Spring has sprung, but wheres the grass?

 Hi everyone, I hope you have all made it through winter unscathed.  It started out pretty good for us and has ended up in mud soup !!  Although its been unusually warm for one of our winters, the last couple of months has been incredibly wet, so hence the mud soup.  The grass  had a wee burst as soon as it realised Spring had arrived, but has halted again now that it has decided to have another cold wet burst.  Oh well, that's what farming is all about isn't it, one eye on the weather forecast, gumboots covered in mud at the back door and hunkering down and doing what is necessary as fast as you can to keep dry.... but we love it don't we ??. 

We have been busy feeding out baelage to our guys over winter as a daily task.  But its been made quite comical due to our chickens. As part of our team of chickens we have 2 cheeky white ones.  We have nicknamed them Speckles and Whitey... I know, very uninspiring names, but one has a solid white body and the other one has white and speckles.... !! Anyway, they both seem to think that apart from just laying eggs for us, they should help feed out to the cows as well.  They just look hilarious. If Gregs feeding out, I am usually in my office and can look out my window and watch Greg walking along with the Baelage trolley with one or both of the chickens running as fast as their little legs will take them, with a waddle as well in there, right behind Greg, all the way to where he is feeding out and that can sometimes be quite away.  I just sit and giggle.  :O) they are full of such importance... x

Our babies have started to arrive which is always exciting.  Will it be a boy or a girl and what colour is he or she.  At Lumonte McMoos, we have had one boy and 3 girls so far.  All of them have new homes now so once they are old enough to be weaned I will be into the training routine again which I always enjoy.   One of our other McMoo breeders has had a dun girl and a red girl, so girls seem to be the flavour of the season so far.
We always love to get photos and news on how our wee ones have been getting along in their new home.  One of my special girls from last year Scarlett has just turned one and look at her now...her new mum has just sent me this photo.  (see above). 

I will leave you here and go out and shift the moos to new paddocks....they look like they want a change.  I wonder if Whitey and Speckles will help me with that ? most likely !

I hope the sun is shining at your place
until next time.
have fun 
cheers Lesley

Truely Majestic !!

I sat at our breakfast table this morning, and looked out our glass doors and just sat thinking how lucky we were to be able to sit and watch our gorgeous moos from our table. There they were in the morning sunlight, munching away, happily meandering from one spot to the next, every so often popping their head up to look back at me....with mouths full of grass ! Truely a majestic sight. I guess this is what stops people on the road side to just sit and stare. They really are an amazing animal. I recently had a truck driver stop me and say, "oh you are the people with the Highland cattle aren't you.... I bring my wife up to your place every so often to just look at them, esp when you have little teddy bear babies."

I have attached the photos of our new baby float. I call it the moo caravan..!! not sure if Greg is so keen on that name, but that's what it feels like when driving with them in it. Sitting in the drivers seat, you look into the rear vision mirror, and

guess who is looking back at you...yes, its the moos. It is hilarious. Honestly I am a bit worried that we will get so transfixed on looking at them, rather than the road !!

Talking about hilarious sights, I decided to do the harrowing of the front paddock with Gertie. Now Gertie isnt a cow or a goat or any four legged character, its our four wheeled old hack.. range rover. What a trouper she is. So I hawled on the harrow and off Cooper and I went..... well I tell you, I was

very pleased I was wearing a sports bra (I guess a few of you would rather not know that ).. but boy oh boy, Cooper and I had a rather bumpy ride. At one point, I stopped to check something, left my door open, then got back in and realised Cooper had decided enough was enough, and had left the building so to speak.

He just took off, no where to be seen. !! I did have to laugh and then carried on Solo !!

Well I had better rattle my daggs and get some dinner sorted... the sun is going down and things are cooling down... certainly a sign its Autumn and not summer anymore. until next time... Les x

The last day of March 2012

Well daylight saving is about to end. In come the cooler days and nights getting darker. Although in saying that, the weather certainly hasn't got colder... its just gorgeous out there. I am a lover of Spring and Autumn. They are my favourite seasons, so I am a happy chappy at the moment.

