Winter can be hard work on a dairy farm, wet, muddy, cold, windy and short days.  It’s not all bad though, I love the crisp winter days and I must admit part of me enjoys the cold fronts which blast through our farm off Bass Strait, just so long as they don’t last too long.  Mud is my big hate, this is probably not a good thing as a South Gippsland dairy farmer as we usually have a bit of it! It’s not so much the mud, it is that I hate seeing our pastures and soil getting damaged.

This winter has been kind so far and we have lots of grass and not too much mud, just the way I like it.

Once winter sets in I have a series of milestones to pass the time and to see winter through. First is always winter solstice, it’s really usually only the start of winter for us but once this day is passed I can look forward to the days getting longer.

Second usually is mid winter July 15-16, the calender mid point of winter, surely we are on the down hill run to spring now.

The most spectacular milestone is the Silver Wattles flowering, the golden display of these native trees is a bold sign the bush is heralding spring.  Unfortunately the flowering  of the silver wattles often coincides with cold, windy, wet blasts of weather. With the buds just bursting on these trees now I fear we may be in for cold front this weekend.