Harvest has commenced

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

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

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!!!

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..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A day of great escapes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Taking delivery of lucern

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

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

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

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.