Sheep Chasie & Creature Comforts

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

THROUGH the years I've had an assortment of companion creatures.

Birds, lizards, echidnas, native rats, goats, bandicoots, horses, cats, wallabies - a lively squirrel glider that seemed near death at bedtime and woke me during with night with ear-piercing screams whilst rattling the window screens.

Such memorable moments.

I've always wanted a sheep though. Perhaps the Aries in me thought we'd communicate on a different level.

Some lovely neighbors up the road a bit have a wonderful little mob of sheep and we were fortunate to adopt an orphan lamb several months ago.

Bartholomew was so little, it was winter and he was so cute in his hand-knitted warmie devouring the geraniums.

He's now a fine wether and one of the gentlest animals I've known. 

Bartie has become our guard sheep and alerts me to happenings about the farm and does the occasional spot of mowing and fertilising of the lawn. Mostly he likes to hang out with the big-boy farm cats and have water play with the hose in the backyard in the afternoons. 

Recently, he graduated to the outside world with a grand new enclosure just for him. He's still pretty keen on the back veranda though and will take any opportunity to sneak 

back to the outside laundry and his original home - the outside shower - plonking down with a huge sigh of relief on the tiled concrete. 

Now he's getting to be full size it's hard to argue and move him.

He's a bit like me though - very susceptible to food treats, so bribery works. And he loves a game of sheep chasie in the shade of the fig tree in the cool of the afternoon. He even sulks a little when he doesn't win. 

And he's a creature of comfort. He loves to curl up for a daytime nap with his favorite sausage pillow tucked neatly under his head and one leg out. Ah the similarities...

Happy six months little Bartie! 

Stormy night rescue

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD © 

RAIN glorious rain has arrived in our little piece of paradise this week.

We've been blessed with a couple of storms that have delivered about 57mls so far.

Last night's storm was quite windy and this morning I found a couple of small, fluffy victims huddled in the grass.

We have an active population of owls living in the swamp bloodwood forest close to our house.

I rarely see them though often hear them hooting at night. Today though these two gorgeous littlies were huddled in the grass perhaps blown from the tree during last night's wind. 

They were being minded by a parent own which I disturbed when I rode past and which watched proceedings keenly from closeby.

The owlets were quite easy to catch and I placed them back into a tree on branches as high as I could manage balancing on gumboot tippy-toe on the seat of the four-wheeler.

One can almost fly and fluttered off but didn't make it to another tree, instead coming to rest against the base. 

A second quick rescue later, and after unceremoniously thanking me in its own little warm and watery owlie way, the two were perched back in the tree with the parent owl keeping close watch.

Good Luck little ones - look forward to hearing you having a hoot on midnight rodent patrol soon.

Angel Baby

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

I FIRST met Angel when she appeared under the microscope slide glass as an embryo barely a week old having just been flushed from our lovely stud cow Uptown Girl.

We were staring intently at two little lives under glass in The Old Farm Dairy and the vet declared that we might as well implant both of them as "they wouldn't grow on the ground".

Defying the odds, Angel and Bella were born to their surrogate cow mum and Angel being the weaker and smaller of the two at birth, became my first fully hand-raised poddy heifer.

I've always loved nurturing animals and people and I would dash up to visit Angel and sit on the hay and stroke her ears, sing to her and just spend time with her. I wondered whether she would ever make a cow mother herself because she was raised with humans.

Would she be a good mother? 

She joined the herd and nature and nurture have triumphed as she has just welcomed her own second heifer which we named Angel Baby.

She is an adorable, pink-nosed bundle of Charolais fur entertaining us with her leaps and bounds as she finds her feet in the world and her place in the herd.

One of the best things about farm life is the everyday connection to the seasons and cycles of life. 

Small moments make me stop every day and appreciate my life right here, right now.

Thanks little Angel Baby!

New Web Site Coming Soon!

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©
 

QUITE excited here at the farm on this Creative Friday.

Firstly my new web site is coming along nicely and I hope it will be up and running in the near future.

Progress not perfection is my mantra with this exercise as doing anything that requires substantial download speed and technology in country areas is challenging.

Creativity and new life on our farm and in my artistic activities seem to be mirroring one another.

Beautiful new calves arrive daily, the spring pasture is such a green is looks as though nature is Photoshopped, and the energy is inspiring and a reminder of the vibrant cycle of life. 

The web site will offer a store with some of my artistic endeavors to share a little of the beauty of this amazing part of the world with others. 

In the meanwhile, here's a little mini collage of digital textures and impressions I am working on at the moment. Spring is all about amazing vibrant colour to me.

