Finishing Out The Week

I promised a week in the life of, so here is Friday of the next week. What were we doing? More lamb marking and crutching the ewes at the same time. It keeps us busy when we have to yard the mob and draft the ewes off their lambs before 7:30, for the contract crutchers to get their full day. So we begin with that and then it's into lamb marking! I've previously shown you most of what we do when we lamb mark, the only thing left is what we breed for. (If I've forgotten something or you want to know something, please feel free to ask.)

The wrinkles or skin folds across this guys neck are something we try to breed out of our flock. The cleaner bodied they are the less likely they are to end up fly blown. Take my word for it when I say it's not a nice experience for anyone. 

The same goes for the skin folds across the breech here. The cleaner their bums the less dags they end up with which again reduces fly risks and means they are easier care sheep. We'd prefer them to look like this. 

So that's the main thing we're targeting in our fine wool merino sheep. Aside from our breeding program Friday was a busy day because we needed to mark the lambs,

draft more ewes for the boys,

and crutch all at the same time, and in the dodgiest yards we have.

(I'm sorry you can't see it in action but we were flying that day and I didn't have time to stop and ask permission.) The ewes walk up a ramp and along the race at the back of the cradle. You can see an opening just below the wool bale hanging down for shade. This is where the ewe is pulled out of the race and rolled into the cradle. She lies upside down so that she can be crutched, this is shearing the wool off the area around her bum, and anything with dags (collected poo) as well. We also 'wig' them, or shear the wool from around their face, as sheep can become wool blind and it helps remove the risk of grass seeds in the eyes. 

One of the hardest things on a day like today is getting the dogs to behave themselves when they're not needed. Charlie eventually got the picture that she didn't get admonished if she stayed close and of course I couldn't resist a cute photo!

Buddy on the other hand will happily cruise all day and you have to call him out of the shade to get some work out of him!

I found this beast chilling around the yard. It's amazing what you end up with when you buy a farm! I also thought I'd show you that no matter how busy we/you are, there's always time for simple joys. A beastly trike...

Or the first braid of the hat season.

It's all about remembering to take the time to enjoy what you do. When you're flat strap it's easy to forget to do, but the spring sun is beginning to shine and life on the land doesn't get much better than this time of year. 

Things To Do On A Thursday

Yep, you guessed it. The day starts with a walk. Personally I think light exercise is a great way to start the day, leaves you feeling refreshed and ready to tackle what's ahead. Speaking of which, first task for the day was moving the rest of the preserved goods and the alcohol stash out of the pantry. What did this teach me? That we are in dire need of a wine rack!
I then spent the rest of the morning battling with where we live. It was study time and what do you know the internet data allowance was used up so I was trying my hardest to achieve something with glacially paced internet and a computer that decided not to cooperate. Four hours later I think I managed to achieve something. 

What to do now? Oh, that's right, we got to push around 1500 wethers back over the road and through a large expanse of fenced off bush. Why? To avoid letting them get into any of the canola. 

You can vaguely see the freshly crutched boys wandering through the bush here. It's always interesting as the bush has branches and stumps and rabbit warrens hiding all over the place, and if the sheep decide they want to get into the parrot bush... Well that's it! There's no way to push them out with just a bike, it's to thick and prickly. It's times like that that I wish I had a chopper or a plane overhead like the stations I've worked on. The upside to bush mustering and checking a few fences on the other block? Pictures galore! 

The boys happily heading into fields of yellow cape weed. 

The canola is losing its flowers now.

Leaving the block sheep free for 6 weeks so the worms die off on the pasture means there's bulk pasture! Great for the sheep, not so great for knowing what you're about to ride over... Helmets are definitely a necessity!

The most permanent creek system we have. It can be interesting on this block as it gets very wet in places, one has to be aware of getting bogged at all times. 

Sun orchids

My favourite little white flowers. These pop up in the wetter pasture/bush land areas. 

These purple flowers have started popping up all over the place. There's nothing quite like seeing bright flowers all over the farm. :)

Spider orchids are still out.

Even though they're dying off they still seem quite majestic. 

