365 days of gratitude

One duck shooting weekend we returned home to find that all had not gone well for the shooters on our property and one had gone to hospital in an ambulance.

This weekend, all went well. More than 100 ducks were shot on one of our dams, a much-needed cull of the birds which contribute massively to a degradation in water quality.

The shooters had fun and none was injured and I’m grateful for that.

 

Word of the day

Cuggermugger –  someone who gossips behind someone’s back; whispered gossip.

Beyond Caring

I don’t have many vices beyond caring what other people think, she said, but that’s a big one. – Beyond Caring – © 2018 Brian Andreas – posted with permission.

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Rural round-up

Johan’s unusual job – Samantha tennent:

Johan Fourie always gets a kick telling people he works in the “sex industry”, particularly unsuspecting townies. His official role is the production farm manager for CRV Ambreed at Bellevue Farm in the Waikato.

The 26-year-old South African is responsible for the semen harvesting, animal health care and well-being and general semen production of CRV’s bulls.

There are around 160-180 bulls on the farm at any one time, with a maximum capacity of 250. The farm is set up in different parts; the internal barns and paddocks make up the EU Facility and the outer parts of the farm are the isolation and pre-quarantine areas. . . 

Century farmers to be recognised :

The New Zealand Century Farm and Station Awards committee in Lawrence, Otago, is preparing for its awards dinner in May where it will formally honour 32 families who have farmed their land for 100 years or more. Eleven are families that have kept their farm for 150 years.

 Also starting to filter through is land that was distributed under the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Act in 1915 which allowed returned servicemen to be granted farmland on generous terms and given access to cheap loans to develop.

Committee chairwoman Karen Roughan says the work ahead of these soldiers was immense. “Often the land the men were allocated was remote, densely forested with virgin bush and without easy access by road. Many of the soldier-settlers lacked farming experience, were undercapitalised and faced long periods of time on their own as they battled to build a new home and develop sustainable living off their land. A large percentage gave up and walked off the land, often with hefty mortgages owing. . .

Fonterra’s milk collection back 2% :

Fonterra’s milk collection this season is tracking 2% lower than in 2017, a steeper decline than for the industry as a whole and suggesting rivals have picked up more of the national milk pool.

Fonterra’s global dairy update says the company collected about 1.31 million kilograms of milk solids in New Zealand in the 10 months ended March 31. It expects production for the whole season ending May 31 will be down on the previous year at 1.5 million kg/MS, an improvement on its previous estimate of 1.48 million kg/MS. It cited difficult weather for the decline. Fonterra’s share of the national milk pool is about 82%. . . 

 

https://twitter.com/fedsfalloon/status/992263591372898309

Entries Open for Pork, Bacon And Ham Awards:

New Zealand’s greatest butchers and meat producers will once again compete to showcase their unique skills and innovative products this June, with entries now open for this year’s New Zealand Pork, Bacon and Ham Awards.

The competition – which draws hundreds of entries from butchers, producers and deli owners nationwide – will present awards for Innovative Pork, Convenient Pork, as well as a range of categories featuring prime New Zealand bacon and ham.

CEO David Moffett says NZ Pork founded the awards to provide retailers the opportunity to showcase their very best PigCareTM Accredited New Zealand pork products. . . 

This ‘climate beneficial’ wool hat comes from carbon positive sheep – Adele Peters:

At the southern end of the Surprise Valley on the border of California and Nevada, Bare Ranch looks essentially like it did in the early 1900s: sheep and cattle grazing on broad fields under a backdrop of mountains. But because of some subtle changes, the ranch now produces what’s being marketed as “climate beneficial” wool.

The wool–which The North Face is using in a new beanie with the tagline, “Warm your dome, not the globe”–is produced in a way that allows the ranchers to sequester large amounts of carbon as they raise sheep. In a year, Bare Ranch’s methods will sequester around 4,000 metric tons of CO2, offsetting the emissions from roughly 850 cars. . . 

whippersnapper getting quite handy at holding up ewes for me to catch. Hope he's still got an out run in him now!#sheep365 #sheepdog pic.twitter.com/p6xDu2lj2K

— sarah walker (@shepherdskyline) May 3, 2018

Latest study confirms an animal-free food system is not holistically sustainable – Sara Place:

Let’s be clear, a healthy and sustainable food system depends on having both plants and animals. Researchers at USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and Virginia Tech just published a study in the Proceedings of National Academies of Sciences confirming this socially debated fact. The study examined what our world would look like without animal agriculture in the U.S. The bottom line? We’d reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. by 2.6 percent, and 0.36 percent globally[1] — but we’d also upset our balanced food ecosystem and lack essential dietary nutrients to feed all Americans.

