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Farmlife
Entry 11 of 46 | show all | print this entry |
I get up at 5.30 every morning because of the heat in the day. It's actually nice, believe it or not, to get up when the sun rises! But it has been very cold in the mornings now, I should think we've been down to ten degrees or something during the night. At daytime it's about 27 to 34 degrees, and you really get used to it. It's really cold now if it gets down to 20 degrees :-) But it's still just spring here and summer's getting closer, so I think it's a good time to get used to the heat. It's very important to use sunscreen too, even on a cloudy day, it's really not like home, the sun and UV is very strong and could be dangerous.
We got four dogs on the farm, Sally is the oldest and she can't hear much poor thing, but she loves sitting on the back of the truck when I go around to feed the horses. She sits and waits wiggeling her tail until I clap my hand on the door to let her know it's ok to come with me. I keep talking to her, but it's no use, since she can't hear...Then we got Dana, she also comes with me on the truck sometimes, but if she hear the motorbikes start, she is off in one second, 'cause she knows it's mustering time! She loves helping with the cattle, and she is very good, when she is alone that is. If the other dogs is nearby, she tends to take control and muster on her own whereever she wants, just to show off to the other dogs, and the owner is not very happy when she muster the wrong way (still Dana is very happy though). Today she was not behaving at all, and had to stay tied up for a while, I tell you she felt very sorry for herself...
Paddy doesn't like trucks or motorbikes, he chases the weels...I guess he's not the best mustering dog, but he's happy still. He always comes up for at least one cuddle a day.
Rusty is the shy dog, he's got a rusty colour, thereby his name. If you are the first one out in the morning he's very happy and comes to you, but otherwise he stays away most of the day. He comes mustering too, though. All the dogs are mix between some Australian Sheepherd and Border Collie and something else (A happy mix). They all look very much like a Border Collie. (Except Rusty with his colour).
It takes a lot of time to feed the horses. I've got about 46 horses at home that needs feeding. The rest are on pasture on other properties. Except from the hay and straw we feed with barley mash, and we have to make a fire and cook the barley in large tins every day. (The horses can't digest the barley if it's not cooked or crushed.) This is a routine now, but at the beginning it takes some time to get used to.
I've got one mare that comes from the outside, she is only here to get served with our stallion.
She is very sweet, she doesn't get her food until some of the other horses are fed, and if you are a little bit late with the feed, she'll be sure to tell you. Just to let you now that 'hey, don't you forget about me you hear'.
I've got a very sofisticated system in bringing in the horses and separate them for feeding, they go to different yards to have their feed, some can be a bit bossy, and it's important that they get their feed. It's funny to see how fast the horses learn, wich go where and with who.
You can just open the gate, and they almost separate themselves! They now who has to wait and who gets their feed first.
Well that was all for today. Hope you all have a good time at home with wintertime almost around the corner...
Latest Comments (1)
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Dogs and horses! (reply)
Oct 26, 2007 02:54 EST by kristines
It is so cool and interesting to read about your job on the farm, and you are lucky with 10 degrees in the night! Here it is may be 10 degrees in the day if it is good weather! ;)
I think it is funny and exiting to read about the horses and the dogs on the farm, and you really have a lot of horses to feed!! Good work!
I hope you enjoy your job, and I think you so are ;)
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