Just-Add-Water Experiment - Update

On 4th January 2014 we kicked off our 'Just Add Water Experiment' which we described in our blogsite post dated 6th January 2014. Here's a link. In the comments section of that post you will find updates describing watering events, daily temperatures, rainfall events and a few other bits and pieces.

It's now 19 days since we kicked things off and we felt it time to share photos taken today showing what's happening at the site.

The photo below was taken outside but adjacent to the site i.e. not watered aside from natural rainfall. Stock are able to access this section of land. If you enlarge the image and look very closely you will be able to see some very slight green grass growth ... just a few plants:

The photo below was taken inside the watering area of the site. Stock are able to access this section of land. If you expand the image and look closely you will see many green plants but only minimal leaf area due to the grazing impact.

The photo below was taken inside the watering area of the site and inside the stock exclusion area. You will see many plants and most have a reasonable amount of green leaf area. We expect to see rapid growth in the coming weeks.

At this point it is fair to say that considerable seed germination has occurred on the watered area.

Remote Power Supply Performance During Serious Heat

Our maximum daily temperature during the past fortnight has been as follows:
12th January: 42 degrees C, 13th January: 40, 14th January 40, 15th January: 42, 16th January: 44, 17th January: 43, 18th January: 45.5, 19th January: 42, 20th January: 40, 21st January: 38, 22nd January: 38, 23rd January: 35, 24th January: 25 (17 mm rainfall received during the course of the day), 25th January: 30

9 days of temperatures of 40 degrees or more is quite an extended hot spell. It has given us quite an opportunity to see how both we and our set-up handle the heat.

A few years ago we installed what our research suggested was the most energy efficient reverse cycle refrigerated air conditioner manufactured by Mitsubishi Industrial, model number SRK71ZEA-S1. A photo of the external inverter unit is below:

Our original intention was to install an evaporative air cooler but we opted for an air conditioner on advice from many that the former are of little use during high humidity periods. The latter does require considerably more power to run and was not in the calculations for our remote power system. It and the stock water pump are by far and away the two major power use items during summer. The latter is getting more use than normal presently due to the 'Just Add Water Experiment' we kicked off on 6th January.

Our house is not large by any means and during the renovations we did our best to insulate both the roof cavity and walls where we replaced the old plasterboard.

So here are some observations and learnings during the recent hot spell:

• We both seem to be a bit better at handling heat than the 'average Joe-blow', which might be genetic or physiological
• Our house insulation combined with fan use is such that we are comfortable inside in temperatures up to about 35 degrees
• Solar panel performance deteriorates in temperatures above about 35 degrees C. On days below that our solar panels will harvest up to 19 kilowatt hours on a clear day, and when it is above 40 degrees about 17 kilowatt hours is the best we can hope for
• The inverter we use that converts battery stored direct current to 240 volts AC recently 'chucked a serious huff' during temperatures above 40 degrees while the back-up generator was running.
• The air conditioner doesn't draw much power when external temperatures are up to about 35 degrees, uses more up to 40 degrees, and heaps more when it is above 40 degrees.
• We've found that the most appropriate internal temperature setting for us with our air conditioner unit is 28 degrees. The internal unit is near the ceiling so that actual temperature at 'living' height is well below 28 degrees
• We've found that on above 40 degree days it works well to run the back-up generator for an hour in the morning and another hour in the evening. We see the cost of running the generator as the price of comfort during extremes.
• We'd need to double the capacity of our solar panels to capture enough natural energy to cater for above 40 degree days. This is not cost justifiable as the reality is that there are not that many days during the year when temperatures are above 40 degrees.
• On days when the maximum temperature exceeds 40 degrees we run the air conditioner from around 12.00 pm through to 9.00 pm.

Upgrading Some Tree Guards

Our livestock are by nature pretty handy at consuming the leaf matter on Kurrajong Trees across the farm. This is not an issue with established trees but is for those we planted some years ago to become paddock trees. The addition of cattle to our enterprise mix also means that being taller than sheep they are easily able to get over the top of the guards we installed ... at the time just to protect the plants from sheep.

We've decided to upgrade the tree guards around young Kurrajong Trees in paddocks that have below what we think is the desirable number of paddock trees, especially in the Spring Paddock, Airstrip Paddock and Duck Dam Paddock. The photo below shows one of the Kurrajong trees in the Spring Paddock with the old guard still in place.

It would be great to be able to upgrade the guards on all of the trees we've planted as paddock trees but the materials are a bit on the pricey side.

The photo below shows the same tree in the Spring Paddock with a new guard in place. Height is 1.8 metres constructed out of sheep yard mesh. Hopefully this will do the trick!

Just-Add-Water Experiment

Context

Our last decent rainfall event was in mid-September 2013 at 36 mm; so things here on Ochre Arch are ‘crisp’ and the long term forecast suggests little rain until autumn or beyond.

