Westwell Journal
'Patch' returns as a jigsaw'Patch' has returned to Walcha Meats in four quarters.
His dressed weight is 250Kg, but that includes a bit of bone.
The photo below shows one side only, with the rear quarter in the foreground and the fore quarter behind that.
The meat will hang two weeks to age the meat. This helps tenderise the meat and improve it's flavor (see
http://www.goodcooking.com/steak/dry_aging.htm)
Vale 'Patch' (20 March 2004 - 29 Nov 2005)'Patch' is leaving the property tomorrow. He'll be picked up by the Walcha Meats butcher and transported to his yards, from where he'll go to Kempsey abattior.
We would have liked to keep his hide, but the abattior lowers the slaughter cost by selling the hide and we'd have to be on-site to retrieve the hide as it was removed. Which isn't practical currently.
Our eastern neighbour has some cattle yards and a loading ramp and so we organised to move him there this afternoon. He has electric fences around the property and we were shown how to disable the energiser and then use our own lines to make a corridor to help guide him to the yards.
Then we had a blackout from 2:20PM till 7PM.
But with the wire in place he took the hint and was no trouble at all.
'Lady' (our Jersey/Friesian heifer) has been with 'Patch' since birth and she's calling out to him from time to time, between mouthfulls.
Here is 'Patch' in profile and with myself to give a sense of scale. I'm 1.7M tall and 'Patch' is definitely heavier.
Storms and sunsets
Click for larger image
Welcome to Jemma and FriedaWe went to the monthly Sunday markets, originally to look for some Australorp chickens.
These are a good meat chicken, unlike our Isa-Browns which are great layers, but not a lot of meat on them.
Anyway, there weren't any on sale and so we went to have a look at the cattle and sheep for sale.
And that was in the idea of getting a steer or two to raise for future meat supplies. 'Patch' is booked to see the butcher on 28 November. There is a new chest freezer waiting in the shed for him.
There were quite a few calves for sale, but the others were a bit scrawny looking and so we decided to bid on these two female calves.
'Jemma' is a Jersey/Angus cross (the paler color), while 'Frieda' is a Freisan/Angus cross.
They are about 14 days old and so we're back to a routine of making milk for breakfast and dinner for the next 12 weeks.
Storms and stuffYesterday afternoon we had a heavy storm. 62mm in 2 hours.
Driving home at 6 P.M. I saw paddocks covered in water.
Turning off the highway to Kentucky, the Kentucky Creek had burst it's banks and water was flowing down the hills to it still.
I went out and got these shots as soon as I was home.
Westwell flows again, feed from overflow from the front dam.
A feeder to Kentucky Creek passes through our neighbours property. This normally flows under her driveway. Yesterday it was over the driveway.
There normally isn't water flowing down this courseway in the rear of our place.
Grass matted down during the storm.
The rain came down so quick, the rabbit warren holes were all filled with water. Hope the bunnies had their diving gear at the ready.
Another beautful sunset.
In sadder news, just two weeks after we lost Polo, one of our August born lambs, Boots, because of her blackfeet, was attacked and killed by something.
My neighbour suggested it might be a big feral cat he'd seen recently.
R.I.P. PoloPolo is dead.
Yesterday afternoon, Linda noticed Polo was staggering a bit and sitting down a lot.
This morning when I went up to feed the chickens, I didn't see any sign of him with the sheep. I found him lying down by himself. He was still alive but obviously very weak. I gave him some water to drink from a bottle and Linda rang the vet.
The vet came by 8:30AM and he was given some pain killer, antibiotics and a saline/glucose drip to help replace any lost body fluids. There was some clotted blood where his testes used to be and the vet got this out and disinfected him some more. I sat with him some more with a water bottle and gave him a drink from time to time. Whilst this was happening Lady and Patch stayed at the closest fence and were paying attention to him.
After about 30 to 40 minutes he would get up and stagger around a bit before sitting down again. I followed him around and it seemed like he was on the mend.
I decided to do some mowing around the fruit trees and saw him looking up every now and then, but still not very active.
I called the vet for an afternoon visit which he'd suggested if there was no improvement before the visit he planed for the next day with more antibiotics.
I went and gave him some water and then went back to my mowing.
When I next looked his way there was no movement, even when his name was called.
I went and checked and his neck was bent back further than usual, his teeth were bared and his eyes were hollow rather their usual black depth.
No breath although the body was still warm.
No response to my voice or handling him.
Polo is gone.
P.S. Linda told me that the vet commented before his visit that Alpacas are very stoic and hide any weakness until it's real serious.
