbe glad to made use of as hostesses if some way of arranging could be managed -

I am . B. AUSTIN

Greenvale, Willaura, May 18

Harvest has commenced

2009-12-27T00:03:00.000-08:00

Harvesting has finally begun at Greenvale and with most harvesting well underway around the district we didnt sow any canola which is the earlier maturing crop. The very hot dry spell a number of weeks ago seems to have done damage to some crops around the district where the plant just stopped growing prematurely. And after harvesting some of our oats and barley it seems that we may have suffered the same issue. Added to this the depressed grain prices and the grain companies refusing to up the prices in the face of low supply and it generally looks like being an unfavourable year. Additionally the fertiliser company Incitecpivot has decided their $100M profit last year wasnt big enough and will increase the price of their product for this coming season... One wonders how we are going to feed the world....

Hitting the surf

2009-12-21T12:36:00.001-08:00

Greenvale Meats hits the port fairy surf beach over the weekend for a well deserved couple me days off

Greenvale Meats Launch at Darriwill Farms

2009-12-12T22:13:00.000-08:00

Greenvale Meats was launched in Darriwill Farms in Hamilton as a pilot project. We have our own display refridgerator next to the other gourmet refriderated goods. The launch was in conjunction with a tasting evening which saw around 400 people through the door.

Weve made a Panda!!!

2009-11-09T01:38:00.000-08:00

The belted galloway cow that we purchased early this year which was suposed to be in calf, turns out that it wasnt. So when we allowed our Hereford bull in the same paddock thinking that it wouldnt matter as she was already "in calf" well turns out she wasnt "in calf" and our hereford bull had his way with her. The result. A Panda.
More photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/AnthonyKumnick/GreenvaleAnimals#5402023597226632722

Bond- Bewaldeth Bond..

2009-11-03T02:37:00.000-08:00

Our Poll Hereford heifers this year have had an unprecidented number of still born calves due in most part to the size of the calves. Its all well and good for breeders to be pushing their breeds to produce a larger beast but if the cattle cant naturally birth them without difficulty then its really not sustainable.

So we have decided to use a smaller bull breed over our existing Poll Hereford cows and heifers. Enter Bond, Bewaldeth Bond. A Belted Galloway, currently classed as a rare breed in Australia and a slower growing animal with a natrually lower birth weight which produces a carcus that has won many awards. Belted Galloways are a very good grazing breed that produce more weight per kilo of grass than most other breeds and they tend to feed on more types of grass than other breeds and thus are good at weed reduction.

We are leasing Bond from one of the leading Galloway studs in Australia and we dropped him off with thie girls this afternoon. After a tiring trip Bond was more interested in grazing than hitting on the lasses. The lassess on the other hand were sizing up the new Lad on the block!

The progeny of a Belted Galloway Poll Hereford Cross will be a black cow with a white stripe with a white face.

New Van Signage

2009-10-13T02:22:00.000-07:00

I picked up the van from the signwriter in Ballarat on Friday and felt like driving the hour and a half trip home at 60kms an hour so to get as many people looking at the sign as I could. I then decided that this would probably annoy more people than it would impress. What we are not sure about is whether we are allow the text on the caution turning signage on the back??? I guess we'll find out in time.

Adorabelle is a mum

2009-10-09T19:44:00.000-07:00

One of our newest addition to the Wessex clan at Greenvale was Adorabelle which we purchased from Fernleigh farms along with a young unrelated male called Dominator. Adorabelle fell pregnant earlier than I had planned to Dominator and also farrowed earlier than I had plan as such it was a rush last night to set up new accomodation for the impending farrowing. I was so impressed with the accomodation I felt like moving in myself. A snug hut made of large bales overlooking the hopkins river.
This morning I ventured out to find 7 healthy little piglets and 2 not so healthy. A very good breeding litter which was made up of 6 females and 1 male.

Our guest watched the less than 12 hour old piglets as they fed on mum.

Sometimes its best to work with Nature

2009-10-06T04:29:00.000-07:00

Ive been trying to incubate some eggs in a small incubator while at the same time put some surplus eggs under a broody chicken. While the chicken didnt hatch them all it certainly hatched 100% more than the incubator. I only managed on Naked Neck Chick out of the incubator and 2 from under the chicken.

And the Winner is Greenvale Meats

2009-10-06T01:48:00.001-07:00

Friday night was kind of like the Oscars but not really. They loosened the Black Tie requirement and allowed suits. It was the Powercor Grampians Pyrenees Business Achievement Awards for which we had nominated for a number of categories. There were about 300 people in attendance at the Ararat town hall all on round tables of 10. Various awards were presented through the night. We were half listening to the Outstanding Primary Production category being announced when we heard the winner was Greenvale Meats and a big spotlight shone upon the table. For each award there is a recorded description of the business and various photographs are shown on the big screen. I cant actually remember anything that was said as we were in a bit of shock. We both got up on stage and Amanda made the speach. Nothing planed just off the cuff. These awards are every two years so in two years time we'll be shooting for Outstanding Business Enterprise.

Princes' Trip to the dentist

2009-10-05T03:57:00.000-07:00

Prince, our 3 year old Wessex Saddleback boar weighing in at over 300kg needed to have a bit of a teeth trim. We do this for a couple of reasons, although he is a gentle giant accidents can happen to either his handlers or his girlfriends and his tusks are razor sharp and about 1.5 inches long.
Pigs can be immobilsed by slipping a noose around the top of their nose and although he complains this doesnt actually hurt. We have put him in a cattle crush due to the sheer size of him as if he did decide to protest we didnt want to be on the other end of that.
His teeth are cut using emery wire which is a course wire that cuts as its pull back and forth against the tooth.
Unfortunately we didnt have any lolly pops left after his procedure so he had to settle for some more crushed grain.

Bogged again

2009-09-08T02:37:00.000-07:00

This rain has been fantastic and Id like to say we have had enough of it but who knows when its going to come again in this ever changing climate. So we battle on through what ever is thrown at us. Today it was a day of getting vehicles bogged. I crossed a little dam overflow gully this afternoon, one which I had crossed many times before over the past few days. Today however the gully wasnt going to let me out of its clutches. So with the ute bogged to the axles I fetched then stupidly tried to drive it through the same gully next to the ute.

The tractor was obviously going to take another tractor help out however we, with much effort, jacked up the ute and managed to get some solid objects under the wheels that enabled the ute to be back out and towed to safe ground.

Dam overflow

2009-08-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

Its been raining for what seems like months but it did stop long enough for us to venture out and see the dam at its capacity and overflowing down into the Hopkins River. It even looks like the run off from our dam is contributing more water to the river than is actually flowing down the Hopkins. Since we have had Greenvale we have wondered as to why the jetty into the dam has been built so high. Well today the house dam banks broke and the jetty doesnt look that ridicuouls any more.

More photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/AnthonyKumnick/GreenvaleHouseDam#

Bogged

2009-08-25T15:31:00.001-07:00

It rained again last night which made getting to the ship this morning for feeding time a little tricky

A day of great escapes.

2009-08-17T02:31:00.000-07:00

A full day ahead. Load the pigs to go to Laverton Abattoir, pick up some more boxes which we pack meat in and pick up some Naked Neck Chickens that Ive purchased from Queensland. Getting the chickens to Melbourne from Queensland ascutally cost 3 times more than the cost of the chickens themselves.
Early this morning after getting the pigs on to the ute two of the six decided to make a break for it and muscle through the back gate of the ute and dive off the back. Scott and I then scampered to round them up and set up the ramp from the sheep yards and backed the ute up again at which point all the pigs decided to disembark also. In the end we managed reboard all passengers.
The pigs were safely dropped off in Laverton and my next stop was the company to pick up the boxes and surprise, they werent ready and they wouldnt be for the next couple of days.
Next stop Melbourne airport cargo. I was taking possession of 7 Naked Neck Chickens. I managed to get two of the rosters safely into a box and into the ute and as I was carrying the remaining 5 the bottom split in the and chickens dispersed all over the carpark. Scenarios flooded through my head of chickens making their way to the near by highway or flying over the fence onto Melbourne airport tarmac. But in the next 15 minutes I with the help of some cargo staff managed to corner and catch and put them in a more solid animal cage which I ended up purchaning from the cargo company.