Its been a busy few months. We've done a lot of travelling delivering moos to new homes and still have a few more to do in the coming months. Although always sad to see our babies leave home, especially having got to know them so well with all the training, its also really lovely meeting the people who have bought them and to help them all (humans and moos).. in the settling in process. Very often we haven't personaly met the new owners, as we have got to know each other by email and phone, which of course with the internet and emails, makes it all very easy these days. But in saying that too, we have had quite a few new owners pop in and met the gang and got to know them with brushes and treats. Which of course they all lap up, to their hearts content... the moos that is, but of course the humans love it too.

Greg has been busy on a trailer project. We have the big bull float we use to transport the moos around most of the time...but decided for some trips it would be great to have a smaller float. So Greg has adapted our 'normal' trailer (an old army trailer) into a small float. Its really great as we can take the top off and it will then again be a normal trailer. He is just on the finishing touches and we have just received the signage to stick on the sides and back and at this stage, we are hoping to use it for our trip to the middle of the Island on Thursday. We are going to do a test run during the week to just make sure McPhee and Scarlett are happy with it!. They are the two who be in it for the maiden run. I'll post some photos of it once its all complete.

I shall sign off now as I feel its time for a celebratory glass of wine to celebrate the end of another gorgeous day..well any excuse I reckon, for a nice wee glass of wine at the end of a day.

I will make sure I write a lot sooner next time. My apologies for the big gap... x

cheers for now, Lesley

It's Snowing.....

Well, the polar blast that the weather office has been promising has arrived... and boy has it ever. We have never seen snow like this before...and it's getting worse.

I look back on my photos only taken the other day in the sun, and pine for it. As lovely and gorgeous as the snow is, man you are over it after 24 hours. And your heart goes out to our hairy moos out there who are truly over it now too ...but they look amazing out there and I can only be thankful we have Highlands who can cope with these weather extremes. Even our wee 3week, bottle feed girl, Miss Molly is out there playing soccer with the 3 dogs and Greg.... and then comes and stands at my kitchen door licking the snow flakes that drop on her nose. Very cute.

As much as I would love to chat, the snow is falling faster and thicker, so I had better get out and feed out to the guys down here and then attempt to get to the moos on lease land up the road. Thankfully our ute is 4WD, so I should make it !!!??

Have fun and keep warm and safe.

talk soon

Lesley

Congratulations Bonnycoft McMoos

Exciting news, Bonnycroft McMoos little 4month old heifer, Skye has won the Supreme Champion Lifestyle award at the Levin Show 22 January.

We went up to the show to help Laura and Graham out with the 3 animals they were showing. As we hadn't been to the Levin show before we thought it would be nice to see where it was and who attended etc and catch up with everyone we hadn't seen for awhile. The show was running a separate Dexter Show, a Purebred Beef Show and also the Lifestyle Show. It was run differently to other shows we had been to, as the 3 shows were intermingled. This did work out well as it meant that if you had animals in different age groups, then you weren't running into the ring, doing your thing, then running out and tying that animal up, grabbing the next and running back out with that one. You had a gap in between to give yourself time to readjust yourself and your next animal.

The judge for the day was Marty Crayfer. Although I hadn't come across him before, he has high regard in the judging and beef world plus travels the world judging Beef animals. He was great as he explained why he put animals where and gave advise. He also seemed to judge the whole picture, as in their horns, behaviour, on top of muscle, balance, walk, feet etc and has a very good understanding on Highlands and what their characteristics should be. This is what we often struggle with in the competitions, as a big majority of the judges, judge our highlands on what a general beef breed should be. Where a lot of characteristics are the same, some are not, plus you do have the extra details such as hair and horns and the Highlands of course being a smaller breed.

Now back to the show: there were some amazing animals in the ring, (including a recent Meat & Wool cup winner), beautiful Mums with calf at foot, lovely yearling girls .. so we were blown away, when Marty announced young Skye as the Supreme Champion. It takes a very confident judge to give such a young animal the Supreme prize. So congratulations Skye, and the Bonnycroft McMoos team, exciting stuff. The other young boy, MacDougal McMoo also took the judges eye. He thought he was a beautiful young boy, and explained to the crowd that he had lovely muscle structure and balance and looked to have a really neat character. Both Skye and MacDougal are the first off spring that Bonnycroft have had with their stud bull Fergus McMoo, so they should be very proud of their achievements this far.

