Ordinary Day

Received our bill today for the Samm semen that we have sourced from Southern Australia.  Semen  is normally sourced by our agriculture department but we felt that this did not necessarily mean that the genetics being imported included the characteristics that are important to our breeding programme.  We have went for Samms with a higher fat content and a heavier whiter fleece.  Fat content was not I believe one of the characterisitcs that were considered of importance in the original genetics.  We believe this is quite important, our harsh winters require that our  animals  go into the winter with a decent covering of fat. As it stands we will have 220 ewes AI'd in May.

Islander aircraft on George Island airstrip

Spent considerable time on the phone trying to work out dates for our final shearing of the season.  This was supposed to be on the 15th of this month, then the 22nd but now we are hearing that it may move back to the 27th which is really getting too late.  Getting sheaers when you want them is diffiucult, we don't want to shear any of our ewes before the beginning of Feb because that would mean weaning the lambs too early but then we dont want to shear after the end of Feb because the weather is getting too cold.
The rest of the day was spent with Chris pressing, in his shorts!!!!  Another beautiful day 20 degrees plus.  I decided to do some touch up paint work in my bedroom.  This year we completly changed our heating system over, going from a peat/wood burning stove to oil.  We also renewed and put in extra radiators meaning I now have unpainted patches on the wall because I never want anything were it was originally.  How contrary is that?  So nice to come in and not have to start stoking up a fire for hot water and heating.  I am eternally grateful that when this house was built it was situated perfectly and the sun blazes through my three metre long kitchen window in the morning, through my sitting room window in the afternoon and into the bedrooms in the evenings.  This means we can go for days in the summer without putting the heating on.  The same can't be said for our house on Speedwell, I think all precautions must have been taken to make sure it was dark and sunless.