Herding Pigs

2009-08-13T21:13:00.000-07:00

Pigs dont herd Ive been told. And I was dreading today when I had to separate 6 berkshire pigs that were destined for the abbitoirs and get them up to the stock yards in preparation for loading into the ute on Monday morning.

After a lot of scattering of the 5 month old pigs we did probably more by pure luck manage to get the pigs we didnt want back into their paddock and then proceed to move the other pig, by walking them up to the stock yards and in part by coaxing them with apples.

Next job, Monday trying to get them into the ute......

Kindergarten Kids Day out at Greenvale

2009-08-11T03:54:00.000-07:00

Today the Willaura kinder took a trip to Greenvale where they day was filled with farm activities.
First on the agenda was inspecing Maisys 3 week old piglets, counting their teats, checking their gender and looking at the identifying marks of the Wessex Saddleback pigs, and most importantly of all having a pat.
Next was checking out the chooks including our rare breen Naked Neck Chickens and collecting eggs. To all their surprise there were some geese eggs also which were taken back to the house and placed in the incubator to see what would hatch.
After some morning snacks it was down to the sheep yards to watch weighing of some lambs. But where were these lambs going after they were weighted. On a holiday? No the kids were very comfortable that they were going away to be made into lamb chops.
After lunch it was visting more pigs and feeding apples. The last stop on the pig tour was a visit to Prince our 300+ kg boar and Prince recieved lots of apples. One could argue that Prince was being used as a target for the apples either way Prince being Prince wasnt all that fussed as the only thing he cared about was the food.

Steer 6502

2009-07-29T05:34:00.001-07:00

If you have been lucky enough to order beef this week here it is! Look at that magnificant rump and the confirmation

Lamb Grain vs Grass

2009-06-21T04:25:00.000-07:00

Ive been reading and researching about the differences in Grain vs Grass fed ruminents. today I and my brother Scott would put this to a taste test myself. Both were vacuum packed loin chops. Upon opening both packs, the grain feed lamb exhibited a strong sour smell where as the grass fed lamb was somewhat neutral. Both the grass and the grain meat showed equal levels of good marbling and fat covering. The chops were seasoned and then grilled on the stove top. All chops were cooked to meduim-medium/rare.
I put Scott under a blind test and he picked the grain meat being that with the stronger taste with the sour undertones. The grass fed chop was clearly the more tastier and I found myself wanting to continue sucking on the bone from the grass fed but I had not the same urge with the grain feed chop. I had a friend recently tell me that they usually experience a metalicy livery taste from vacuum packed meat. My theory is that it isnt the vacuum packing more than its probably grain fed meat.
Id be interested in anyone elses feedback.
Cheers

Mushrooms

2009-06-18T17:38:00.001-07:00

Mushrooms are out again however we were a bit late getting to them as they are drying out on top

Taking delivery of lucern

2009-06-10T04:04:00.001-07:00

Today we took delivery of 22 tonne of lucern hay to finish off our cattle and a select number of lambs.

Rebuildig the pig hut

2009-06-10T03:50:00.001-07:00

Huffing and puffing yeah, but eating your house down i dont remember that in the story. I dismantled the hut with the bobcat wrapped the bails in chicken wire to stop them from eating their house and reassembled the hut, all the while doreen refused to move.

Truck bogged

2009-05-31T19:47:00.001-07:00

It was meant to be dry today but murphys law kicked in as we were trying to load oats from the grain bag in the field into a truck. Shrek came along and saved the day

Greenvale Meats and the Grape Escape

2009-05-05T03:18:00.000-07:00

The Grape Escape held in Halls Gap with the scenic backdrop of the Grampians mountain ranges was a two day event held on the 2nd and 3rd of May which showcases the regions local wine and produce. Over the past two or so months since we lauched Greenvale Meats we exceeded projections selling over 2.5 tonne of beef and this week we have just started to also offer lamb in the same way, that being boxing up the whole beast into portions so everyone recieves the same cuts.

Fast Ed is a TV Celebrety chef who stars on Better Homes and Gardens. Ed was providing the cooking demonstration and showcased our lamb in several dishes on the Sunday. Orgasmic noises came from Ed as he shoved piece after piece in his mouth. Not being backward in coming forward Amanda took this opportunity to get up uninvited to the stage and talk about our lamb to the welcome of Ed.

"...fantastic..." and ".. some of the best lamb I've tasted..." were two endorsments from Ed.

Treat for the Pigs

2009-04-13T04:20:00.001-07:00

Our pigs this weekend recieved a real treat as did our farmstay guests. We found a couple of apple trees on the road past Greenvale which were full of apples, they looked ripe but they were very very tart. So we picked bucket loads of apples over the easter weekend for our farmstay visitors to feed to the pigs and boy did they gooble them up.... They tell me apple really complemets pork ;-)

My Patiented Creep feeder

2009-04-13T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hours of design and constuction went into my new Patiented device that allows small piglets to get to their feed and stops the larger pigs from butting in....

No huffing and Puffing

2009-03-16T03:57:00.000-07:00

With straw prices at a low we found an economic use for our large bales. Safe in the knowledge that there are no wolves to blow the house down we erected some pig houses.

New Berkshire Sow is first time mummy

2009-03-04T03:09:00.000-08:00

Last week we took possession of two 10 month old pregnant sows and a 4 month old berkshire boar. Brother Scott undertook the 7 hour drive to Adelaide to pick them up. As with our Wessex Saddlebacks the Berkshires, or Berkies as owners of these breeds sometimes call them, are also considered Rare Breeds.

This morning Ben and I went out to feed the pigs at around 8:30 and were surprised to find one of the sows walking around with a little one that couldnt have been more than an hour old wriggling through the thin layer of hay. I was surprised that the sow was up and about and at the same time concerned as a first time mum, I wasnt sure she knew what had happened and what her responsiblities were. After tucking down some food however she went and nestled down and proceeded to pop out 8 more. There was a 10th which she had trouble producing and I tried to help every time I saw the feet come out and retract back in. After about 5 minute I caught the feet and helped bring the piglet out however it was dead on arrival.

Throughout the day all 9 remaining piglets were trying to find teats and get their first dose of mums milk.

The other sow should have her piglets in the next day or so......

The Wood oven finished

2009-02-10T00:23:00.000-08:00

The final touches were put on our wood oven that we had built today.

We tried out a portable wood oven over Christmas and cooked some succulent pork, lamb and beef roasts and then for New Years eve some very tasty pizzas including a desert pizza made with a base of butterscotch snaps and blueberry sauce and topped with banana and pineapple and a slither of fresh mint.

Now we have the permanently erected oven our guests who stay at Greenvale will be able to cook up their own succulent roasts (maybe from our own beef, pork or lamb) and tasty pizzas for them selves.

The cement slab bares the little hand and feet prints of Natalie, Ben and Giaan.

Greenvale Meats Launched

2009-01-21T21:38:00.000-08:00

We are excited about todays launch of Greenvale Meats with nearly 400 flyers going out to the to the local mail boxes. We will be initially offering our customers 1/8, 1/4 or 1/2 a side of local pasture raised beef cut up, cryo packed and labled and delivered to their doorstep. Our beef will be dry aged for atleast 3 weeks to give the ultimate in tenderness and then the beef will continue to age become more tender in the cryopack also prolonging the life of the meat.

Our customers will also know exactly where their beef has come from and how it has been raised.

Our guests who come and stay at Greenvale will also be able to purchase our beef to either cook while they are here or to take home.

We hope our customers enjoy our beef as much as we do.

New Piglets

2009-01-15T02:36:00.000-08:00

Our distinguish lady of the farm Beatrice has given birth to 3 strong and healthy piglets early last week and the Bissell family was here to witness the exciting event.
At a week old we have one male at 1.4 kgs One Female at 1.6 kgs and another male nearly doubling the other two at 2.7kgs this is definitely Princes boy.

Unfortuanetly 48 hours after the birth of the 3 sadly Beatrice passed 3 more still born. Very frustrating but its part of life and apparently common in older sows.

Today I tagged and documented them which involves weighing them, clipping their ears for identificational purposes, counting teats and documenting markings.

I managed to muck up the ear noticing and instead of marking the second piglet as number 5 on our farm Ive marked it as 802. I think this mistake will not cause any issues at all as its going to be several years if not decades before we will have produced our 800th pig.