The quality of our bore water supply is first class, both in terms of mineralisation (or lack of it) and lack of impurities (zero chance of hose fitting blockages). The marginal supply cost is low at around $0.50 per kilolitre and marginal on-farm pumping cost is next to zero provided we don’t need to draw on the back-up diesel generator i.e. power source is from our solar and wind turbine sources. We are not stocked to capacity and thus are not using our full daily bore water scheme supply allocation.

It’s been a while since we kicked off a new on-farm experiment. They are one of the best ways to learn.

Experiment Description

We've installed a high flow water sprinkler well out from fence-lines in the Airstrip Paddock and will observe vegetation change over time from the soil (under the range of the sprinkler) being kept constantly damp from regular evening watering events using our surplus water scheme supply.

Current Soil Surface Condition

The photo below shows the soil surface condition at the site.

Equipment

We recently purchased the following parts and assembled a water sprinkler (parts listed from the ‘top down’ in terms of the final assembly):

• 20 mm brass two-nozzle impact sprinkler. This was the highest capacity sprinkler the supplier had on hand. We wanted to be able to apply the maximum water over the greatest area in the shortest period of time.
• 3/4 inch BSP threaded plastic socket
• 900 mm 3/4 inch BSP threaded pipe riser. The riser needed to be at least this high to keep it clear of the sheep.
• 3/4 inch BSP threaded elbow
• 3/4 inch to 18 mm Neta brass fitting. Our hoses are 18 mm rather than the 12 mm standard, allowing for higher volume flows.

Here's a photo of the brass nozzle on the top of the riser.

Estimating Water Flow Rate

When the assembly was complete we attached it to a hose near the house connected to the bore water supply hydrant. The spray nozzle was placed in an empty 20 litre bucket and the hose turned on full pressure. We timed to see how long it took to fill the bucket with water. The pressure was such that initially water flowed out of the bucket. After things settled we calculated bucket fill time at 25 seconds giving a flow rate of 0.8 litres per second.

Our initial thinking was that we’d run the sprinkler in the paddock long enough to disperse 1,000 litres. Based on the above figures this would take a tad over 20 minutes.

Installing the Sprinkler

We chose to set the sprinkler up in the Airstrip Paddock with water sourced from the hydrant on the fence between the holding yard for both our sheep and cattle yards and the Airstrip Paddock. Site location factors included being within close proximity to the house (we can see the site from under the covered area to the east of the house), on pasture that has been reasonably heavily grazed and in a paddock that we set stock with both pet sheep and our rams. Whatever grows will be a good source of protein for these livestock through to the end of summer.

Using one of our 18 mm hoses as the connector and distance setter we selected a spot equidistant from two fence-lines such that it would not be possible for the water to land on fence-lines i.e. all growth will be within the Airstrip Paddock. In the interest of simplicity a shortened star post was hit into the ground at the desired location and the new assembly attached.

Here's a photo of the riser in place, with the nozzle on top.

Stock Exclusion Area

Using two panels of weldmesh we constructed and put in place under the estimated drip line a circular fenced area. The diameter is approximately 3.6 metres giving an area of approximately 10.2 square metres. Having this in place will allow us to observe vegetation growth without the sheep having access, although other herbivores such as kangaroos and rabbits may gain access.

The photo below shows the stock exclusion area with the sprinkler 'doing its thing'.

First watering

At a tad after 7.30 pm on Saturday 4 January 2014 we turned the water supply to the sprinkler on. There was a brisk breeze blowing which meant that the water spray up wind was not nearly as far as it was downwind. The sprinkler worked extremely well.

After 20 minutes when in theory about 1,000 litres of water had been dispersed the top of the soil under the sprinkler was damp but our impression was that it would not be sufficient to get much growth happening. Consequently we decided to run the sprinkler for a full hour, making 3,000 litres dispersed. The soil surface was very damp (but no mud).

Watering close to sunset should mean we reduce the evaporation from the site, or certainly in comparison to what might occur if we did the watering during the middle of the day.

Area Watered

Once the watering was complete we were then able to calculate the total area watered. We simply walked across the wet area from drip-line to drip line twice at perpendicular angles. From this we estimated that the diameter of the wet area was 22 metres or slightly more than the length of a standard cricket pitch. Using a web-based calculator (http://www.calculateme.com/cArea/AreaOfCircle.htm) the approximate area watered was 380 square metres or 3.8 % of a hectare.

Water Applied per Square Metre

3,000 litres of water spread evenly over 380 square metres equates to roughly 8 mm water falling per square metre (sought-of comparable to 8 mm rainfall). Using the generally accepted guide that every mm rainfall produces 10 mm soil profile moisture this means that roughly 8 cm of soil profile moisture would have been created. Most of the ‘action’ in the soil happens in the top 4 inches or 100 mm, so we are pretty happy with our first watering. Using the foregoing it means that we will be applying roughly 1 mm water over the area each 7.5 minutes.

