wbvs58
Well-known member
Yeh, well thats what we have had here in our part of Australia. From what I reckon was the worst conditions of drought that I have had in the 8 years that I have been in this neck of the woods it has changed in the space of a couple of weeks to some of the best conditions. We started getting rain in the first week of December in the form of thunderstorms and we have been getting them ever since, even though it has been storms it has been pretty gentle and the country took up all the water until it reached saturation point at about Xmas time and started to run off, 345mm (13.8") for December and so far 40mm (1.5'') in the first few days of Jan. Our soil is very light sandy granite so does not hold moisture very well but when it gets saturated like this the water feeding down from the watershed along the border behind us lasts for a while and will ensure the feed will continue to grow for the rest of summer. We could do with a dry spell to let the waterlogged areas drain but you get a bit greedy and like to see those clouds come over.
Just a note, Jilleroo who lives out in the NW of our state is still in dire need of rain facing their 3rd failed wet season if it doesn't come. There were some reports of good storm rain out her way today so fingers crossed she may have fluked one. The forecast for this summer was for below chance of average rain so we feel lucky that our coin toss landed on its edge.
It has been great to be able to stop feeding. I did prepare early and made the decision in early November to wean the calves which were 3-4 months old and I sold the cows that I would normally sell after weaning their calves in April. I sold them as cow/calves and took a bit of a hit on them at $720 but I was miles ahead once they went out the front gate. I have no regrets even though the season turned around, I feel pretty comfortable now and will have plenty of feed stockpiled for winter.
Here are the cows, looking very content under the trees. Most have a good bit more weight to put on but still plenty of time before the grass stops growing.
These are the calves, I am still feeding them a 16% prot grain mix as they would still be on their mothers until the end of March but I am very happy with how they are going and don't think they will be down on weight. I weighed them last weekend and the weights ranged from 200kg (660lb) to 277kg (610lb)
Just walking up the track from taking the photos one of our friendly little critters surprised us sunning itself beside the track. It is amazing how something as black as this blends in with the green and other colours. This is a small red belly black snake and is venomous but not as bad as our brown snake. These are fairly timid and not a real problem, I just leave them alone as I don't want to encourage the dogs to take them on. I have heard that some claim they eat the young brown snakes.
Ken
Just a note, Jilleroo who lives out in the NW of our state is still in dire need of rain facing their 3rd failed wet season if it doesn't come. There were some reports of good storm rain out her way today so fingers crossed she may have fluked one. The forecast for this summer was for below chance of average rain so we feel lucky that our coin toss landed on its edge.
It has been great to be able to stop feeding. I did prepare early and made the decision in early November to wean the calves which were 3-4 months old and I sold the cows that I would normally sell after weaning their calves in April. I sold them as cow/calves and took a bit of a hit on them at $720 but I was miles ahead once they went out the front gate. I have no regrets even though the season turned around, I feel pretty comfortable now and will have plenty of feed stockpiled for winter.
Here are the cows, looking very content under the trees. Most have a good bit more weight to put on but still plenty of time before the grass stops growing.
These are the calves, I am still feeding them a 16% prot grain mix as they would still be on their mothers until the end of March but I am very happy with how they are going and don't think they will be down on weight. I weighed them last weekend and the weights ranged from 200kg (660lb) to 277kg (610lb)
Just walking up the track from taking the photos one of our friendly little critters surprised us sunning itself beside the track. It is amazing how something as black as this blends in with the green and other colours. This is a small red belly black snake and is venomous but not as bad as our brown snake. These are fairly timid and not a real problem, I just leave them alone as I don't want to encourage the dogs to take them on. I have heard that some claim they eat the young brown snakes.
Ken