Bailing Hay

2008-12-09T02:14:00.000-08:00

A number of crops around the district and through out Victoria haven't had a great time due either to lack of rain, rain at an inappropriate time or frosts. Although we were lucky on most fronts we had a couple of paddocks that didn't have a great time due to weeds. The estimated yield of the crop on those paddocks meant that if cut at the right time it would be financially more beneficial to cut the crop for hay. And so we made hay......

The Great Victorian Bike Ride Market

2008-12-04T01:22:00.000-08:00

The night before the market in Lake Bolac in aid of the Great Victorian Bike Ride I had visions of our three, six month old Wessex Saddleback gilts which we were showing, escaping and causing destruction around the market stalls running around in their rapid rocking horse style run, their ears flapping all over the place and up ending stall holder tables, tipping over old ladies sipping tea and generally causing havoc.

The Great Victorian Bike ride is an 8 day non-competitive cycling event covering several hundreds of kilometres where the participants, from the age of 14 months to over 70 years old and even a unicyclist, cycle from one town to the next.

With the prospect of 4200 captive riders we decided it would be a great opportunity to set up a stall and spotlight The Rare Breeds Trust of Australia in conjunction with Greenvale Homestead.

The day before market day I made the trip to Daylesford to pick up the RBTA marketing material (in doing so allowing the real-estate where it had made its self at home for the past little while to be finally vacuumed, much to the excitement of the crew at Fernleigh Farm and gave them a little more breathing room in the office). I picked up the item which I primarily made the trip for, that being the RBTA free standing sign, only to discover after my 2 hour drive home that I’d only actually picked up the base of the sign minus the sign itself.

We decided to put the gilts in the tandem trailer the night before as (a), they were in their house and it would be simpler than chasing them around their paddock to load them up, or at least so we thought, and (b), if there were any issues getting them loaded then we would have them loaded ready for the next day and not rushing it on the day. The original plan at the site was to put them in a portable pen however considering the effort getting them into the trailer and the sheer stubbornness of the lasses, it was going to be an easier proposition to actually leave them in the trailer.

I don’t remember ever changing a tire in my life on route however that was my next challenge of the day. On the way to the market and on the same road as the cyclists, fortunately long before the first rider was due on the scene, I had a blow out. Although I consider myself very mechanically minded, and I hope not too many of my friends read this but, I had to consult the manual to work out how to get the spare off.

The cyclists had in the first few days battled consistent head winds from the start of the ride in Ballarat to the rest day in Halls Gap in the Grampians. So it was a relief that they had a very supportive tail wind from Halls Gap to Lake Bolac, fortunate of course for the riders but not for the stall holders. All day we fought a losing battle, at least I did to anchor the static displays and merchandise. Extra pegs and ropes were deployed to stop the tent collapsing. The surplus pegs I had I used to pin down music stands for the girls playing their wind instruments, which was short lived as the direction of the wind meant that very few people could actually hear them and they relocated.

The pigs however were in heaven, comfortable in the hay and the wind to keep the flies off and adored by the visitors who fed them the near fresh rolls from the locally famous Willaura bakery. Two of our gilts had been given names however the third, as yet had not, so we decided to have a competition to “Name that Pig” the winner of which would receive a family membership the RBTA sponsored by Greenvale Homestead. The winning name was Maisey with an honorary mention to Boudicca however the latter wasn’t probably a name our young guests at Greenvale Homestead could relate to, that being the name of an English woman who commanded an army to rebel against the Roman Empire. There were also the few unimaginative entries such as dinner, bacon and crackling.

Most people couldn’t get over how big the pigs were for their age, Malcolm Cowan a fellow RBTA member who was participating in the bike ride and who deals with Wessex Saddlebacks in Tasmania estimated them to be between 55 and 60 kgs, and suggested in not exactly these words that they may nearly be ready for dinner.

Our other breed as part of the Greenvale Homestead RBTA exhibit was my one and only Transylvanian Naked Neck Chicken. I can appreciate exactly why they are a rare breed after being sent two dozen supposedly fertile eggs and only hatching one from the incubator. It found comfort at in the straw bedding in the enclosed section of the hutch and only rarely making an appearance. So every now and then I coaxed it out by lifting the lid slightly and giving it a gentle hand. While my visions of the pigs escaping did not materialize, the Naked neck literally jumped at the chance to fulfil my premonition and burst out of the hutch forcing the lid open and fleeing to freedom. The numbers of volunteers grew as entrapment continued to elude us. Then I saw a chance to capture the escapee and dove horizontally at the chickens legs as if the move was taken straight from a road runner cartoon, and as part of the cartoon stunt, my hands crossed and the chicken slipped free once again. Finally a spare sheet was used as a throw net and the squawking chicken was at last in custody.

There was one other interesting farm animal exhibit that we were honoured to have as our market neighbour and that was a local sheep called Lucky, a sheep born on Anzac day in 1986 and is supposed to be the oldest recorded sheep in the world. Looking, I must say very good for its age.

After a big day I drove back to Greenvale with the Pigs and as I was struggling getting the pigs off the trailer, the Vic Roads bike riders who were staying at the homestead looked on with refreshments in hand from the homestead verandah. I joined them a little later and in jest said “you could have come to my aid to get the pigs off the trailer” only to be informed, and to the amusement of the rest of the guests, that in addition to the Vic Roads crew our presence was graced by a number of off duty police officers also participating in the bike ride.

Our first beltie

2008-11-12T02:23:00.000-08:00

This afternoon Ben and I went and picked up a Belted Galloway Steer from a breeder 30 minutes away. Not only do they have the same markings as our Wessex Saddleback pigs they are also meant to be exceptional eating, a lower feed to meat ratio than traditional cattle and low in saturated fats.

We will soon also have a cow with a calf and in calf in the next little while. We are just waiting for it to get "in calf" before picking them up.

Checking the crops at Jaskum Park

2008-11-06T01:36:00.000-08:00

This afternoon we took a quick trip to check out the progress of the crops at our property next to the Grampians at Mafeking. Although a lighter soil this area seems to have, because of the mountains a higher rainfall than the surrounding districts so generally the crops, at this point, are looking pretty good.

At this point in time the whole district is desperately in need of some finishing rain for whats left of the cereal crops.

Ben loved the height of the crops and thought it was good for a game of hide and seek.

At one point, concerned for the health of some of the crop he took measures into his own hands and administered some natural fertilizer.

On the way out we spotted half a dozen emus racing around the crops, well we didnt see the whole emus just the necks and head as they ran through the crops.

Shearing the Alpacas

2008-10-19T03:01:00.000-07:00

A scream came from the sheering shed, much like that you would imagine from a scene at midnight with a full moon from a horror thriller. But this was mid day and not a movie and the scream came from a protesting alpaca. Protesting due to the fact that it was about to have a hair cut.

Shearing an alpaca requires a different technique than that of the regular sheep. They are obviously much bigger and feisty than their short neck cousin.

It takes two to manipulate an alpaca, after they are selected from the pen they are brought into the shearing stand and taken down onto there stomach with there four legs splayed. Their front and back legs are secured to anchor points to their front and rear respectively much like one of the torture devices that stretches the body. One man then holds down the head while the other goes to work with the clippers. The clippers run down the side of the body and down the rear legs, once one side is done the alpaca is flipped over for the other side, lastly the face and neck are clipped. Toe nails are clipped and they are then given a couple of shots Vaccine/Vitamins. Where as they come in looking like a fluffy bear they exit looking like an alien.

Spring has Spring

2008-10-16T02:55:00.000-07:00

Its mid October and the plant life around the homestead has been showing us their goods for a couple of weeks now. The daffodils, Jonquils, around the orchard were just spectacular however they were pretty short lived. Their bouquet was amazing.

We are in the process of a redesign of the homestead garden but we would like to thank our predecessors for such a beautiful array of colours.

If you havent booked in at Greenvale in spring then you are missing out on a performance.....

First attempt at Rare Breed Naked Neck

2008-10-15T03:43:00.000-07:00

Our venture into raising rare breed chickens is not off to the greatest of starts. Much like the piglets the we had less than a desirable number of live chicks from the 12 eggs we put in the incubator, one live Transylvania Naked Neck to be precise. As a control I did put in around 30 other of our own eggs which were of a mixed variety of which around 25 hatch, and all but one survived after hatching which I think is a pretty good survival rate.

