What did you do today?

[NTSOG]

G'day BR,

After the drama on Friday the last cow dropped her calf yesterday without issue. That's a relief. The knacker will be here today for the other cow. Now for hay-cutting. The season is early as the ground is petty dry. We like to cut it a little green and let it cure for a bit in the rows. Of course then we might just get a 'tropical' downpour on it!

[bladeracer]

G'day BR,

After the drama on Friday the last cow dropped her calf yesterday without issue. That's a relief. The knacker will be here today for the other cow. Now for hay-cutting. The season is early as the ground is petty dry. We like to cut it a little green and let it cure for a bit in the rows. Of course then we might just get a 'tropical' downpour on it!

We tagged and bagged them all this morning (we only got six boy calves). We had planned to do them yesterday then move them down the road as Sunday is the best time to that. But I woke up yesterday at 0500 with pains in my chest that wouldn't settle so we decided to go to hospital. They did two blood tests and two ECG's but couldn't find anything and by 1100 we came home again, but we were both buggered by then. So we'll take them down the road this evening after the quarry trucks have stopped and working people have come home. We have to close the road for about ten minutes.

We don't do any hay, lots of people around here do though so we just buy it from them when we need it.

[NTSOG]

G'day BR, I trust you're feeling a bit better. 70% of our calves are heifers. I'd rather bulls as they attract a better price and we don't need any replacement breeders just yet.

Jim

[Wm.Traynor]

Pains in the chest! Crikey, no wonder you went to hospital. Look after yourself BR

[bladeracer]

Pains in the chest! Crikey, no wonder you went to hospital. Look after yourself BR

It was pretty strange and unusual. It woke me up so perhaps I was just sleeping in a funny position or something. I rolled different ways trying to get comfortable to go back to sleep but it wasn't settling. So I got up and had a wee and some water thinking a little walk might straighten it out, still no good. And I noticed I was getting short of breath when speaking. So we decided to play it safe and go into town. The pain ended after about an hour though I did have two twinges while at the hospital, and my breathing was back to normal after three hours. Really have no clue what it was. Bloods were fine, chest xray fine, ECG's fine. It was an honour to have a 98-year-old chap in the bed next to me, he looked and sounded younger than me and seemed to be doing great - not sure why he was in there. I'm fine today though I am lacking some stamina and needed a nap this arvo. We just got finished moving the cows down to the middle block. The pump wasn't happy pumping water up to the top of the hill so we had it running real slow, took maybe 45 minutes to fill two 600-litre troughs. If we try bumping up the revs it tends to just blow the hose joints apart, and we were too knackered by then to want to deal with that, and it was getting dark,, so we took it easy

[Oldbloke]

Seen 4 foxes over 2 days. Not one would come into a whistle.

BR, anxiety/worry can bring that on?

[bladeracer]

Seen 4 foxes over 2 days. Not one would come into a whistle.

BR, anxiety/worry can bring that on?

Probably can but I don't suffer with either of those. As I said, the sensation was not something I've experienced before, and really struggled to describe it. More discomfort than pain, but fairly severe. Really quite odd.

[Flyonline]

Intercostal muscle cramps or strain? I had one that felt like I’d been stabbed, couldn’t do anything, hurt to breathe and killed me to cough or laugh. Still no idea what caused it.

[Oldbloke]

Seen 4 foxes over 2 days. Not one would come into a whistle.

BR, anxiety/worry can bring that on?

Probably can but I don't suffer with either of those. As I said, the sensation was not something I've experienced before, and really struggled to describe it. More discomfort than pain, but fairly severe. Really quite odd.

Well, just glad yr ok.

[bladeracer]

Intercostal muscle cramps or strain? I had one that felt like I’d been stabbed, couldn’t do anything, hurt to breathe and killed me to cough or laugh. Still no idea what caused it.

