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.