VegHead
VIP Member
Posts: 545
Likes: 913
|
Post by VegHead on Jan 10, 2015 20:55:23 GMT 10
5 or 6 cats? I take that many out in a week!
Thanks for the heads-up on 1080 certification, but DEPI have laid 1,000s not a km from my back paddock (State Forest) and I still get the bugger sin. I've only just come in from having a walk around as I have a ewe about to lamb ... might be a long night shining tories, etc.
Good night all.
|
|
VegHead
VIP Member
Posts: 545
Likes: 913
|
Post by VegHead on Jan 10, 2015 16:32:44 GMT 10
Hi Mr Pete, it's actually an Esse brand, model 990. Here's a better pic.
|
|
VegHead
VIP Member
Posts: 545
Likes: 913
|
Post by VegHead on Jan 10, 2015 14:13:02 GMT 10
I love taters. Here's a pick of the first Wilwash variety for the season grubbed yesterday or the day before. Bloody heat (okay maybe one day was hot) has buggered most of my crop leaves but the tubers are all fine.
|
|
VegHead
VIP Member
Posts: 545
Likes: 913
|
Post by VegHead on Jan 10, 2015 14:07:54 GMT 10
Those spears sound really great for getting the water down to where you need them. I have a neighbour who's farm we are looking after at the moment for them, who is a fantastic steel worker so I might get him to knock up a few for me as 'payment'. Thanks for the info Matilda!
|
|
VegHead
VIP Member
Posts: 545
Likes: 913
|
Post by VegHead on Jan 10, 2015 14:02:30 GMT 10
Thanks Matilda. My main deterrents are me walking around the paddocks at night with a spotlight and an 'open carry' of a .243 or .17HMR rifle. Our place sits in the middle of my neighbours acreage as our house was once the former neighbour's daughters place so we are surrounded by 70 acres that pretty much backs onto State Forest aka fox territory. Thanks also to Peter. Forgot all about using fox lights so thanks for the heads-up matey. Our fences are pretty good including electric around 50% of the shelter belt to tame the sheep inside, and have traps, scents, etc. Can't use 1080 as I'm not a PP. I like your approach in that using several varying methods are the best deterrent. We also have a feral cat problem thanks to above said neighbour who breeds and feeds his collection of mongrels (he actually spend $100 a week to feed them so you get an idea of just how many he has!!!!), however, they cross my property line and it's game on. (Actually my .17HMR is zeroed for 100m and his haystack, where they tend to raise their young, is exactly 67 metres soooooo it's not really a challenge to check my scope's zero every now and then heheheh. Mind you I do have to forensically remove any evidence from the crime scene i.e.: send the missus 'over the wire' to sterilise the kill zone .... they make good compost, too). Oh what fun on the farm we buggers have
|
|
VegHead
VIP Member
Posts: 545
Likes: 913
|
Post by VegHead on Jan 10, 2015 12:54:31 GMT 10
Here's the fertigation system I use. The venturi was sourced from eBay for about $30 inc postage. The short hose goes to the tap, the strainer into the barrel and the other end to a hose to feed the crops. This is one way to get the compost tea out there .... Wobble-Tee's Hope that these two threads may have been useful. Bye for now from the Veg.
