Crops Away, and the new Walco Allspread 6.75 spreader

Direct drilled last Monday, the pasja's struck really well, only been six days!

First run with the new Walco 6.75 spreader.

Pleased to report it spread as accurately as the handbook settings said...., I was doing 40kg/ac DAP, 12 metre swath at 15 kmph.

A walk around the paddocks after showed distribution was happily satisfactory.

Got the same good result putting some urea on the paddock closed for Jan hay.

The bin will hold 1/2 ton no problem, but I had to work out a suitable driving technique, its not really wise to be doing turns at 15 kph with a load on the back, specially when I get up on the hills later on. Using the foot throttle solved the problem, slow down for the turns.

The handbook said work round and round for best spread, but with the GPS set on A to B, I prefer working in lands with a single run 12 metre headland across each end of the paddock.

Wasn't all sweetness and light however.

Real mission to mount on the tractor. I had to use outside extension pins to match the TYM's CatII linkage arms, and even then the width dosent match all my other CatII gear, so I'm going to have to frig round adjusting the shackles swapping between machinery, all this made worse by bugger all space between spreader bin and tractor, a frustrating squeeze for a bloke my size.

Bit of a bounce on my OD to fit the capital purchase in, but I got this idea, instead of one humungous annual fert bill, I'd do smaller one to three monthly bites of the cherry, as finances allow.

The 1/2 ton capacity allows for getting fert in Ravensdown's 1/2 ton bags, or, I can get bigger amounts in bulk, and load it with the old Same and bucket.

Movie: Rams

Worth a look by all livestock breeders, cattle or sheep.
This movie, set in Iceland, tells the story of how a farm animal disease epidemic can affect us on a personal level.
There's a few bloopers in here that'll go right over the head of the average townie, but by and large its a close enough to the bone depiction of what we might have to face if border protection systems fail us, and....., how some of us might react.
She's a pretty tough environment to farm in up there, magnificent landscape nevertheless.
So were the sheep, must look up the breed, sort of like a long-woolled Texel with horns.
(Actually, they're Icelandic Sheep!)
Salute to the sheep-breeders of Iceland!

Ready for Calving

Well........ we made it
Due calving date just round the corner, and the cows onto saved pasture yesterday.
They've come off the wintering block in good order, actually put good amount of condition on, and have only fed balage last couple of weeks.
Major cost has been one old duck broke the tractor door as she brushed past when the mob thought it might have been a shift day rather than the start of silage feeding. The door literally exploded in a shower of glass, I know who the culprit is, #605, she's still got a layer of glass chips stuck to the poron patch. $1800 for a replacement door. After drumming into Rob, keep the effing door shut, this one happens under the Boss's watch.....
Had an early morning tractor drive into town this morning, 18km, had Central Glass fit the new door for me, all done in 20 odd mins, lot warmer drive on the way home.
Closed 1st June, the calving block's sitting at about 5-6000 kg dm/ha, with a prior dusting of causmag applied day before.
Nothing elaborate about the management, 2 mobs of 30 cows on 12 acres each, fed off in 3 acre breaks will get through to end Oct, urea applied as they move off the earlier breaks if needed.
Hard to believe things are normalising, after all the disruption since the flood.
Sleeping much better at nights.....

First Post-Flood Sheep Muster

Its now been 3 weeks since the flood, finally the silt has dried out enough to contemplate bringing some ewes in, bit of pressure involved, the Vet Club say they can fit in a half days scanning tomorrow.

I want to identify the empty ewe hgts, so they can go off the place as part of the de-stock program. The older 5 and 6 yr ewes came in with them, and the lower conditioned of that class can go as well.

We took a punt the mob wouldn't get bogged, particularly where Rob had bull-dozed the wet silt off the main track, into a windrow.

With all the gates opened for the mob to string its way in, they all very sensibly followed the well known path, we didn't push them and it couldn't have gone better.

FLOOD!!!

Here we go again......
This is the view at daybreak, Jun 21st, from the upstairs window.
The valley road follows the line of trees running left to right, and the river's supposed to be in the trees at the back.
This is 2-3' below flood peak we reckon, down in front of us the water's 6' deep, and over at the road, about a foot. It'll need to go down another couple feet before we can get out, that'll be in the 6 ton 4wd truck.
All the vehicles are up here, except for the tractor and bulldozer, which should be high enough not to get covered.
I left 4 horses in the paddock behind the poplars, left background, they would have spent the night up to their bellies. About mid-day I saw them paddling out, relieved to see they were still there. Plus my two herd bulls which must have swum in from two paddocks away.
Subsequent to this, we've confirmed the flood height's about a foot lower than 2004.
Every flood's different, this one roared all night. The whole district including the up-country hills had 150mm in 48 hours, on top of 150mm already recorded since the beginning of the month.
This is the 4th in 10 years, shifting stock and equipment followed the plan, we had a days warning from Horizons very good river level forecast system.
When the water recedes there's going to be another foot of wet silt over probably 3/4's of the flats, pretty disheartening after all the pasture restoration since the 2013 go.
My sister and her family's been chased out of their house again, they'll be up here with me a turn till their house dries out.
Several homes in the valley, same situation.
I guess if you live in a flood plain you have to expect some trauma, I know my father only had one like this around 1938, and its incredible I farmed 40 years flood free, to get to this.

Sign of the Times

Metrosideros excelsa

One of the great things about farm life is getting an array of seasonal signals, the pohutukawa tree annual blossoming is one of them, putting on a deep red display right on Christmas.

