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. 

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!

Mootoyoutoo!

Round them up and run them in! 

Calf marking, a week of cattle work. 

Most of the cows have calved now and it is time to start marking the calves before they get TOO big!

The cows and calves are taken to the cattle yards.

This year some cows have had twins, that is not a very common thing in cows.

We have 4 sets of twins!

And for just a very short time they are separated from each other.

Just like all the baby lambs the calves have to have a couple of operations done to them.

First a needle to protect them from disease, an earmark so we know what farm they belong to.

The girl calves are done then,..... BUT the boys have one more operation that makes them very cranky!

It is noisy work every cow is mooing so loud. Calling for their baby.

When the job is finished and they are all back together it is peaceful again. 

Thank goodness...they were giving me a headache!

A busy couple of weeks ahead, it is springtime on the farm and it is action stations!

All the lambs are due to get their second dose of medicine.

And this week we need to prepare the shearing shed because next week shearing starts.

I am really lucky this year because we will be shearing in the school holidays....

that means I get to help!

Snip, Snip.....Clip, Clip

Click go the shears AGAIN......more sheep to be shorn and wool to be pressed.

The merino lambs wool is long enough to be shorn now.

Blackfoot and Angel are in this mob, I wonder if I can find them....I hope they have nice wool.

WOW...Blackfoot remembers me, Mum and I have put an ear tag in each of his ears, so now we will always know him.

Angel is not so friendly....we can't find her in the mob...she must be hiding.

The weather has been very stormy this week, so every night we have had to shed the lambs to keep them dry.
We have had 5 storms this week!

Lots of thunderbolts and lightning! Very, very frightening......

The lambs look much cooler now they have their wool off. 
Back to the paddock, the wethers will get fat and ready to be sold.
And the ewes will be back in October to do it all again

Three Bags Full.....plus a few!

Shearing is over........ 2764 sheep shorn.....

All the wool is pressed into bales....and ready to be trucked to the wool store. At the wool store it will all be tested to see how good it is, then it will be sold. It costs alot of money to shear and prepare the wool, $6.50 for every sheep and its fleece.

Hopefully the woolbuyers will love our wool and give us lots of money!

all stacked up!

 

The sheep are all cool with their wool off.

And they have already started growing wool for next year!

heading home!

Removing Woolly Jackets.

Finally the shearers arrive, only 3 days late and one shearer short, BUT we have made a start.

The sheep have to be yarded hours before they are due to be shorn, so that their tummies empty out. They will be alot more comfortable while the shearers handle them. I think the sheep are looking forward to having their woolly jackets taken off as the weather is warming up.

Every night we put the sheep in the shed, as there is nearly always a dew in the morning that would make them wet. The dogs have been VERY busy all week, mustering  and penning up the sheep to be shorn.

Beau and Bear are nearly worn out, Beau has a very sore foot. He has a grass seed stuck between his toes, we have had to take him to the vet to get some medicine. Dad has to get the young dogs to fill in, Boy and Kirk love that idea.

The shearers travel to the farm everyday, they have to get out of bed very early. They start shearing at 7.30am, I am ready and waiting! Shearers are very hard workers, they have to catch and drag the sheep from the pen. That takes alot of muscles!  They shear the sheep so quick. If you blink you nearly miss them. One shearer can shear a sheep in less than 2 minutes. He shears 200 sheep a day. That is alot! He gets paid $2.65 for every sheep he shears......he must be rich!

After the sheep are shorn Mum and the shed hands prepare the wool. The fleeces are thrown onto a table and the edges are skirted, they take off short, coloured and any other bits that are bad. It is very important that the wool is prepared well. The floor is swept all the time, and the short bits are kept separate. I am good at sweeping.

Mum looks at every fleece of wool on the table, she has to check its length, strength, colour and softness. Mum and Dad are very pleased with the wool this year, it is very long, each sheep is cutting about 5 kilograms.

The fleeces are put into a wool bin ready for pressing. Dad is the wool presser he operates a very noisy machine, he also has to pen up all the sheep when they call SHEEPO!

IN it goes

and squash it down!

Lots of wool goes into the press, each bale weighs about 190 kilograms. The press squashes all the wool in. I try to help Dad load the wool into the press, but my arms aren't quite big enough and my legs aren't quite long enough. When the bale comes out it is branded with letters and numbers. Then it is ready to go on the truck to the wool store.

Shearing is a busy time, it has taken the sheep 12 months to produce the wool, and within a matter of minutes it is all over for another year.