Hello everyone!
Molly here again with your monthly update from the farm and why we do what we do! This month I thought I would give you some insight into what we do when we aren’t working with cattle or fencing. When we aren’t in the yards, we are working with large pieces of machinery that all need to be properly maintained so that they continue to work!
PINK BEEF BOX UPDATEMarch Delivery is coming up fast so get in and get your order to make sure that you don't miss out!
For March 5
th, 6
th & 7
th please click:
https://fourdaughters.com.au/collections/all/products/150-day-premium-black-angus-beef-box-mar-5-6-7th-delivery We also have the link up to order for our April delivery on the 9
th, 10
th, & 11
th so if you are still chewing on your February delivery maybe this is the one for you.
https://fourdaughters.com.au/collections/all/products/150-day-premium-black-angus-beef-box-april-9th-10th-11th-delivery Please remember to add on products once you have ordered your box. These products are selling out very quickly and if they are sold out, they will not be visible on the webpage.
We now also have some NEW PRODUCTS which you may or may not have heard of:
- Beef Burger Patties - $12 per pack (6pk)
- Beef Sliders - $18 per tray (24pk)
- Corned meat - $17/kg (approx. 2.5kg)
For the pets!!
- Pet mince - $5/kg (minced heart and tongue only)
- Pet Food - diced kidney
These are not on our web page but if you are interested to pre-order please just reply to your order confirmation email.___________________________________________________________________
DAY TO DAY UPDATE We have had some rain! I’m sure many of you heard on the last newsletter or on the meat delivery that we have had some liquid gold fall from the skies, and the best news is that we have continued to get some nice falls. For the year so far we have had 179mm of rainfall which has allowed our megasweet sorghum, that we planted to get its roots in the ground and grow. The sorghum is now between 40cm and 2m tall depending on when it was planted and still growing. We have planted this crop to be chopped for silage – a feed that we add to the cattle’s ration every day.
The rain has also run a bit of water into the dams; however, plenty more is needed to fill them so fingers crossed it is still coming.
The school year has started which means that everyone is starting to go back to their ‘place’ for the year. Matilda has gone back to finish her last year of school (Yipee!). Jemima is back up north on a cattle station 90km north of Cloncurry. I (Molly) haven’t gone anywhere. I am still working at home and am in my final year of studying Accounting, and Bonnie is teaching at two of the local primary schools 3 days a week then back feeding and all farm jobs for the rest of the week. Oh, and Mum and Dad are as busy as working hard like they always do.
So now that you are all caught up on what’s been happening, I thought I’d give you all a little run down on our jobs when it comes to machinery, what we do with them and what we have to do to ensure that they always start and go when we want them to.
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MACHINES AND MACHINERY MAINTENANCEFor as long as I can remember we have been sitting in machines, from motor bikes, four wheelers, cars, utes, trucks, loaders, tractors, dozers and more. When we were younger, we would just sit with dad, until the time came when we were deemed ‘old enough’ to drive them ourselves and dad would then spend half an hour sitting and explaining every detail thoroughly and then it would be up to us to drive.
Dad has always explained to us that one important thing about using machinery is that you have to know how to fix it if it breaks, but the most important thing is to properly maintain it to ensure that there is less chance of something breaking.
Our first bit of automotive maintenance was learned when we got an old van to drive ourselves to school through the paddock. The old van had a hole in the radiator and this malfunction meant that before even turning the key we had to get our water drum out of the back and top the water up to ensure that it didn't overheat and stop us from getting to school. While we were topping up the water dad informed us that it was always good to check the oil, so that became our daily routine – from the age of 10!
Now days we drive many more vehicles than just the old van, which has now been retired.
So instead of checking the water and oil in the van every day we check the water and oil in the loader and mixer tractor every day.
Every Friday is our general machinery maintenance day where we ensure that all the everyday machines that we drive are ready for the next week. Firstly, the loader and mixer tractor are fuelled up and then we grease every moving joint in both machines. This allows the machines to move freely without wearing out excessively. We also blow out the radiators to remove all the dust, hay and other particles that reduce the air flow through the radiator, this ensures that the engine stays cool and doesn't overheat. Every 200 hours we change the engine oils in the machines as well as the oil filters and fuel filters. We also have to record all of this information, so we are accountable for actually really doing it and not just saying we did it!
The loaders and mixer tractors are the most used machines and therefore get weekly maintenance, while the other machines are used less frequently and only get serviced approximately every 20 hours of work…… Until next month… we hope you have learnt a little about why we do what we do!
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