Spring Frenzy!

It seems there is never nothing to do on the farm....springtime is one of the busiest times!

There is always a fence that needs mending, weeds that need spraying, seeds to sow, hay to make and sheep and cattle to care for. 

The list goes on and on!

Dad has been spraying some paddocks, so that next year he can sow new pastures or crops.

 He need sunny days with no wind to get this job done.

The bulls are out visiting the cows, and they are really happy about that. 

The weather does not bother them too much at all!

Springtime on the farm is all about green grass growing fast!

 This year it is green but not growing that fast and it is starting to dry out. 

The weather is warm, a bit too warm for spring. We need rain and we need it NOW!

On the weekend we had to go and pick up another bull for the cows. 

And while we were there, we came across a man with a dog......

After watching him in action .....he came home with us!

Meet Gibbo!

He is a lovely dog, he is really friendly and Dad says very good natured! 

The man has been working him with sheep and cattle and he is a bit of an all rounder.

Dogs are really important workers on our farm. 

I really do not know what we would do without them.

And they are really good mates TOO!

Gibbo is just visiting for a while to see if he likes us and we like him.

The man is selling Gibbo....$1200.00 will buy him.

Dad says,  he would be a good investment!

Sox...the Father of all Fathers!

Something very special arrived at the farm yesterday....a couple of brand new rams.

Today Dad had the very big job of shearing them, the shearers have moved on from our farm, so it is up to Dad. 
Lucky Dad is a jack of all trades!

We have named the ram Dad is holding Sox, we think he is pretty special.

Mum and Dad have been looking for a special ram for a long time.  

We hope Sox will be the father to lots of lambs on our farm....maybe even some rams.

He is mighty big, weighing just over 100 kilograms and he is still a lamb!

I am not sure how Dad will go shearing Sox. Sox is much heavier than my Dad!

Slowly but surely Dad gets Sox shorn, he is very well behaved.

We really like Sox's wool it is very soft, long and white 
and has lovely little crimps.

There is plenty of it. He has cut 6.5 kilograms of wool in only 7 months.

I wish my hair could grow that fast. It seems to take forever!

I hope Sox likes our farm.

Big news tonight...Beau is a DAD...Tilly the girl dog that came to stay, has had her babies, all 7 of them..

Congratulations BEAU.....perhaps a puppy will be the next special arrival on the farm!

Food and Fibre Out the Gate!

Out the gate and over the ramp the money rolls.

This morning Dad has loaded 350 lambs onto a truck. They have been sold $55.00 each.

$19250 on the truck... rolling out the gate.

He has also loaded 100 bales of wool.

 and out the gate it rolls bales of freshly shorn wool.

I wonder what it will be worth?

The wool will be taken away to be tested an it will offered to wool buyers in a few weeks.
The wool has a long way to go before it reaches the people in the shops. 
It has to washed and spun and woven and made into things like clothes and blankets.
We are the beginning of a long chain of people in the wool industry.

Window Shopping!

What a glorious day to go shopping with DAD! 

Window shopping, for things we would love to buy for the farm.

The Australian National Field Days, all about everything farm. 

There is everything here, motorbikes, tractors, boats, sheep yards, tractors, tools, and even socks and hats!

 You name it and I am sure we could find it...but you might have to walk quite a way!

They even have a special area for farm inventions....and look what I found....

a chicken caravan...

my girls would love this!

You can find out lots of information too...we have problem with wild pigs on our farm... and there were people there that know how to get rid of them!

They certainly are ugly!

Lots of equipment to make life easier on the farm too...this machine holds the sheep while you crutch them.....I think we need one of them. 

Dad might have to save up it costs $8000.00

 There was even some fun things for children.. a bucking bull, jumping castle and animal zoo. 

My favourite thing all day the gold mining display.

I even got to pan for gold and I FOUND SOME!

Over and Out!

We finally finished shearing last week, a big job over.

Today we finished putting the last of the shorn sheep back in the paddocks.

Some of the sheep had to be reshedded..... because on Friday we had SNOW! 

And it was just a bit chilly without their woolly jackets.

I don't think I would like to stand out in the snow in the nude. It would be a bit nippy!

The weatherman was kind enough to let us know the bad weather was coming. 

He calls it a Sheep Graziers Warning....that tells all the farmers to beware of bad weather ahead.

Farmers can then find better shelter for the animals.

We found only one ewe that had died in the cold so I think we were pretty lucky.

After thinking really hard we decided to sell the smallest of our meat lambs.

It will take us along time to get them ready for sale so they are off to another farm.

$55.00 each,  Dad and Mum are a little disappointed. They will go on the truck tomorrow.

Last year those lambs would have made $80.00.

The rest of the lambs have been shorn and they are enjoying lovely sunny weather and paddocks of clover!

Dad says....."IT IS ALWAYS A BIT OF A GAMBLE" .

Farming is like that, you never know from year to year what the market, the season or the prices will be. 

Fun Fact Friday!

 According to Guinness World Records, the hardest tongue twister is

 'the sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick'. 

Can you pronounce it correctly? Hard, isn't it?

Leaving Home.

All good things must come to an end!

A sad day today, school holidays are over and my pet lambs have left home to join the REAL sheep!

To make the most of the last day I have been extra busy.

Dad and I mustered up the pet lambs, it was their turn to be shorn. 

Dad shore them for me

He took extra special care and I watched him very closely.

It was my job to prepare the wool.

That involved alot of jumping!!

Beau watched on and had.......

a well deserved rest!

And after a little while they were all done!

I think they feel a bit funny now....they sure do look different.

Then it was all aboard.....

for a ride to a new paddock and some new friends.

Bye, bye babies...I'll miss you...BUT

I will see you again soon!

Swoop...you missed ME!

The holidays have been hectic....

I have spent lots of time helping muster sheep into the yards for shearing.

I love to walk along behind the sheep and help the dogs with their work.

 It is great exercise. And I really love it.

EXCEPT for Mrs Magpie..............., 

Mum says she is an occupational hazard of springtime in the paddocks!

She is just doing her job protecting her babies in a nest nearby. 

But she sure gives me a fright!

Luckily I have discovered a way to scare Mrs Magpie off.....

Today we have been weighing the meat lambs trying to find some ready for sale.

 There are some nearly ready but not quite.

Sadly the prices for the lambs are going DOWN! 

We have to decide whether we will take the money now or wait until the lambs get bigger? 

My job is to operate the pedal that moves the lambs along. 

STOP and GO, STOP and GO! 

Dad says it hard to know what to do....if the price keeps going down....keeping them may be the wrong decision. BUT if the price goes UP....it will be the right decision!

I don't know what I would do.....maybe flip a coin!

We will just have to think about IT! 

Farming is a family business and we all have to help make the decisions!