Haven't heard of that before, I'll look it up.
When Rose first asked me to describe it an image flashed through my mind of air bubbles in meat. I have no idea of the relevance of that image, that's just what flashed up

I looked at the intercostal cramps and it's plausible. But I do get cramps in my calves, my second toe and third finger on both hands and feet. So I'm familiar with that sort of pain, this was a different experience. I've also torn my abdominal muscles several times and that is very different. I guess if I'd been laying in an awkward position for some time, then moved, perhaps the muscles were just unhappy. But I wouldn't have expected it to last that long, or explain the breathing issue. My breathing seemed fine, but I wasn't holding enough air to be able to talk. I'm seeing my doc in two weeks and she might want to make some further investigations, but I'm fine now. If it ever occurs again I'll definitely be chasing it up to find the cause

[bladeracer]

Seen 4 foxes over 2 days. Not one would come into a whistle.

BR, anxiety/worry can bring that on?

Probably can but I don't suffer with either of those. As I said, the sensation was not something I've experienced before, and really struggled to describe it. More discomfort than pain, but fairly severe. Really quite odd.

Well, just glad yr ok.

So are we

[NTSOG]

G'day,

Damage to the intercostals or spasm/cramp in the intercostals is painful. We don't pay much attention to our rib-cage until its sore then we find out that breathing, bending, twisting can be very limited as the muscles between the ribs start screaming. As Flyonline says coughing and laughing can be really good fun too.

Jim

[bladeracer]

G'day,

Damage to the intercostals or spasm/cramp in the intercostals is painful. We don't pay much attention to our rib-cage until its sore then we find out that breathing, bending, twisting can be very limited as the muscles between the ribs start screaming. As Flyonline says coughing and laughing can be really good fun too.

Jim

I've broken lots of ribs so I'm aware of how damage to the ribs greatly effects everyday life, so it's plausible this could be related to previous damage, though it's taken many years to become apparent. This didn't really cause me any of those difficulties that broken ribs do though, I could still move around just fine and doing so didn't make it any worse.

[bladeracer]

G'day BR, I trust you're feeling a bit better. 70% of our calves are heifers. I'd rather bulls as they attract a better price and we don't need any replacement breeders just yet.

Jim

Hey Jim
Everything was going tickety boo. When we moved the cows down the road on Monday evening one little one must've fallen asleep along the road. I counted and counted and kept coming up one short, so we walked back along the road winding up the electric wire and found her. I wasn't up to carrying her hundreds of meters so sat with her while Rose went and got the van.

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The little one that had been scouring we moved in the buggy as she wasn't up to the long walk. With lots of tube feeding electrolite she's over it finally and running around again. But late yesterday our last calf went down and was near death. We pushed a few litres of electrolite into him but he died about thirty minutes later and we couldn't bring him back. I suspect a snake bite as we lost a calf in the same paddock a few years ago and the neighbour found his dog dead there for no reason. Mum was bellowing in our ears but we got him into the buggy to get him up to the van, and brought him back home. Rose got on the phone to find a poddy while I skinned him. She found a five-day-old twenty minutes away whose mother had died the day before to a suspected snake bite. So we went and got her, came back to the house, wrapped the skin around her still in the van, and went back to the paddock. She was confused about getting out of the van so Rose got in with her and got a nasty kick in the knee, the calf panicked, backed out and flipped onto her back. But she jumped up and headed straight for her new mum's teats, who stood there and quietly accepted her. They must think we're magicians the way we take their dying babies away and bring them back good as new, even changing their sex. This morning they're just fine so our next task will be to try to cut the skin off the frisky little kicker

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Composting the dead one today and splitting firewood but I hope to try out my new target rack this arvo.

[Bugman]

Nothing as frustrating and heartbreaking as that. I just reloaded some crackers.

[bigpete]

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Did a run for rabbits on one of my work blocks. Scored 8 hares instead ( 3 were already in the esky at time of photo )

[wanneroo]

Scrambling to get stuff done before winter comes. Trying to finish up outdoor property maintenance such as pressure washing, cutting back brush, etc. Days are getting short, temps are dropping but looks like I have a window of about five days with the temps above 10C with some sun, so I will need to crack on and get it all done.

