"I came across an echidna, about three parts grown"


Which three parts were grown DaveO ??

Lucky he didn't curl up or you would have felt a right prick eh??

Onya for looking after the little guy.

Well done Dave! It's a great feeling to care for our wildlife.
Are there wildlife carers in your district around Pirie? If you don't have a chance to take the animals to a better place they will come and pick the animal up, make sure it's well and unharmed, and then they relocate it. It's a great service, all done by volunteers, once again.
You done good. I guess it broke the monotony of lining up at the silos, or do they handle the grain quicker these days? Lucky you don't suffer with hay fever.

I spent over 16 years supporting RSPCA.as an acting ranger volunteer..in those years I was involved with a Conservation Society....looking after sick and injured birds...theres nothing like...after caring for a Brown Falcon....with broken wing and foot........to get it ring tagged and opening a carry box in the wild.......and see it ....jump out ..stretch its wings and take off....circle me few times .screeech..and fly away..

Davo.....I know how you feel Mate

Dave

Hi Dave
Had to go out & install a new drum & concave plus a new set of elevator bars to a Massey Ferguson 585 header a long time ago, The driver had chased a small fox into the centre of the paddock & put him threw on the last pass. Very expensive exercise. I think he thought it was funny until the drum belt started to smoke.....

Just went past the paddock you are working in at the moment & saw an echidna family putting up a small notice on the gate post, It said something about their son had been kidnapped by some guy driving a header & was then passed on to a bloke in a car who then drove off at great speed. I told them their son was now holidaying in sunny Clare & not to worry... LOL

Lovely story Dave, I love those little beasties, they are so adorable, spines and all.

yep I seen mum and dad echidna's this morning, they were sitting under the shade of a tree in their lielows sucking on a cascade, they just give me the "thumbs up" as I drove past, a big smile on their face, seems little "spike" was a handfull in amongst the wildlife

I remember the 585, a good machine, cant compare it with the Deere though, all manual on the massey but pretty much all auto on this thing, no changing sieves or screens or straw walkers its all done by computer, dont even have to worry about the fan speed all taken care of

dial in the crop and all is set, we have stone excluders on the comb which keeps out anything bigger than fist size, a pain sometimes if we go a bit quick through the thicker stuff (they can block up) but a godsend when we have to get a bit low

Back in the good old days, when the men were men & the sheep were nervous, no such thing as an airconditioned cab back then, had the big Massey Ferguson Beach umbrella - red & grey.
The only thing to quench your thirst was when the truck eventially got back from the silo in town with a dozen long necked Melbourne Bitters. Jees that truck looked good coming in the gate.........

-- Edited by biggles on Saturday 31st of October 2009 05:19:44 PM

back when my mums dad was alive and they lived on the old farm, they didn't even have tractors

my parents owned a milk round/dairy cattle/and mixed cropping land, I came in at the end of the "horse" era (thank god)

I could never get the "knack" of handling horses, if ploughing was to be done then there was a certain horse that would only work in the "trench" and would not work on the "uphill" side of the cut, another was the "leader" and would not work anywhere else, get it wrong and mayhem would be sure to follow, traces and bridles would be strewn all over the joint, with hours of recovery to follow

it took half an hour to get the nags ready and a further hour to feed wash and groom them every night to put them to bed, also about three hours every weekend cutting the chaff for them, a filthy job

I had to ride a horse out checking stock and water, at every gate there would be a problem, the damn thing would wait until we were at the furthest gate, then a little rattling of the chain on the gate and the damn thing would bolt leaving me to walk about 10 miles back to the homestead where I would still have to see to the horse before myself

I never liked horses, cantankerous, obnoxious, self effacing mongrel mobile glue pots, they bight at one end, kick at the other and buck in the middle

we had one that would wait till your back was turned and then come over and bight right in the centre of your shoulders, hell it hurt, I actually punched the thing once right on the nose one day, didn't stop it but made me feel better for a little while, another used to deliberately line up your feet and stomp on them, or stand on them as you were getting them ready for the days work, I carry many scars from those days

we had a couple of lovely mares that wouldn't harm a fly, they sort of made up for the rest

I much prefer the "machine age", I was really glad to see the first of two Minneapolis Moline (twin city's) tractors to come on the back of the truck, the first was a steel wheel and the second a pneumatic tyre, then came the 12 row seeder and many other mechanical marvels, the "sp" header was an absolute dream, no more PTO sore neck ones

horseys went the way of all of the nineteenth century ways, thank god

Why can't I edit my Post? Is it because I signed Gayle instead of xina?

the good old days are good in memory and thats about all, those that went through them are more than happy to see them in the mirrors

hell I remember 12 - 15 hour days and seven day weeks, lunch taken on the go and no breaks, heeeeeyyyyy!!!! wait a minute, nothing has changed, something wrong here!!!