Frankie's Friday Farm Facts: #4

Today's Fact:

THIS is how you change down-pipes on a pivot:

Looks like fun you say? Not for someone who is absolutely TERRIFIED of heights! And it doesn't help that the whole thing sways and moves about while you are trying to reattach said pipe at a very precarious angle above your head! I have visions of broken body parts and impaled limbs every time I do this...I know, I'm a pansy when it comes to heights. But if there's one thing you learn farming, it's that you've got to do what you've got to do. If that means getting over my fear of heights in an unusual way, then so be it!

Speaking of heights, the new pivots arrived this week! They are currently being installed and are looking rather fabulous and new and shiny! Even Frankie got excited when she saw them starting to go up. The guys who are installing them are so quick, everything should be up and ready by next week! Now all we need is the rain to fill the dams....

You have a delivery!

Frankie working hard, as usual

Hard at work putting in the new 8 tower pivot...

How cool to have a trenching machine! Trench anyone??

So it's all actually happening, and we are super excited for the new changes on the farm. No more towing of little pivots from one pasture to another - these bad boys are going to solve a lot of headaches and heartbreaks!

Now, let it rain, let it rain, let it Rrrrraaaaaaiiiiiiiinnnnnn!!!!

xxxxxxx

Frankie's Friday Farm Facts: #3

This weeks fact:

Cows are grass-processing factories

The daily dry-matter intake of your average dairy cow can be anything from 2-2.5% of their body weight. If you say our average cow weight is about 550kg, that translates to 11kg per cow per day. Doesn't sound like that much, you say? Well, that's a whopping 4730kg (4.7 tons) of grass a day for our entire milking herd!

Frankie measuring pastures...

So, as you would rightfully assume, we spend a lot of our time as farmers ensuring that there is enough food for the cows. This involves planting, fertilising and measuring pastures, as well as ensuring there is enough winter feed for when the grass stops growing. We plant mielies (that would be "maize" to the guys north of the equator, and "corn" to all the americans...) in Spring that we chop up in Autumn to feed over winter. So right now we have just finished planting all of our mielies, and we're starting to develop some parts of the farm to put in a new 70ha pivot of irrigated rye grass. It may sound like greek to you all, but we are super excited about getting some more grass planted!

 

Baby mielie plants arriving...

Before and after: Clearing brush to make way for the new pivot.

Pulling out hedges

 

Frankie checking out the new cables for the pivot

Exciting new changes coming for Kildare farms! Watch this space! 

Have an awesome weekend peeps xxx