Wiltipoll Sheep

Converting an OM366 to OM352 – or saving Myrtle from becoming an ornament.,

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One of the things I enjoy about living on the Rock Farm is the range of problems I come across. From animal welfare and soil management, to rural plumbing and fencing repairs, I love the process of learning new skills. Regular readers will know, last August, I drowned the engine of our old LA911 Benz, Myrtle, attempting to cross our creek. With pride bent along with the conrods, I was in need of a new engine for our red ;drawbridge’. One of our neighbours collects old trucks and offered to sell me an engine out of a similar truck, a Benz 1217 Tipper.

An initial check seemed promising, however after consulting the Mercedes Kurzhauber (short bonnet) Facebook group I realised I had incorrectly identified the donor engine as a turbo charged version of the the OM352. It wasn’t. It was an OM366 – a much modified variant that shared little with my engine except the block. Perhaps with the ignorance caused through auto-translate from German Engineers active on the Facebook group, I figured that it shouldn’t be too hard to make the engine fit. After all I had nothing to lose.

I should have done more research…. but then if I had I might not have proceeded. The German Engineers were wise with their words of caution.

For the next five months I had three new items on my to do list:

  • Remove Engine from Myrtle (Our LA911)
  • Remove Engine from Donor (The 1217)
  • Install Engine into Myrtle.

It wasn’t until I had completed the first two items on my list and placed the two engines side by side that I had some idea of the challenge ahead of me. The engines looked entirely different. There should have been one more item on the list – something along the lines of reconfiguring the new engine to look like the old one.

I took a deep breath and started at the front of the first engine. I thought it would be simple to swap the fans over – the most obvious difference…. but first I needed to change the water pumps…. and then the water jackets didn’t line up – and so off came the turbo and the other plumbing from the new engine. Eventually we got one side of the engine looking close – and then it was time to pull off the bellhousing / clutch at the back of the engine. This again was challenging on the old engine as I couldn’t turn it over. This meant I couldn’t reach all the bolts holding the clutch plate to the flywheel. After modifying some tools with a grinder, and some help from a smaller handed wife, this challenge was eventually overcome.

And so on and so on. Every time I thought I had sorted one problem, another five were created. Swapping the sump turned into a full day job with the cascading series of other little things that also needed to change. Literally everything short of the block and cylinder head was swapped over from one engine to the other. My dreams of gaining some extra horsepower were whittled away as the new engine was reconfigured almost exactly as per the original engine.

Eventually we had swapped nearly every thing over. My biggest fear was that I didn’t get the timing of the fuel pump correct, or that I had put the clutch plate in back to front (of course I reused the old one).

I also found it extremely difficult to manoeuvre the engine to align with the gearbox, no matter what tricks I tried. Eventually I opted for a different approach and disconnected the prop shaft and slid the gearbox back. After bolting the engine in position, I was able to (with the help of all the family) push the gearbox up and bolt it to the bell-housing. It was no small feeling of joy when at last everything was bolted together. But would it start.

There was only one way to see….

To say I was relieved when the new engine spluttered to life would be an understatement! And thankfully it seemed the clutch and gearbox was all aligned correctly too.

The truck was pressed straight back into service – moving old roofs of iron sheeting to make new compost bins. And the not-so-little welder was commissioned to make a feature out of the donor engine’s fan. He did a great job fashioning a windmill out of some scrap steel.

With the truck back in working order, I was able to get back to the other things I love doing on the Rock Farm. Hanging with my bovine friends, and installing new gates to facilitate my ongoing paddock rotation. I hope I don’t have to take on a mechanical challenge of that order again, but it was a good exercise in working through a problem and I am thrilled to have a working truck again on the Rock Farm.

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The big wet

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The Rock Farm was fortunate to receive a good soaking last weekend, with over 100mm of rain falling in just 48 hours. The magical beautiful rain soaked into the ground, and when the ground could take no more, it started to fill the creeks, and rivers. All across our valley roads were closed as the waters rose. The only problem was I was in town at work, and as the waters rose, I knew I wouldn’t be getting back home any time soon.

You may remember the dam looking like this back in February. The dam was barely 30cm deep when we received around 80mm of rain overnight. The difference the following day was remarkable… but we had no idea what the dam looked like full.

