Visitors to the Farm

Just before winter comes there is a very special weekend, it is called FarmDay. We have people come to the farm we have never met before, they come to learn all about what happens on a working farm. It is great fun, and a nice way to make some new friends.

If you are interested in finding out more about it,

 look up http://www.farmday.com.au/ they have pictures and everything.

Feel free to ask me any questions about our farm...

I will do my best to answer them, and if I can't I will ask my Mum or Dad.

The Working Men

Everybody on the farm works hard, BUT no-one works harder than the boys! We have four working dogs, Beau, Bear, Boy and Kirk. 

the working men!



Beau is a kelpie and is 9 years old, he is our best sheep musterer. Dad calls him an allrounder, which means he is good in the sheep yards and good in the paddock. He always takes the sheep nice and steady. Dad says he is worth lots of money and we couldn't do without him.

  

Bear is a long haired border collie and he is 5 years old. He is a bit crazy, and hairy. Bear is also a good dog, he is very clever at catching sheep, especially fly blown ones. He is very fast. In the summer he sometimes gets very hot. I think he needs a visit to the hairdresser.  

Boy, is also a kelpie and he is 2 years old. He is very friendly. He is actually meant to be PopPop's dog, Dad is trying to train him. He is going OK but still needs some work. Today he learnt to jump, which helps when he needs to get on the motorbike and ute, he is a bit heavy to lift all the time!

AND then there is Kirk, my favourite. Kirk is only a pup, he will turn one in the winter. I am going to give him a bone for his birthday. He is a kelpie, a very good looking dog and Dad says he has good eyes. I just love him, he was just a baby when we got him. I loved playing with him, now he is bigger and not so interested in playing hide and seek!

The dogs ride on the back of the motorbike or the ute until we get to the right paddock and then Dad whistles and calls to them, so they know what to do. I am learning to whistle, it is very hard. Beau listens to me, but somehow I think Beau always knows just what to do.

Each dog has his own kennel, PopPop built them all. Every night the dogs need to be fed and their water needs to be checked. They eat dog biscuits and sometimes they get meat. I like to help feed the dogs.



"there you go Kirk....dinnertime"



Meet the Girls

I thought it was meant to be autumn, the leaves on the trees are changing colours BUT it feels alot more like winter to me.

Not many jobs have got done this week, it keeps raining! Dad says it is too wet to sow more seeds and too wet to spread fertiliser, so he has been working in the shed. I sometimes help in the shed, but it is too cold today!

So I have been poking about in the garden with Mum. I picked an enormous watermelon this week, it was so big I couldn't even lift it, I had to roll it like a bowling ball.

So wet.... I have been doing a bit of cooking, Mum has a garden full of herbs. We made meatballs and I helped alot,  I stirred and rolled the mixture and picked the oregano to put on the top. Dad was really surprised, he says I could be a chef when I grow up big.

I think the chooks are the only ones that have enjoyed the wet week, lots of grubs to find. The chooks help keep the grubs out of the garden they are very good at finding them, and they fertilise the garden as they go. I have 3 chooks, Bundle Silky and Treefox.

Silky, Treefox and Bundle the brown one!

The girls lay one or two eggs a day, I collect them everyday. Eggs are so yummy, I love boiled eggs with toasted soliders.

My girls are not really good at laying eggs BUT they do look pretty.

Look at it Grow

It has been 8 sleeps since Dad finished sowing the oat seeds, and look at it grow. All in its rows, standing straight and tall, like toy soliders!

The weatherman said it was going to rain today, the baby oat plants will love

that........it did rain. Now they will grow even bigger!

I think maybe.....it would be a good time to plant some winter vegetables, spinach seedlings. Some in my vegie patch and some in a pot for the cubby house.



Helping Out

Guess who came in to be crutched today.....Bella. She was my baby lamb two years ago! Now she is all grown up, she had already had one baby 'Sparkles' and now she is pregnant with another one! I love Bella, she still remembers me. She loves a rub on the face.

Baby Bella....now a Mum to be!

I helped in the shed today, it is very busy. Mum and Dad can always do with an extra pair of hands. All the wool has to be swept away from the shearers and sorted in to good and bad, the good wool is clean and the bad wool is dirty from the ewes' bottoms, it must be kept separate.
Dad has to pen up the sheep with the dogs. The shearers call out "SHEEPO" when they need more sheep, they keep Dad very busy because it does not take long to crutch one sheep and he needs to keep the pens full.

Short Front and Back

Dad and Mum have been really busy today, three men came to crutch the ewes.

Sheep are funny animals really....did you know that they can't wipe their own bottoms!

Dad says sheep make us money everyday...they also cost money. Most of the sheep we have on our farm are bred for their wool, and wool grows everyday.

The ewes are due to have their baby lambs in 4 weeks, so today the shearers took off the wool from around their head (called a wig) so they can see and cleaned up around their bottoms.

Dad also gave every ewe a needle, it helps protect the ewe and her baby from diseases.

Ouch....in goes the needle!

More medicine Dad?

The ewes need lots of feed now as their babies are growing bigger everyday. The ewes need to stay strong and healthy, so they are the best mothers they can be.

Back to a new paddock and now we wait. I can't wait really, I LOVE baby lambs they are so adorable, maybe I will get a new pet....Mum says we will wait and see!

Sowing the Seeds

It rained yesterday and now it is time to plant the seeds, to grow some grass, to feed the animals in the winter.

Mum and I helped Dad get all the things he needs to the paddock, we had to give the motorbike a piggyback on the ute so we didn't have to walk home! And best of all, the girls got to go in the tractor!

Dad is starting to plant oats today, the oat seeds need the soil to be moist and warm to grow.

Oat seeds ready to plant!

Dad has prepared the soil and now he is using the combine to drop the seed and the fertiliser into the soil.

oats in this one................... fertiliser in this one



this is where the seed goes down...a bit like a slippery dip!

Harrows follow the combine and they cover the seed with soil, then a roller follows the harrows to help lock the moisture in.


it is a very long load!!!

 In a few days this paddock will be green with oats....

that's if those naughty rabbits leave it alone!



Birds & Bunnies

You all know that we have sheep and cows on our farm, but there are lots of other animals that live on our farm. Some of them are good and some of them are not so good.

For lots and lots of days I have been watching a nest of eggs owned by a pair of plovers. We drive past them alot, the mum and dad are very protective of their eggs and make alot of noise when anything comes close. I have been waiting patiently for them to hatch....and today they hatched, 3 little chicks. They are tiny and cannot fly yet. I hope the mum and dad guard them safe tonight....a fox might be out there!

Isn't he tiny!

Foxes are bad animals, they eat baby lambs we do not like them one little bit. Rabbits are also bad, they eat lots of grass and make terrible holes in the ground. Sometimes there are too many rabbits and we need to get rid of a few. We feed the rabbits carrots, they love carrots. In a few days the carrots will not taste so good and the number of rabbits we have will be less. Sad really..... because they are just a little bit cute.

Dad grating carrots with a giant grater!

Getting ready for Sowing

A very busy time for Dad, trying to get everything organised for sowing (planting the seeds). Trucks have been coming all day with loads of fertiliser, this time it is lime, it looks and feels a bit like baby powder. Next week a man will come and spread it all over the paddocks before the seeds are sown. All the dirt on farms is different and some is much better than others, the dirt on our farm needs a little bit extra to help make the plants grow.
Another truck came today, this truck sucks all the seeds into its machines and takes the bad seeds out and puts special pink powder on the good seeds to protect them from all different sorts of diseases.

Now all we need is a little bit of rain to top it all off and then Dad will be REALLY busy!