Never A Dull Moment!

I guess one could say my creative streak is back in play and that's why there's such an inundation of posts at the moment. That's true, but in reality we've been so tied up with 21st party preparations that farm work fell by the way side for a few weeks. We're well and truly back on track now though! 

Can you guess where I found this petrified parrot? 

I often tell people who come to the farm that there's never a dull moment; Monday the 2nd of December proved that to me in full! As you saw in the inner circle it was a Com-Monday with rubber camouflage, we were shifting bins and getting harvest cranked up which is always exciting. Amongst these movements I was doing the last training or imprint feed for the weaners. We only have one mob of ewes and lambs left to wean and one could say it was an eventful sheep feed... There I am diligently putting my hand up the chute on the sheep feeder. Why would I do that? Well, we had a chunk of mouldy old oats in the feeder from last years crop that came out of the field bins we were moving. (As much as I'd like to say things like this never happen, we're not perfect, we stuff up!) So you can picture me underneath the feeder, my hand up the chute pulling out handfuls of hot, black, mushy grain that smells something like a mix of mouldy washing that's been left too long in the basket, pickled onions, and off beer. It's thoroughly disgusting and doesn't wash off your hands very well, but every now and again getting dirty is great fun! Around 5 Litres of 'gunk' later I stick my hand up and grab automatically, only to feel something soft and fluffy... Immediate reaction is 'get your hand the hell out of there!' My brain goes into overdrive thinking something along the lines of 'there must be a rat in here', how I thought a rat would climb into the sheep feeder I've no idea. It's safe to say I wasn't thinking logically in that split second. So I take a look and this is what I find...

Somehow a parrot had ended up dead and thoroughly dessicated in the sheep feeder! Dull moment? Never!! (Did you guess it?)

I also got to play with a 'decoy' duck as I checked the dams to make sure no stock were stuck in them. 

These ones were on the dam, ducklings and one parent. 

That dark blob is the other parent duck playing decoy to draw my attention away from the babies. I got as close as I could to him/her as you'll see. 

Until she/he took off at a vast rate of knots!

I then proceeded through the rest of my morning with a hand looking like this...

Sometimes what the farm throws at you is disgusting, sometimes it smells, sometimes it's itchy, sometimes it's heartbreakingly sad, sometimes it's great fun, and sometimes it's heartwarming. Regardless of what it is, it's never ever dull!