Second Watering

On 5^th January 2014 we again watered the area for one hour. Our intent is to repeat this at around the same time each day for at least 2 weeks regardless of any natural rainfall.

Moisture Profile Check

At 4.00 pm on Monday 6^th January 2014 we dug into the soil within the drip line to see what the moisture penetration was so far. The top 100 mm was damp, and dry below this depth. Daily watering for one hour should be sufficient to stimulate plant growth. One point to note: the temperature on 4^th through 6^th January 2014 has not been extreme but the wind has been strong.

Cost of the Experiment

The total cost of the materials used in the experiment is around $100. Daily water cost will be about $1.50.

Reporting Outcomes

We will make periodic posts showing any material change on the site.

Review of 2013 Rainfall

Our impression was that 2013 was, overall, a dry year. With 2014 upon us it is a good opportunity to check the data and do a brief analysis of the 2013 rainfall results to see what actually happened.

Some context:

• The summer of 2012/3 was particularly dry
• The previous two summers were very wet
• Our long term average rainfall is around 600 mm per annum, spread evenly over each month (50 mm per month)
• We tend to have more rainfall event days during the cooler months, but higher falls per event during the hotter months
• 2006 was one of the driest on record at a total of about 265 mm

To the 2013 figures:

• Total rainfall received was 385 mm. This is roughly 2/3rds of the long term average.
• Thus overall 2013 WAS a dry year
• Total for the summer months was  31.5 mm (average 10.5 per month) ... dry
• Total for autumn was 114.5 mm (average 38 per month) ... dry
• Total for winter was 169 mm (average 56.3 per month) ... a tad above average
• Total for spring was 70 mm (average 23.3 per month) ... dry

If we define a significant rainfall event as one where we receive 25 mm or more (half the monthly long term average figure) then:

• There were (only) 4 significant rainfall events during 2013
• They were: 70 mm on 1 March, 42.5 mm on 2 June, 28 mm on 19-20 July, and 36.5 mm on 16-18 September
• The year was one where rainfall was predominant during the cooler months
• A pretty good year for those growing winter crops
• Not so bright for us graziers

Chooks no longer laying in the nesting boxes

We've only got 3 chooks and let them out each day to roam where they choose. A few weeks ago we sensed that something must have spooked them around the laying boxes that are set up in the chook-yard. Since then they now lay their eggs on the 'director's chairs' around the round table under the shade area to the east of the house. Here's a picture of today's effort:

Aboriginal Heritage Site Recording Application

We registered the ochre arch on our farm some years ago on the Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System (AHIMS), colloquially pronounced 'aims'. The process was very much paper based, cumbersome and it took a few years for the registration to be lodged in the database.

Yesterday we received a courtesy email from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage informing us about the recent release of 'the new Site Recording Android application', following the earlier release of an iPhone application. By the look of things both applications will make recording of aboriginal heritage sites much simpler and more accurate, with all key information collected on site.

Here's a link to the website were the application and process is explained: AHIMS Site Recording forms.

New Cattle Yards Now Functional

At long last we have our cattle yards up and running; except one item – a loading ramp which we’ll arrange before too long. The bottom line is that the yards are operational and we used them for the first time yesterday with calf marking. In this post we share some of our experiences in getting to this stage.

Yards Location

Our existing sheep yards and shearing shed are about the right distance – 100 metres or so - from the house. Far enough away that we don’t get dust at the house when working on the sheep and close enough that they are easy to get to. The sheep yards have an excellent hinge-joint holding yard with great stock access from the Duck Dam Paddock. The holding yard is designed for relatively low stock densities and feeds into the main part of the sheep yards (which are steel and too low for cattle) and we figured would comfortably double up as a holding yard for cattle (although not at the same time, of course!). So our new cattle yards run to the north from the holding yard, with the sheep yards running to the west. The topography at this location is pretty much flat.

Yard Design

Given our lack of experience with cattle handling in yards we did a power of research in developing the design for our yards. Some of this included:

•  Reviewing standard cattle yard designs produced by the NSW Department of Primary Industries and several yard manufacturers
• Talking to many cattle producers
• Seeking input from one of the owners of Low Stress Stockhandling on the draft design (sadly no response)
• Assisting our friends Sam and Claire Johnson at Boxgum Grazing, Murringo with their annual calf marking

The latter brought to light the following important observations:

• Drafting can be carried out using low stress stock handling principles in the larger pens in the yards i.e. not necessary to use a drafting race per se
• Adult and young cattle are relatively easy to separate as the adults get used to the flow of the yards and are keen to go through open gates, while the juvenile are more hesitant
• Young cattle can more readily and tend to turn around in the standard width races. Thus bringing them through in small lots is likely to save time in the long run.
• A crush is pretty much these days an essential part of any good yard design. Added to this, most veterinarians will now only attend to cattle on farms that have crushes in place for OH&S reasons
• There is a real skill in getting the timing right to get the front doors of the crush to shut at the right moment so that the neck of the animal is restrained. If one gets the timing wrong and the animal ends up getting out of the front of the crush it’s important that it ‘escapes’ into a pen in the yard where it is straightforward to get them to return to the crush
• Races can be a bit too long necessitating a second or third person to be pushing the animals forward to the working area / crush.