[Flyonline]

I looked at the intercostal cramps and it's plausible. But I do get cramps in my calves, my second toe and third finger on both hands and feet. So I'm familiar with that sort of pain, this was a different experience. I've also torn my abdominal muscles several times and that is very different. I guess if I'd been laying in an awkward position for some time, then moved, perhaps the muscles were just unhappy. But I wouldn't have expected it to last that long, or explain the breathing issue. My breathing seemed fine, but I wasn't holding enough air to be able to talk. I'm seeing my doc in two weeks and she might want to make some further investigations, but I'm fine now. If it ever occurs again I'll definitely be chasing it up to find the cause

I get cramps also, and my episode was nothing like them. I could breathe in ok to a point, then it was like a vice suddenly clamping and I hurriedly breathed out/released any pressure. Movement was ok except for a couple of specific movements which caused red hot pain in indeterminate places i.e. I could never really track it down.

Anyway, glad you're on the mend!

Picked up a Zerotech Vengance in 3-12 x 40 which I dropped onto an Artic Fox 1pc mount on the 97k the other day. Got it roughly sited in the shed then took it out today. Zeroed at 20m it's a bees apendage high at 10m, zero hold between 15 and 30 and ~1.5" low at 35 which is as far as I took it. Even in windy conditions and a wobbly DIY tripod I managed a genuine 5 shot sub MOA @ 30m so I'm hoping a little more heavy duty rest and calm evening conditions will let me stretch it out to 40m or so for rabbits

I also installed a Tbt spring and top hat which has cured the spring 'twang' but I'll have to attack the underlever now as it's rattling on the shot and driving me crazy, and probably not helping accuracy either. Other than that, very very happy with how it's turned out.

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[bladeracer]

1 minute at 30m is 8.7mm.

I looked at the intercostal cramps and it's plausible. But I do get cramps in my calves, my second toe and third finger on both hands and feet. So I'm familiar with that sort of pain, this was a different experience. I've also torn my abdominal muscles several times and that is very different. I guess if I'd been laying in an awkward position for some time, then moved, perhaps the muscles were just unhappy. But I wouldn't have expected it to last that long, or explain the breathing issue. My breathing seemed fine, but I wasn't holding enough air to be able to talk. I'm seeing my doc in two weeks and she might want to make some further investigations, but I'm fine now. If it ever occurs again I'll definitely be chasing it up to find the cause

I get cramps also, and my episode was nothing like them. I could breathe in ok to a point, then it was like a vice suddenly clamping and I hurriedly breathed out/released any pressure. Movement was ok except for a couple of specific movements which caused red hot pain in indeterminate places i.e. I could never really track it down.

Anyway, glad you're on the mend!

Picked up a Zerotech Vengance in 3-12 x 40 which I dropped onto an Artic Fox 1pc mount on the 97k the other day. Got it roughly sited in the shed then took it out today. Zeroed at 20m it's a bees apendage high at 10m, zero hold between 15 and 30 and ~1.5" low at 35 which is as far as I took it. Even in windy conditions and a wobbly DIY tripod I managed a genuine 5 shot sub MOA @ 30m so I'm hoping a little more heavy duty rest and calm evening conditions will let me stretch it out to 40m or so for rabbits

I also installed a Tbt spring and top hat which has cured the spring 'twang' but I'll have to attack the underlever now as it's rattling on the shot and driving me crazy, and probably not helping accuracy either. Other than that, very very happy with how it's turned out.

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[Flyonline]

1 minute at 30m is 8.7mm.]

Yeah I realised that after I posted. Should be 1” @ 30m

[bladeracer]

1 minute at 30m is 8.7mm.]

Yeah I realised that after I posted. Should be 1” @ 30m

Sorry, was in the car trying to respond on the phone I'm guessing the 97k is an air-rifle? .177 or .22 cal?

I'm feeling just fine still, whatever it was I'm hoping it was a one-off event. Rose managed to sneak up on the new calf while it was asleep and cut the skin off it, so that went easy. Got two others that we're still giving electrolite to, they're doing pretty well but they're taking it willingly and we like to play safe. When they start getting hard to catch we figure they're strong enough not to need it anymore And another little twit was stuck in one of the troughs at lunch time so we had to drain the trough and clean it out. Have to go up when it cools down to refill it, if we do it now while the pipes are warm the joints blow apart from the water pressure.

