Busy Day

Our last cow calved today - YAY! Calving is officially over for another year. Milking this afternoon was spent tail painting each cow, as AI (artificial insemination) starts tomorrow morning, where we start to get the cows back in calf for next season. The poor dears don't get much of a rest from being pregnant!

For those that don't know, tail painting tells us what cows have been 'bulling' or riding each other. This means they are cycling, and ready to be inseminated. It does sound easy to detect, but believe me it isn't, it takes a lot of experience to know exactly when the cow should be put up for AI.

After milking our local contractor turned up to sow our turnip seed. The paddock had been sprayed out a couple of weeks ago, and we have been waiting for the grass to die, and for the ground to dry up after all the rain. Here the contractor is drilling the seed into the ground. This crop is used as a summer supplement crop to feed the cows in our traditional dry period during summer.

The day has been brilliantly sunny, with a bit of wind to help dry out the ground from all the rain we have had over the last month.