Well thats me today, better go sort dinner. Until next time, enjoy and have fun...

Lesley

I have just realised ...................

Hello everyone again.... after I just finished the blog I have just done, I had a flick thru the blogs I have written and realised one big piece of news that I never wrote about.

This is MCMOOS huge Virtual show win....!!!

The virtual show was held last year and it covers the world stage basically. Everyone sends in photos, front, back and side of the animal they want to enter and they all get judged by a well known Highland judge. This time it was Glen Blume from the united states. There were 162 enteries from around the world and guess what.... Janny T McMoo WON !! and McGee McMoo came 2ND. Oh the excitement... we were absolutely thrilled of course and more than anything, shows that we are breeding these beauties right.

Another wet day - 25 June 2010

Well its been awhile since I have sat down and written in the blog. Time has just flown by with so much going on. Here we are now, in the middle of the year... here comes Xmas...eekk. Winter has arrived and it seems like we have had it for awhile with all the continuous rainy days we have had down or up here, depending on where you live.

However on the moo side of things its been as busy as ever. Sales have been going strong and it really is the highlight of breeding these fluffy wee animals, just seeing the joy they bring to people, particularly new highland owners. I keep meaning to start a link referring to comments made from new Highland owners, as they are just so precious. That will be my new job for the beginning of this half of the year !!

We have recently had 6 moos delivered happily to the South Island, 1 starter pack to one family and another starter pack to another. The feed back from both has been very exciting and rewarding.. one new owner commented that this was the first time she has ever cuddled a cow, she was so thrilled and excited by it all. When you have been breeding them for awhile, you forget these points, that its just not the normal thing for people to have experienced.

Its also been the wonderful time of all the new babies arriving. We have a few more to go in the next month or so, but we really do hang out for the new arrivals. Even now, all these years down the track, we still wait like anxious parents when we see that mum is loosing up in the rear end and bagging up in the udders, waiting anxiously and betting with each other on what day the baby will be born. I just cant explain the wonderful feeling of seeing the new born calf arrive...then its down to sussing out its gender and then choosing the name....oh I love this bit.

Have a look on our "new babies" page of our gallery and also our "for sale" pages to see some of our new babies that have arrived over the last few months.

Well I think its time to put the fire on and settle in for another wet cold night...Moos have their baelage and look very happy with themselves..... one in particular-Katrine.... she is standing at the baelage trough feeding her face as normal, and baby Hogan is underneath at his very own feed trough, the udder, happy for once that mum is standing still for awhile, as he knows when shes in the trough there she stays!!!.

Keep warm and dry till next time... Lesley

MASTERTON SHOW - FEBURARY 2010

Well another successful show under the belt, as they say.

McMoos have done well again, particularly with Maggie Mcmoo and her bulf calf Rowno, receiving the Champion Lifestyle Animal of the show. Pete, her owner, was beaming with this success. Then his boy calf, Finnan Mor McMoo once again received the reserve champion male of the lifestyle show....wow, a huge achievement for a calf. This is the 2nd time young Finnan has recieved this. So a boy to watch in shows to come. He is for sale, so if anyone is interested in a very friendly boy who has all the attributes of a great highland bull, let us know.

Then we had young Janny T McMoo in a large yearling heifer class and got placed 3rd, so that was great. And Mr McGee McMoo, not in such a good mood this day, too hot and boring having been pulled out of a paddock from all his girlfriends !!, but still came away with Champion Male Lifestyle.

Always great time to catch up with everyone. It was a much quieter day around the Show grounds, as for the first time they put the beef breeds on the Sunday, instead of the usual Saturday. But still a lovely family show and always nice to get under the trees after show for a nice cool drink.