We made the decision early on to make our yards using mobile cattle panels rather than fixed rails. This was in part due to our lack of experience, in the knowledge that if we made a mistake it would be a pretty simple process to move panels to something more workable. When we were drawing up the yards we went through several sheets of paper, scrapping and refining what we thought would work. It then occurred to us that we could use match sticks to represent standard panel lengths, and that when we were happy with the design we could photograph and print the layout. Here is a photo of the layout we came up with that is in fact our final design.

Some explanatory points in respect of the above design:

• Entrance to the yards from the holding yard is from the bottom left
• There are 3 ‘pens’ within the yards. The flow of the cattle through the yards is basically 1. From the holding yard (not shown) into the “Main” pen, then right or east into the “Bud Box” pen, then left or north into the small ‘Forcing” pen, then left or west down the race, through the crush and either back in to the “Main” pen, out into the Front Paddock or (in time) up the loading ramp
• The position of the (future) loading ramp is represented by the open parallel matches at the top left
• Gates (6 in all) are represented as in an open position, hinged as shown
• ‘Man’ access gates (2 in all) in specially made panels are represented by the small silver rods
• There are 3 slide gates – one at the rear of the loading ramp, one at the back of the crush, and another at the rear of the race leading up to the back of the crush
• The ‘crossed’ matches represent the cattle crush

The following photograph shows the entrance to the cattle yards from the holding yard.

The photo was taken while standing in the holding yard. Visible to the right is the standard sheep gate that goes into the holding yard from the Duck Dam Paddock. This standard gate is, of course, closed when moving cattle from the holding yard into the main pen.

The following photo is taken from where the loading ramp will be in time.

On the left you can see the sliding gate that will provide access to the loading ramp in due course. The front of the crush is in the background. The ‘Man’ access gate can be seen to the right of the panel in the centre of the photo.

In this photograph you can see the closed exit gate from the ‘Push/Forcing’ pen.

Several people recommended that we install a ‘bugle’ race in the design. Our own experience with sheep and experienced low stress stock handlers suggests to us that these are not suited to the way we intend handling our stock in the yards.

Yard Suppliers

Approaches were made to 4 different cattle yard / panel suppliers:

1. M A Steel at Young. We have made several other steel purchases from them previously and have been happy with the quality of goods and service, and delivery arrangements.
2. Hayley’s Steel and Hardware, Forbes. Standard panel lengths were shorter than what we were looking for.
3. Mad Harry’s at Young. We’d been told that their pricing was considerably less than what M A Steel charged but this proved not to be the case.
4. National Livestock Systems based at Rutherford near Maitland in NSW. We’d heard rave reviews about their products and sent them our yard design. They undertook to provide us with a quote but did not respond. Some time later we visited a local farmer who sourced yards from this business. Whilst he was happy with the product the access to the yards did not work effectively and he told us that the amount of effort required to finally get the yards delivered was atrocious. The problem stems from the fact that the business revolves around one person who is ‘all over the place’. Our take on this was that this is not a business to deal with if you need yards in a reasonable time frame.

We ordered our panels, gates etc from M A Steel. They were very helpful in altering 2 gates so that they hung differently to the norm.

Crush Supplier

The different crush designs are, to put it mildly, mind-blowing. To cut a long story short we purchased a Vet Crush from John Berends Implements through Southwest Tractors at Young off the back of a recommendation from a neighbour. The beauty of their crush is that they only make one design. It also happened to be about $800 cheaper than what was on offer from M A Steel. The fact that our neighbour had one installed also meant we were able to check it out (several times) and get better prepared for how to set it up properly.

We ordered our crush toward the latter part of 2012 but were not ready to receive it at that time. Southwest Tractors kindly agreed to store it at their business premises at Young until we were ready, with us paying for it in total when they received it. They were consequently able to sell at least one other crush that we know of due to ours being on display at their premises.

Here’s a picture taken looking toward the east from inside the front of the crush.

You can see from the concrete that our cattle have now properly ‘christened’ the crush!