Well this weekend changed all that. The dam filled and then overflowed. It is hard to get some sense of scale from the photo, but the water has risen another 1.5-2 metres or so. With the dam over 200m long and 100m wide, it represents a huge body of water – a wonderful legacy from owners past.

This photo is taken on the same post as the photos above…. a massive transformation. The water from the dam overflows down a channel into a creek. Even that overflow drain couldn’t cope, and our flat was covered with standing water. Just stunning. Especially when you compare it to the scenes we were facing in summer a few short months ago: https://rockfarming.com/2020/02/03/weaning-and-a-rough-plan-for-the-cattle/

The photo on the right below was from a couple of weeks ago when I was sorting out problems with my water pump. You can see the pump house on the bank in the left of frame. The water has now risen to the pump!

After enjoying the hospitality of friends for a couple of nights, the water had receded enough by Monday morning for me the attempt to get home. The crossing had dropped below the base of my secondary marker (a strategically placed star picket on the bank).

It was an easy crossing – but the boy’s were disappointed. Their hopes of staying home for a school day were dashed when I turned around and ran them into town.

When I got home, I spent an hour on the tractor clearing all the silt and debris from the crossing.

The next job is to tidy up the flood gates – but that can wait until the water recedes a little further…. It is a minor inconvenience. Given a choice, I’ll take the water any day of the week! A huge thank you to Adrian and Mark & Mell for your kind hospitality whilst I was marooned on the wrong side of the moat!

Little Helper’s Holiday Project (Part 3)

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I think the not-so-little helper has done a fantastic job telling the latest stage of the horse float restoration…  

The horse float restoration on the rock farm is rolling again, with some nice and cool, but still smoky days. The mornings start clear, so for a brief part of the day, we can continue working.

But almost straight away we hit a problem. It’s something Dad was thinking for a while and he came to us with his problem. The horse floats frame is made of 1-inch steel. This may seem pretty solid, but with half of it rusted, and hopefully future horses riding in it, it wouldn’t be safe. Not at all.

So, we went back to stage 1, designing.

We have found around the rock farm that Dad doesn’t have any good, solid box trailers. Or at least any 9 feet long with tandem axles. So, somehow Dad persuaded us to turn a totally terrible horse float into an okay box trailer, and his idea is kind of working.

A few days ago, the trailer was just the chassis. We stripped the trailer a day before a total fire ban, smoky and hot day, so we had to go on another small break.

Then we made a frame from 2×1 inch steel. It’s around 450 mm high and it’s really tough. Dad decided to leave us to paint it with the paint primer. Bad idea Dad, really bad idea.

It ended up even worse than I could imagine because the paint primer was bright red, and two brothers, each with paint brushes and bright red paint, does not end well.

I am still part painted red, so, yeah, fun.

Today we attempted to rivet some of the sheets onto the frame of the trailer. We haven’t even finished one sheet. ( out of the 8 we need to do. ). Out of all the things we needed to do on the trailer, putting in rivets was the one I expected least to be taxing. But I was wrong. Very wrong.

After the first 10 holes were drilled, and the rivets were shoved in, I was sweating a river and my arms had died. After that, I don’t need to explain, I think you can just imagine.

But the holidays are soon closing, and the ex-horse float will have a break. It’s going to be fun to go back to school, chill with friends, forget about study, but I will miss the days of using the grinder, or scrubbing away with a wire brush. Or at least until the next holidays.

The end of our time with sheep… for now

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You may recall that in September we took stock of our options and after looking at the long term forecast, we sold our Wiltipoll ewes (https://rockfarming.com/2019/09/28/the-hint-of-rain/) .

Our gorgeous lambs were brought into some small paddocks near the house and were weaned onto grass and pellets.  Being hand fed, and so close to the action, they soon became very quiet, and would come running towards you – especially if you were carrying a bucket.

We trialled letting them out into the main paddocks, however this turned into a disaster.  As our property was set up for horses, nearly all the paddocks are fenced in plain wire.  The sheep had the run of the place – however decided that the grass was greener on the other side of the fence, specifically the neighbour’s paddocks.  Whilst the lambs were easy to catch (with the use of a bucket), we were wasting a lot of our time retrieving them.

So we made the decision to sell the lambs too.