The Naked Neck, although very ugly looking have allegedly the finest quality of eating meat of all poultry.

The Eggs where shipped from a supplier in New South Wales and when I performed the candle test, thats when you're in a dark room and shine a light through the egg to see if there is anything happening inside only three of the Naked Neck eggs seemed to be fertilized. Two never hatched..

So after a quick discussion with the supplier they happily shipped me another dozen eggs which should hatch next week.

So the single Naked neck that did hatch is with his other surrogate buddies out in the chicken shed waiting for me to build the pen that will allow them to spend most of their happy days out in the paddocks.

For further info on the Naked Necks

http://www.poultrymad.co.uk/chickens/nakedneck.html

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/poultry/chickens/turken/index.htm

http://joycefoods.com/poulet-rouge-fermier.php

The Black Swan

2008-10-15T03:17:00.000-07:00

Over the past little while the wild life has built up in our house dam with several species of wild duck in addition to our domestic residence, the geese and numerous small water birds, turtles and yabbies, although we believe the turtles seem to be eating the yabbies as we have been noticing the dismembered claws around the edge of the dam.

We have been honoured however with the recent arrival of a black swan, hopefully its not just for a short break and it (she or he) manages to pursuade a member of the opposite sex to join and build a family...... stay tuned.

The Veggie garden

2008-10-15T02:34:00.000-07:00

The paddock where Maddions the lamb and Rory the calf spent most of this year has now been converted into the the Veggie patch. Around 6 tonnes of dirt has been taken from other parts of the farm. Most of the seeds that we are wanting to grow for this season are either in the ground or in seed trays under one of the two mini green houses we knocked together.

From memory we are/have planted heritage carrots and tomatos, several types of potatoes, leeks, lettuce, cappicum, chilli, pumpkin, beetroot, parsnip, corn, cucumber, celery, egg plant, shallots, white and red onion, radish, peas several types of beans, brussels, cabbage, cauliflower, silverbeet.

What makes it out who knows but the peas and pumpkin and some beans have already sprouted.

We have also purchased some berry bushes, Strawberry, Raspberry and blueberry, which may take a few years to really settle in.

The long term goal will be to offer our guest fruit and veg straight from the garden, you cant get more local than that, but we'll see how this little project goes first.

The Sheep sides with the Cats

2008-09-29T05:03:00.000-07:00

Its shearing time at Greenvale and this weekend was the Australian Football League grand final with Geelong (The Cats) playing Hawthorn (The Hawks). My brother and uncle Ken, in the shearing shed forced their allegiences on our pet sheep Madison, who we still call a lamb.

Sadly, the underdogs, the Hawks won on the day, and Madison is still roaming the paddocks with her new hair do....

As a friend said... there is no C in Goat!

hey pig, get off our lunch

2008-08-29T14:13:00.000-07:00

with beatrice only piglet now weaned, we put her up in one of the house pens and prince in the pen beside ready for her to come onto heat, which normally occurs 3 days after weaning. After putting prince and beatrice in pens beside each other i also had to erect an electric fence as prince was begining to tear down the existing fence trying to get to beatrice.
As part of ve weaning process i also had to vaccinate the piglet. This was a tricky job in itself as she was quite heavy and fast. So i enticed her with food and while eating i grabbed her back legs at which point she squealed an ear splitting pig squeal. Doreen, the other sow in the pen, upon hearing this squeal came charging over and so i had to flee with heavy piglet in arms and run two laps around the shed to get enough distance between me and doreen for me to retrieve the injection on the top of the shed where i left it while i used two hands to grab the piglet. After grabbing the injection i then had to sprint another 20 yards to give me enough distance to put the piglet down and administer the vaccine before doreen caught me. Out of breath and mission accomplished!

Three little pigs

2008-08-26T04:30:00.000-07:00

Pigs new digs.

2008-08-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

Today we finally got the new accomodation for the piglets and their mums sorted out. A nice little patch at the back of the house dam with a couple of nice big old gum trees and some lush grass. We had put little to no thought what so ever into how we were going to move the new pig shed Id built from the place where we had built it to the the paddock. In the end Scott dragged it the 400 or so meters using the bobcat.

For the new enclosure we had to errect a electric fence, add a gate and run water down to the new paddock.

Once I had Beatrice, Doreen, B2, Dixey and Daisy safely down in their new digs they settled in and gourged themselves I think on the onion weed. A weed as its name suggests has a small onion shaped and colored bulb.

The primary goal for the new accomodation was to wean the piglets. So after a couple of days Ill remove Beatrice to begin with and shortly afterwards Doreen so that the piglets can concentrate on the important job of growing. As this is such a large field for 3 little pigs it looks like Ill be getting another couple of small weaners to keep them company.

Marking Lambs at Greenvale

2008-08-23T04:50:00.000-07:00

This years lambing is now complete and now its time to prepare them for the next stage. Mothers and the lambs are brought into the yards. The mothers are given a drench (medicine by mouth) for worms. The lambs are then seperated off and yarded. Each of them is then loaded into a device which holds 4 lambs in a circle in a conveyor belt process the lamb is loaded on, on its back. A rubber band is then placed around its tail and depeding on whether its a male or female another rubber band is place around thier testies both having the effect of cutting blood flow and dropping off after some time has passed. An injection is administered to guard against pulpy kidney which is a fatal desease affecting lambs, then the lamb is given a drench for worms also and then release. Although we havent finished marking lambs we will have marked around 1800 in this go around for this year.

Small Piglets day out

2008-07-11T10:13:00.000-07:00

Beatrices baby seems no longer to be a baby and she (B2 as we call here at the moment) is scampering about all over the place. So we readied the fences in the paddock behind the farrowing pen and we let B2 out into the field for the first time in her life. Not sure about the surroundings at first B2 stayed close to the farrowing pen. Beatrice however coaxed B2 into the Paddock. B2 was very intrigued with the chickens and started chasing them around.

First Calf - Montana

2008-07-01T03:16:00.000-07:00

New borns everywhere! After the first 4 piglets where born I quickly checked up on the cattle. The first of the heifers was in labour and within the hour the first calf was born to Greenvale this year.

The first calf is named Montana after our friends, Peter and Lois Symons Husky dog who sadly passed away recently.

Seven Little Dwarfs

2008-07-01T01:36:00.000-07:00

At 7:15 am the sun was peeping over the escarpment into a crisp clear morning. The heavens had left a nice little gift in the rain gauge of 7mm of precipitation which fell last night. After emptying the rain gauge I wandered over to the farrowing shed where I had put Doreen nearly two weeks ago when I produced colostrum from her teat. We had no idea when Doreen was going to give birth as we had originally thought she had been in pig when we picked her up from Fernleigh farm but for some reason she didn't take and by process of elimination we deduced she had been serviced by Prince just after we picked her up. It could have well been on the way home from picking them up as Scott had to stop the ute due to it swaying all over the road as Prince was attempting to mount Doreen.

But this morning was the morning and as I approached the shed I could hear a little unmistakable squeal and upon opening the door there was one little piglet snuggling up to mummy's tummy, I had thought that there were something wrong with the back legs as they seemed to be stiffly splayed forwards . I came back into the house to get the camera and by the time I returned another piglet had been born and was still mostly encased in membrane.

I stayed around to witness the next two being born back feet first and I gave both of them a sling by the back legs to help flush fluid from their airways in an attempt to give them a better chance of survival. The birthing process was quite interesting and most of what I had read was actually happening, Doreen shivering and the twitching of the back upper leg then there was the clear discharge prior to the actual arrival.

After the fourth there was, what I had presumed, the afterbirth. On checking back a little later another piglet had arrived and then by 11:30 there were 2 more to make seven, and what looked more logically to be the placenta.

Its very scary watching by yourself even after reading all about the processes as its difficult to really establish whether or not there really are problems and exactly how and at what point you would intervene. Probably much like you wouldnt read a book about cricket and then go out and play a game without some hands on training.

Where as Beatrice had given birth late afternoon before a cold night, Doreens birth was in the morning in much milder conditions, even so I had the heat lamp already in the shed turn on. This didnt however prevent 2 casualties that evening where Doreen had rolled on them. Its so disheartening to find the squashed bodies, the alternative is the farrowing pen which goes against letting the animals exhibit their natural behaviours.

