Unconditional!

After mooting and dreaming for a few years we have finally gone and done it.
The sale of our place in town has just gone unconditional and we are just waiting on transfer of funds from the UK so we can do the same on our new 3 acre block - next Friday they arrive.

I'm really looking forward to learning the million and one things we need to keep the place going. Luckily the previous owners will be on hand to help get us started with their routines and organic principles - really useful! The land is mostly flat in 5 paddocks + a small lambing one near the house. Veggie garden, 2 chook runs, couple of sheds and a sleep-out add to the place.

Initially we are looking at a freezer beast to quickly fill the freezer and possibly a few chooks for meat (the layers will be left by the previous owner).

Current concern is how to train the town dogs (Lab/Ridgeback & a small furry slipper) to be country dogs... Will have a few one on one sessions with the local trainer will assist, but if anyone has any tips?

Congratulations!!! Now, to continue the journey.....

Hooray! Well done for going for your dream. As another newbie to a lsb I don't have any advice about dogs but wish you well in your endeavours.

congratulations, I bet you must have cried at having to transfer your money on the current exchange rate.
Where abouts is your new place?

Congratulations. It wasn't too long ago we were in the "I can't believe it is actually hapenning" stage.
Sorry I don't have any advice either but I would be keeping a close eye on them for the first wee while as it will be sensory overload for them.
Good luck and enjoy country living.

Congrats on your move!

On the dog question - is the property around the house not fenced? Meaning - are you wondering whether you can train your dogs not to bother the farm animals? If that is the question, then probably the best answer is fencing. Alot also depends on the breed and (to a lesser degree) the age of the dog.

We have a furry slipper (a Tibetan Spaniel) - which isn't actually a spaniel at all in breed terms. But she was 'taught' by our goats the day we collected them. One run up greeting with her typical bark and a small but respectable butt - and she hasn't tried to make friends again since. Has learned to bark at them from inside the house . Does the same with cows moving past the house.

We don't have chickens, but if we did I'd not trust her near them.

Your lab/ridgeback cross will be even more a worry - and really a fence is probably the only safe way to go.

If your dogs are interested in birds, then I suspect that one or the other will have to go. My dogs have eaten far too many other peoples fowls, so I would be extremely uncomfortable owning fowls with our current dogs. I understand that it is almost impossible to train some dogs to not kill fowls.

I always keep chickens and dog seperate when unsupervised, not matter how well trained the dog. Chooks are just too damn tempting with their flapping and squawking and complete lack of self preservation...

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We have decided to employ the services of the local dog trainer to assist with the first visit with the dogs to the property.

I did have an interesting suggestion from a guy at work: If the hound kills a chook, then give it to him, tie it round it's neck and leave it there for a few days. Not sure about that one though...

When Aunty and Uncle moved from the suburbs to their waste of land (many acres of unproductive lawn with no real gardens or farm animals) their Border Collie / Rottweiler cross took one look at the wide open spaces and the neighbour's sheep and refused to get out of the car. He was hiding from the scary white wooly things. His full brother was an idiot too.

xp@;427025 wrote: I did have an interesting suggestion from a guy at work: If the hound kills a chook, then give it to him, tie it round it's neck and leave it there for a few days. Not sure about that one though...

Take it from me, this works. By the time the bird becomes a stinking, rotting mess around it's neck it never wants to see another chook as long as it's arse points downwards. Or beat the living daylights out of the dog with the dead bird. It might sound harsh but nobody ever said that farming was a breeze. If you want to live with your dog and your chooks, start out as you mean to go on. I have four dogs - a BC, two heading dogs and a Jack Russell. Not one of them look sideways at the hens, goose, muscovey duck when she was still here, they ignore the Pukes that comes to the shed to be fed.....

igor;427027 wrote: When Aunty and Uncle moved from the suburbs to their waste of land (many acres of unproductive lawn with no real gardens or farm animals) their Border Collie / Rottweiler cross took one look at the wide open spaces and the neighbour's sheep and refused to get out of the car. He was hiding from the scary white wooly things. His full brother was an idiot too.

Igor, that reminds me of when Kevin and I bought our first property in Taupo. Kevin came with some baggage - two children and a Rotweiler/Alsation cross, not the type of dog I would want on a farm but she had belonged to the children's mother (deceased) and there was no way I was going to get rid of that tie. The property came with two sheep, a ewe and a cryptorchid. So time to introduce the dog to stock. We took her into the paddock with the sheep in it which was a small hill. The crypt was on top of the hill. He took one look at the dog, came belting down the hill and hit the dog mid-centre. The dog took off yelping and wouldn't go within a bulls roar of sheep for the rest of her life She used to chase cats too until one of mine turned and raked her down the nose and into the top lip. That cured the dog of that problem too.

And many, many years ago I knew a shepherd that had a fabulous heading dog that had turned sheep killer. Instead of shooting him he put him in a sack, tied the end and then put him in the sheep race and ran 50 rams over him several times. He came out peed on, shat on, bruised and battered but never killed another sheep. He continued to be a brilliant working dog and died in his sleep at some ripe old age.

Cheers,
Ronnie

Cheers for that

We are now in the waiting time, not quite early enough to start packing up - 6 weeks to go and most of our stuff is ready, the rest is being used.

I think i'm going to give my road bike a service before we move, I'm guessing August / September are going to be busy getting the new place sorted.

Not really wanting to waste a minute with the garden side of the property, I've started researching how to manage the veggies (or less mobile food sources). So far www.gardengrow.co.nz/ and www.palmers.co.nz/gardening_calendar seem to be a good starting point. Are there any other resources for a newbie, wanting to keep as organic as possible?