A Week In The Life Of...

So, just to give you an idea of exactly what we get up to across a week on the farm. Every week is different and I'll do this again in a little while to show you what happens at different times of the year. 

Monday: 

As well as farming full time I'm studying photography, so twice a week I take a 4 hour block out of the day and get some course work finished. This morning that's what I did as the rest of the week will be pretty busy getting more mobs of ewes and lambs handled and marked. The afternoon was spent mustering the mob from a selection of paddocks. It's always an interesting muster as there's a swamp, a patch of blue gums and multiple redundant fences to deal with. On top of all of that this months rain has put around half a foot of water across 70% of the area we were mustering. Three and a half hours later we had them all mustered in two separate mobs and held close to the yards. 

Tuesday: 

First things first, a morning walk which not to long ago let me watch the sun rise. The days are getting longer though so I get the glistening dew instead of the blazing sky. What's next? Mustering the mob of ewes and lambs from the holding paddock, ours is called the triangle. For some strange reason it is most definitely not triangular! Then the boys drafted the lambs from their mums and ran them into the shed as it's the most 'lamb proof' spot to hold them. Plus, it means we get to work out of the sun or the rain, whichever Mother Nature chooses to throw at us. While the boys were doing this I was on the bike moving the last of the crutched wethers towards the paddock we're holding them in until we push them back across the road to their 'station' style block. Now that the lambs are ready to be marked and the house yard is free for their mums the marking begins! We ear marked, tagged, tailed (with a green ring), castrated (also with a green ring), needled and scratched 380 lambs. Next up? Bringing the second half of the mob to the Triangle and check mustering the paddock we pushed them all out of. This resulted in some wet jeans and another 4 lambs to mark in some old yards by my grandparents house. Wet jeans you may be asking? Let me show you why! 

Like I mentioned earlier, the bulk of this section of the farm gets very waterlogged during the rainy months! So the day was rounded out with a rugby tackle to catch the last lamb as the 4 lambs and their mothers decided to implement their master escape route through the falling down cattle yards. 

Cattle don't try and fit through spots that lambs do! Mustered, caught, marked and sent back to their paddock happily with mum and it's time to fix a little bit of fence. Except... I managed to forget the chainsaw to cut the branch off the fence, so the other workman and I got to flex our 'man muscles' and shift it by hand. We got the wooden posts propped up in no time and headed back to base only to find the kitchen in disarray as the main wall is in the process of coming down during our renovations! 

So, the kitchen is now in the dining room and cooking will be a task for the next few months but it's all worth it!

All in a days work right?

Stay tuned for Wednesday's adventures!