We now stand at 5 little pigs with the runt surviving, 3 males and 2 females all snuggled up under the heat lamp and Doreen having a well earned rest as we enter into the second evening.

The Three Little Pigs

2008-06-14T19:43:00.000-07:00

Friday evening was a bizare but rewarding evening. At 5:30pm with my usual feeding routine I headed to the pig paddock to feed the crew. No one was in sight so I yelled the ritual, "pig, pig, pig, Prince, Doreen, Beatrice" Prince being his usually enthusatic self stuck his head out of the galvernized iron water tank converted into a pig shed and looked around then bolted the 50 yards toward me. Doreen then emerged and waddled in my general direction. I yelled several more times for Beatrice but she didnt appear. I got to the shed and stuck my head in and was bowled over by the sight of Beatrice lying on her side and two tiny little pigs staggering about in their fragile state not really bigger than my hand.

Panic set in, this wasnt meant to occur yet. Beatrice hadnt even looked like she was ready. She had dropped around the back udder area, however her teats hadnt looked like they had formed yet, not compared with other near farrowing sows Id seen.

In the Chaotic state of my thoughts there were a number issues I was trying to resolve quickly, getting Doreen and Prince out of the Paddock, creating a barrier so Beatrice could exit the shed but the piglets couldnt, establishing an escape area for the piglets, food, water and protecting the piglets against cold and foxes.

I lead Doreen, then Prince back to the house pens individually and by the time I returned to the shed at 6:30pm the third piglet was born. I took the tail gate off my ute and put it against the pigshed entrance propped up by rocks dirt so the piglets couldnt excape and then put a gate inside the shed as a piglet escape area. I gathered food and water for Beatrice and as for guarding against foxes I pondered getting our keplie sheep dog, Basil, and tying him up near the shed but thought that he would bark all night and possibly stress Beatrice so I decided to park my ute next to the shed and camp for the night. I hoped that me checking regurally and the body heat of Beatrice would protect against the cold and for 2 of the 3 it did.

I dropped off between about 3:30 and when I awoke at 4:30 I checked and found the last piglet born lying out by herself and when I picked her up she was alive but ridgidly cold. I brought he back into the ute and cranked up the heating. At 6am her body temp had returned and I bought her back to the house and placed her under a heat lamp and went and collected colesterum from Beatrice and then every 30 minutes fed her Natalies baby formula. She then started to struggle breathing like there was still fluid in the respirtory system. As per the literature I swung her by her back legs between my legs. This did provide some relief however Im guessing the fluid had been down there for too long and she passed away around 4pm.

Not long after that we brought Beatrice and the two piglets up to the farrowing pen they were meant to be in to begin with. We were hoping there would be more then 3 however not surprised as Beatrice is getting on and aparently litter sizes decrease the older a sow becomes.

Tomorrow Ill be ear notching which is required for identification purpose. I think Doreen is now also close to farrowing so Ill be a little more prepared however I wasnt expecting them both to be farrowing around the same time.

After writing the above and before retiring for the evening I went to check on the piglets. Only one was visible. After looking around the pen I nudged Beatrice to move and as I suspected one of the piglets laid squashed to death underneath. So the Three Little Pigs are now One. Its a harsh reality of life.

Crutching

2008-06-04T04:26:00.000-07:00

With Lambing at Greenvale in full swing with one mob of sheep a second mob were being prepared today starting with crutching. The sheep were rounded up the night before and as many as will fit are put inside the shearing sheed and a number of them put under the shearing shed in case it rained. Aparently shearers dont like shearing wet sheep.

After the shearers finishing crutching they are pushed out the shoot. Once enough sheep have been crutched they are pushed up a run with the help of Ace our Australian Kelpie so that they cant move. This helps with the next process which is drenching which prevents worms.

The sheep are now ready for the next process. The lambing.

Time for some more wood

2008-05-27T04:22:00.000-07:00

Our wood reserves are slightly low so we loaded up the ute with the chainsaw, the logsplitter and the kids and hunted some dead wood.

While we did manage to fill the back of my dual cab ute with fire wood we really need to spend a good full day gathering wood.

Farm Day 08 with the Claytons

2008-05-24T05:39:00.000-07:00

Farm Day is an Australian wide initiative which one of the many goals is to bridge the gap between rural and city folk. This year around 350 Farm families played host to city families for a day and have the city cousins get involved in the day to day farming activities. Farm day allows farming families educate the city folk in the reality of farm life and practices.

We volunteered to be farming hosts this year. Our guests originally from North Leach in the UK but more recently in Melbourne were the Claytons. James and Rachael with Polly (3yr) and Kate(3mths old) and Liz (James mother) arrived at Greenvale late Friday afternoon just in time for the end of day feeding of the animals. I introduced the Claytons to our assortment of poultry and fed Doreen the Wessex Saddle back and then ventured down to a paddock near by and fed Prince and Beatrice our other two saddle backs.

After getting the kids to bed we adjourned to the dining room for some scintillating conversation regarding farming practices over several bottles of red wine while dining on roast leg of Greenvale Lamb in front of a roaring fire.

The next day was a special day, not only because we where hosting our city cousins but because it was Pollys 3rd birthday. We started the day by assigning responsibility to Polly to let out the chickens, checking all was well with the wee chickens. Ben was having none of the reassignment so we then decided both Polly and Ben should let the chickens out. Then it was on to feeding Doreen, in the house pens, and then giving Rory the calf his breakfast and then down to lower house paddocks to feed Prince and Beatrice.

On the way back to the house Yuri the photographer from the Weekly times arrived and we spent the next hour and a half trying to get the perfect photo. This ranged from gathering around Prince to marching in line formation up the fence line. For our second round of shots we gathered around the round hay bale situated in Rory the calf and Madison the lambs paddock. Neither Rory nor Madison wanted to come and pose in front of the haybale neither did Ace or Basil our Australian Kelpies that wandered by at that point. At one point Yuri yelled at me to just grab the calf and drag it over... yeah right. We did however manage to make the front page of the Weekly times (Well Madison and Polly did).

After our photo shoot and after what was to be our breakfast but more like brunch of home grown poached eggs and bacon we regrouped and headed out to shift sheep. We had a herd of sheep that required shifting from a paddock over the road that we were planning to crop to the top end of the property. Over the road we saw a bunch of our resident Kangaroos and then rounded up the sheep with the help of our Keplies Ace and Basil. The sheep essentially shifted themselves and we just tagged along for the ride.

Once the sheep were locked up in their new pasture we headed back to the homestead via the old orchard. Ben and I ditched the quadbike and climbed in the back of the ute for a trip to the wheatgrass paddock to check out the steers. Our second large wildlife spotting was on the way to the Back Block paddock, a wedge tailed eagle flew over us and landed on a large dead tree beside the river dropping whatever it had in its claws due to the fact that it was being harassed by a bunch of crows.

We did a bit of wheatgrass bashing and drove through the wheatgrass which was as tall as the ute and then went and check the cattle an animal which Liz seems to somewhat fear. She was admirably strong though in confronting her fears.

It was a light grazing lunch of cold cuts, cheese, salads, nice bread etc. It was grazing as it wasnt really long since we had tucked into bacon and eggs. During lunch we read and listened to Rachaels and Pollys interview with the ABC (http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/05/23/2253406.htm) and realised that she and Polly were keen on seeing the big tractor. Where as we had planned to go gathering firewood there was no doubt what we would be doing. So we all got loaded up into our respective cars and headed off to our other property at Mafeking which backed onto the Grampians where brother Scott was sowing with the big tractor we have named Shrek. When it came time for rides Ben shot up the ladder like a bullet and fended everyone else off as its the machine that he believes that only he and Uncle Scott are in charge of.

It was Polly and Rachaels turn to ride Shrek however when it came time for Polly to climb up into the cab it all became a bit intimidating and Rachael rode shotgun without Pollcy with Scott cutting a couple of laps sowing oats. To experience this first hand is invaluable as it really inspires thought provoking questions and really opens up an educational dialog.

After group photos with Shrek it was time to head back to the homestead and..... birthday celebrations and the cutting of the cake and of course a well earned cup of tea.

