This Sustainable House

Posts Tagged ‘predator’

One of the disadvantages of living in a rural area, at least in Australia, is the flies. They lay their eggs in animal manure, and as a result can be legion in an area in which one is surrounded by animals. In the case of TSH we have the cattle, pigs and chickens, as well as the sheep & horses surrounding the property.

To add to the problem, the flys aren’t just annoying but can cause issues with the stock through biting. We therefore need to control them.

Control can take one of three possible routes, or a combination thereof. These protocols are chemical control (pesticides), trapping and biological control. At TSH, chemical control is always the last resort, or act of desperation, and therefore doesn’t apply to this scenario. So we are left with trapping and biological control.

Before I go any further, let me point out an important fact… I’m a lazy sod! I don’t believe in doing something if someone, or something else, would like to do it for me. I am therefore naturally inclined towards biological control. In this case, Biological control will take two paths. Read the rest of this entry »

I know that the above phrase normally goes the other way around, but in this case I noticed the curse first…

A couple of months ago I decided to revegetate a sacrificial paddock. A sacrificial paddock is one in which the animals are maintained for longer than would normally be prudent.  This would normally be a landcare nightmare but in this case a small area was chosen, which was already significantly degraded, which could be intensively revegetated following the animals.

I chose to build 2 sacrificial paddocks near the front gate for this purpose as the soil in that location was already bare hardpan, and their location would be ideal for quarantine/holding/calving paddocks moving forward. They are approx. 0.2 acres in size each.

A pair of the mischevious maruaders...

The plan to revegetate was to cover the soil with straw to a depth of about 1-2cm, and then Read the rest of this entry »

For me, one of the downsides of the ‘country life’ is that death is always so near. When we live in a city we don’t see a lot of death, at least overtly, but in the country you come face to face with it daily.

Everything from possum carcasses left by foxes, to kangaroos killed by cars, to the gruesome scene to greet me this morning… My whole flock of chickens dead.

It appears that the pen had a spot where the wire wasn’t as securely tied as elsewhere. Something, presumably a dog due to the strength required, has torn the wire at this location and used the hole to enter the run.

At that point my girls, and a couple of boys, didn’t stand a chance. Of the 16 birds, 15 bodies were recovered suggesting that one was taken or made it out itself. There was no sign of this bird this morning.

The real loss of this is that not only have we lost production capability, but that I have also broken my promise to protect them. They were totally reliant on me to keep them safe.

So the next step is to rebuild. First the pen, to make it like wormwood scrubs, then the flock.

The guilt however might take longer to disappear…