Edd's marathon with the milking machine

October 25. 2013-

Edd has had a terrible week. He has been to collect barley from the brewery three times but on all these occasions the brewers forgot to fill our buckets so we have been stuck with bran as a substitute. He has also taken the milking machine to be fixed three times and had it stop working as soon as he tried it back here. Twice he took it to our local pump repairers but when that kept failing he drove all the way down to the place we got it and let them have a go.  Today he is driving back there for try four.

Meanwhile I am hand milking. This is not too bad as the five new kids are still getting colostrum from their mothers. Vesna had two almost black bucks and has managed it all beautifully. She is very much a non-fuss goats and allowed me to milk her for the first time as if she had been milking for years. The first four kids born have now accepted bottle-feeding and are almost ready to learn how to suck up milk from the bucket feeder.  I have one remedial learner who is slowing the process down but even he fed better today. I will have to offer the other kids a first bottle soon because their mothers are out to graze with the rest of the herd.

It has been dry today so I rummaged through Edd’s shed until I found a suitable colour of paint and I have put two coats on the newly erected chook shed. The feather footed, faverolles have moved in now and are getting used to the extra space and light in their new home. The next step is to build the fence round the orchard to give them a safe area to free range. Getting chooks to keep down the grass under the fruit trees is an important step for fire protection. The old apple trees and plum trees survived in the old orchard because the chooks had kept them in a cleared area.

There have been terrible fires in NSW this week.  About 200 houses were lost but thanks to a superb effort by the fire fighting teams there has been minimal loss of life this time. It is still horrific to contemplate the huge area of the Great Dividing Range that is affected. When my daughter was in Sydney this week she said the heat was a real shock, right up in the high thirties. The planes were delayed and the city smoky. It is a very early start to the fire season and has everyone worried what is in store for the rest of us.

The days have been pretty full since kidding started but the weather has been wet and given me time to finish all the large curtains. I am now laying out the cloth to cut for the bedroom curtains. They are much small and less intimidating. I shall be most relieved when this job is done but then I have to get back to tiling again, which is just as worrying. Already we are planning for Xmas. We will have our feast earlier this year at the solstice so that we spread the family occasions out better. It is a bit much for our married kids to do one big meal right after another to try and fit everyone in.