Yard Assembly

Given that our yards site is fairly level it was a straight-forward process to use the pins supplied by M A Steel and assemble the panels. There were a couple of slight hiccups:

• M A Steel supplied us with short pins but ended up exchanging these for long ones at no extra cost. One of their employees was especially helpful and took the pins to his home for us to collect outside of normal working hours.
• It was necessary to move some of the lugs on some of the panels, and we got a bloke from Grenfell who has a mobile welding plant to help us.

Concrete Slab for the Crush

The process of getting the slab in place for the crush was roughly as follows:

• Via Southwest Tractors we sourced from John Berends Implements a set of installation instructions. These helped us figure out approximately where the anchor bolts need to go.
• We sought the help of a local handy man who made up a set of 100 mm high form-work to the length needed as well as pins to put the form-work in the correct position.
• When we started digging to move soil from where the slab was to go it quickly became apparent that we’d be digging for several hours. At the suggestion of our handyman we rang David Troth from Troth Equipment in Grenfell who came to the farm within about 1.5 hours with his Bobcat. It took him all of 20 minutes or so to remove the soil. At our request we got him to pile the topsoil up in the house-yard and have subsequently created 2 new garden beds. He also used the Bobcat to lift a wooden fence post and a wooden gate post out of the ground. More on this later.
• We put the form-work in place and used mesh that was at one stage part of a trellis structure for reinforcement. Section of the mesh were cut away to allow for later drilling for the holes for the anchor bolts of the crush.
• Mitton Brothers Earthmoving supplied 1.4 metres of concrete for the slab. The amount proved spot-on, although the delivery fellow turned up about 20 minutes before the agreed time which meant we did not have time to install the reinforcing mesh as well as we might have liked. Not a biggie in the scheme of things.
• Our handyman and yours truly leveled out the concrete and our handyman did the finishing touches using appropriate hand tools.

Crush Delivery and Placement

After the concrete slab was in place for a few days we lined up a time for the crush to be delivered (on a trailer – driver was Ben from Southwest Tractors – delivery was included in the price of the crush) and another neighbour to be on hand with his front-end loader with forklift attachment in place. Here you can see the crush being lifted from the trailer.

Our neighbour very kindly stayed around and helped us position and anchor the crush. It’s quite amazing just how much practical knowledge long term experienced farmers have, and we were most grateful for the assistance.

The equipment we had on hand to install the crush included:

• Generator for power
• Industrial concrete drill and bit (borrowed from another neighbour)
• Air compressor and fitting for blowing air at high pressure (to clean out the holes drilled in the concrete)
• Various other hand tools such as a crow bar, block, spanners etc.
• WD 40 for lubricating the drill holes
• Bolts suitable to screwing into the holes through the base plates on the crush. These were 12 mm X 100 mm and cost over $5 each.

Holding Yard Fence Repairs

It proved both opportune and appropriate to renovate the northern fence-line of the holding yard. Some of the steps included:

• Replace the wooden strainer post that the long gate at the western end hangs from with a steel strainer post and stay. Our handyman welded the gudgeon and hinge used (both with some amendments) with the wooden post onto the steel post as well as a lug on the other side of the post to anchor the stay.
• Cut the fence to create a space for the entrance gate to the Main pen of the yard. A new steel strainer post and stay were installed.
• Remove a wooden fence post. (Both wooden posts were lifted out of the ground by David Troth using his Bobcat.)
• Star posts along the fence-line lifted where necessary
• New hinge joint installed
• Barbed wire removed and replaced with plain wire
• Both steel strainer posts were concreted into the ground using left over concrete from the slab order
• Large rock placed to support the long gate when opened to the north.

The result is that the fence, posts and gates are now in much better condition and should not need further repair for quite some time. We left the two strainer posts much longer than necessary, allowing for later heightening of the fence to make it more cattle proof if necessary. Here is a photo of the repaired northern holding yard fence, taken from inside the sheep yards.

Final Tasks to Complete the Yards

We arranged for the local welding specialist to call again and weld some lengths of 50 X 75 RHS onto the front of the crush together with lugs to act as anchor points for the two gates in parallel leading to the sliding gate where the loading ramp will go in time.

The land where this sliding gate goes was lower than desirable so we moved some blue metal that had been left near the water bore site in the Arch Paddock onto the spot and leveled it off.

There were a couple of other tasks necessary to get the crush in working order:

• Installation of a length of rope that when pulled releases the lock on the front doors
• Spraying of WD 40 on all of the moving parts

We are very pleased with the overall set-up and found that the yards worked to expectation when marking calves yesterday morning. The only unexpected challenge came from having two of our calves who have no fear of us, and we found the size of their flight zone to be smaller than our own area of personal space!

Comparing Electricity and Gas Offers in NSW

In recent times we've been assisting a close family member reduce electricity charges via installation of a grid-connect solar system and selection of a new electricity supply retailer. The latter action proved appropriate when we discovered post installation of the solar system that existing retailer (Country Energy) does not give any of its customers a feed in tariff (payment for any surplus electricity fed into the grid) for installations post cessation of the Solar Bonus Schemes.