|
|
VegHead
VIP Member
Posts: 545
Likes: 913
|
Post by VegHead on Jan 10, 2015 12:46:52 GMT 10
Hi all, thought I'd sure one of my many brain fart builds with the members. I come from a bit of a funny background career-wise so many of my ideas have their place somewhere else in my ever diminishing brain cells, however this one actually works! I like things a little systematic if not almost all automated as I have never enough hours in a day to get through my own self-imposed lists. This setup provides a super microbial (or fungal dominate if you choose) power feed for my crops and pastures with very little effort. The basis of the whole setup is Actively Aerated Compost Tea (AACT). I started out using Biodynamics but hand stirring the BD500 preps took a toll on my already buggered AC joint so I changed over to AACT (and I believe they work very much the same at the end of the day). AACT takes some super-duper compost that you'd generally make yourself (see my thread on chicken employment), add some food for the microbes that should be present in properly made compost to eat whilst they multiply by the billions, aerate the whole she-bang over 24-36 hours a voila! A bunch of really wicked, super potent and microbial dominate liquid fertiliser. That's the first step. The next phase is that I'm basically a lazy waterer and like to sit back on the veranda. So after a deep soil watering I apply the finished AACT, in diluted form (you'll see how in a tic) as a foliar spray for the veg, pastures, whatever. The trick is to dilute the fertiliser, add water to it and irrigate whatever it is that needs watering all at the same time. The build: (most parts are scrounged, repurposed or battered for - I'm a cheap bugger after-all!). Start with a 200 litre clean washed and sterilised drum. Cut out the top. Make up some diffusion rails from 25mm-ish PVC pipe with capped ends and drill a few small holes along the underside. Chuck on an air pump (I used an old spa bath pump (the spa bath is now my worm farm that supplies the vermicast for the AACT)) attached to the PVC pipe. Add an extension piece an add a paint strainer bag which will hold the compost material. This is not a crucial step but I find that blowing the air through the bag gives exceptional results as compared to having the bag just flopping around in the barrel like an untrained seal. The barre, pump and the diffuser lines. The middle pipe is where the compost tea bag gets attached. The red valve enables flow control of air to the bag, think of it as a balancing valve. Fill barrel with rainwater (if town water then aerate for a few hours to nick off the chlorine and other nasties). Add compost to bag, tie bag onto pipe. Start the blower. Add food for the microbes (molasses, flour, seaweed extract, Charlie Carp, etc). Aerate for 24-36 hours and the jobs done. Try and use the finished 'tea' as soon as possible diluted approx 10:1. Here it is running but with the compost added. The water turns brown instantly and begins to foam once the bagged compost is added. The next phase is to get the tea out and onto the leaf to get the most out of it. I use a spray unit, a watering can and by far the best idea that I sort of came up with is to use a venturi and fertigate.
My system uses a small venturi and a suction line with strainer that goes in-line with my hoses from the tao, either tank stare of bore water. Just be aware that these ventures will drop your presses big time so you may need a booster pump as well (I'm yet to try this experiment but have just bought the pump from Aldi). I often use a watering wand on the end of the hose or bing lazy plumb into the sprinklers which are in turn on timers (I love set-and-forget systems!). The whole setup couldn't be easier and promotes crop growth immensely, even preventing many diseases and pest attack; a healthy plant has inbuilt resilience remember.
|
|
VegHead
VIP Member
Posts: 545
Likes: 913
|
Post by VegHead on Jan 10, 2015 12:13:06 GMT 10
Hiya Stubbs, it's a pressure cooker/canner. A pressure canner is the only safe way to preserve low acid food, such as veg, meat, poultry, seafood, etc. A FV stands for Fowlers Vacola, and is the age old Australian system for preserving via water bath e.g.: high acid foods such as fruits.
This particular 'canner' can also be used as a normal pressure cooker.
Hope this helps?
Cheers from the Veg.
|
|
VegHead
VIP Member
Posts: 545
Likes: 913
|
Post by VegHead on Jan 10, 2015 10:13:54 GMT 10
Well this what I found 'out the back' this morning It's really a war out there. I go out on the fox every night, and last night saw nor heard a single 'red dog'. Six hours later, this little darling is enjoying her new 'housing' ... a mere 3 metres from my ducklings!!!! Arrgghhhhhhh..................... Attachments:
|
|
VegHead
VIP Member
Posts: 545
Likes: 913
|
Post by VegHead on Jan 10, 2015 9:44:49 GMT 10
VegHead has a new toy! Out with the FV, in with the All American Attachments:
|
|
VegHead
VIP Member
Posts: 545
Likes: 913
|
Post by VegHead on Jan 10, 2015 8:48:40 GMT 10
Good morning all. Thought I'd post up a little ditty about using chickens to one's advantage, and not just for egg production.
