From outback Aus to NZ

Hi Everyone. Glad to learn of this informative and friendly site where like-minded lifestyle dwellers enjoy sharing their experiences and knowledge.
As new-comers from a dry, dusty, hot and very remote region of Western Australia, we are enjoying the refreshing contrast that NZ offers by way of climate, lush pastures and a rural mail delivery to the front gate! How convenient We brought our two dogs with us and they now share an ever-growing menagerie consisting of a mini Kune Kune, a calf, a young donkey, miscellaneous chooks and a kitten with disturbing habits.
Our 10 acres with beautiful garden, great paddock, pretty creeks and forested areas is our patch of paradise which we are happy to call home.

Hi kerrinkarl1, welcome to the site! Your place sounds delightful, and a huge change from WA! I'm an ex-Sydney girl myself, living on 5.5 acres with creek in the Waikato. We have sheep and chooks.

Hi and I'm so glad that you have finally managed to post...sorry about all the technical hiccoughs []

Hey, you keep your foreign language to yourself. They are hiccups here
Donkeys should always be in pairs or more. Get another one soon, please. We have 19 but are too far away to loan you 15 or so ..... If yours is a jack, get him gelded as young as possible. We always get ours done when they are still on mum so that she can comfort him when he wakes up from the operation, so from 2 to 6 months old. Single jacks can be extremely agressive. There is a mini (28 inches) down here that was not brought up in a herd, who kills sheep and chases cattle.

Alright, if no-one else if going to bite - what are the kitten's disturbing habits?

kaybe;370480 wrote: Alright, if no-one else if going to bite - what are the kitten's disturbing habits?

This kitten was no more than 4 weeks old when we got her - an accidental discovery while visiting another local farm. The father may have been feral. The mother was very young but at least she was tame. The kitten is now about 10 weeks old and her antics from day 1 have been quite unpredictable, almost what you'd expect from a feral. If you go to pick her up she latches on to your hand like a wild thing. She can be sweet one minute and the next be attacking (and I mean "attacking") your hand or legs the next. The look on her face is wild, her ears are flat back and her eyes dilate, her mouth open ready to bite. We continue to provide comforts for her such as a hot water bottle at nights as she now sleeps in the shed. She was in the laundry but she treated the litter tray as if it were a play pen and regularly tipped the tray and spread the bits (including her own) all over the place. At first she did not know how to clean herself so we bathed her bottom in luke warm water which she actually seemed to enjoy. She has fairly long hair. She's the prettiest little thing but the terror streak makes her difficult to befriend, as much as we have tried. She now scares our free-roaming chooks as she is fearless and runs straight at them.
Any hints/suggestions would be welcome. We are a bit sad about this because we have had cats and kittens over the years, but never anything like this.

Rothwell;370381 wrote: Hey, you keep your foreign language to yourself. They are hiccups here
Donkeys should always be in pairs or more. Get another one soon, please. We have 19 but are too far away to loan you 15 or so ..... If yours is a jack, get him gelded as young as possible. We always get ours done when they are still on mum so that she can comfort him when he wakes up from the operation, so from 2 to 6 months old. Single jacks can be extremely agressive. There is a mini (28 inches) down here that was not brought up in a herd, who kills sheep and chases cattle.

Thank you for your advice about the donkey. She is a young jenny. The calf and she are inseparable; they wander the forested area and creeks together and play and smooch. If she appeared lonely, I would get her a donkey friend but she is so well socialised with the dogs, and everything else that wanders the place that I have not had to consider a donkey friend for her yet. She is let out to walk around the garden with me and goes back to the paddock gate when she wants to be let back in. I'd welcome your suggestions on how to get her to lead. Many thanks,

Kate;370363 wrote: Hi and I'm so glad that you have finally managed to post...sorry about all the technical hiccoughs []

Kate if it had not been for your encouragement and assistance, the chances of me managing to post, would have been very slim. So thanks again for your help. When it finally worked, I was totally "Stoked" (thrilled).

Very, very, very important. Teach jenny that she must lift her feet when you tell her to. Most of mine do it well, some do it very well, and a few I have to remind to behave themselves. But your farrier will get very grumpy if you have a donkey with sore feet that has not been trained to lift feet.
The problem with her being socialised with the calf is that the calf is going to grow up, and will be gone within 10 or so years. Donkeys are reknown for pining to death with the loss of their friend.

Gidday

Rothwell;370381 wrote:
Donkeys should always be in pairs or more. Get another one soon, please. We have 19 but are too far away to loan you 15 or so ..... If yours is a jack, get him gelded as young as possible..

Hey you keep those evil thoughts to yourself and leave me alone.