Week 2 7-13 April

Sunday 7

Church in Bell. Lunch at Peps n Cherries. 

Ben fixed Meridys blocked stormwater. Anna fitted her replacement toilet. Talked to Bill C on the phone. They leave Mackay 15 April. Talked to Alan M and Peter L about preaching options. Probably do the 28 April. 

Monday 8

Brought books upto date. Our Tassie trip cost 6k. Not to bad for a month away. That will be plus Spirit of Tassie fares and SBK tickets which I paid for some time ago. Rode the south west quarter of the farm to see how many cattle are there. Found a few. There is a lot of grass there. Mowed the yard around the old house. Talked to Anna about her home projects today. Robyn did all the washing. There was a full line with the last of the sheets. She cooked a roast for lunch and started making gingerly biscuits. Her knee is not good today. Spoke to Kim Dale and booked accomdation for CMS summerschool in 2025. Spoke to Ian Fanning on the phone about Accountant stuff too.

Tuesday 9 

Finished mowing the grass. Pumped water to the other place, dairy tank full. 

When to Kingaroy. Had the van serviced. When and saw Centrelink they have cut off dad's pension again. Dad and i both got haircuts. It was about the reporting thing again. Got it sorted. I have an appointment to get a call again on 19th.

Robyn sick came home and went to bed. 

Rode round the farm and shut the gate in an attempt to manage the cattle tomorrow. 

Wednesday 10 

Spent until about midday riding around the farm looking for where the cattle are end up with two mobs one lot behind the old piggery and the second lot on the hill paddock behind the house. And of course those we already have down the front. Robyn and I fixed the fences around the mill tank so that they might keep the cattle in when tested.

Could not get anymore down the feint so we lock off the water for the night to try again tomorrow. Robyn is still a bit unwell and Dad has a really sore eye. I will make a doctors appointment for Dad in the morning. Noel called and invited us to morning tea on Friday 10am. Will and Laura should be there.

Thursday 11

Got a doctors appointment for Dad at 11.30. Robyn and I went out quickly after breakfast and repair a fence above the cultivation. A tree branch had fallen on it. I took Dad to the doctor and Robyn went to visit her mum. Dad got in at 12 and was there 45minutes. He has a virus in his eye. He saw 4 doctors while he was there. They made an appointment for a specialist in Toowoomba for Monday who rang back later and said he did not need to come unless he has not improved in a week. Saw Celeste when I picked up the cream for Dads eye. Toni Ramsey was in the chemist too. When to Dalby Rural and got 7in1 vaccine for the cattle for Ian for Saturday. Had lunch at Pips n Cherries on the away home. Got back about 3. Robyn came back then too and we made an effort to get the hill cattle through to the front. Unfortunately they run around the gate and other the the other place where they broken the wire gate and got into the Dam paddock. I could not convince them to go into the crop paddock behind the other place mill. The dam paddock is hard to muster. Hopefully when they come to water they will find the gate open themselves. The others in the west hill paddock have not come down to water yet maybe tomorrow. We did manage to walk about 10 head back around the hill behind the house to water at the mill and then send them down the front. Spoke with Ian. He and Nick and Zac and two others will be up tomorrow night. He is bringing a drone. That should be a help to find the cattle. Boundary fence to Pickering is down. Will need to fix that tomorrow.

Friday 12

Started the day seeing if I could sort Dads online banking. I was not able to we will need to go to the bank on Tuesday. I got the whipper snipper out and trim a few areas I could not get at with the mower.  Robyn and I then went to Noel and Sheril's for morning tea. Will and Laura where there. Noel took us for a drive around the farm and a look over the fence at the neighbours new house. When we came home had lunch and Robyn cooked. I went and worked on the boundary fence. There were 3 wires broken and a post out. Got back about 3pm. When up to check cattle and found three that had bern hiding to the paddock above the spring hanging on the gates managed to get them through and down the front. From another 6 in 7 in the cultivation below the dam. Robyn came over and we managed to get them over to the too. Earlier we have got 3 from the hill paddock across from the house. That is about 15 for today. Jack and Blake and Brice (2 of Junetta's kids) arrived about 5.30 with the TTR and 3 round bails of hay. Ian and Nick arrived at about 9.30 after I had gone to bed. Zach rang to say he was not coming Cole is sick. Shame he was pretty excited about coming.

Saturday 13

Everyone was up pretty early for the farm like 6am. I when the the other place and repaired a gate I had seen broken the night before. After breakfast Greg, Ian's brother in law arrived. Ian and the others oiled the yards then they headed our to see if they could get cattle from the other place. I went and setup the gates.  Then I came back and got Robyn. We went around the long way over the hill - the way the others had gone- we saw not cattle and one people. We thought they must have gor them. Robyn spotted a quad in the distance at one point. Got back to the house to find a disappointed lot the cattle had all got away. After morning tea we headcount again and rounded up all the cattle on the west side of the farm and put them in the yard. After a bit on drafting the call was made to run the rest through the crush.  Ian tagged I branded. Jack worked the crush, vaccinated and put rings on bulls Nick and the boys ran them up and Greg worked the yard gates. That bit went pretty smooth. Some of my branding was pretty dodgy but I got better through the day. Had lunch Robyn had prepared at about 1pm and finished off. Decided to put the cattle in the cultivation on the west side of the driveway. Robyn and I checked the fences. When we got back Greg was gone and Jack and the boys were about to leave. Nick, Robyn and I put the cattle from the  road into the cultivation and the water. We process 97 cattle Ian tagged 40 we keep aside 10 young bulls to be sold on Wednesday and 2 Bulls calves Dad has md picked out for David and Zach for their coast herd. Those twelve remained in the yard with a bale of hay. 

Robyn Dad and I had pancakes for tea.