A replacement electricity retailer (Origin Energy) was selected based primarily off 3 factors:

• They do pay a feed in tariff - presently $0.06 per kilowatt hour
• Their overall pricing seemed reasonable. Certainly no worse than Country Energy.
• They are a strong and well known brand, who also happens to be in the process of assuming the operations and activities of Country Energy.

Our close family member rang and obtained a written offer (Agreement) from Origin Energy which we've been reviewing to make sure it is OK prior to the end of the 'cool off' period. Right near the very end of the 'Customer Disclosure Statement' from Origin Energy is a reference to a website owned and operated by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) that provides excellent information on electricity and gas supplies and suppliers in New South Wales; including a calculator that helps compare offers current between energy suppliers. The website is titled My Energy Offers and here is a link to it. The website is a fantastic place for anyone living in NSW to start research on energy supply matters and offers.

We are still reviewing the offer from Origin Energy and have yet to decide whether to accept or otherwise.

Dung Beetles Now Active In Cattle Manure

In the past couple of weeks we've noticed quite a deal of dung beetle activity in the manure pats from our cattle. This link takes you to the Dung Beetle article on Wikipedia. The article explains that there are three main types of dung beetles:

• 'Rollers' who are called such because they roll the dung into balls
• 'Tunnelers' because they tunnel under the dung and bury it in the the tunnels they make in the soil
• "Dwellers' because they basically live or dwell in the dung

In our dung we've observed two different species. One is quite small at about twice the size of a house fly or half the size of a blow fly. They other is much larger at around 2/3rds the size of Christmas Beetles. Based on the activity we can see in and below the dung at least one of these is a tunneler; which to be honest is our preferred type as we are very keen to see the beetles assist in the build up of organic matter in our soils.

Below is a sequence of photos showing different aspects of the beetles and the dung at different stages. NB: The photographs are not all of the same dung pat, but rather a range at different stages of dung beetle impact.

Untouched / fresh dung pat

From what we understand this is a pretty good 'shape' for a dung pat in that it contains good moisture whilst maintaining reasonable structure. Given that we are now in the non-growing season due to the extended dry period (we've not had a rainfall event of in excess of 25 mm since July) we recently recommenced giving our cattle daily Distillers Condensed Soluble as a supplement, together with a small quantity of some other minerals and grains.

It is important to note that whilst some of the sheep manure has dung beetle activity it is much less in percentage terms of the total number of deposits. Almost all of the cattle manure pats have some level of beetle activity which we deduce is as a consequence of the greater critical mass of the cattle pats. They take comparatively much longer to dry out and have a higher initial moisture content.

Early Stages of Dung Beetle Activity

Here you can see evidence of the tunneling activity on the edge of the cattle pat.

Tunneling Through the Dung

The above photograph was taken of the preceding cattle pat after most of the top was moved away. Clearly evident is one of the tunnels through the manure, as is one of the beetles (partially covered). We've been able to flip over some of the pats at this stage and have seen entrances to the tunnels that are in some cases every 2 to 3 cm or so, quite evenly spread.

Dung Tunnel Close-up

Here's a photo in macro of the same dung tunnel.

Dung Beetle in Close-up

Here's a better picture of one of the species of dung beetle. It's similar in appearance in some ways to a Christmas beetle and about 2/3rds the size.

Pat as Dung Beetle Activity Subsides

Here you can see that the cattle pat has lost most of its structure due to the dung beetle activity.

Pat After Dung Beetle Activity Has Ceased

Here you can see just how well the dung has been dispersed. Eggs will have been laid in the below-ground stores of dung. Aside from assisting in enhanced mineral cycling the beetles also dramatically reduce the scope for flies to lay eggs in the dung.

Trampoline Mat Replacement

The mat on our family trampoline needed replacing. A web search identified the Gold Coast based business called Topline Trampolines and checking of the website suggested they were reputable with reasonable pricing. They have some excellent pages on the website which enables customers to accurately determine the size and type of mat to order. Here's a link to the page for what we were after, given our trampoline is rectangular in shape. After looking at our trampoline and doing some measurements we determined that ours is a "Hills" with 54 springs: 17 along each side and 10 along each end.
We placed our order online which was straightforward and the very next morning received an email advice letting us know that the replacement mat had been dispatched. Excellent service!
The mat arrived yesterday and we installed it straight away. The size was spot on.

Close observation of the replacement (see photo above) reveals two key differences between the old (on top) and new (on the bottom) mats:

1. The overlap in the new mat is about 1 cm less than the original meaning that the stitching is closer to the edge. This is not a big drama but does make it more difficult to install the wires from the old mat into the new.
2. The new mat has only two rows of stitching V four on the old mat. We suspect that the life of the new mat will be considerably reduced as a result and are a little concerned that the mat will be less able to handle use by other than small children. Hopefully the cost reduction approach by the manufacturer does not translate into reduced safety.

