Calf and Lamb Day Creations

Here is a slideshow from calf and lamb of the items I created.  And the certificate I won.

Our dog Butch

This is our dog Butch.  He is a very old dog, he was born in July 2006 making him a year older then me!  Butch loves to run, he really loves to chase the cows out of the paddock to go to milk.  Butch loves to eat and chew on bones.

To cool off he jumps into the water troughs.  As he is getting older he likes to sleep alot, and often will lie down when my baby sister cuddles him and lets her put hairbands on him.

Show day!

After all of the preparation today was our schools calf and lamb day. Both my sister and I won ribbons.

We were both very nervous but enjoyed the day.

I managed to get 3rd in leading and 1st in rearing (brushing) and I received the ribbon and cup for Reserve Champion in the grade year 3 and 4.

I also got a highly commended for my tin foil structure in our classroom exhibits.

Thankyou Boom Chucka Luka

Dagging the Sheep

Today we went to help on our grandparents sheep farm.  When we arrived Grandad and his friend Geoff and Harry and their dogs, Slab, Joy and Joy (yes 2 dogs are called Joy) were bringing the sheep out of their paddocks and into the lane that takes them up into the yards.

In the next couple of weeks the shearers will be arriving to shear all of the sheep.  The sheep need to be dagged before they arrive.  To dagg means to remove the stained and dirty wool from around their bums so it doesn't dirty the wool and it can be sold.

In this flock of sheep are two of our lambs from last year  They are still very friendly and love to be touched.

These sheep are hoggets which are two year olds they will be sold and Grandad will buy lambs (one year olds) and sell them as hoggets.

Pest control.

Me and Dad really hate rabbits and other pests because they poo,wee, eat our grass, meal and spread diseases.  

One night me and Dad went hunting.  We were out looking for rabbits and possums.  It was a dark spooky windy night. We drove the ute around the farm and used a spotlight to look for the rabbits and possums.  We didn't  manage to find any possums, but we found rabbits.  

Dad shot Roger and his mate!  We had to be very quiet so we didn't frighten them away.  They were very heavy and I had such a great time, I can't wait to go again.  

We gave the rabbits to our dog butch.

Fuzzy the Lamb

Here in New Zealand we are half way through our school holidays.  I have been busy walking my calf, milking the cows and having sleepovers at my aunties house.  After lunch today my friend is coming to stay and we are going to the movies.

This is a movie about my lamb Fuzzy.  We all have a lamb each, Blackie belongs to my little sister Ruby.

We use to feed them several bottles of milk a day, but now they are bigger they only get one bottle of milk for breakfast.  They eat lots of grass!  Fuzzy and Blackie went to preschool with our friend as they had a pet day and she doesn't live on a farm.

Meet my best friend.

Sorry I havn't posted in a week I was competing in our local cross country events. Last week I ran in the first event called Mt Spa, primary schools from our area compete and I placed 3rd in my age group.  Then this week I ran in the Taranaki Regional cross country, I placed 14th, there were over 140 children in my event.  Last year I placed 52nd.

I have done an imovie about my school calf Boom Chucka Lucka. I hope that you enjoy the movie as much as I do.

Milking Bell

This is a video of me milking my cow Bell.

It takes about seven minutes to milk a cow.  The machines take the milk, cools it and stores it in a chilled vat.  Milk tankers collect the milk from the farms and takes it to the milk factory to be made into freash milk,yoghurt,cheese,cream,butter,ice cream,milk powder, medicine and calf milk powder and other things.

237 got stuck!

This weekend we got to help Dad milk the cows.  During milking I was helping by teat spraying and shaving the cows so we could see their numbers.  We were almost finished when a cow decided to sit down.  Dad tried to get her back up, but she couldn't move as she was stuck!  We called the vet.  When he arrived he gave her some medicine to make her doozy.  Then he put a rope on her leg and moved her sideways and she got out.

We had to wait a little while for her to stand up.  Once she was up her leg was kicking because she had pins and needles from sitting too long.  The vet tried to get her out of the cowshed but he couldn't.  