Although we would have loved to have the Claytons stay another evening they had to get back for commitments back in Melbourne. James and Rachael mentioned that the visit well exceeded their expectations and we agreed that it did ours also.

Thanks to Deb Bain and the Farm Day team not only did the day achieve its goals of education it also as equally importantly generated a new friendship. (See all pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com.au/AnthonyKumnick/FarmDay)

You looken at me?

2008-05-20T04:43:00.000-07:00

Hey Beatrice, youve got a bit of food on your lip there !!!

Lambing

2008-05-18T05:14:00.000-07:00

The first of ewes in lamb will soon have finished lambing and its been quite sucessful so far compared to last year when we lost litterally hundreds of lambs to the forces of nature, the cold, crows, foxes and eagles. This year by comparison we have only loss a hand full. Amanda and Jude witnessed one ewe giving birth to 4 lambs... Ben and I past by one night and found one by itself which we picked up and relocated nearer the flock hoping that it would find its mother.

Welcome Rain

2008-05-16T17:19:00.001-07:00

We had some good rain at Greenvale last night with the rain gauge reading 21.5 mm. Bring on the crops!!!!

In with the new, out with the old

2008-05-14T06:52:00.001-07:00

To help with this years cropping we bought on board a new (used) 4 wheel drive tractor and out went 'I think I can' but couldn't. According to ben only he and uncle scott can drive it!

Pigs into new pasture

2008-05-11T04:07:00.000-07:00

Prince and Beatrice moved up in the world today into larger acreage from a paddock which is around 500 square meters to around 2 acres. Doreen on the other hand remains around the house paddocks while we figure out her pregnancy situation. She was suppose to give birth a day or so ago but has failed to show any signs of farrowing.

Moving the two was easier than I had envisaged, beatrice did however start wandering off in the opposite direction to our destination, Scott chaperone her dawdling while I flew ahead trying to steer Prince in the appropriate direction.

Once in the paddock Prince ran ahead and generally made his very odorous mark on a number of items and then came charging back to us like he was going to mow us down and thankfully backed down at the last second.

Prince and Beatrice were however pleased with the green grass and munched for ages.

Maybe Doreen does need to join them.

The Chicken Run

2008-05-05T13:10:00.000-07:00

Letting the chickens out in the morning is a scramble to see who can make it to the pigs paddock first to see what left overs there are.

Grampians Grape escape

2008-05-03T04:02:00.000-07:00

Local producers around the district gathered at Halls Gap oval with a stunning mountain backdrop for the annual Grampians Grape Escape. A fantastic day which was MCd by Dominic Brine Ballarats ABC breakfast program presenter. Music complemented the day very nicely and we munched on chilli beef sausages, sweet corn, paella and beef sandwiches followed up by ice cream and waffles.

Quite an interesting concept we shelled out $25 for unlimited tasting however at that time unbeknown to us you could actually buy bottles of wine from any vendor however apparently you needed a glass to do so.

It was indeed a fantastic social event educating the public on the local delicacies. Thomas the tank engine ride were an absolute hit with the young ones and the Seppelts Clydesdale's were an appropriate addition.

At 2pm I couldnt pass up on the Grampians Winemakers Barrique Auction. The wine was produced with the participation of a number of local winemakers who provided wine. I purchased a 2 and then a dozen. The two to drink and the dozen to lay down.

New Chicks

2008-05-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

Around 21 days ago I seperated what seemed to be a broody chicken and placed 8, what I thought were fertile eggs under the chook. Today we came out to 5 new chicks, 3 yellow and 2 black.

100s of large moths

2008-04-27T03:46:00.000-07:00

Last night we stumbled across a number of very large moths which I had assumed were goat moths but having looked up a goat moth the wings dont look the same. Anyway today when I ventured back out to the garage with Ben to finish cleaning we came across what had to be over 100 large moths lurking about all very drowzy.

A stroll along the Hopkins

2008-04-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

A lovely afternoon around 24ish degrees C we dropped the car off downstream from the homestead and strolled along the Hopkins river back to the homestead. Stock trails provided perfect walking paths. Then back for a well earnt cup of tea and fruit cake.

Sunday Lunch

2008-04-20T02:40:00.000-07:00

Sunday Lunch is not the same as it is in the UK. I think this will be a nice little tradition. Well into Autumn and the weather forecast predicted a temperature around 24Celcius. It actually felt a bit hotter than that. We prepared 2 legs of lamb with garlic, anchovies, rosemary, salt, pepper and olive oil set it on the BBQ at 290C for 30 minutes and then down to 160C for the next 2 hours and then 30 mins to rest. Perfect. Eleven of us parked ourselves on Greenvales front lawn for a lunch of roast lamb, freshly made bread, spectacular colslaw and boiled new potatoes amongst other sides and topped the feast of with apple pie and ice cream..... And thats where we stayed for the rest of the afternoon.

Preparing for cropping

2008-04-15T02:37:00.000-07:00

With the fire restrictions over farmers all around the district are preparing fields ready to sow crops for the coming season. One of the methods used to clear last years stubble and increase yield and help combat weeds is burning. Plumes of smoke have been seen all around the district as farmers burn off the last years excess matter.

A neighbours property filled the sky with smoke to the extent that the smoke became a cloud feeder. A phenonema that I saw once before flying over California where the pilot pointed out a forest fires smoke that was turning into a rain cloud. Our burning in comparison struggled to put a puff into the air.

A friend for Maddison Lamb

2008-04-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

Today we introduced Rory the calf to Maddison Lamb. Rory, named by Ben after Rory the racing car was one half of a twin born a week or so ago. His twin sister Maxine (Rorys racing car friend) seemed to be gelling with her mother but Rory didnt so hand raising it is. Introducing Rory to the bottle was a bit of a struggle but perservance paid off. As with Maddion, Ebony seems to have the touch with baby animals, Scott included and is succesfully getting the nutrients to Rory.

Vegetarians look away now.

2008-04-04T14:58:00.000-07:00

Eight of our lambs were sent off last week and slaughtered and after a number of days hanging they were ready to be picked up and butchered. We took them back to Callemondah our property near Ararat where we have a small facility for cutting up the carcass. This was my first time at dissecting a full beast and after a couple it all seemed relatively straight forward.

We experimented with a couple of cuts, but generally ended up with, loin chops, a rack, a shoulder, a leg, shanks and some chump chops and the lambs belly or flank from each half a lamb.

With the bones cut from the belly I brought them back to Greenvale where several litres of Lambstock was made. Some of the flanks were trimmed of the fat and this will be made into mince if I can ever find the parts for my mincer which are somewhere still in a box we are yet to unpack from our move.

I think next time Ill ask for the offal which had been discarded prior to us picking up the carcasses.

The set completed.

2008-04-03T01:56:00.000-07:00

Today I headed back to Fernleigh Farm to pick up Beatrice the third of the Wessex Saddlebacks I had purchased in late February. I was to have picked her up on Wednesday but with a storm whipping through the state and with wind gusting upto 120km/hr I decided it wouldnt be a pleasant trip for either myself or Beatrice.

When I arrived Beatrice had already been put in the stables a lesson we learnt when trying to put Prince and Doreen up onto the back of the ute from out in the paddock. Bernie set up the ramp and after sprinkling some food up the ramp and into the back of the ute Beatrice went much easily than her buddies Prince and Doreen. After a quick chat to Fiona and after Beatrice had a quick jab of Dectomax to help with the lice we were on the road back to Greenvale. For the 2hour journey back Beatrice refused to sit down and stood all the way.

Back at Greenvale Beatrice didnt seem to settle initially and hadnt eaten much however she has seemed to have come around and is getting out and wandering around where in the first couple of days just lay in the pen.

Hopkins River Survey

2008-04-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

Every year for the past 5 years the Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority pays Greenvale a visit to survey the health of the Hopkins. Every year they return to exactly the same position in the river to record such information as vegetation, number of weeds, errosion, river bank width and various other indicators to enable them to assess the health of the river system in general. Megan and Dion undertook the survey on what must have been one of the windest days on record.