Twelve of our lambs went to a friend’s place and are now being spoilt on his hobby farm.  To transport them, we parked the horse float in the lamb’s paddock for a couple of days and started feeding them in there.  On the day of the move, we simply sprinkled some oats on the floor and they all marched inside – making it all too easy to pull up the tail gate and take them to their new home.

The youngest and by far the smallest, but rapidly growing girl, nicknamed Runty, went back to other friends who looked after all our sheep during the last school holidays.  She must have made an impression (or Mark and Mell are suckers for a cute face).

Sadly our time with sheep has come to an end… for now.  We have enjoyed raising sheep, with all their challenges, since they joined the first Rock Farm back in 2015.  With a bit of luck – and a bit of time working on the fences, I am sure sheep will become part of our farm again.

Every blade of grass counts.

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The past week had seen the end of spring. Hot days above 30 degrees and some wild winds have dried out the grass. Many people in the district nervous for the bushfire season and our local RFS training is ramping up.

On the RockFarm, our lambs have been eating out their small holding paddocks. This is a good thing as the paddocks are close to the house, and the less grass here the better coming into summer.

Between the two paddocks is a channel for water. Water hasn’t flowed down here for months, but it naturally holds a bit of extra moisture and therefore grass.

There isn’t enough grass to make it worth fencing properly, but it was worth spending an hour to rig up a little race for the lambs to have access to the lane. This allows them to come and go as they please, with water in their paddock.

The old gates were around the hay shed. When we replaced them with the old roofing iron from the house, we kept the gates handy. I can now understand why farmers never seem to throw anything out!

The lambs love it, quickly disappearing in the long grass. The only problem is they will be through this in about a week.

I hope to move the lambs soon to our large flat paddock. It is fenced with hinge joint stock mesh. It is mostly sheep proof, but wombats also hang out here – and they have no respect for fences!

It is a constant job patching holes. Old star pickets, short rolls of old netting and logs or branches hopefully create a barrier that works

I will have to check the fence again before we move the sheep into this paddock – but hopefully it won’t take too much extra work to keep them in.

And then as the sun sets it is nice to sit back and relax feeling great about living in paradise.

School Holidays – You’d think it would be easy to get away!

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Despite one good fall of rain nearly a month ago, and a follow up 8mm a fortnight later, we are really starting to dry out on the Rock Farm.   My last update was a bit chaotic as we took some ewes to the sale yards, and kept a close eye on Daisy.

The reason for the mad rush was that we were trying to get everything in hand for us to take a break away from the Rock Farm for the school holidays….

And just when you think you have it all sorted, you find the youngest and last calf in a paddock three fences from Mum.  I was reluctant to interfere, so left him overnight to see if he could find his own way home.  When he was still in the wrong paddock the following day, I knew we needed to take action.

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The hound distracted him long enough for me to grab and sit on him.  Then the boys brought down the old falcon ute and we gently picked him up and put him in the back of the ute.  Somehow he managed to get one good kick in, just to remind me that he didn’t appreciate the undignified mode of transport. He got me good and proper – but I knew that I would get my revenge a few weeks later at marking time…

And then, to top it all off, the lambs were spotted in the neighbours place.  After herding them back to our side of the fence and onwards to the yards, I requested a huge favour and asked friends if we could agist our lambs on their place for the duration of our holiday….

It was just what I needed to be doing after a night shift, catching lambs and putting them in the horse float for a quick dash down the road.  But it was done.  We held our breath and counted to ten… twice.

The following morning we left at the crack of dawn with fingers crossed…. and phones turned off!

Our destination was Tasmania via the Spirit of Tasmania.  We enjoyed a wonderful break.  The main activity was the 48km hike along the recently developed Three Capes Track in Tasmania.  In a word it was spectacular.  The scenery is staggeringly beautiful, with the rugged dolerite cliffs falling away to the ocean in places nearly 300 metres below.  The quality of the track, the huts and the Rangers was an absolute credit to the people of  Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service.

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What was really wonderful, apart from the scenery was the time connecting with our family.  Free from the other distractions and tasks that keep us busy, it took a few days for us to hit our groove, but it was so important to share this time.

But all too soon it was time to return home and retrieve our sheep, mark the last of our calves and get ready for returning to school.  The cattle were happy to see me, and more than happy to follow me to a new paddock.

