Whats in a Name..

We have a LOT of animals out here on the property.  One day Miss S asked when we were going to go and visit a real farm...apparently we aren't a real farm because we don't have pigs and sheep.  Point taken but you have to draw the line somewhere with how many mouths you have to feed.

We have about 30 horses, most of these are retired and too old to ride so they get put up into the 'retirement paddock'.  Mr B calls it other names that I am not willing to mention on here but I like to think it's a special place and a reward for all the long hard days of work they have done for us over the years. I like to call it the retirement paddock because there is lots of grass and your not disturbed by the occasional chasing from the dogs.

Talking about dogs, we have 15 work dogs.....some really good, some just OK but everyone is given a fair chance.  It's a big effort to keep up with all the names and it's really funny when you are out mustering and the cattle are misbehaving and the dogs think they know what they are doing but are just being more hindrance and Mr B's father is trying to watch the cattle and keep them in line and yell at dogs at the same time.  I have heard him yell at dogs that aren't even out mustering that day because you have to go through the list of names until you find the one you want.  Poor things their must be some burning ears on some days.

This brings me to 'Whats in a name'.  When Mr B & I name our animals we try and give them names of things, people or events that are happening the day they are born or the day we get them.  Since having Miss M & Miss S it's getting a bit harder and occasionally we end up with names like Ruby, Petunia, Rose and those types of girly names.

This is 'Ekka", one of Mr B's work horses.  He is HUGE!!  With Miss M standing beside him he looks even bigger and has hooves the size of dinner plates.  'Ekka" came about because he was born during the time the Brisbane Royal Show was on which is also known as the 'Ekka'.  A few other horses that we have are 'Indy' - born when the Indy car race was on, 'Cricket' born on the night of our local ICPA Cricket fun day, 'Vinnie' born on the day that Princess Mary christened and announced the twins names and 'Oakey' named when we bought her and the old guy couldn't remember her name and he lived on a property with the name Oakey in it.

Onto dogs...I will only give a few examples because we could be here all day.  'Alvin' is Mr B's wolfhound and of course he was named after the movie 'Alvin and the Chipmonks'.  He suits that name and it really does sound like that when you yell it.  'Kirby' named after the people we bought him off and 'Billa' named after a property where we got him from.

This is 'Nell'.  She was named after the children's book Sail Away written by Mem Fox about 2 dogs who went on a sailing trip to go to the Americas Cup.  At the time we got Nell and her brother so we had Skip and Nell and it was Miss M's favourite book.

So how do you name your family Pets?  Do you have a system like us or are we the only weird ones who think too hard about a name.

It's not all Ribbon & Lace...

I thought I would share another side of our lives with you.  We don't get to play with ribbon, lace, buttons and beautiful fabrics all the time (though it would be really fun).  When I am not in the school room I like to get out of the house and I was able the other day to go up to our cattle yards and see some of our steers being sold.  No we don't do Live Export, these ones are going to a feed lot.  We had a buyer and agent come to home the day before where the buyer decides if steers are of suitable weight and type that he needs.  The following morning the truck arrives and takes them to their new home.




Coming up the ramp and into the truck.





The last of the steers loading.





Most cattle business is done on the front of a ute.  My husband (right) and the truckdriver (left) finalise the Vendor Declaration forms (to be carried by the transporter of the cattle).





They are on their way.



So, this is a regular occurance in all parts of QLD.  As these cattle left our property my heart sank for all those tied up in the Live Export debarckle and we are very thankful that our cattle were able to be sold.

It's raining, It's pouring, this farmer is happy!!

It's funny how things happen. In my last post I explained how dry it was here and that we were supplement feeding some of our cows. Well it's a totally different outlook this morning. We have had 42mm so far and it is still raining, this is our largest fall of rain since Easter. There is a small amount of water in our dams and the everything looks like it has a spark of life back in it.

Not that this means we are out of the drought because we are a long way from that but it does ease the pressure a little and makes christmas a whole light brighter.

I know there is a lot of people who are still experiencing drought and it is the most devasting thing a farmer is ever going to experience. I hope that christmas and the New Year bring all of us a little relief.

Angie