By Judy Barnet, Ag Columnist
I can’t believe I didn’t hear a thing. Chaos reigned this morning at 5 am. I was lying in bed enjoying my morning coffee that had not long been delivered to me by my nearest and dearest when Richie called out, “Cows in the garden,” and rushed out the door. By the time I got outside, still in my slippers, a delighted Dora rushed out to greet me and straight away I knew where the trouble had started. Dora had somehow slipped her collar and with no one around had been unable to resist the temptation of chasing the cows and sheep. It was no use going mad at her as she hadn’t been caught in the act. The cows had pushed (or more likely been chased) through one of our “temporary” fences and into the gardens.
It looks like they started in the outside gardens and demolished only that which appealed to them – all of the lettuces, beetroot and silverbeet. Carrots and potatoes were spared. They then moved into the main garden devouring more than half of the Isabella grapevine that gives the cottage its summer shade. Grapes were lying in bunches on the ground everywhere. The roses were next to go. They are right underneath our bedroom window but I never heard a thing. They then turned their attention to the parsley, however, it had already gone to seed so was no big loss. Their big bellies must have been getting full by then as the other plants have only been sampled. Of course, giant hoof prints and even more giant cow patties have made one hell of a mess of the neatly mowed lawn.
Neither CJ nor the cottage guests (to my knowledge) woke up through all this but I can only imagine the look on our guest’s faces when they drew back the curtains in their bedroom that face onto the cottage verandah! The ewe and lamb (the one the goanna attacked) in the yards near the house also escaped, undoubtedly helped by Dora. Richie has vowed to make permanent the temporary fencing a high priority job!
Earlier in the week, I had to deal with my own chaos and dummy spit with an apology thrown in to boot. I had asked Richie to come home before dark if he could to help load the pigs into the trailer. No worries he said. I arrived home around 5 pm, fed the calves and did a few other jobs, then I thought I would have a go at loading the pigs as Richie wasn’t home yet. Now, remember the pigs had been put back in the pigpen after last week’s episode of ransacking the chook pen. However, once again I decided it would be easier to let them out and try to get them in the trailer outside the yards rather than back the trailer up to the (wonky) ramp and load them that way. All went well to start with and before you could say “Jumping Jack Flash” one of the gilts jumped in the trailer! The second was a bit wary though and kept putting her front feet up and eating the pig pellets I had thrown in to encourage self-loading that were within her reach. After a few minutes, I couldn’t risk the other pig jumping out so I snuck up, grabbed the back end of the gilt that was half in the trailer and pushed hard. She weighed around 70kg and was trying equally hard to push back out and what happened next would have been funny if it had happened to anyone else but me! I hadn’t chocked the trailer as it was on flat ground, however, with me pushing the trailer started rolling forward. After about five metres I lost the battle, the pig took off but the other remained in the trailer quite unperturbed.
Not one to give up easily I figured the trailer couldn’t move much further so I got some more food to give it a second go. Unfortunately, the second attempt went rather like the first only this time both pigs escaped. I was pretty annoyed by this time and decided it was time to walk away. By this time the trailer was a fair way into the scrub and would need a couple of people to push it back before it could be hooked on a vehicle. I walked back up to the house just on dark and also just as Richie drove in. I said a few unkind words to Richie who waited patiently for me to finish my rave before telling me he had a flat tyre. He asked where the pigs now were and my reply was along the lines of “well not on the way to the abattoir, that’s for sure.” I went inside to start on dinner and, seriously, only five minutes later I hear Richie drive up with the trailer complete with pigs inside. When I asked how he was able to get them in the trailer he replied “they were already in there when I arrived at the yards.” I later apologised!
I am sorry to report that the sheep have still not been shorn due to the wet weather and we are still spending plenty of time cleaning up maggoty sheep. This is likely to continue until we get a break in the weather.
The calves are thriving and growing very quickly and I have resisted the temptation to buy any more. For now!
Glenlyon Dam is now over 102% full and a good majority of our boundary fence with the dam is well underwater. I will have to go for a swim next week and tie some plastic water bottles along the fence-line in case boaties decide to venture up to our part of the dam. It is an incredible sight though and just amazing to wake up and look out the window to see. Photos just don’t do the view justice!
Wishing everyone a good a safe week.