This year's arrival was actually a week late, maybe the rain we got through the three months right up to end Dec put the brakes on its clock, but certainly a great show of colour.

Its known in some quarters as the NZ Christmas Tree for this flowering characteristic, and its said to be found from the top of the North Island down to a line level with Mt Taranaki through to East Cape.

Here at 40th parallel Whangaehu we're actually below this line but this tree's doing fine in our 900mm annual rainfall flood silt plain, and has withstood three major floods in the last 10 years. 

I'm trying to plant one a year to make an avenue along my driveway, you can just make out junior in front.
Pohutukawa is a Maori word derived from hutukawa, a red feather headress.
The Latin name, metrosideros, refers to the iron-like properties of the hard timber, used in early times for  weapons, paddles, digging sticks and spades.
A tea made from the bark or leaves was used as a cure for dysentery and diarrhoea, and the nectar from the flowers for food and treatment for sore throat.

Yamaha Viking vs Honda Big Red

Have quite often looked up various ATV comparisons and reviews, mostly YouTube posts, and have been highly entertained by the comment, mostly American in origin and some pretty vehement, about performance and reliability of the different makes. Manufacturers, amusingly, aren't past slagging each others product either.
The old Taska Colt here has put in a creditable trouble-free year, but I have to admit, we could do with a better representative in the particular work-slot it occupies on the farm. Main problem, its an NZ put-together of Chinese manufacture origin, and although I thought any reliability problems could be negated by cheaper cost of replacement parts, this theory got blown out of the water when the parts supply dried up.
For a while, local 4WD supremo's Cowper Trucks matched parts, or made them up from scratch, but theyve run out of enthusiasm, understandably because of the dead time involved.
So, I resolved to return to the name manufacturers where servicing and repairs would be assured, and ironically, driving past the local Yamaha dealer's yard, I'd often spotted a Big Red Honda on the used lot.
On going in for a more detailed look I got presented with the new Viking with its attractive finance no deposit/2 yrs to pay package, and a weeks trial offer, one I couldn't refuse.
Well, the Viking was great, a real man's machine, looked good, felt good...

• ton of grunt
• fast
• superb suspension over the mogul section of our farm access race
• excellent over rough ground, (longer wheelbase big help here)
• great hill climbing
• without peer down-hill engine braking
• loved the controls, dial up drive, dash-mounted handbrake, passenger grab bar
• comfortable seat and driver position
• stack of room in the cockpit

But I didnt buy it.........
Thought I might as well try the Honda, and finished up deciding to take it instead for the following reasons...

• beside the Viking its a bloody ugly duckling, and its harder to get in and out of, but its closer to the "motorised wheel-barrow" job description required here
• its 4 wheels are the same size, for the life of me I cant see why Yamaha put smaller wheels on front of the Viking
• I like the Honda's bar-treaded Maxxis 25/10/12 Big Horns all round
• consequently its good in the mud and climbs hills real good, albeit you have to attack them a bit because of seeming higher geared
• and isnt so good downhill, poor engine braking by comparison, dont know whether its because of low engine compression, or the auto gearbox/clutch not handling the task, or the gearing referred above
• Dunno about the auto gearbox, thought it would be better than a CVT belt, but the mind of its own on this installation dosent seem quite with it. The old Taska had a manually controllable 3 speed auto hooked up to a 600cc twin, a much sweeter match.
• and while on the negatives, the short wheelbase and suspension give you a bumpy ride by comparison
• however.... the Honda's much quieter, I need to be able to potter round the lambing paddocks, tagging newborn lambs etc, without startling the natives.
• I also contemplate pasture spraying which needs to be done at a constant 17-20 kph, the Honda will do this without an accompanying noise factor, the Viking will require earmuffs
• and the Honda can sweetly follow at a slow crawl a mob of sheep in from the back of the farm. The Viking just couldnt do this, its either stopped or going, snatch/grab like a snarling caged tiger, and just as bad in low gear
• the Honda's cargo bed is all plastic, an advantage over the Vikings tin bed inviting rust under the optional bed-liner which you have to buy as an extra. The dogs handle the jump-on over the rounded back and sides better, and I dont hear any scratching and scrabbling around, so they're keeping their footing pretty well on the plastic too.
• I've been feeding hay off it for nearly a month now, and am pleased to note the headboard's high enough hay isnt falling down the front of the deck, and there's no potential fire hazard build up. The engine's well shrouded as well. 
• the Honda's only a 2 seater, the Viking 3, but honestly, when would I be carting 2 other passengers around. Cant carry as much gear on the floor as in the Viking either
• the handbrake's under the seat, despite the dash warning light and the best will in the world, I still now and again forget to release it, cant beat the Viking's up on the dash
• both vehicles thoughtfully provide drain holes in any areas that catch water, except the Honda has handy little trays behind the seats that dont, neither has it got a dash pocket with a lid

So that's about the extent of the issues that concern me on both vehicles. Nothing much between them 700cc engine wise.
If I had 1000 acres or more and wanted something capable of getting to all corners of the estancia including the least accessible, and back, with grunt and power, then its the Viking, specially if other personnel to be carried.
The Big Red suits my more laid back requirements.
You might ask why I didnt try the new Honda Pioneer, well I did.
Didnt get off square one..., its designed by someone with a 34" waistline, I just didnt fit behind the wheel!

Viking - sexy good looks

Bread and butter Honda cockpit

All plastic cargo deck an advantage

Like those 25.10x12 Maxxis BigHorns all round