Hay IN, Rams OUT!

Busy times on the farm. 

Making hay while the sun shines.

We have been really lucky with the rain, it has stayed away.

The hay is baled.

Some of the hay is in big round bales.. 

and some is in little square bales.

The big round ones have to moved with the tractor. 

The little square ones can be moved by Dad and PopPop.

It is not every year that we make hay. The grass has to be very good to cut hay.

We put the hay in a big shed where it is protected from the rain and sun.

Sometimes on the farm it does not rain for a long time and there is not much grass for the animals to eat. We feed them hay from the shed and grain from the silos when this happens. It is very handy to have it. 

It is like having a pantry of food for the animals.

Time for the rams to go out with the ewes and make babies.

For every 100 ewes in the mob we put 1 ram. The rams have a big job ahead of them.

The ewes are a little shy at first.....

then they are a little bit curious.....

and then they are happy to meet them!

The rams will spend 5 weeks with the ewes then they will return home for a rest.

Weary and Worn.

Everything eventually gets old.....these old ewes are off to market.

They have bred many lambs and now they are too old to keep.

 Some don't even have teeth anymore!

The ewes averaged $71.00.....the fattest ones were sold before Christmas for $112.00.

Not bad for OLD GALS! 

 

The rams have all returned from the ewes, some a little worse for wear!

Sally and I can muster them up all on our own, the rams are very well behaved.

Foot sore and tired.

 Mum and Dad inspect them, some will need to be sold and some just require a little bit of tender, love and care!

A few new rams need to be put on the shopping list for next year.

A fresh paddock will do them the world of good.......

Boy Meets Girl.....Girl likes Boy.

A lovely overcast day, the weatherlady says a chance or rain....that will cool things down a bit!

The rams are all off to meet the girls today. They will spend 5 weeks visiting 2425 girls and hopefully make lots of baby lambs.

The rams are delivered to the girls in their paddocks. First the merino rams....

Off they GO!

The merino rams are joined to all the best woolled sheep on the farm.

Then the poll dorset and white suffolk rams, they will make the meat lambs.

Look at that butt!

"I think there are a few girls checking out the boys!"

HELLO girls...nice to meet you!

What an exhausting morning.... all the rams delivered to the girls.

SALE O!

Spring time is BUSY on the farm.

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.

I hope the rams like their new homes!

POLL RAM

and RAM with HORNS!