By Judy Barnet, Ag Columnist
As I am writing, Warwick is receiving an unprecedented amount of rain. I have never experienced so much rain in my life. I hope everyone heeds all the warnings and stays safe. The only animals on the farm enjoying the wet are the ducks. We are lucky here at Glenlyon that we did not receive the deluge that hit Warwick and surrounding areas. I tipped out a mere 32mm from the rain gauge this morning, Friday the thirteenth, and 12mm yesterday.
It was with a sigh of relief that I just today finished the last-minute updates to the Rare Breeds Trust Auction. I can’t wait to see how it goes. We have also just completed judging for our Rare Breed Photo Competition. Some beautiful photos were received.
We thoroughly enjoyed attending the St Marks Church last weekend and I managed to contain myself from buying too much. Books and cakes were what I came home with. CJ came with us and patiently handed out our very quiet ducklings for children to hold. I think holding the ducklings was the most popular attraction at our animal nursery this year. It was wonderful to meet one of the readers of my column – a lovely gentleman from Maryvale.
It is advice I always give to new sheep, goats or cattle breeders, so why didn’t I heed it myself? That advice was to never keep a poddy raised animal as an entire male. It is asking for trouble. They don’t see you as the boss and have no respect or fear of you either. Often they will be perfect gentlemen for a year or two and then when you least expect it they turn on you. Bulls, of course, are particularly dangerous because of their sheer size and weight and it was only a few months ago a friend was showing me how quiet her poddy reared bull was. I advised her to always be aware of him and where he was when handling her cattle. It was only a week or two later I received a phone call saying the bull had started growling at her. I advised her to put him on a truck quick smart and later that day he was on his way.
In my case, it was a ram I had reared during the drought. His dam was a particularly good type of ewe, but old, and I didn’t know if I would get any more lambs out of her. Edward had been the perfect gentleman for more than two years but I had an inkling of what was to come. I recently showed a lady some goats she was looking to buy that were in the same paddock as Edward. She said that rams made her nervous. I said to just ignore him and next thing he gave her a gentle bump. Later that day I mentioned to Richie that we would have to watch Edward. I don’t think he believed me but a few days later when both he and I were in the paddock, Edward was taking particular interest in me. When Edward was about 30m away from us I heard him coming up behind us at a run. I swung around to face him and he just caught me as I moved away, luckily not too hard. I picked up a stick as he went to come at me again and hit him several times until he ran off. Luckily for me, there were sticks in the paddock. Edward was issued with a one-way ticket that very day but the weather has so far prevented his departure, so it was with some trepidation I returned with Richie to the paddock to worm the goats. Of course, Edward was the perfect gentleman with Richie so I let him put them in the pen. I proceeded to drench the goats from the outside of the pen while Richie held the goats. I left two stout pieces of heavy poly outside the paddock gate in case they are needed when loading Edward next week for his final voyage. We will divide the trailer in two and the other tickets for the fare on the trailer belong to two big fence hopping goats if we can catch them!
I have had a change of heart in deciding not to go ahead with the Gypsy Wagon – Shepherds Hut project. Considering the large amount of money I would need to sink into it, I have decided a converted bus would be a better project! Not just any old bus of course. I spotted an ad for a 1947 REO bus on Gumtree, and a 1952 model as well. Both belonged to the same owner but one was in Brisbane and one at Deepwater. It was with much excitement that Dear Richie and I headed off on Saturday for a rare day off the farm to Deepwater. Luckily, despite the flooding in Warwick and Stanthorpe, the road was clear and quiet all the way there. The asking price for the bus was over my budget and although in excellent condition for age would require a total refit. It was with a heavy heart that I decided to say no to the REO. We didn’t come away empty-handed though. Richie spotted a White Truck engine and gearbox for which he parted with $200. Actually, Dear Richie only parted with $100 as that was all the cash he had so I guess I am half owner of a monster motor – something I have no idea what we will do with. We could not pick it up at the time as it was too wet and we had no way of lifting it so I reckon it will cost a fair bit more than $200 by the time we get it home! We are going down to look at the other REO next weekend. It, however, requires even more work to restore although it does have more character. In a funny turn of events, I had been chatting to one of our former camping guests that lived on the Sunshine Coast and when I mentioned the bus hunt to him he was just as excited as me and mentioned he would love to help us restore a bus as he has done this before. How grateful I am as I certainly don’t have the necessary skills or time to be more than someone to pass the tools and hold things!
Now here are a couple of facts courtesy of the busman (who has an amazing website) that you don’t know about REO Vehicles.
1. REO stands for Ransome Eli Olds – inventor of the Oldsmobile.
2. The first REO commercial vehicle was called the REO Speedwagon which leads us to number three which you most likely have guessed by now.
3. Like me you will most likely know the band REO Speedwagon prounced R.E.O. Speedwagon (Think “Take it on the run” and “Keep on loving you” – One of the band members saw REO Speedwagon written on the blackboard during a history lesson and hence the name of the band.
So if any readers know of a good but older bus for sale, please let me know.
The Faverolle Fowl
A dual-purpose breed originating in France known to have personality plus, the breed was derived from crossing the Dorking, Houdan and other Asian Breeds. The Faverolle has 5 toes, a beard and earmuffs. They also have feathered legs. They are a medium-sized fowl and lay tinted eggs – around 180-200 per year. They do come in bantam as well as large although I myself have not seen any in Australia. Our President Anne Sim tells me that she keeps them. She has told me the story of how she came to breed this smart-looking chook:
Most poultry breeds (well almost all) have a bantam equivalent. These bantams are supposed to look just like the full version, but weigh less.
I had been hearing about bantams of many breeds; that the egg size was quite good, but they ate a lot less and took up less space. A really good scenario.
I decided to get some bantam Faverolles. When I started looking there were not many breeders around so it took me a while to purchase some eggs. After I had had the bantams for a while I decided to purchase some eggs for full-size Faverolles. I really did see the difference. Yes, much, much bigger, ate much, much more food and the egg size was not that much bigger.
Unfortunately, a local dog came in and killed them all! But as fortune would have it I had eggs in the incubator at that time, so was able to continue with the breed.
Faverolles have an interesting history. They are a utility breed originating just outside of Paris, for eggs and meat. They are readily identified by their beard and muff (mutton chops). The original colour is called salmon which is the colour of the hens and the roosters are a different colour. So if you don’t want to rear a pen of roosters they can be identified very early. They are now available in many colours, but I prefer the original.
I find that they have nice friendly temperaments. They will go broody but not often. They lay really well when young but by three years old have slowed down a lot.
Bantam Faverolles are new, and their type is not set. There is so much to get right. And so much to go wrong. Probably the first thing is to get the size to bantam. This is constantly breeding the smallest to the smallest. Then there is type. Do they really look like a utility bird? And then the fine points; colour, beards and muffs, and did I mention, they have 5 toes, not the usual 4.
It has been a time of great learning. I have learned about nutrition. It’s not just chucking a few scraps to get good fertility. Once the eggs are laid they have to be handled correctly to maximize hatching. I use an incubator which has to have the correct temperature and humidity. Then once the eggs hatch the chicks have to be cared for until they are old enough to go outside. It does not matter what breed you have but I want to rear the healthiest and best birds I can.
My aim is to breed a pen of near-perfect bantam Faverolles, but I have been told to just try to breed one top one! One of my friends has told me it could take 40 years.
Well, maybe you will see me one day in years to come as the old lady with her walking frame at a poultry show and her pet chickens.
