Mission Impossible

There are some jobs on the farm that without a doubt feel like they're impossible. I'm currently top dressing some last minute nutrients onto the canola before we have no chance of getting into the paddock as we don't want to damage it in its flowering stage. I'm also spreading the same fertiliser on any barley that isn't performing as it should. Doesn't sound impossible? No, I didn't think so either. Until... 

Turns out taking a tractor and spreader into a paddock that the motorbike gets lost in is a little nerve wracking. As always, auto steer turns sharp corners precisely where you don't need it to! Thankfully four wheel drive, a throttle lever and tyres that spread the weight have let me get away with just tracks at this point. There's still the bulk of this map left, and the blue bits are the 'treacherous' zones

Getting bogged is a highly amusing part of farm work... For those of us that didn't do the bogging! Hopefully I get away without having to buy a carton! Wish me luck..

Sense of Smell

Life on the land can be quite brutal on your nose at times! Then again, we also get to experience the sweetest smells around. Today's nasty smell is fermenting rotten grain. Not pleasant! From day to day I can come home smelling very strongly like sheep poo, dead sheep, rotten grain, fertiliser, diesel, oil, petrol, stock chemicals, wool, wet dog or a yabbie (due to stagnant water that, of course, has to be ridden through on the motorbike!) ;) 

Thankfully I also get to smell freshly mown hay and the sweet scent of baled hay. The honey scented paper bark blossoms. The canola as it hits full bloom, not to mention the iridescent yellow! I get to smell home grown lamb chops on the barbie, the subtle hint of grain in the air at harvest. The sweet ryegrass as the wind ripples through it in waves.

So I guess the smells balance out in the end. As you can imagine, some days, when you literally smell like shit, you just don't have the perspective to see it that way! 

Easing The Suffering

The truth of the matter is that if we want to eat beef, lamb, pork, chicken, or any other kind of meat then we have to farm it. The population we are trying to support means a subsistence economy, where we grow what we eat or require, is not viable. As long as we require meat for our vast population we will continue to farm, that is the simple truth. While we as farmers give 110% every single day to ensure the animals we care for have the best life possible, it's not always within our realm of influence. Sometimes a lamb dies because it wasn't sheltered in a storm. Sometimes a ewe dies giving birth. Sometimes fly blown sheep are struck before we can get to them. The key word here is sometimes. It's not a constant, the bulk of the time our mobs are fit and healthy, sheltered and well monitored for anything detrimental to them. So forgive us if we put a lamb down at marking time because it has a deformity and wouldn't be able to evade a hungry fox in the paddock. Forgive us if we put an animal out of its misery in the paddock instead of getting a vet to do it. Forgive us for having the courage to say I must be slightly cruel to be the kindest I possibly can to this animal. We will not knowingly let an animal suffer but if by chance a 'sometimes' occurs then we will ease their suffering in the quickest and least painful way available to us. We care for our animals, and every single one that we have to help through the cycle of life before it's time is a weight on our heart, mind and soul. So forgive us for having the courage to bear the pain so that humans can partake in a balanced diet. A diet that I believe is necessary for a healthy lifestyle. Please, before you jump on a farmers back for practices that you think are potentially cruel, take a look at why we do it and how we do it. Instead of condemning us for cruelty, help us find a more humane way to do things. We may not have the means to provide for every animal as a pet but DO NOT, for a second, believe that we do not care for them in exactly the same way. A wounded lamb holds the same pain for us as a dog hit by a car. The only way to implement positive change in this world is to work together, not to bring each other down.

We Dung Sample, We Egg Count... Then We Drench!

So, we dung sampled and egg counted and found our wethers wanting. Wanting a drench that is! The drenches we use act on intestinal worms and each drench has its own merits. We have to rotate through the active ingredients to ensure the worms don't build up resistance to them. This is why new drench families are so invaluable to us! After a drench the sheep will preferably be put onto a pasture where they can 'empty' out the worm eggs. This isn't always possible but we do our best to manage them onto fresh pastures after drenching to ensure the best worm kill possible. So basically, just like you worm your pets we have to worm every sheep on the farm generally once a year with a possible second drench to keep their condition up. Part of our breeding program is to breed worm resistance into the sheep, this means the sheep could hopefully carry a higher worm burden without it being detrimental to their health. That's why we drench, now for how we drench! 

This gun is what we use and we try to use a low volume (and therefore heavier concentration) drench for the ease of quick drenching. Six mls is far easier to squirt into a jacked off wethers mouth than twelve! The curve in the nozzle makes it easier to slip the gun in behind the sheep's teeth. Just as horses have a natural gap in their teeth that a bit can fit into. We handle every single animal which can be a very daunting task when on your own! Much to my grandmothers amusement I have been labelled a 'drench wench' after fixing my mistake from Tuesday. Dad and I drenched 900 of the mob of 1540 and I accidentally left a gate open letting the mobs mix up. Gate awareness is drilled into us from a very young age! Accidents do happen though... I became a 'drench wench' when I drenched the whole mob by myself on Wednesday, 900 of which were already drenched but we have no way of discerning which have been handled already. 

This is a regular sight after a long day of yard work. The dogs flake out on the lawn where we can see them from the kitchen window. Or keep an eye on them so they don't head back up to the yards on their own, sometimes they are just to keen for their own good!

Drenching is the perfect way to manage any mistakes in the mob. We can stick a tag in any that have lost one or as you can see here pull out any ewes, that happened to have lambs at this time of year. Fence integrity is not always 100% so mix ups do happen, for this many ewes it wasn't worth drafting the mob though. The lambs were quite content to curl up in the sun though, which is always heart warming to see. 

Once the day is done we empty out the drench bags and rinse them with water, leaving water in the hoses and guns for lubrication. This makes next time a whole lot easier! We just have to remember not to hang them up unless they have water in them as drench looks just like water most of the time. You may notice their are some other applicators here but that's for another time!

Best part of the job is coming home smelling like a sheep and covered in shit! It's unavoidable, but the shower afterwards is thoroughly satisfying! The lanolin in the sheep's wool is wonderful for your nails though. 

As you can see drenching has its upsides and downsides (possibly more so for nail conscious women than farming men!) but seeing the condition of the sheep rise makes it all worth it. We pride ourselves on making sure our animals are as healthy as possible at all times. It's a constant management task but well worth it in the long run. :)