The lambs were corralled into the horse float.  A hilarious exercise considering our friends had no yards.  We parked carefully alongside a fence line, and with the aid of a couple of old farm gates as wings, we gently pushed the mob to the float.  One ewe lamb kept trying to lead the rest of the mob around – but after breaking free once, we closed the net and loaded them up.  A few minutes later they were unloaded at home in a secure paddock near the house.  A huge thank you to Mark and Mel for answering our crisis call!

It has been a good experience for the lambs.  This little paddock is close to the house, and the lambs have become very quiet.  Now they have eaten most of the grass in it, we have started feeding them, and they are learning to follow a bucket.  I am a huge fan of ‘bucket mustering’.

As it stands, we marked 12 calves, with a bonus calf born in December taking us to 13 out of 15 maiden heifers.  We also have 13 lambs….  It is a good time on the Rock Farm….

We just need to get some chickens… but we are working on that too!  More on the chook house redevelopment soon!

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The hint of rain

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The past few weeks have been a little hectic on the Rock Farm.  Calving and lambing has continued.  Life has also continued, with some big weeks at work and school keeping us all away from the farm for longer than we would like.

First an update on Daisy.  Daisy and Mum have rejoined the herd and have settled in well.  Daisy has put on weight and enjoys her fellow bovine’s company more than humans now.  This is not a bad thing – although I miss our cuddles.  She might never do particularly well, but we are really happy that both Daisy and mum are now in good health.

With the long-term forecast for spring rainfall looking grim, we elected to sell off our older ewes and ram.  With such a small herd of 13 to take to the sale-yards, it was hardly worth organising a truck.  With a bit of time, I soon had the sheep loaded in the horse-float and passed the lambs out the tailgate back into the yards.  The irony was on the day I took the sheep to the sale yards, we received our first decent rainfall in months, a delightful 22mm.  It was a rare and unusual problem to be loading the sheep in the rain!

Selling the ewes solved a couple of problems.  It reduced the immediate pressure on the feed, and also stopped me having to retrieve them from the neighbour’s on a regular frequency.  I must admit I felt a little dwarfed by all the trucks and semi-trailers unloading stock at the yards, but the stock agent showed good humour and helped me pen the sheep.

The lambs are now enjoying some time near the house, where we are supplementing their feed.  They are becoming much quieter, hopefully making them easy to handle as they grow.

The little bit of rain was welcome.  It settled the dust, but more importantly it turned the grass green.  We are still feeding, whilst we wait for the grass to grow.

If you do want to find water though – I would highly recommend hiring a Kanga.  Jimmy and his marvellous machine have an amazing ability to find water pipes.  After successfully digging holes for our carport foundation, we decided to make the most of his visit with a couple of extra post holes for gate posts….  it was the last hole (it always is) when the auger came up with water pouring out of the hole…

Needless to say I am becoming pretty handy at repairing poly pipe.  Thankfully we were able to quickly isolate the water, which was non-potable water from dam.  Around the house it is used for flushing the loo and around the garden.  This water also supplies all the stock troughs – so I needed to get it repaired relatively quickly.  It has highlighted the need to install a valve so I can isolate the garden water quickly in case of future mishaps!

After repairing the pipe, it was time to head back with the girls.

I have moved them onto the flat country.  Whilst there isn’t much feed here yet, I am just rotating them through the smaller paddocks.  I hope they will keep on-top of the Barley grass, but it all seems to be going to seed early as it struggles with the dry season.

Time will tell what the season holds.  In the meantime, we have developed a plan for the cattle which we will start to implement in a few weeks.  For now though,  it is lovely to see a little water flowing in the creek again.

Winter on the Rock Farm

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We have settled into winter on the southern tablelands.  Our recent weather patterns seems to be cracking frosts followed by crystal clear days, or bleak overcast skies with lazy winds that seem to pass through every layer of clothing you can wear. Sadly we have had precious little rain to bring us any growth.

We have been feeding the cattle since the start of winter.  I am rotating the cattle through the paddocks, and have even opened up some of the tree guards for the cattle to graze under the established trees.  The grass has turned green – but it is too cold and dry for it to grow.  The cattle need the roughage that the old pasture hay provides, and I have just started feeding them some silage we purchased at the start of winter.

It is my preference to buy hay and silage over fertilizer.  The more I learn about soil health, it is far better for the soil to receive nutrients that have been processed by a ruminant stomach first.  If only the cost of feed was cheaper!