Out on the farm, we have 2 big girls, Santana and Piper very close producing their babies. They are both as huge as house, particularly Santana, who looks almost comical, looking at her head on... ! We have all our fingers and toes crossed for heifers as it has been a rather strong male flavour in the air this season....hmmm something in the water maybe months ago.

The paddocks are really starting to dry up now as we haven't had a lot of rain in the last couple of months. We are hoping for a bit this weekend. But we certainly can't complain when you look at the Northland folks struggling with no water almost, and extremely dried up paddocks. A very hard part of farming.

Well till next time....enjoy and keep safe. Lesley

Conal McMoo Stars in the Rodney Times

We have a couple of famous fellas amoungst us !!!

Yes its Conal and Shane..... Aren't they looking hansome....

This article was written after their big win at the Puhoi show....

Levin Show - 23rd January 2010

One of our clients, Peter Warmerdam from Mangaroa Valley, recently attended the Levin show, one that we havent managed to go to as yet, but hopefully next year we will.

After a night of rain, Pete started the day at 5.30am feeding dogs, chickens, pigs, ducks and walking puppies before he got to finally sort the moos onto the float. Finally setting off on the road at 7.15 he, arrived at 9 to a wet day in Levin. However by the time the showing got underway the weather cleared to bring a nice day.

Once off the float, he set to cleaning them up abit and getting ready for the ring. The show was well attended and lead to some quite big classes. Pete did really well with his young bull calf, Finnan Mor achieving Reserve Champion Male. Maggie with her bull calf, Rowno at foot got 3rd place in a large class of 9 animals and Ginnie in a class of 8, got 4th. So well done Pete for a great day. I would normally now say, "home to put your feet up until the next show" , but as I know,there is not a lot of time for putting feet up when you have a lifestyle farm, theres always something to do.... so I shall say,"carry on enjoying those lovely moos and see you at the next show".

Monday Evening... Me and the moos

I spent a lot of time last night in the paddock with some of our mcmoo team. I had just feed Abby Rose with her bottle for the evening and her gave her a brush and the others decided they would come and request a cuddle and a brush too...(just as well I remembered to bring the brush out with me!!!) I had to give Janny T a brush first as she has become the herd boss !! just like her mum. Obviously in the genes. Then over to Peigi...well young Janny was not keen on that. She needed the firm voice of "no" to remind her she needed to share. She took that on board and stood their in disgust, while Peigi had her turn. Then over to wee Georgie. Janny decided to try butting in on her brush as well, so received another 'no' from me, and this time she decided she would give up and go and carry on eating. Young Georgie stood there lapping it up, happy in the knowledge that Janny had moved off and wasn't going to get bossy. As I was brushing down her front she turned round and laid her head on my head and licked my hair..... she is such a sweetie.

Standing there amoungst these guys, on a gorgeous Monday evening, all I could think, was how lucky I was to be able to enjoy these beautiful animals and receive their love back with licks, nudges, moos and a big big cuddle.

A great way to end the day and very "de-stressed"...

Lesley

Pauatahanui Lamb & Calf Day - 7 November 2009

The Lamb and Calf day is a great day we try to attend each year. It is held at the Pauatahanui School. and also run by them. It attracts approx 4-5 thousand people each year and a day many come from quite away to attend.

We took a few young animals and set up camp with our Marquee in the lower playground and basically didn't stop till the end. This year we took Abby Rose, Peigi and Georgie. We were going to bring Montague instead of Georgie, but on Friday night when coaxing them down to the barn for the night, Montague decided the grass out on the driveway was far more interesting than the bucket of nuts we had. Georgie however thought they were alright and decided to follow. So we decided that we could give her ago, even thou she has never been in a big crowd before. But if need be we could put her at the back of the Marquee so she wouldn't too threatened by all the crowds but she wasnt having any of that.... up the front please and let these people pat and pamper me !! She was amazing. For a girl that had only had a couple of days halter training and usually pretty quiet in the paddock, she was just lapping it all up. Constantly patted and played with, she was a treasure.

Peigi was fantastic too, now more used to the noise and hands, since her time at Carterton and of course darling Abby Rose, sooo used to it all, she just wanted to lie down and sleep while little ones clambered all over her.