Water hoses and Pigs dont mix

2008-03-17T03:39:00.000-07:00

I tried to separate Prince and Doreen so that I could give Doreen more food than Prince. Prince is on the podgy side and Doreen needs the extra sustenance to help her through her pregnancy. I tried shutting the gate, locking Doreen in the run and Prince in the field however Prince took advantage of a loose bolt on the gate and lifted the entire gate off its hinges.

Having fixed the gate today I successfully managed to separate the two for feeding time. Doreen however was in the run and had finished her feed and must have been looking for some fresh water to wash down the feast down with and sussed out some pipes running under the run that feed the chicken shed, a few quick nosed digs and she had successfully located the pipe and managed to bust the pipe from the join and struck water.

I rushed to turn off the water at the mains and Scott and I diverted the pipe up over the run and into the top of the chicken house. Problem solved I hope. Now to install a water feeding device on in the pigs run.

The circle of life

2008-03-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

After returning from the Ararat Farmers market today I got back and put some more water in the pigs wallow to their appreciation and then rounded up the chickens to put them back in the coup for the evening. It was getting a bit dark and there was a dark shadow in the corner of one of the coups. For some reason the gate was shut on that pen and one of the chickens was motionless with its head stuck under a board looking like it was attempting to escape and had probably snapped it own neck. Amanda mentioned later that the black chicken was acting a bit loopy recently.

After disposing of the carcass I went to feed the Silkies which were still sitting on the eggs we planted under them and well over the 21 days that we had read about in terms of the incubation period. We did some reading last night about natural incubation and all articles pointed to leaving the hen to do what she does best. There was a broken egg lying next to them and my first reaction was the bloody things have eaten one of the eggs. I then noticed a little head poking out of the other side of one of the silkies. I did try to pry the silkies off to establish how many there were but was given a sever pecking as a reprimand.

Ararat Farmers Market

2008-03-09T11:10:00.000-07:00

Today was the Ararat farmer market and we set of from Greenvale around 10:30. Just out of the gate and not 100 meters onto the Willaura-Wickliffe road and we encountered 6 of our heifers grazing on the side of the road. They had been put into the paddock next to the road which didn’t contain alot of feed as they were on the heavy side and needed to loose a pound or two . The grass wasn’t actually greener on the other side of the fence but there was a lot more of it which was appealing the cattle. We herded them back up, 5 made a run for it and hurdled the fence back into their paddock and we escorted the other through the gate.

We got to the Ararat market, parked at the football ground and wandered into the very pleasant Alexandra Gardens. There were approximately 20 or so stalls selling everything from home made jams, garments, herbs and spices, vegetables and a butchers selling magnificent sausages which we had for lunch. In the background was live jazz and all by the gardens lake.

There was a vendor selling pistachio nuts and she had some unprocessed which you had to first peel the husk then remove the shell and then take out the nut which was a lot softer and I think more tastier than the processed variety.

Today was the day my father also decided to loose his keys at the market. We searched around for them and made some enquires but to no avail. It didn’t help that there were no contact details on them. He also took two trips back to his house to try to locate a spare set, the first trip returning with my brother spare set. Resigned to the fact that he was going to have to wait until Tuesday, Monday being a public holiday he made a chance trip to the police station where low and behold they had been handed in. Lessons learnt; a. join the RACV (AAA) and, b. put a phone number on your keys.

Sir and Madam have arrived.

2008-03-07T00:29:00.000-08:00

Today my brother Scott and I were up before the crack of dawn for the 2 hour drive to Fiona and Nick Chambers property Fernleigh Free Range farm to pick up our new additions to the Greenvale Homestead, Prince and Doreen. Prince and Doreen are Wessex Saddleback pigs, a rare breed that is believed now to be now extinct from England but prior to the Wessex and Essex Saddleback being merged a herd was imported around the early to mid 1900s from the UK. We arrived early to avoid travelling with the pigs during the mid day heat. Doreen is due to give birth around the 14th April is approximately 10 years old and Prince nearly is 2. We were to have taken another sow Betrice however where as we believed she was "in pig" as it turns out it was a false alarm and Fiona has kindly offered to keep here on for a while while she mates again.

Loading the two was an adventure in itself. Im sure they were just playing with us as it took us what seemed forever to load the pigs, Fiona, Scott and I tried Prince then Doreen then Prince and then Doreen, Bernie one of the stockmen from Fernleigh Farm also came to assist and finally with a combination of bits of zucchini torn up as enticements up the ramp and with some prodding, pushing and pressure being applied from the rear we finally got Doreen up there, she had travelled before on a number of occasions but this was all new to Prince as such he took a little longer. As soon as Prince was up in the back of the ute he thrust his nose under the unattached crate dislodging it from its base and we all frantically and manically dove into action to tie the crate to the ute before any more damage could be done. Unfortantely in the disruption Doreen tried to dive under the wire mesh divider and scratched her back.

Nick then showed us how to trim both the razor sharp tusks from Prince and clip the nails after which both Prince and Doreen settled into the shadecloth covered crate for the ride back to Greenvale. After the paper work was filled out and Fiona dumped a mountain of information on us from feeding to, ear clipping to tattooing and the list went on. No doubt some of this went in one ear and out the other but Fiona kindly offered to act as consultant when ever we had questions.

Doreen and Prince travelled well all the way home albeit standing up most of the way and the only incident was Prince getting slightly randy, something I wasnt comfortable with only because with a combined weight of over 400 kg and a lot of jigging about we might find our selves in the ute upside down in a ditch. Fortunately Doreen wasnt having any of it and managed to fend off Prince.

Back at Greenvale the two had only just laid down, something they really should have done the entire trip. We backed the ute up to their new accomodation and put up the bobcat ramps for them to disembark. I had visions of having the same troubles getting them down as we did getting them up however fortunately they were eager to sus out their new surroundings. Once in there new shelter they ventured out the back door which opened to a run to their paddock. The first wander along the run prince dug his nose into the ground digging it up as if it was butter. Both Prince and Doreen then both independantly wandered around the perimeter, Id imaging to check the fencing and as yet there is no electric fence to which they are accustom to having.

The water containers full of water which we provided were tossed in the air like a beach ball so we fetched an unused cement water trough, placed it in the paddock and filled it with water allowing some overflow to be used as a wallowing area which they seemed to really appreciate.

As they dug up the soil I noticed how dark and rich it looked, now Im wondering if I should reneg and take back the paddock for my own and plant some veggies. I think Ill give them time to settle in before thinking about any moves.

While they wallowed about and munched on the green grass I tightened up some fencing an activity Ive only ever observed Scott doing, it took me a while but not a bad job if I do say so myself.

Later in the evening Amanda went to offload some corn on the cob but the two were snuggled up fast asleep like an old married couple.

Willaura Hospital Outdoor Market

2008-03-02T11:06:00.000-08:00

Today we ventured off to the Willarua Hospital outdoor market the proceeds of which were raising money for the Willaura Auxiliary East Grampians Health Service. There were around 30-40 stalls selling fresh produce, art & craft, fine food, bric a brac, a couple of wineries were represented and lots more. There was a kids bouncy castle that was a spiderman theme and the obligatory sausage sizzle. The biggest hit though had to be the ice cream truck. Not only did Ben devour his soft serve ice cream but took turns between Amandas and my ice cream also.
The State Emergency Services were out in force donning the orange uniform recruiting for volunteers. My only disappointment was that apart from a couple of honey producers there weren’t really any food producers selling there wares.
A successful day, I came away with 2 nectarine trees, a couple of rosemary bushes, a mint shrub a couple boysenberry vines, some brussel sprout and pea seeds, some mulberry and plum jam and some plum sauce.

Back yard fencing. Check, off the list

2008-02-29T02:18:00.000-08:00

One of Amandas tasks for me was finally checked of the list today with us putting up a couple of fences in the back yard so that our son Ben would be contained, Ben actually helped my brother Scott and myself by fetching beers as the appropriate juncture. I was tasked with driving the posts in to the ground an activity which my computer hands certainly were not used to and Im finding it difficult to type this blog post. Hopefully these computer hands will harden up over time!!

Lambs to sell

2008-02-26T11:10:00.000-08:00

Scott and I were to have met dad to help with rounding up the lambs to be viewed by our stock agent Radar. I however, I think got the communication wrong and we ended up at my fathers farm instead of Jaskum park some 30 minutes out of the way. By the time we go there the ome 500 lambs were already in the yards and Radar had inspected them and they were to be sent off to market on Monday to be sold. I believe we have another 1000 to sell at some point in the next little while.

