The meat lambs are getting fatter and fatter. They are nearly ready to go to sale. But before they can go, all their bottoms need to be cleaned up. The shearers came and cleaned up all the lambs that are nearly ready for sale. Dad says he hopes all these ones are sold before Christmas The lambs too small for sale have all been shorn, they will grow a bit better without their wool on.
I love working in the shearing shed.
BUT sometimes I get a little tired, lucky there are plenty of warm cosy places to rest!
When the weather turns warm flies appear. Flies are a bit of a nusiance on the farm especially when it comes to sheep. Dad gives the meat lambs a shower with some special chemical that will keep the flies away. We really don't want our lambs to get sick or fly blown now they are nearly ready for sale!
It is time to visit the beauty parlour....for sheep!
Every year just before shearing the ewes are put through the sheep handler to get some special treatment.
They have their bottoms cleaned AGAIN....shearing is about 3 weeks away and to help the keep the wool clean, Mum and Dad clean the stain and poo from the ewe's bottom. The wool buyers don't like it with all that rubbish in it!
and this year they are having their toenails done too.
While Mum, Dad, Beau, Bear and Kirk are busy. I create masterpieces with chalk!
Springtime sure is a busy time. There is so much happening!
Cattle work is finished for a while, all the calves are marked and back in the paddocks.
We still have a little to do with calves everyday, morning and night. Feeding five hungry calves! Dad has made a special milk bar for them, it is a lot easier than bottles!
Stella, Queenie, Freckles, Stinky and Clover (front to back)
All the animals are being taken off the crops Dad and PopPop sowed, we save them now so we can harvest some grain from them in the summer. The grain will go in the silos, some for animal feed and maybe some to sell, it just depends on how much we get.
remember when these were little straight soldiers in rows!
Meat lambs off crops....nearly ready for sale?
BUT first of all it needs to hurry up and rain, it is drying out fast!!!!
Mum and Dad say the weather is TOO warm. Last week we had all the ingredients for an early summer with big frosts, very warm sunny days and some awful hot strong winds. Those things together are not good for growing grass or crops.
BUT they are great for playing outside!
The weatherman said the same weather is here all this week too.
Summer may be coming a little too early......bring back SPRING!
A new motorbike arrived last week, it was time to trade in the old one. It was very shiny until Dad rode through some cow poo!
All the cows and calves are mustered up, bought to the yards and drafted up.
The cows are getting a needle while they are in the yards, to help protect them from some nasty diseases, the vet thinks this will stop them dying.....fingers crossed! They all had a needle about 4 months ago, but they need a booster!
The calves need to have a couple of operations done. They get an earmark just like the baby lambs. All the animals on our farm have the same earmark in their ear. So if they get lost on another farm, the farmer will know where they came from. They also get a needle, to protect them from diseases, they will need another needle when they get a little older. The boy calves have one extra operation to stop them growing into big bulls!
It is a very noisy job, cows are calling for their calves and calves are calling for their mums. When they are all back together it is quiet again, thank goodness.....they were giving me a headache!
There are only a couple of cows left to calve, we will have to do them next time they come to the yards.
OH....and I nearly forgot...there are five more at home we are feeding!
Mum says it is a pity really because it is a beautiful time of year YET we never seem to have time to really enjoy it.
Time for farmers to buy new bulls and rams.
Mum helps farmers choose the rams that best suit their ewes and the farms they live on. Yesterday Mum was very busy doing her job. Each ram is looked over and she tries to rank them from best suited to least suited. Then it is up to the farmer to see if he can pay enough money to get the ram.
The rams are sold in an open cry auction. Lots of calling out numbers and hammer banging!
There were alot of people at the sale, it was tough competition.
The most money paid for one ram was $9000.00. 83 rams were sold and they averaged $3300.00 that is a very good result. Farmers had to really bid up to get rams. Hopefully they will all get lots of lambs next year and cut lots of beautiful wool.
What happened to those sun shiny days...it is freezing today!
We had to find our beanies, jackets and gumboots AGAIN!
Hello stranger!
The blast of winter has bought bad news with it. PopPop had two cows die yesterday, both have baby calves. We are not sure what they died of, so Oppy took some fluid from them to the vet for testing this morning. In the meantime we have to go and catch some calves. They will make good friends for Clover now that Hulk has a new mum. He is growing like CRAZY!
Our two new calves are called Freckles and Stella. One is a boy and one is a girl. They are bigger than Clover and VERY, VERY strong!
Meet Stella
and Freckles!
The rain is lovely, it will make the grass grow even more when the weather warms up. It is sure helping some of the plants in Mum's vegie patch.
The potatoes are all up, I hope 'Jack Frost' doesn't come to visit!
and the parsley seeds have all sprouted.
My chooks have been very busy, they love rain, they love chasing grubs. They are laying so many eggs, this week I sold my first dozen. They are good girls!
Good on you GIRLS!
except look where we found Frosty this afternoon, helping herself at the silo!
Ever so slowly, the grass is growing. The vegetables are sprouting from the ground.
Asparagus! YUM YUM
New leaves and blossoms are on the trees.
And all the creatures are slowly coming out into the warm sun.
It feels like the farm is coming back to life, after a long cold winter.
Springtime is very busy on the farm, there will be animals ready to sell, sheep to shear and hay to make. Always lots of jobs!
HULK the bull calf has found a new Mum. One of PopPop's cows had a dead calf, and she has adopted HULK as her own. HULK did not really want to leave us, but it is for the best. We played a little trick on them both, Mum sprayed hairspray on HULK and on the cow's nose to make them smell the same and after a night in the yards together they fell in love. I hope she looks after him well or she will have me to answer to!
