Grand Opening!

The big day has come.....although not quite finished....a few chains and springs needed here and there.

Dad's new sheep yards were opened for business today.

And like all grand openings there were some celebrations to be had.

Mum and I surprised Dad with a ribbon cutting and balloons.

Every celebration must have balloons!.

Everyone is very pleased with Dad's design and all his hard work. 

Not to forget my painting!

The sheep loved the yards, they nearly drafted themselves!

The rams are due to come home, so we drafted them off the ewes.

Every ram has survived joining and they are all coming home.

Beau and Bear were a little confused by the new yards,

 BUT hopefully they will get the hang of it.

A good set of sheep yards......make life with sheep alot easier, for everyone involved.

The people, the sheep and the dogs.

We could have bought yards already made for ALOT of money. 

Yards to hold as many sheep as this cost about $25000.

Dad's homemade yards did not cost half as much as that. 

But it take alot of time to build it all. And time is money.

We will have to see how they work out, as there is another set of yards on the farm in desparate need of replacement.

Back to Work.

A couple of days off for Christmas cheer, followed by some light rain....it is back to work.

 There is more harvest to be done.

Today we are helping get trucks, augers and field bins to the paddock and I get to ride in the big truck.

We do not have as much crop to harvest this year.

 And the summer is hot and dry so the grain will not be spoiled by rain.

No need for big harvesting machines....this little guy should do the job.

Bad thing for me is...I cannot have a ride on this harvester.

Bad thing for Dad is there is no cabin that means no air conditioner, no radio.

AND lots of DUST and ITCH.

The new dams are nearly finished. Just a little bit of mud to move!

This is the bottom of the dam

This is the top of the dam...Can you see me? 

This dam will hold ALOT of water, when it is full.

 I wonder how much rain we will have to have to fill it up to the top. 

Maybe we could get some fish for the dams.

It would make a great home for fish. 

Christmas in the Aussie Bush!

Christmas in Australia comes in the middle of a very hot summer.

There is no so sign of snow or reindeer...
but Mum did find some Santa's on her way to West Wyalong the other day!

Some farmers have been having some fun with their roadside mailboxes.

Santa on his reindeer

Santa playing hide and seek

Santa with Rudolph on a BBQ

Santa on Facebook

We will be spending Christmas on our farm. 

Dad has only just started harvesting the oat crops. 

We will hopefully catch up with more family once the crops are finished.

I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.

DAM, water, DAM, water!

It is really, really dry on the farm.

 We have not had a good fall of rain for a very long time.

There is still feed in the paddocks BUT some of the dams are VERY, VERY low!

Warm days and hot winds drop water levels in dams very quickly.

A new job for Dad and PopPop is to check the dams in every paddock. 

If the dams get too low it is very difficult for the stock to get to the water, the edges get very muddy.

Over time the dams can collect alot of mud and sometimes big storms can cut gullies in the banks. On the farm that we brought there are two dams like this. Dad is making the most of the dry weather and making these dams bigger and better!

 A big bulldozer is busy at work.

This is the dam before....

and the gullies around it....

and this is the NEW dam....

Now all we need is the water to fill IT!

The next dam on the list....

and more gullies....

Dear God...please send us some rain....AMEN

Shopping List....garlic and lamb.

Saturday afternoon....garlic harvest.

Time to dig,

 clean

 and transport for drying.

 

down to the dark, dark shed for drying. It should be ready in a month.
People are asking for it already at the shop.....it is very popular.

Sunday morning....loading lambs for Woolworths.

These lambs have been sold to Woolworths, for $3.80 per kilo. 
They are leaving the farm today on a big truck. Rocket, my pet lamb is on this truck.
He has grown up as good as all the other lambs.

These lambs will end up in Woolworths shops....
perhaps you will even buy some...
Is lamb on your shopping list today?

Hot in the Country!

Summer on the farm, hot, dry, brown, flies, grass seeds, harvest, dust, water.

The hills are now brown. The hot sun and warm winds have dried the grass out and it is no longer green. 

 The flies swarm all over our backs and under the brim of our hats. 

Annoying sticky little black flies.

The animals spend most of the day sleeping under shady trees, they will graze the grass now in the cool of the mornings and early evenings. 

They will perhaps visit the dam or water trough sometime during the day for a drink.   Every paddock on the farm has either a dam or a water trough for the animals to drink from. Animals drink alot of water when it is hot.

The hot sun and winds have made PopPop's oats ripe and ready to harvest.

So too is my garlic crop...time for me to get busy.

Gibbo has moved in and made himself at home.

And Beau is tickled pink to have the newest member of the team on the farm....

Meet Beau's son.....MONTE...born 20th October 2012.

The hot weather makes Monte very tired!

Big Smoke!

We offered our wool to the buyers last week in Sydney.
We decided to pack the car and take a little time out. 
We drove all the way to Sydney town, the big smoke!

Day 1....Selling our wool. Our wool left our farm in big bales, now a little bit from every bale is in a box for the buyers to look at. The shed is enormous and there is wool everywhere...some in boxes and some stacked in really heavy bales ready to be shipped.

We look at our wool in the boxes to see how it has been prepared. 
There is always things we can do better.

There are lots of things to see and learn here.....
You wouldn't believe what they have found in the bales of wool after they have left the farms.
All this rubbish!

I was very lucky, and got to sit in the room when they sold our wool. 
I was going to write the prices down BUT
It all happens very fast, lots of numbers and hammer banging. 
I couldn't keep up, I was a little bit nervous.

You can listen here....can you keep up?
The buyers call out the amount of money they are prepared to pay for the wool, they bid against each other. The man next to me calls it out loud for everyone to hear.
When the bidding stops he bangs the hammer, that means it is sold to the highest bidder.
It is called an open cry auction.
Our wool could end up anywhere in the world, there are buyers here from all countries. The main buyers are from China, India and Italy.

We sold some of our wool and some we have kept. The market for wool goes up and down all the time. It is not too bad now but we are taking a bit of a gamble and hoping it might get better.

After the wool sale finished I was ready for some fun.....in the sun...

and a little bit of sight seeing

All the boxes ticked....some wool sold....a drive over the Harbour Bridge...lunch by the Opera House and  a bit of fun on the beach. Sydney was fun. I love the beach and seeing some of my FarmDay friends. I can't wait to visit again!

Back to the farm...the weather is REALLY HOT. 
We have only been away a few days and summer hit hard. It is really dry.
Dad says that may be the last trip away for a while, the risk of fire this summer is bad.
The last two summers we have had alot of rain and the risk of fire was low.

Now we need to keep our eyes open and look out for big smoke!