We had a huge amount of people asking all about them and even a few ask what they were... yaks, buffalo ??

So once again... a great day and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, meet lots of lovely interesting people.... and the weather played ball by being lovley and hot.

Heres to next year !!

Carterton A&P Show

CARTERTON A&P SHOW

8November 2009

Well we have had another busy

weekend this weekend, being the Lamb & Calf day.....

But before I tell you about that, I should really up date you on our weekend at the Carterton A&P show, held on the 31st October and 1st November.

We had the opportunity of having a display tent there this year which

we decided to take. So over the week we got all our display gear together and I got photos and information all ready to display in our Marquee. We were also going to show 4 of our animals that we wanted to

put in our display tent, so needed to get them all sorted as well. Friday dawned in a disgraceful way, cold and pouring with rain !! Joy !!

Anyway once over there we had great helpers, John,Bruce, Ivy & Harriet, give us a hand to put the Marquee up in the dry intervals.... once up, I headed back to the Hutt Valley to pick up kids from school and head back over to Carterton and met Greg back at the Camp Ground to settle in for the night.. (we had a cabin, no tenting for me !!)

Saturday dawned a nice day... so off went Greg to feed Abby Rose (who is still on a bottle twice a day) and we followed a bit later. Down at the grounds we sorted the animals and then went to the Marquee to set out all our display stuff. Once sorted, back to the stalls to wait for the showing to begin. Our friends and other breeders, Rod and Harriet Brown had arrived with their crew of moos, McKenzie McMoo and 6th month calf Conal McMoo and McGee McMoo. We bred these guys and Harriet and Rod brought them from us about 18mths ago. Conal is the first calf for McKenzie and a gorgeous boy.

Now, to cut a long story short, Harriet and Rods crew did amazingly in the ring. McKenzie with Conal, became Champion Female Lifestyle Animal and McGee became Champion Male Lifestyle Animal. This meant that both had to go in the ring to compete together to see who was going to be Supreme Champion Lifestyle Animal. The unusual thing here is, that McGee is the Sire of Conal, so it was a family affair in the ring, which is a real rarity to have them all in the ring together.

McKenzie Mcmoo was chosen as the Supreme Champion of Lifestyle.... and then went in the ring with the other winners of the other beef breeds, ie: Simmentals, Red Polls, Herefords etc to compete for the Meat & Wool Cup.... and guess what....She and Conal Won... ya whoo!! Absolutely amazing... I cried, as you do.... !! What a day.

The rest of the weekend was great at the Marquee ... we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Our lovely friends Ivy & Bruce, were absolute treasures and helped with all our background stuff of cleaning and grooming the animals and keeping them all feed and watered. Thanks SO much guys.. you made the weekend so much easier for us.

Right, I will do the next blog on our Lamb and Calf Day.

cheers Lesley

Bulls are part of the family at McMoos

Running the Bulls with the girls (cows, heifers and calves) all year round makes them even more placid and easy to handle at McMoos. Even though it is against traditional farming practise at Lumont’e we run our Bulls with the girls all year round. And has proven to benefit us all in many ways.

Highland Bulls are typically the quieter of the breed gender, even when kept intact. Don’t ask me why but I have always found them easier to halter train and handle. Of course there is always the exception to the rule, but certainly in my experience a great deal easier to work with. Here at Lumont’e we breed for docility and nothing else makes the grade! 

I have never had any concerns about having my senior bulls sharing a paddock with even a very young calf. There is a few of reasons for this as well as what I have touched on already. 

1)      Highlands mature slowly with some heifers coming in to season only at 14 to 18 months of age and some older. This protects the young stock from any interest n them by the bulls.

2)      The cows once calved will cycle again usually 3 cycles (3 months) after the birth of their calf and this also gives them a break while feeding, without having the Bull pestering them.

3)      We decide on when we wean, on an individual basis depending on how the cow and calf are doing while feeding.

 Sure you could still have all those benefits by separating the Bull completely from the fold BUT how would you feel standing around for 3 months in a paddock on your own?  Grumpy? I bet!

