Goodness July already! Autumn continued to surprise us with warm humid spring-like days and many plants were confused and flowering out of season. Lucky for us! Lots of colour!
We’ve had cool days of rainstorms mixed with days of sunshine and 18 -20C, right into June and now winter is emerging from slumber. Three frosts this week herald the cooler weather, but when the sun is out like today, the sharp frosty sting is just fine.
The milking goats are all dried off from lactation and we are down to using frozen milk and frozen ricotta. It’s been a good season. Likewise the hens have reduced the egg bounty, but the staunch ones are still taking their turn and we still have at least a half dozen blue and brown eggs each day. (Normally 12 – 18 eggs/day in the spring to autumn season).
All the in-kid does are looking huge with their thick, fluffy, woolly coats making them look even bigger. They are due, all 11 of them! from mid-September. Kidding promises to be a VERY intense two weeks! Pete is busy building another chook shed so we can move the A-team out of the barn roost and into the B-team chook pen area. (A bit of pecking-order sorting is likely to ensue!) That will give us all of the barn to cleanup and prepare for the spring kidding.
Our kikuyu grass usually tosses in the towel after a few frosts, (being a tropical African grass), but this year has hung on well, longer than usual. Lots of feed out there in the paddocks. We are also lucky to have access to (buying) great quality meadow hay from a nearby farm. The goats LOVE their hay ration on these cold mornings. Lots of good roughage to chow down on while waiting for the grass to dry out and warm up!