Our chooks are mostly free-ranged, but let me explain that term in how we 'employ' our birds. The main pen houses the birds after dark, which is in a large run surrounded by chicken wire and electric deterrents around the perimeter. They are not locked in at night though and we have never had a hit from a fox (I'm generally out most nights hitting back at them though!!). We have a small access hatch in the fencing that opens to allow the birds to egress onto pasture during the day. They come back into the main house to lay. These birds are rotated also into their other 'employment' as necessary. We have another chicken run that has an offshoot into a small 3m x 3m fully enclosed 'run', however I do things a bit differently and throw all my compostables into this area and let the chooks do all the turning and hard work of the composting process for me.) After about 12 months I guess there are a few tonnes of golden compost in there ready for the garden beds. At the moment this area is housing the new batch of Light Sussex chicks and their attendant bantam mums; they are almost ready to meet the real world. The other entry/exit point leads into our sheep corral (fully fenced also to house poultry) and this is used to get them familiar with the wide open world they'll soon be exploring. Currently the corral is home to our Indian Runner ducklings who are also almost ready for bigger outings. Out with the ducks, in with the Light Sussex to the corral and the compost area is rested to break any pathogen cycles before another lot of lucky hens are brought onto the pile.
Another employment for the little cherubs is the garden cruiser. This is a low lying, fully contained mini chicken tractor that fits over and the same width as my garden beds. They clean up and 'roto-til' the beds after I've harvested my veg. Man, they clean up everything as well as pooping like there's no tomorrow. In this way we now have two-legged, insecticiders, grubiciders, fertilisers and general all-round cleaner-upperer crews and all for nix.
Finally, we run several large purpose-built chicken tractors (for layers, not broilers as we use dual-purpose breeds) that are run on pasture. As we 'farm' on such a small plot we must maintain maximum fertility at all times to enable us mere peasants to put food in the table for ourselves every day. So, here's a little ditty to explain a simple rotation we run here on the farm. I'll explain by describing just one single plot over a period of months so you get a rough idea. Firstly a plot of ground will be rotary-hoed (3PL on a tractor) roughly to form a clod ground, not a smooth seed bed like most would do). Plant a legume crop (I use a green manure mix) and hoe in or mow at 50% flower (a few months later). Put the chicken tractors over it moving them twice daily. This drops a lot of poop on the ground and adds high amounts of fertilisation. Move the chickens off when they have done their deeds and rest the ground to enable the potency of their manure to dissipate. Hoe the lot in again and irrigate heavily. Sow corn or maize (I like to put sorghum in there as well). Harvest the corn ears and leave the stalks standing. The sorghum heads are used as chicken feed. Place a pig house on the plot and place portable sheep yarding around the plot. Buy two or more piglets and let them loose! They'll smash everything down, eat the stalks, root up the ground and in general do all your plowing and fertilising for, again, for nix. After they are taken into the shed and turned into various Porky Delights we put the chickens back onto the same ground that the pigs have recently vacated and start the cycle all over again but moving to the next plot in the rotation to do the same. This BTW is a neat way to grow super veg crops.
I understand that this post is long winded and not for everyone but it should give you an idea of just how useful the humble chook can be.
Dual purpose breeds for meat and eggs are really an economical way to go for those who can stomach the processing (excuse the pun) such as ourselves (we never buy meat).
Well I think that's well and truly enough from me.
Veg.
|
|
VegHead
VIP Member
Posts: 545
Likes: 913
|
Post by VegHead on Jan 8, 2015 16:20:06 GMT 10
We currently run Light Sussex (a very stupid breed with fab tasting smalls eggs), Brown Hylines (high protein food addicts that lay very large tasty eggs. We have a free range egg farm up the road that sells them for $5 each - a bargain), Blue and Black Australorps (our main dual purpose birds), black Leghorns (cutest little road-runners you'll ever meet, love to be cuddled and actually will sit on you for 45 minutes to an hour without so much as a poop!), and finally a motley collection of bantam hens as brood mothers (they cost us nothing and make fantastic brooders for your fertilised eggs).
|
|