We have neighbours with cows cycling close by but our Bulls don’t wander looking for company even when driven by natures urge.  Sure there can be a lot of noise but that’s it.

 We are convinced that this makes the Bulls happy and content. I have seen it in the way they groom of each other and keep company with the same cows. This shows that they do feel part of a family!

 Common sense must always be used when handling Bulls, but in most cases we know these boys from the time they are born and see them every day so we get to know each personality, and yes they are all different.   It would be fair to also say that the amount of exposure and contact they have with us does make them quieter and more accepting of us. 

You must always be aware that complacency is dangerous and you must never be that! There is always a time to make that call when you need to stand back and leave them alone. Or just to stand patiently and wait for them to move rather than push them. 

We really enjoy the boys, they all seem to have great personalities, always have plenty to say and all seem to be “The Fonz” when it comes to getting things done!  Too cool to Hurry.

Mitchy Moo McMoo wants a drink?

This is Mitchy Moo McMoo. He was born on Sunday Night 14th  around 9.30pm.

He has the strangest drinking or I should say lack of drinking probelm I have ever seen.

He does not know where to look for it!  We picked this ups fortunatly within the first 24 hours and we were able to take action and milk his mum and feed him by bottle. 

He makes all the action butts his mum, like all calf do trying to get the milk running BUT he does it to her bottom, her front leg, and pretty much anything but her udder!!!  We have even tried to get him on the teat by holding him there and squirting milk on his nose but no he wont have it.

Fortunately his mum is one of our quetiest girls and she will let us milk her and hold him while we feed him. She stands by mooing and watching closing licking him all the while.

Anyone else had this?  He is not blind. Maybe he just can't smell? Maybe he is not the sharpest tool in the shed. But I really do not know. Hes taking about 2 litres per feed now and slowly building strength and weight so thats a great outcome. It sure is special to get a cuddle with a 3 day old highland calf with his mum so close. (Normally they are soooo protective and you are taking a risk doing this)  Once again these magnificent animals show there very very special nature and trust with those they know.

Feeding Out in the Mud!

I've just been robbed again!!!

Mackay has this terrible habit of getting to the round bale before I get a chance to unload it and he trashes it. With a set of horns 1mtre between tips and total body weight of about 750kg The bale does not stand a chance. Its his way of getting extras I guess. The ground is muddy and sloopy here from 9 weeks of rain and very litlle let up. Turns to slop very quickly by the gates when you are running the quad and a 400KG bale every day.

Looks like the forcast is not much better for the weekend but here is hoping :)

Its time like this I,m glad the Highlands are so resistant to foot infections and other winter ailments from standing in wet all day. Never given me any problems. !

can't wait for Summer but always happy to have a decent set of wet gear to keep clean and dry.

Come on Spring!@!!!

Thank You Archie McMoo

This is a tribute to a real neat Highland Bull Called Archie McMoo. Archie died 3 weeks ago and we all miss him. Archie became ill early this year and despite more tests than I care to mention we were never able to determine exactly what was wrong. We tried hard and fought it with everything we could but unfortunalty we failed. The coldness of winter just appeared too much for him. Archie was a friendly quiet boy right from the start, his little star shone above the others because of his natural extinct to be friends with all humans. Even before being halter trained Archie would let you pat him and itch him in the paddock and quickly learnt his name. He won the heart of everyone one who meet him and for his eventual owners Pete and Lisa, they too were immediatly trapped with his charm. He liked his nuts, his peppermints and carrots. Lisa earned the nickname of "the Carrot Lady" always bringing Archie his carrots. The photos are of him as a wee calf and more recently in his cover to keep him warm over the winter. We often wondered why Archie was so friendly and what made him stand out above the others with his relaxed personality. We now have the answer "its genetic" Archies younger brother Walter is another Archie in so many ways. So here's to you Archie and most of all "Thanks for the time we had with you" You made a special impression in many peoples lives.

First time up!

Well here we go, trying this blog thing. I'm based in Whitemans Valley, NZ and breed Scottish Highland Cattle. What a magnificant breed they are. My web is www.mcmoos.co.nz.