- We got given some presents! As well as finding out we were getting paid, they bought us belts! Nice ones too :)
Monday
- Stick picking as usual! First paid day though woohoo
- Burnt all the stick from the stick picking up top so had about 6 or 7 huge bonfires
Tuesday
- Stick picking...
- Watched Rocky for the first time!
Wednesday
- Helped move an elevator into place in preparation for emptying the silo.
- Did some stick picking
- Worked the back of the harvester
- Took the rear wheels of the quad off after one got punctured
Thursday
- We've already hit 50 tonne this harvest (last year total was 55) so we're trying our hardest to keep up - currently we've run out of trailers to store nut in and now it's all at a bit of a standstill!
- Cleaning out broken trailers ready to get fixed up/new wheels
- Sorting and moving nut around the shed to fit more in!
- Emptying the silo
Friday
- More fixing of trailers and stick picking
Saturday
- Blowing nut from under the irrigation all day
Sunday
- Tiny (the big pig) trapped his foot in the metal shed in the pig pen and ripped one of his toes off so can't walk properly anymore and because there isn't any way to fix it, it'll just get more painful for him over time so today Luke shot him.
- First head shot didn't drop him because he's such a big pig and it took two shots till he dropped. It shook me up a little when he didn't go down with the first shot because he was squealing in such pain and running around with blood dripping from his head. I felt cruel even though the reasons for killing him were legit.
- After he dropped and was killed by the second shot he was still writhing and kicking about on the ground as if he were alive but apparently it is just nerves.
- Next task was to chop off the balls from the males in the older batch of piglets. In the end we only did one of them but that was nuts hahahaha! Seriously though it's a horrible business cutting nuts out. Had to catch the piglet first with a protective mumma pig guarding them then hold it down while Luke made an incision and popped each ball out.
- We went up top to gut and decapitate Tiny which was a messy affair:
- Sorted some nut for a few hours then went hunting with Luke, Rob and the dogs. Cool to see the dogs in action and the wild pig tracks - Luke and Rob had legit Croc Dundee knives too!
- Lexie is a "finder bailer" so when hunting she'll find a pig then bark and try to keep the pig scared and trapped, Radar is a "finder holder" so instinctively finds and actually holds the pigs by the ear until you get there.
- Finished the day with a big fire and a beer as per!
Footnote
**We often have headphones in as we work so I've been listening to audiobooks too - downloaded an app for less than $2 with loads of public domain books (aka. pre 1923 books) read by volunteers and so far I've got through The 39 steps, The Call of the Wild, White Fang and The Three Musketeers**
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