The one good thing to come of the lack of grass is one of our pest weeds, the serrated tussock is easy to see.  We have been chipping out tussock for a while now, but even I had to admit defeat and hit large swaths of it with chemical.  It sure isn’t my preferred model for control, but after reading Millpost (Book Review -Millpost, a broadscale permaculture farm since 1979) I decided I had to make better use of my time.  We will use chemicals on large patches until we have got on-top of the tussock and then hopefully revert to chipping to stay on top of future outbreaks.  The little hundred litre tank and 12 volt pump make spraying remarkably time effective.

I have taken the opportunity of re-purposing the old roof sheets from the house into panels on the side of the hay-shed.  With most of our pasture hay stored in an old stable, the hay-shed has become the default storage shed for the truck and horse-float.  In an attempt to make it more weather proof, and suitable for storing hay into the future, we have been using the old roof iron to make walls.  If and when feed costs become more affordable, I hope to ensure we store enough hay to get us through a couple of winters in this shed.  We have been lucky to get through this far with what we have, but we need some growth to get us through spring.

The sheep have been enjoying the run of the place, and manage to find enough pick to keep in good condition.  It was a wonderful surprise to check on them after a couple of days at work to find they had started lambing!  We will mark these lambs in a few weeks, but for now, we were happy to let them be (and give their mum’s a treat of some oats).

The only problem with all the work outside is that is cold… damn cold.  Especially overnight.

But the dogs wouldn’t know that…  they reckon it’s summer all year around on the Rock Farm!

Sadly not long after this photo was taken, the dachshund Dilys passed away.  She has been part of our family for 10 years and despite her little size, has made a big hole in our hearts.  We buried her down by the stables, where she loved chasing rabbits, even if she was never quite quick enough to catch them.  Good dog.  Rest in peace.

Around the farm

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With the little helpers both now in High School, we are finding ourselves spending more time in town.  Between before school music practice and after school sports training, our days are very full and busy.  As they should be.  Whilst part of me hankers for the simpler times when the boys went to our local primary school just down the road, they are growing up and are relishing in the new experiences and opportunities that a large school provides.

As we have now lived at the new Rock Farm for over 12 months, we have also started (albeit slowly) renovating the house.  The first priority is the installation of a large efficient slow combustion fireplace.  There is nothing like a cool morning to focus the mind and allow you to recall how cold the house was last year.

This means the farm part of the Rock Farm is not getting as much time for my attention as I would like to give it.  There has still been plenty to keep us busy, checking the stock water daily and moving the cattle and sheep into other paddocks.  Of course there are some gorgeous horses nearby that also demand attention – and somehow I always find time for a pat.

The cattle have been eating the remaining grass, and giving some of the weeds a good nibble in their quest for food.  They remain in good condition, which they will need heading into winter.  The skies, whilst looking promising have only yielded 2.5mm in the past two weeks.  The unseasonably hot days have burnt away any remaining moisture.

The sunsets though have been spectacular – and make me pinch myself every time.

The dry weather has put a lot of the trees under stress.  The native gum trees have a very effective method to cope with droughts.  They shed branches.  Unfortunately most of our trees are along fence-lines, requiring a bit of work to clear the branches.

Thankfully most of the branches were relatively small – and I was able to make some handy little piles of firewood for collection in a year or two once they’re seasoned.

I even was lucky enough to have a helper for a couple of hours – but he got distracted talking to the girls!

And then the helper wandered over and poured a bucket of oats on the ground for the other girls (and nearly ready) boys.

The sheep are managing to find some good grass among the weeds, and are all in healthy condition.  We have a few of our neighbour’s dorpers running with our sheep which are wiltipolls.  Both types naturally shed their wool and are bred for their meat.  The dorper tends to be a stockier animal, and tend to look more shaggy.

We sold most of the female ewe lambs, but are growing out the boys.  I will fast have to make a decision as to whether we send the boys to the sale yards, our put them in our freezer.  With two teenage boys in the family – I think that keeping the food miles to an absolute minimum will be time well spent.

I just have to find that time….

School Holidays on the Rock Farm

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School holidays are in full swing on the Rock Farm.  The boys have been turning petrol into noise on their motorbikes, building tree houses in the gum trees, and playing in the dirt.  They have also been learning a few other skills such as fencing, planting trees, repairing said motorbikes and fixing broken water pipes.

