27th February

Today we fed the animals again and got to name the kittens.  We named them Kate and Pippa, after the Middletons.  We found an escaped turkey while we were feeding Charlie the Cockatoo.  We managed to round it up and get it back in the pen.  We think it might have flown over the fence to get out.

This afternoon we went out to see if we could find Bruce to see if he needed any help.  He was about to go and round up the horses and feed them.  We climbed up into the back of the pickup, and held on tight as Bruce drove down the bumpy track through the dried up creek and round the back of the dried up lake. When we could see the horses we whistled and picked up the fodder to wave at them, they galloped after the pickup. My horse from yesterdays horse riding ran so fast behind the pickup, it was trying to eat the fodder out of the back! When we got all the horses together we started throwing the fodder out to them.

We were going to walk up a track to the top of the nearby mountain at some point, but a man who worked on the farm offered to take us up in a 4×4. At the top of the mountain you could see the farms next neighbour in the distance. He also drove us around the bottom of the mountain to see if we could see any wild kangaroos or wallabies, we managed to see some, this wallaby had a Joey in her pouch.

26th February

Today we helped to feed the animals, first we had a go at milking a cow.

After the calves had fed on their mums, we had to put them into a paddock, by chasing them!

Then we fed them some fodder, by throwing it over the fence, we had a competition to see who could throw it the furthest- I won!

Fodder is grown on the farm in a special machine, it’s used to feed the animals as it’s so dry here that the farm can’t grow enough feed to feed the animals. The machine has trays, and each day the fully grown fodder is taken out of one end, and at the other end a tray full of barley is put in. The machine keeps the barley moist and at the right temperature, it only takes 7 days for the fodder to grow.

We helped to mix up the milk and bottle fed a baby goat, called Wingnut. He wagged his tail as he drank his milk, just like a dog does!

Next we fed the sheep, and then the birds and chickens, ducks and turkey.

We went horse riding. We had a lesson first in a ring, where we learnt to make the horse go and stop and steer them, then we went out for a trek through the bush. My horse was called Denver.