"A long Day"

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Day 96

I woke at 5.45am brilliant I thought, I’ll just have 5 minutes and get up, I re awoke at 6.25 in a panic, I’m late, Robert and myself were off to feed sheep at 6.30.

Robert had had a late night and had slept in himself; I was first up, soon followed by Helen and Robert, but no Caroline.

Robert asked if I could let Trixie and Wally off today, I went over to their side of the paddock, when they see me they go absolutely mental, so excited they bark and jump around on their chains. I go straight to Jack seeing how he is today and he definitely looks brighter, then everyone has the same amount of fuss. Wally is always so professional in a doggy sort of way; he just cannot wait to do his job.

To Caroline and myself they are lovely dogs, to Helen and Robert they are tools to do a job and work is what they have to do. Robert is an out and out farmer, who understands farming, but his gentle side shines through especially with his love for all the dogs, but by heavens when he raises his voice they have to obey and they do.

The dogs just love being in the truck, it is Australian law that dogs on the back of Utes are chained, for their safety, but it is impractical when they constantly have to jump on and off, working the sheep. When sitting in the truck they are a nightmare, Wally just likes to snuggle up as close as he can, then when Trixie see’s this she get even closer and so it goes on until they are all over me. When you get out of the Ute and back in they are sitting in my place and won’t shift over, or other times, if I’m lucky enough to be sitting there Wally puts his paws on my leg to stick his head out of the window,

We took the ute and the flat bed and loaded bails of silage and the loader also brought down a couple of bails and left them strategically placed by the hay shed. Robert and I went off in the Toyota first and fed a mob, by putting the gearbox in to low range, whilst I drive Robert peels layers of silage off and lets it just fall to the floor.

Silage is not unpleasant I think it smells of Raisins, it is just hay that has been bailed and stored underground in polythene and with the warmth just cooks it self, nothing is added.
When you take it out it is softer than Hay and darker in colour (and it smells of Raisins).

Caroline felt the need to review the maps and mark out where the fires have been, review the road closures and see what is still at risk. Also a good opportunity to do a bit of planning for when we arrive back from Tasmania and what we can fit in within timescales as we have a commitment on the Sunshine Coast in June.

The fires may prove quite tricky, the fire was so severe it has taken out a large areas surrounding Melbourne. Also taking the opportunity to review where we need to go after Tasmania and plan the mileage and the routes in more detail. We wont stick to a rigid plan as we will have to take into consideration that sometimes we may want to stop in one place a little bit longer or we may do more mileage in a day than the planned estimate. Weather conditions also play a big part in this. If it is still too wet up North then we may have to avoid that area until July when we can get back on the road again to travel up to Cairns and Cape York.

Robert and I came back to the farmhouse and had some lunch, we only had one load of sheep that needed feeding, which we got on to immediately after lunch. Afterwards we come back, picked up a different Ute and went up to one of the boreholes to remove the bore sensing equipment, as it was to be moved to another bore. The sensor needed some attention so we took it back to the workshop for repair, which I did.

Also today, two technicians had come over from John Deere in Wagga Wagga to set up a calibrate the new spary unit controller on the tractor,and have one of the display screens changed over, so the system bcomes more efficient.
I think that the technicians had thought the job would be straight forwards, and they will have to return.At least they have found the problems now before the day it is needed.

We had to go and do other jobs around the farm, and travelling around constantly means opening and closing gates on this 6000-acre plot of earth. I asked Robert how many gates after a little thought he said around a 1000.

Talking of gates, Jason had made some new gates that needed to be hung, so we grabbed the tools and the mobile welder, then drive over to where the new dam has been formed, flashed up the welder and set about completing this project.

Our final job of the day is to go and collect the diesel tank for the boom irrigator, fill it up and take it back down so the diesel engine by the large dam can pump water for 20 hours irrigating the land with this excellent piece of agricultural engineering.

All in all Robert and myself left at around 06.30 this morning and get back at just after 8.00pm to Caroline and Helen sitting on the veranda, both with a large glass of wine.
We all sit out together on this beautiful evening.

Helen has not started the evening meal, how can she when her husband works all hours and does not know when he will be in (a fair statement). Helen rustles up a fantastic meal; it is served just after 9.00pm soon after eating we all go to bed at 10.00pm.

Helen's tells us some interesting information, apparentley Caroline did not get up until 8.45 this morning.

Good Night Bloggers Sleep well.

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Photos

Fantastic Ute
We photographed this Bute Ute in Wagga Wagga

Working Truck
I wont one, Just like this.

The Toyota Ute
Photographed at an Agricultural suppliers in Wagga

Sam
This little chap, took 3 bottles of water from kind people.
The picture was from the Herald Sun.

John Deere 7430
This beast is amazing, its the smaller of the two John Deere tractors Robert Has

GPS
This John Deere can be Steered automatically via the John Deere GPS unit so the forrows are exactly straight

Inside the Cab
Inside the tractor cab, Air conditioning, CD player, UHF Radio, GPS.

Comments

[daniel olteanu]

john deere
the best tractoren