The digital works begin life as textures and sometimes (very!) organic forms on our farm.

Northern Rivers in NSW is referred to as the Green Cauldron and is a remarkable departure to what many people picture as hot and dry country Australia.

I use the organic forms from this beautiful part of the world  as inspiration for images as the basis for multi-media works and Giclee prints.

We have unique and unusual textures and patterns in the rainforested areas that are World Heritage listed. This fertile valley thrives in the caldera of an ancient volcano with the mystical Wollombin, the remnant volcanic plug reigning over the surrounding landscape.

Look forward to sharing more of this magical part of Australia with you.

Warmest Regards

The Grass Truly Is Greener

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

WHAT a difference a year makes. 

We started our planned grazing routine just over 18 months ago and we're amazed at how quickly we are seeing results.

Could bore you with figures on grass density and kg/ha but what can beat a photo of happy spring calves in beautiful pastures?

Still have to pinch myself after all those years of two-minute showers and hairy legs and bore-water straw hair, when I ride over our little gully that has clear spring water flowing clear in it all year round. 

Must be the Irish heritage coming out - green is starting to feel as much a home as the CQ dust. 

Vale Ophelia!

BY Ayesha Joy Clifford ©

IT'S a sad day on our farm today as our Jersey house cow Ophelia died overnight.

Despite a final jump up and trot around in which we thought she was on the mend, it seems there were heart issues we didn't know about.

Now I have heart issues of my own that I certainly do know about.

Some animals make their way into your life and your heart.

Often for me it's not the big and the beautiful that stand out. I have a soft spot for the quirky and the funny.

For a little ex-dairy cow adopted as a housewarming and Valentine's Day present seven years ago, our fair Ophelia led an eventful life.

She and her best friend Abbie did look a little out of place on our 24,000 acre Brigalow property dotted with giant Charbray-cross cattle, but what she lacked in stature, she more  than made up in fighting and kicking spirit, claiming the 350-acre house yard and everything in it - including us - as her own.

Packing off our cattle for the interstate move, the B-Double drivers were instructed to look after the MICs - Most Important Cows - on board.

She did perform a spectacular high jump and ungainly float and swim at the Gracemere Saleyards tick dip before claiming our new property as her domain,  often whimsically kicking up her spindly little Jersey legs and jumping and running for no reason apparent to us except perhaps play or joy.

Many shared moments of Jersey hilarity and gaiety later, we are grateful for having shared the journey with her and for her fostering and ministering to many calves and cows who passed through our house/hospital paddock that she quickly took under her care.

She had left us with so many happy memories, heavy hearts today and a little orphan heifer as feisty and spirited as her.

Hope cow heaven is full of pumpkins and grain treats girl.

Vale Ophelia!

The Cow Whisperer, The Mayor & The Vet

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

GOOD Morning Spring Sunday in the country.

You are lovely. But wait … What’s that? What is she doing up there lying on her side, legs kicked out?

Legs up or out is never a good look. It’s especially not a good look when it’s your  favourite house cow, especially at 6am the Sunday after election.

Coffee going cold and lazy Sunday visions vanishing into the spring haze, we phone the local vet.

With my husband occupied doing the cow equivalent of hand-holding – shoulder wedged firmly to keep the patient in an upright position, help is on the way.

Some people wait longer at hospitals than we did for the vet to arrive and administer a swift IV in the neck to treat the Jersey house cow Ophelia for milk fever.

As he leaps into his car and disappears down the drive at 8am he already he has a couple more callouts to attend and an urgent surgery consult for ten pups born overnight.

Just another day on-call for the country town vet who aside from animal duties and being dubbed The Cow Whisperer by me, also wears the caps of Mayor and Councillor.

Well perhaps The Cow Whisperer is a tad poetic. I had detected a few colourful phrases on occasion. That’s to be expected when you’re trying to convince hundreds of kilo of cranky cow to be more obliging.

He didn’t say a thing last time I forgot to slide shut the gate on the race and treated cow athletically launched herself over the bonnet of his car and hoofed it back to her paddock after her prolapse surgery. All in a day’s work.

“I’d love to have a farm and work with animals,” is one of the most common responses I hear from people.

I often wonder if they really would.

Animals don’t pick a convenient time to get sick or need attention.

There is no pause button. There is a never-ending parade of ailments and activities requiring attention – more often than not “now” – ready or not.

What a blessing to have dedicated professionals multi-tasking on our side and willing to go the extra (literally) country mile to help care for us and our animals.

Thanks Ross The Mayor, The Vet and The Cow Whisperer -  you’re a legend!