We are very happy with the service from Topline but a bit disappointed that the quality of the product seems less than the original. Time will tell.

Excellent Stockmanship Book

"Stockmanship: A Powerful Tool For Grazing Lands Management" by Steve Cote is as good a book around that explains the principles and techniques behind the low stress stockhandling methods we use here on Ochre Arch. We don't, though, profess to be across or proficient in all of the techniques.

Most of the principles and practices were developed by Bud Williams who recently died from cancer. He has certainly made a huge difference to many livestock managers, to the benefit of the welfare and wellbeing of the animals they manage.

A free copy of Steve Cote's book can be downloaded from this link.

Local Big Trees

On Saturday Jacqui Mitton hosted Derek McIntosh (who runs the National Register of Big Trees) around the local area (with us being part of the group out of general interest) looking at local big trees identified through local knowledge and contacts during the planning for the day. In all we looked at and recorded 6 trees each of different species. All are within an area where Grenfell is considered to be the local town. Grenfell is within the NRBT's designated region of Central NSW.

'Biggest' trees and Points Allocation

The biggest trees of a particular species are given 'champion' status and this can be at Region, State and National levels. To enable consistent comparison between all trees regardless of species points are calculated based on the trunk circumference at 1.4 metres from ground level, tree height and average crown spread. The formula for determining total number of points for each tree is:

• Trunk circumference (girth) at 1.4 metres from ground-level in metres multiplied by 39.37 PLUS
• Tree height in metres multiplied by 3.28 PLUS
• Average crown spread in metres multiplied by 0.82

The resultant total from the above process enables direct comparison with trees listed in both the Australian NRBT and the American Forests register. The calculation process gives primary weighting to the girth measurement, secondary weighting to height and tertiary weighting to crown spread.

Biggest Trees in Australia and the United States of America

To give perspective to the size of our local trees:

• The largest tree presently listed on the Australian NRBT is a Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) located near Geeveston in Tasmania. Its total points are 1,087 calculated off the tree's circumference of 20.45 metres, height of 81 metres and crown of 20 metres
• The largest tree on the American Forests register is a Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) located in Sequoia National Park, California. Its total points are 1,321 calculated off the tree's circumference of 25.9 metres, height of 83.5 metres and crown of 32.6 metres.

Local Trees we Visited on Saturday 17 November 2012

All 6 of the trees we checked out on Saturday are listed below in the order seen. All are on private property and we were grateful to the owners for giving us permission to access their land to see, photograph and measure the trees. The names of the owners and their properties are not shown below in the interest of privacy.
The following is given for each tree:

• Common and scientific name
• Location listed by Parish, Locality and Shire
• Photograph NB: The photographs unfortunately don't do real justice to seeing these trees 'live'
• Measurements in metres: Circumference, height and crown
• Points
• Status in terms of the National Register of Big Trees

Western Grey Box (Eucalyptus microcarpa)

Location (Parish/Locality/Shire): Maudry / Ooma / Forbes

Trunk circumference: 5.3 metres
Height: 26 metres
Crown: 26
NRBT Points: 315
NRBT Status: New National champion

Red (Mugga) Ironbark (Eucalyptus sideroxylon)

Location (Parish/Locality/Shire): Maudry / Pinnacle / Weddin

Trunk circumference: 5.61 metres
Height:  21 metres
Crown: 26
NRBT Points: 311
NRBT Status: New National champion

White Cypress Pine (Callitris columellaris)

Location (Parish/Locality/Shire): Maudry / Pinnacle / Weddin

Trunk circumference:  3.71 metres
Height:  17 metres
Crown: 18.2
NRBT Points: 217
NRBT Status: New National champion

Lemon-Scented Gum (Eucalyptus citriodora)

Location (Parish/Locality/Shire): Yuline / Glenelg / Weddin

Trunk circumference:  4.38 metres
Height:  22 metres
Crown: 26
NRBT Points: 265

Kurrajong (Brachychiton populneus)

Location (Parish/Locality/Shire): Bimbi / Bimbi / Weddin

Trunk circumference:  5.16 metres
Height:  16 metres
Crown: 26
NRBT Points: 277
NRBT Status: New National champion

River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis)

Location (Parish/Locality/Shire): Yambira / Bumbaldry / Weddin

Trunk circumference:  8.1 metres
Height:  30 metres
Crown: 29
NRBT Points: 439
NRBT Status: New Central New South Wales champion

Equipment Used by Derek

Here's a list of the equipment used by Derek as part of his process of recording details of the trees:

• Pen and notebook
• Digital camera
• GPS device
• Distance calculator, which includes the ability to calculate the height of a tree

