Right now (Monday 9th Nov-2020), it is bucketing down rain via a cold front. For those overseas, this is not normal. It is early summer for us and we usually become hotter and drier for the next few months. Cold fronts are usually in our Autumn to Spring (April-October), so this is a late one, with prospects of another one in a few days time. That's awful for those trying to harvest grain, but wonderful for our kikuyu (my favourite grass).
But, as mentioned in the previous blog, I did not want to make hay, however, our pasture was going to waste. Most paddocks have rotting leaves ruining what was once nice pasture waiting to be eaten and turned into dollars. Our contractor was spot on with his estimates of rolls. 301 off ~16ha and 51 silage rolls off ~1ha. After weighing a few hay bales, it looks like we cut ~8.5t/ha of pasture hay but no idea regarding the silage (which was the thickest and the wettest). These paddocks were not set aside for hay, they were just the easiest ones to cut for hay. All the pasture is undergrazed. And now with the rain, the ryegrass will keep growing for another few weeks, but so is the kikuyu, which is a lovely green lawn underneath.
I took a quick photo (below) of Cassius, our new fabulous Ultrawhite ram we purchased this year. The girls must love him because yesterday there was a queue of girls waiting for his services. There's no shame in the sheep world. While one girl has Cassius on her, others are pushing in line to be the next one. I hope he is virile and can keep up. His next mob has >1,000 ewes just for him for one cycle (~18 days).
The video below is mesmerising to me - like staring into a fire. Wonderful engineering.