I found a few meters of barbed wire under the grass that I couldn't pull up so I cut both ends below ground level. I carry two leatherman tools on my belt, a good size Gerber and a smaller Leatherman. The Gerber wouldn't cut the wire, but the Leatherman ate it. Leathermans are expensive but it's not the first time it's shown me that they're worth the money.

I bought 100kg of new lead last week from a leadlighter, but it's been in the car since until I could find a good strong tub to put it all in - the guy wants his drums back so he can start filling them again. No, I don't expect to be able to carry a 100kg tub of lead, but it needs to be strong enough that I can push and drag it around the floor if I ever need to move it. I got a tub today so I just need to unload that and then I'm hoping I can put some rounds on steel with the .22's.

[Flyonline]

Sorry, was in the car trying to respond on the phone I'm guessing the 97k is an air-rifle? .177 or .22 cal?

Yep, made by Weihrauch. In .177.

When they start getting hard to catch we figure they're strong enough not to need it anymore

Sounds like the James Herriot school of thought - if you can’t catch them, a vet”s not needed.

[bladeracer]

Yep, made by Weihrauch. In .177.

Sounds like the James Herriot school of thought - if you can’t catch them, a vet”s not needed.

30m is a stretch for .177, for me at least. Even 15m would be a long shot, I keep it around 10-12m max. If I need to shoot further I use a .22.

Yep, let the animal tell you how much help it needs, when they're genuinely crook they're usually pretty docile.

[Flyonline]

30m is a stretch for .177, for me at least. Even 15m would be a long shot, I keep it around 10-12m max. If I need to shoot further I use a .22.
.

Accuracy or knockdown power? I watched plenty of videos of guys killing rabbits and crows etc. out to 45m so figured I’d be fine up to 30 assuming I can shoot well enough- which looks like it will even if I don’t.

Thinking of detuning my Gamo .22 down for very quiet work or around sheds etc. With a polished piston and gas ram it’s already fairly quiet.

[bladeracer]

30m is a stretch for .177, for me at least. Even 15m would be a long shot, I keep it around 10-12m max. If I need to shoot further I use a .22.
.

Accuracy or knockdown power? I watched plenty of videos of guys killing rabbits and crows etc. out to 45m so figured I’d be fine up to 30 assuming I can shoot well enough- which looks like it will even if I don’t.

Thinking of detuning my Gamo .22 down for very quiet work or around sheds etc. With a polished piston and gas ram it’s already fairly quiet.

Both, but accuracy is what gets clean kills. Indoors I reckon 30m would be doable without too much difficulty, but outdoors in breezes, even very light ones I wouldn't be trusting those tiny pellets to go precisely where I want them to. If it were all I had I might try to take a rabbit very close, but I'd rather borrow a .22LR for that. .177 is okay for small birds and rats around the house but that's all I would ever use it for. I suppose if I practiced with it enough until I discovered precisely how far I can reliably hit a ten cent piece I might be more inclined, but I can't think of any reason I would want to when I have plenty of .22 rifles I can use instead. The .177 is certainly effective when very near the back of the rabbit's head so a lot of the gas enters the wound behind the pellet, we've put down lots of sick rabbits with it.

[bigpete]

Loaded up some 85gn pistol bullets over 11gn of trailboss yesterday in my 308w, tried a couple today,they definitely have potential

[bigpete]

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Found this awesome little Striated Worm Lizard !

[Larry]

That is pretty cool. I would have probably hit it with a spade thinking it was a baby snake. Im a bit paranoid after a couple of close encounters last week.

[bigpete]

That is pretty cool. I would have probably hit it with a spade thinking it was a baby snake. Im a bit paranoid after a couple of close encounters last week.

And that would be incredibly sad and unwarranted

[Oldbloke]

Why worry about snakes? They are just like us.
Eating
Sleeping
Giving the Mrs a pat
Looking for another feed.