The holidays have also been a wonderful opportunity to catch up with friends and family.  This, in conjunction with a series of extremely hot days, has slowed the normal rate of progress on the Rock Farm, and that isn’t a bad thing.  We have enjoyed the opportunity to slow down and enjoy good company, and the odd quiet afternoon, with the air conditioner on, in front of a movie with the family.

The ongoing requirement to repair our fences continues.  On one of the cooler mornings, The youngest helper and I replaced a small section of fence.  A few days later the whole family helped run hinge joint around a small 2 acre triangle paddock near the house.  This will allow us to bring the sheep into this paddock and hopefully contain them!  It was pretty hot work, and it times tempers flared due to Hangry boys.  The result will be a handy little paddock allowing us to keep a closer eye on the sheep.

We have been lucky to experience a couple of summer storms this season.  With a bit of moisture in the soil, I thought we would get away with planting out some acorns that had germinated.  These oaks are Daimyo Oaks (Quercus dentata), also known as Japanese Emperor Oak or Korean Oak.  These trees have large leaves, and are part of our plan that should see the Rock Farm renamed “Oak Park” one day.  The oaks draw nutrient from deep in the ground, provide shade thus retaining moisture, and the leaves return the nutrient and organic matter to the soil when they fall and mulch.

Then it was back onto the serious business of making tree houses in some existing trees!

The summer storms often provide short bursts of heavy rain that mostly runs off.  Any technique that increases the amount of rainfall captured into the soil is to be tried.  One technique, pioneered by P.A. Yeomans and recommended by Pat Coleby is to rip lines along contours, opening up the soil allowing moisture to penetrate deep into the ground.

Our last property (the original Rock Farm) had deep rip lines put in by the previous owner.  These lines trapped moisture and were clearly the greenest part of the property on satellite images.  Trees benefited from being planted in the rip lines, as their roots could seek out the moisture stored in the cracks of the rocks.

Unfortunately the old single tyne ripper wasn’t up to the tough Ordovician Shale that underlies our fragile slopes.  Only a few lines into it, a large rock twisted the tyne worse than before.  Despite several attempts to gain leverage, I was unable to straighten the tyne.

The good news was that leaning against a tree, forgotten by owners previous, a double tyne ripper was leaning against a tree.  It had been there so long, a tree root had grown over a tyne, vastly complicating my efforts to put the ripper on the tractor.  It took my wife and I a good hour to eventually get the ripper fitted… but it was worth the effort!

And the result was success!  Using a piece of clear pipe filled with water and threaded on the ROPS, I was able to get a reasonably accurate contour ripped across the slope of the paddock.  It took a little while for me to get the draft and raise response where I was happy with it, but the old tractor performed flawlessly.  The rip line was only 150mm deep – but that was deeper than the soil and into the rock layer.   Now I just need it to rain to test the theory.

The school holidays have also had the boys learning some other important lessons.  They are still young enough to play in the dirt – and were enthusiastically making tracks for matchbox cars when they received last call to come in and have a shower before bed.

The final throw of the digger resulted in an unmistakable gurgle and their construction rapidly filled with water.  After years of observing me, they correctly recognised that they hadn’t found a fresh water aquifer just below the surface, but rather a poly pipe.  I took some solace from the fact that the rapidly appearing water was our non-potable water supply to our garden and toilets… not our precious house supply that runs under the ground only a couple of metres away.

The good news was that it wasn’t my fault.  So I had if not enthusiastic, then certainly guilty helpers to:

  • run to the dam and isolate the pump (long way down hill)
  • run to the tank and isolate the tank (long way up hill)
  • dig a much larger hole to expose the pipe
  • measure the diameter to check if we had the right fittings (which we did – good planning Dad)
  • carefully cut the damaged section of pipe out with a hacksaw
  • replace damaged section with a joiner fitting
  • run back to pump and turn it on
  • run back to tank and turn it on
  • watch and check for leaks

It was the quickest I had ever replaced a pipe – and I barely raised a sweat… In fact I did a lot of not much except pointing, and asking for tools, most of which live in my pipe repair tub.

As the sun set and the light faded, we turned the water on and held our breath.  It worked!  All in all it was a pretty good outcome – the kids learned some important skills, and I realised how grown up they are becoming.