After a little bit more time Dad managed to get her up the steps and out of the shed then she walked off to the paddock.

The special day.

On Friday Mr Webb picked me for principal pick for outstanding blog writing.  My face was so shocked once he called my name out.  I got a certificate and a little clock that says morning milking 5am-8am and afternoon milking 3pm-6pm. It is so so cool it is the best gift I have ever had.

 Also, Friday morning I had a quick little check on my blog and I had over 1,000 previews.  Thankyou everyone for looking at my blog, thankyou so so much.

Introducing Blue Cow

This time my post is about Blue Cow.  She is my mums favourite cow so I decided to ask her questions about the cow

Why is she a blue cow?  "We call her a Blue Cow as she has black and white hair that mix together and give it a blue look rather than blocks of black or white in colour."

What breed is she?  "She is mostly a Friesian but is also a mix of Aryshire and Shorthorn"  

How old is she? "She is 4 years old"

Why is she your favourite cow?  "Blue cow is my favourite as I tried for 4 years to get a blue calf and this was the last year of trying, we also got a bull blue calf that year but we didn't keep him.  And also because not alot of people have blue cows."

What is her cow number "Her cow number is 216"

Has she started milking yet? "Yes, she calved last night and she had a bull."  

Does she kick when you milk her?  "No, she is lovely to milk.  Im really happy to see her come into  the shed"

Is there any more questions that you would like me to ask my Mum about Blue Cow?

Welcome Big Mac and Rosie.

Here is a short movie of  Big Mac and Rosie arriving home from their trip.

My old school calves.

Each year my school Auroa holds a school pet day. It's always a terrific day. Each student gets to bring any animal but not to big like a cow or a horse but kitten yes, most kids bring a calf or lamb to school.

I like to bring a calf to the school pet day, last year I also had a lamb at a boys and girls show. 

When I was 5 my calf was called Rockstar because she rocked at everything we did together, her breed is a Jersey.

When I was six my calf was called Bell. Her breed is a Friesian. Bell is a milking cow on my farm I will show you a video of me milking her in another post.

When I was 7 my calf was called Sparkle.  Her breed is a Jersey.  I called her Sparkle because the judges said that she sparkles in the sun.  This is my sister Amelia and her calf is called Chocolate Flowers.  

Last year when I was 8, my calf was called Sunshine, and my lamb was called cuddles.  My brothers lamb was called bullseye and Amelias calf was called Chocolate Brownie and her lamb was called Rosie.

This year I have a Friesian calf and a lamb.  My calf is called Boom Chucka Lucka and my lamb is called 2 strikes.  Check checking my blog for an update on my new friends.

  

Catching Mrs Murphy

Yesterday I got up at 5:30, to go with dad to milk the cows. It was pitch black.

Dad and I got the cows out of the paddock and into the cow shed. After we milked them we went and feed the calves.

Next we went and got the cows and calves out of the paddock. We do this everyday. The calves go into the calf shed and the cows go into a new paddock with other calved cows ready for their first milking.

Here is a video of me catching 'Mrs Murphy'. I choose the name Mrs Murphy because the name of her dad is Murphy and he comes from Ireland. His calves have different patterns, they have a white stripe down their backs. Like a skunk and because shes a heifer which is a girl, her breed is friesian.

Welcome to my very first blog post.

My name is Sophie and I am 9 years old.  I have one brother and two sisters and a Mum and Dad.  I like to swim, run and do lots of other sports.  But most of all I like to farm.


I live on a dairy farm in Taranaki, we milk 265 cows.  We have different breeds of cows they are mostly friesians, some aryshires, a few jerseys and a few shorthorns.  We also have a blue cow which is half friesian and half shorthorn.  I will share a photo of her in another post.

I am really into farming.  To get ready to go onto the farm I put on overalls over my clothes to keep them clean.  I wear purple leggings and my red jacket to keep me clean and dry.  I put on my size 4 gumboots and a beanie.

In my posts to come I will be sharing about milkings, school calves, how we collect the cows and calves, about feeding the cows and our different looking cows and calves.