Cows are just huge, you really don’t realize how big they are till you stand next to one.
I like my cows. Theyre so big yet they’re really gentle. In all the time I’ve had cows Ive never had a bad moment with them. They arent aggressive and they are even tame enough so that my kids can pat them a little, though they don’t like being patted too much, they tend to pull back a bit when you pat them. Just pull back a little thats all.
The very best time to pat them is when you feed them hay. They just love their hay, and when the grass growth is getting slow because winter is coming you need to supplement their feed with hay or something else. I have hay for my cows.
Now that means that youre committed to feeding your cows every single day. Once there’s no more feed in the field then they need hay each day without fail. So you can’t just go away for a few days and leave them or they starve. So you’re committed to feeding your cows.
I deal with that. I like my holidays so I’ve got to have a good way of going away without leaving the cows to starve. So this is what I do now.
I have a number of different fields fenced off. I have a total of 4 fields fenced off. And if I have lots of grass in some then I shut the gate so the grass doesn’t get eaten and keep it there, then when I go away I’ve got a great field with lots of grass. Ican open the gate and let the cows in there for a week or so and I’ve got my cows all fed while I’m away.
Theyre not allstupid. They know there’s grass in the next paddock. So once they see the gate open it takes them no time to get in there.
And then I come back from the holiday and my cows are happy. And I take them out of the grass field and put them back in the main paddock.
I feed them after breakfast. They know exactly when I will feed them and when I come out to feed they’re sitting right in front of the shed with the hay in it waiting for the breakfast. I usually give them about 1 1/2 bales of hay. Sometimes when I feel generous I give them 2 bales. (more…)
A boat is essential to life according to me. I couldn’t live without a boat.
I have a small boat, it’s not huge. Just a small aluminum boat, about 10 feet long. Its got its own trailer so I can tow it behind the car, I don’t need to put it on the roof.
I took my family away last weekend. It was school holidays so everyone had the extra time off. We decided that we didn’t want to stay at home for the whole holidays so we decided to get away for a few days. 5 days actually, (we cheated) which was nice. It was great though it was raining and there was a really a strong wind when we left, though that all went away after a few hours. And then the sun came out and it was really nice for us.
The resort was nice too. I chose it because it had lots of things for kids to do there. Kids always need to be busy, so if you go somewhere where there arent any kids facilities then you’ve got a big problem. Bored kids.
There really isn’t anything worse than bored kids to kill a holiday. They get really grumpy and annoy me and my wiffe and as I like to read a book it’s no fun being hassled by kids all the time.
But no problems this weekend, bored kids weren’t a problem. There were so many things for them to do, table tennis, a huge jumping thingy that they loved. A swimming pool that was outdoors and heated, and they love to swim.
And in the games room there was something that the kids liked too, a huge tv that had a kids movie showing every night so they just sat in there in the evenings.
And it’s amazing how something like a simple swimming pool can keep kids happy for hours and hours. I can swim for a little while then I get bored.
But I mentioned my boat. I took the boat along because there was a river there and I could take them on the river and the lake. And it’s useful for taking other stuff along too. The kids bikes wouldn’t fit in our car but no problem getting them in the boat.
So we ended up doing a few of days out in the boat. One along a local river, just puttering around looking at the nice scenery, a nice picnic on the bank of the river, some swimming for the kids, and a nice shady spot for us to sit after lunch and read our books.
And the local lake was really great too. Last summer I bought an inner tube and rope and towed the kids around with it so I brought it along this time and they loved it just as much. In fact it was difficult to get them off. They just wanted to spend the day there. (more…)