Distinguishing Bees V Flies V Wasps

For a while yesterday morning we were watching honey bees foraging in one of the flowering Kurrajong trees near the sheep yards. The tree has a very heavy load of flowers and in this photograph is a single honey bee accessing pollen and nectar:

We noticed another species of insect being quite aggressive to the honey bees, and managed to capture the image of one of them ... below:

To appease our curiosity in determining the species of the aggressor we sent an email to members of the team room set up post attendance of the natural beekeeping course in Sydney earlier in the year. We asked whether any of the members knew what it was and attached the above photo. Within a couple of hours Louise Y responded saying that it was some type of hover fly and shared a hyperlink to the Queensland Government Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries publication titled "The Asian Honey Bee - A Guide to identification" located on the Animal Health Australia website. The document in fact is an excellent summary of the main things to look for in distinguishing bees from flies and wasps. Some information about Rainbow Bee-eaters is also contained in the publication, including the fact that they have communal roosts in the same location each night.

Big Trees on Ochre Arch

In yesterday’s local paper (The Grenfell Record) there was an article submitted by Jacqui Mitton alerting readers that next weekend Derek McIntosh, Co-ordinator, National Register for Big Trees was going to be in the area and will be looking specifically for large White Box (Eucalyptus albens) or Western Grey Box (Eucalyptus macrocarpa) to place on the register. We checked out the Register website, learned the measurement guidelines (NB: we used method 1 to determine tree height ... quite a bit of fun, actually) and headed off around the farm to see what we could find that might be suitable for registration. One of the biggest challenges in the process when it comes to identifying possible eligible eucalyptus trees is finding ones that are still a single stem at the stipulated circumference measurement height of 1.4 metres. Our guess is that only one in ten on our place meets this criterion.

Below are the biggest trees of the main species we have on our farm. Given that ‘size is all relative’ the ones we’ve listed may well be dwarfed by same-species trees on other properties; especially given that much of our farm has been cleared since white-fella occupation of the area and the fact that our soils are comparatively light and low in fertility. That said we reckon our White Cypress-pine tree would give others a fair run for their money! 

Kurrajong (Brachychiton populneus), NE corner, Amphitheatre Paddock

Trunk Circumference: 3.3 metres

Tree Height: 12.7 metres

Average Crown Spread: 15.5 metres

White Box (Eucalyptus albens), Gully edge near southern boundary, White Box Paddock

Trunk Circumference: 1.5 metres

Tree Height: 19.3 metres

Average Crown Spread: 12.3 metres

Blakely’s redgum (Eucalyptus blakelyi), West of track 1/3 way from entrance gate, White Box Paddock

Trunk Circumference: 1.8 metres

Tree Height: 18 metres

Average Crown Spread: 14.7 metres

Western Grey Box (Eucalyptus macrocarpa), near tourmaline site, Lookout Rock Paddock

Trunk Circumference: 2.2 metres

Tree Height: 21 metres

Average Crown Spread: 15.3 metres

Yellow Box (Eucalyptus melliodora), centre southern boundary, Valley Paddock

Trunk Circumference: 3.9 metres

Tree Height: 27.8 metres

Average Crown Spread: 17.7 metres

White Cypress-pine (Callitris glaucophylla), centre west, Big Pine Paddock

Trunk Circumference: 3 metres

Tree Height: 19.3 metres

Average Crown Spread: 15 metres

Comments on Ochre Archives Posts

The Ochre Archives blogsite profile is set up in such a way that any comments on posts come through to us for moderating. We then categorise each comments as being one of the following:
1. Publish. The full text is then visible at the bottom of the post to all who access and read the article.
2. Delete. The comment is deleted and does not appear on the blogsite.
3. Report as spam. The comment does not appear on the blogsite and we assume the administrators of Blogger keep a record of the item and suspect that they would in time prevent users who are reported multiple times from making any further comments on posts created by bloggers.

By far and away the greatest number of comments we receive on Ochre Archives posts are generic comments (unrelated to the actual post they are commenting on) that contain a hyperlink to a website the person making the comment wants to promote. We moderate these and any other comments that are simply trying to encourage people to go to their preferred website as spam.

A couple of days ago a comment came through that was different. The comment (posted anonymously) was basically an attack on a business, its proprietor and an associated family member who were connected with one of the posts we made last year. The person making the comment had clearly had some unsatisfactory experience with the targets of the comment and we suppose might argue they were just trying to pre-warn others. After much deliberation we decided not to publish the comment for several reasons:
a) The comment was posted anonymously which makes it impossible for those who might read the comment to make further inquiries and seek clarification
b) Some parts of the comment were not sufficiently specific to be constructive.
c) Whilst the intent of Ochre Archives is to share information it is not our intent to post material that could be considered offensive.

Having said the above we do welcome comments and are open to constructive feedback