Egg production up

2008-02-18T20:01:00.000-08:00

The egg production seems to be looking up, Amanda yesterday gathering 13 eggs in the one day where as the lasses were only giving us about 6 a day which I thought was normal for the 7 hens we have not counting the 3 silkies or the one hen looking after the week old chicks.

Still on Silkies, since weve had the farm not a egg has been produced from any of them and all of a sudden we are getting one or two a day from those three ladies. This actually started just before the new birds arrived so maybe they got wind of the imminent arrival and figured if they didnt produce they'd be out. These birds came with the farm when we bought it and I need to find out what a male silkie looks like just in case one of them is a rooster and we can get some chicks from them.

Ive heard that silkies make good mothers and that if you have fertile eggs, silkies will mother them regardless where they came from. So thats exactly what weve done, in addition to the couple she has laid weve put a few more under her to see what happens.

New Chickens

2008-02-02T22:55:00.000-08:00

Today we took a trip to Horsham to pick up some Chickens. While originally we intended to take the entire stock on offer, 10 minutes from our destination it suddenly dawned on me that I hadnt worked out what I would do with 15 or so eggs a day, so instead of 20 or so chickens we chose to take only 8 chickens, 2 of which were looking after chicks of 6 1 day olds and 8 1 week olds respetively. We also gathered 2 ducks and 2 roosters in the deal.

The Willaura Cut Out

2008-02-01T22:45:00.000-08:00

This was to be our first social outing in Willaura held at the Willaura football ground. It was the Willaura Cut Out, a post harvest celebration and a comunity get together for farmers and non-farmers alike. There were kids activities, balloons, clowns, a band, a bbq, a raffle and a bar tended by the local constable.

Hello Possums

2008-02-01T22:33:00.000-08:00

In addition to the plague of black beetles that invaded the homestead at night during our first week in the homestead there seemed to be large noises coming from the roof late at night. Possums none the less and I swear this one didnt have great balance as it seemed to be falling off the beams onto the ceiling. Thankfully the farm came with a trap which I figured out how to set it and placed an apple in the cage for bait and placed it in the roof.

That night around 10pm there was a very distintive noise of the sound of the trap going off and then the predicitive followon sound of the struggle. A splash followed on as the sound of water came through the roof as the possum, well, had a little accident.

After some debate with what to do with the cute little thing we decided to drive up the road and let it go to see if the neighbours were interest in the little fury friend.

Round and Round the Mulberry bush

2008-01-31T22:15:00.000-08:00

Funnily enough we discovered that the paddock that goes by the name of Orchard actually contained an orchard. On recent closer inspection it seemed we had a bunch of pear trees of which the fruit doesnt seem to be ripening and a massive, somewhat 20ft high tree, which contained what we originally thought were blackberries but after some google investigation by Amanda we uncovered these so called blackberries were actually mulberries.

We went about gathering all the ripe fruit at ground level but only seemed to be a pinch to that which sat further up in the tree to be left there for another day.

I figure a third of the fruit went in the buckets, a third in Bens belly and the remainder on Bens shirt.

Rounding up Geese and cattle

2008-01-27T00:02:00.000-08:00

This morning started with Benjamin and I venturing out to feed our Muscovy duck which wanders by the house twice a day in search of hand outs.

Our chicken shed is pretty much empty at the moment, only holding 3 bantam silkies, after, we believe the foxes culled a bunch of poultry including a number of ducks (Peking and Muscovy, guinea foul, some geese and a turkey. Over the past number of months however the remainder of the Chinese geese have been let out and free to roam. They have taken up residence at the house dam, the result has been a mass of geese dung around the dam and growth of algae related to the nitrogen from said dung. Anyway today Ben and I decided to round up the geese and put them back into their pen. I believe it was the Geek Farm Life folk who said that the way to coax birds back to their shelters was to, over time, feed them closer and closer to their destination. I had planned to do this as I set of with Ben on the quad bike. As we got close we realised that we could possibly round them up like we do sheep or cattle, which we did using the quad bike. We managed to get all but one back to the enclosure and that one darted under an opening in the fence and fled back to the dam before I could head it off. Later, feeling lonely that one goose decided to find out where his friends were and ventured to the chicken shed where we rounded him (or her) up also.

There is some debate amongst the family whether they will stay in the chicken shed due to their boisterous nature and ability to keep folks up at night. They may become cooked goose if that's the case.

Later that day we got the cattle in the yards, first the cows then the bulls in readiness for the Stock and Land Beef week sales. This involves showing the stock on the property for prospective buyers who wander from property to property viewing stock. The hair on the ears were trimmed so the tags could be viewed and a few cattle had lost their tags and had to be replaced. One of the largest of the bulls was named Benjamin after our lad of just under 3 years old who is around the same age as Benjamin bull.

Manx Loaghtan

2008-01-20T10:30:00.000-08:00

Today I visited the secretary of the Manx Loaghtan Breeders group who kindly offered to show me her stock and discuss the breed. Carol and her husband Mark had a lovely thatched cottage in Gloucestershire just west of Gloucester itself.

Carol breeds Manx sheep for hobbie only. The sheep in my mind were beautiful animals especially the ones with the 4 perfectly formed horns and the one with the most perfect horns which Carol intends to show was a year old ram.

The breed is substantially healthier than commercial varieties with one farm, Langley Chase in the UK winning several awards.

Ive enquired to the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service and there response is as follows:

AQIS Reference number 2008-0266

Dear Mr Kumnick

The Australian live animal import conditions do not permit the importation of ruminant animals from any country other than New Zealand. These conditions have been in place for a number of years and they are based on the risk assessments on the importation of live ruminants from overseas countries, carried out by Biosecurity Australia.

Regards

Dr Don Leelawardana. BVSC, MACVSc

Anyway to date, searching on the web Ive found no breeders from Australia or New Zealand. My search will continue.....

South Wing Kitchen Referbishment

2007-12-14T18:33:00.000-08:00

Enclosing the East Wing

2007-12-14T05:31:00.000-08:00

Currently each of the bedrooms in the east wing opens out to the open court yard which doesn't make it safe for small children in sleeping in those rooms at night, it also doesn't make a comfortable trip to the toilet in the middle of the night either, especially in the middle of winter.
(Click on any of the pictures to enlarge)

Sowing time.

2007-05-17T20:01:00.000-07:00

Feeding Maddison

2007-05-17T19:46:00.000-07:00

Maddison was an orphan lamb who we recoverd and hand raised. Ben chose the name after a friend in Toronto.

The Poultry

2007-05-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

Currently we have a few sulkies, some geese (16 or so) a couple of peking ducks, some guinea foul a turkey and a couple fo muscovy ducks.

"Look its as big as my head" Mushrooms

2007-05-17T19:22:00.000-07:00

This season was exceptional for mushrooms. I think the long dry spell followed by very good rains produced an abundance of significantly large mushrooms. So much so we were mushroomed out from risotto, to baked, to eggs and mushrooms and on it goes.

The Escarpment

2007-05-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

Behind the Hopkins river is an escarpment from which there are quite scenic views looking back over the Greenvale valley and towards the Grampians.

Hopkins River

2007-05-17T18:37:00.000-07:00

The Hopkins river runs the length of he property and for the most part hugs the base of the escarpment which also runs the lenght of Greenvale. The Hopkins river runs for some 300 kilometers and empties out at Warrnambool. For more information on the Hopkins river visit http://www.glenelg-hopkins.vic.gov.au/catchmentprofile/h4.asp

Click on any picture to enlarge.

Greenvale Entrance

2007-03-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

Land Layout - Area Perspective

2007-03-18T15:37:00.000-07:00

Paddocks

2007-03-17T17:05:00.000-07:00

Click on any of the images for a larger view, then hit the back button to return to this page.

alpacas

2007-03-17T16:58:00.000-07:00

Click on any of the images for a larger view, then hit the back button to return to this page.

Sheds and Yards

2007-03-17T13:05:00.000-07:00

Greenvale Paddock layout

2007-03-17T12:56:00.000-07:00

Click image to enlarge, hit back button to return

Billiard Room

2007-03-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

Kitchen East Wing

2007-03-16T17:02:00.000-07:00