One important role livestock — such as cattle — play in our sustainable food system is taking human inedible food and ultimately making it nutritious. Specifically, cattle act as upcyclers — meaning they eat grasses and plant matter leftover from human food production and upgrade them into nutritional, high-quality protein. In fact, they produce 19 percent more edible protein than they consume[2]. . . 

 

Sunday soapbox

Sunday’s soapbox is yours to use as you will – within the bounds of decency and absence of defamation. You’re welcome to look backwards or forwards, discuss issues of the moment, to pontificate, ponder or point us to something of interest, to educate, elucidate or entertain, amuse, bemuse or simply muse, but not abuse.

If you keep your feathers well oiled the water of criticism will run off as from a duck’s back – Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards.

May 6 in history

1527  Spanish and German troops sacked Rome;  147 Swiss Guards, including their commander, died fighting the forces of Charles V in order to allow Pope Clement VII to escape into Castel Sant’Angelo.

1536  King Henry VIII ordered English language Bibles be placed in every church.

1542  Francis Xavier reached Old Goa, the capital of Portuguese India at the time.

1682  Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles.

1757  Battle of Prague – A Prussian army fought an Austrian army in Prague during the Seven Years’ War.

1758 Maximilien Robespierre, French Revolutionary was born (d. 1794).

1816  The American Bible Society was founded.

1835 James Gordon Bennett, Sr. published the first issue of the New York Herald.

1840  The Penny Black postage stamp beccame valid for use in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1856 Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist, was born (d. 1939).

1856 Robert Peary, American explorer, was born  (d. 1920).

1857  The British East India Company disbanded the 34th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry whose sepoy Mangal Pandey had earlier revolted against the British and is considered to be the First Martyr in the War of India’s Independence.

1860  Giuseppe Garibaldi’s Mille expedition sets sail from Genoa to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

1861  Motilal Nehru, Indian freedom fighter, was born (d. 1931).

1861  American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia was declared the new capital of the Confederate States of America.

1863 American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ended with the defeat of the Army of the Potomac by Confederate troops.

1869 – Colonial troops invaded the Urewera.

1877 Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrendered to United States troops in Nebraska.

1880 – Winifred Brunton, English-South African painter and illustrator, was born (d. 1959).

1882 Thomas Henry Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish were stabbed and killed during the Phoenix Park Murders in Dublin.

1882  The United States Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act.

1889  The Eiffel Tower was officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition.

1895 Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor, was born (d. 1926).

1904 Moshe Feldenkrais, Ukrainian-born founder of the Feldenkrais method, was born (d. 1984).

1910  George V beccame  King of the United Kingdom upon the death of his father, Edward VII.

1915  Orson Welles, American film director and actor, was born (d. 1985).

1920 Kamisese Mara, 1st Prime Minister of Fiji and President of Fiji, was born (d. 2004).

1935  New Deal: Executive Order 7034 created the Works Progress Administration.

1935  The first flight of the Curtiss P-36 Hawk.

1937  Hindenburg disaster:  Thirty six people were killed when the German zeppelin Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey.

1940  John Steinbeck was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.

1941   Bob Hope performed his first USO show.

1941  The first flight of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.

1942  World War II:  On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrendered to the Japanese.

1945  World War II: Axis Sally  delivered her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.

1945 Bob Seger, American singer/songwriter, was born.

1945 – World War II: The Prague Offensive, the last major battle of the Eastern Front, began.

1947 –Alan Dale, New Zealand actor, was born.

1953 Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister, was born.

1954 Roger Bannister became the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.

1960 More than 20 million viewers watch the first televised royal wedding when Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey.

1962  St. Martín de Porres was canonized by Pope John XXIII.

1966 Myra Hindley and Ian Brady were sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors Murders in England.

1976  An earthquake struck Friuli, causing 989 deaths and the destruction of entire villages.

1981  A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selected Maya Ying Lin’s design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.

1983 – Ingrid Jonach, Australian author, was born.

1983  The Hitler diaries were revealed as a hoax after examination by experts.

1984  – 103 Korean Martyrs were canonized by Pope John Paul II in Seoul.

1989 Cedar Point opened Magnum XL-200, the first roller coaster to break the 200 ft height barrier.

1994  Queen Elizabeth II and French President François Mitterrand officiated at the opening of the Channel Tunnel.

1994 – Former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones filed suit against President Bill Clinton, alleging that he had sexually harassed her in 1991.

1997 The Bank of England was given independence from political control, the most significant change in the bank’s 300-year history..

1999  First elections to the devolved Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly were held.

2001  During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II became the first pope to enter a mosque.

2002  Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was assassinated by an animal rights activist.

2008 Chaiten Volcano erupted in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.

2013 – Three women missing for more than a decade were found alive inCleveland, Ohio, while a 52-year-old man, Ariel Castro, was taken into custody.

2014 – Six people were injured in a knife attack at a Chinese train station in Guangzhou.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia