Getting Down and Dirty!

Lambing is finished. Now its time for some fun! Lamb marking!

Every mob of ewes and lambs needs to be mustered to the yards. 

We start marking the meat lambs first, they grow the fastest and soon they will be too big to lift!

Dad drafts the lambs from their mothers so they can be operated on.

 Every lamb is caught,................ I think I am big enough to help this year?

the lambs are put into a special cradle, 

 while it is in the cradle some special operations take place.

First an earmark so we know the lamb is ours...

then a needle for diseases.

The boy lambs get another extra special operation, so they do not all grow up to be rams!

And then just like the "three blind mice"....they have their tails taken off. 

If we left their tails on they would get very dirty bottoms, and the flies would love it!

A pity they can't wipe their bottom!

The lambs are a bit sore for a little while, but they run off to their Mums and a bit of warm milk soon makes them forget!

A dirty job...might be time for a wash!

Countdown to FarmDay is on Air!

Excitement is building...the countdown to FarmDay is on!

Even more exciting was a visit from the radio lady. 

She came to the farm to talk to us about FarmDay. 

We had a radio station in our kitchen................ 

how crazy is that!

 She grew up in the city so she wanted to know lots about our farm, what animals we have and what we do on our farm. She even helped me feed my pet lambs.

If you would like to listen to the interview you can find it on the internet!

http://blogs.abc.net.au/nsw/2012/05/morning-show-visits-watervale-near-woodstock-for-farm-day.html?site=centralwest&program=central_west_mornings.

The weatherman was right it did rain and got really, really cold. 

So I have spent lots of time inside. The only time I step a foot out is to feed my lambs.

So today I have been interviewing Dad on my own radio station!

Pesky Pigs and Wicked Weeds!

We would really like a drop of rain, hopefully the weatherman will be right, he says the rain will be here tonight, 

FINGERS CROSSED!

The crops are all up and growing.

 Dad was really busy yesterday spraying weeds and spreading fertiliser on the crops he sowed last month. 

I call this tractor Henry....Henry Ford. He is a bit old and even looks a bit cranky

 BUT he gets the job done.

This black pipe drops pink blobs all over the paddock,

 it lets Dad know where he has been and where he has to go!

The sprayer's arms are 18 metres wide, that is a long way to stretch. 

My arms are only a metre wide, just long enough to cuddle Mum and Dad.

The tank holds 2000 litres of water. Alot bigger than my tummy!

Dad has discovered another pesky problem.....PIGS....wild PIGS!

We have not seen them but we can sure see where they have been!

They are making a real mess, ripping up the paddocks! And making holes in the fences.

Not sure what we can do about them.... 

maybe we will have to trap them and turn them into bacon!

Autumn Days

Autumn days are on the countdown, winter is just around the corner. 

Lambing is nearly finished, just a few left to go....

Can you see what I see?

The ewes have had beautiful weather for lambing hardly any cold, bleak days. 

The lambs are growing fast. When winter arrives they will be all be big and strong.

Mum and I went for a drive around all the ewes on the weekend. 

When I go along it is alot quicker, I can open and close the gates. I am just tall enough.

I can just reach!

Jack Frost has been to visit us recently, when we wake in the morning the countryside is white with frost.

 He certainly leaves his mark! The grasses get burnt by the icy cold frost.

The paddocks look dry and need a drop of rain. The weather man says maybe this week?

 The grass will still grow while the days are warm BUT when it gets cold nothing grows.

You would need a long neck to eat this grass!

The stock like the dry warm weather, they do well. 

When winter comes they use alot more energy to keep warm, and there is alot less grass to eat.

These calves have forgotten all about there MUMS!

I love autumn, every minute I get, I spend outside now, before the winter weather really hits!

Meet My Mates!

I love living on the farm. 

There are so many good things about it! Animals, trees, space to run, explore and play!

Most of all I love the babies, and we have so many of them.

 We have lots of farm babies every year, calves and lambs. 

Sadly sometimes the mothers of the babies die, that is part of nature. 

BUT

lucky for some of the babies, I take them home and look after them.

My calves have grown up really big, they do not drink milk anymore  but they sure do like their oats.

I now have 6 pet lambs, they are a real handful. 

Their names are Decker, Racer, Rocket, Coco, Mrs Brown and Squirt. They LOVE their milk!

Mum says she needs to be an octopus to feed them, she just does not have enough hands. They get fed 3 or 4 times a day.

Lucky for her I help out when I come home from school.

Lambing Disasters!

Lambing is nearly finished. Dad and PopPop have certainly had alot of headaches.

It seems the ewes wanted to do nothing but DIE.

In the beginning the ewes had lambing sickness and quite a few died. 

It seemed nothing they did worked. Eventually this problem solved itself and THEN..

WORMS and a bad one, called Barbers Pole...it takes all the blood from the sheep and then they die!

"Its OK girl...we will look after your baby. I am afraid you are too sick and you might die!"

 Only one way to fix it with medicine. 

It is difficult to drench the ewes with medicine while they are still lambing, Dad had to make yards in the paddock so the ewes did not have to walk far and they could get straight back with their lambs.

Maybe the ewes are missing me, last year Mum and I checked them everyday. 

This year I have to be at school. 

Each day when I come home on the bus I wonder whether Dad will have a surprise for me.....a baby lamb?

SO FAR Dad has had 6 surprises for me! 

WOW!

Ready?

"Listen up now.....it is time for you to live on your own!

You will be fine..... your mums are expecting another baby, you need to move out!"

"Are you ready?"