Salting, Fencing and Fasting

Babies everywhere this morning. The Blue tagged girl from the 7 cows on the river finally calved. I was getting a bit worried and have been carrying the calf puller in the back of the ute for a few days. A new baby appeared on hill next door. There are 16 Springers there, hopefully they will start popping out. Nothing new over the river in that 25.This slow start is painful.

Blue Tag's baby - pretty fresh

And up on the hill a newby

Calf Puller strapped in

Being a fast day I started with a strong coffee with almost no milk - bloody awful. The rest of the day included a coupe of cups of weak miso soup. The hunger pangs disappeared after 2pm. by 5pm didn't even feel as if I hadn't eaten. The body must be getting into the routine.

Salted the Roquefort this morning. The small rounds went into a 20% brine for 90 minutes and the larger rounds received a layer of salt equal to 2% of their weight. Will add another 1 to 1.5% onto their other side when the first application has dissolved. Previously one application of 4.1% was used but found it a bit salty. Doing two applications will also allow a taste test before committing. The small rounds were allowed to dry overnight before going into the cheese fridge.

2% by weight salt

Rode the push bike over the river and spent 4 hours fencing. Only two holes will need to be either barred out or jack hammered the rest were fine and the posts were stood. The westerly wing was up and there was a bit of waiting for the string line to settle down but eventually it all went well. It looks pretty good. These round plastic fence posts certainly take a little more effort to get a good visual look but at least they aren't as heavy as the wooden posts. One fencer I worked had great eyesight and we never needed a string line. He'd direct me as I held a steel post and I'd mark the ground accordingly - a hell of a lot quicker than rolling out string in the wind.

Straight Line