Lots of pink triggers!

The infamous roo paw, such a different plant but very striking.

And to finish the day off, beer o'clock in our 'alfresco' dining area. 

Friday will be a day in the city so I won't bore you with that but I hope you've come to understand how diverse any one day on the farm can be. There are always other things that crop up and there is never a shortage of things to do!

P.S. I forgot to mention that when we lamb mark we don't physically mules the sheep. We have been part of a few trials to do with how we can better help the sheep. Fly blow is a huge problem but as an enterprise we have chosen not to put the sheep through mulesing anymore. 

The Wonders of Wednesday

Once again we begin with a morning walk. This is my moral high ground, if I've been for my exercise before I do anything else then I can't 'forget' to do it. That and the chocolate is far more satisfying! ;) 

Next up, yarding what turned out to be 901 ewes and another 352 lambs. When you're working a mob of ewes and lambs it always seems the more you work them, the more the lambs fall to the back. A bit like water rising through setting concrete. So, sheep yarded and the boys get into drafting them. In the meantime I set up the marking cradle and count the ewes out, keeping a 'wether' eye out for any mistakes. Herding the freshly drafted lambs into the shed is always a mammoth task. Imagine trying to herd a school of fish, if one breaks they all follow like a fluffy white tide. And yes they can crash through fences with their lack of yard experience. My brother copped the tide this morning!

Yes, that's him stuck in the corner...

The more we work them throughout their life the better they respond to us in the yards. In essence we train our sheep, although it never quite feels that way...

Now we get to physically mark the lambs. I explained this in the last post but I have some photos today. 

Our tags, each farm has it's own brand and there are an array of shades of the years colour to choose from. The colours run in an eight year cycle and tell us what age each sheep is at a glance. 

The tagging gun, these tags are much nicer for the stock compared to the old ones that punched a hole and then slid the tag through that hole. Lambs ears don't always withstand the old style so we've moved to these self piercing ones. 

The old tags. 

The infamous green ring and it's applicator. These are one of the handiest inventions on the farm and get used for no end of things! So you slide the green ring onto the four prongs... 

Squeeze the pliers and place over either the tail or the testicles. Instead of making a physical wound the green ring cuts off the circulation to the tail or testicles resulting in them dropping off after a period of time. It's less painful and leaves less risk of infection for the animal. 

We use these ear marking pliers to take two notches out of the animals left ear for  ewes and right ear for wethers. The tags go in the opposite ear. This allows us to determine their sex when coming through the draft and puts a physical 'ownership' mark on the animal. (Yes, some people will change the tags on an animal unfortunately.)

They get vaccinated using one of these, apologies for the photo of an old gun! Normally there is a needle and a refrigerated vaccine bag attached.

Lastly the animals get a 'scratch' to vaccinate against scabby mouth. 

All you do is make a welt on bare skin and as you scratch to make that welt you pump a drop of the liquid down the metal tip. Simple and effective. 

So we did all of that to 352 lambs today, which isn't many compared to a contractor but with renovations going on we're taking it at a cruisier pace than usual. Lambs are sent back to mum and left in a relatively small paddock overnight to ensure mothering up happens correctly. I try to send the lead of the mob back over the tail a few times to make sure all the lambs have a chance to find mum and then we leave them to it. (As long as you've remembered to shut the gate at the other end of the paddock! There may have been a revved engine and some quick manoeuvring to get the dry ewes, that always come to the front of the mob, back into the previous paddock.) Sheepwork is all sorted for the day and now it's back to the house where I found our new alfresco dining area! 

Mum and I spent the afternoon moving the pantry and the kitchen back into the dining room so we can still eat! Much to Dad's delight we ended up using his newly acquired pallet racking which truth be told is perfect for pantry shelving! (Sorry guys, we girls are going to be pinching your industrial shelves from now on!) That brings us to now, sitting back on the veranda watching the sun go down with a cider and getting this blog written. I hope it's informative for you all as well as entertaining. Oh, and we do stop for smoko either side of our lunch as well. Today was also the first spring day we've had, the sun came out along with the sun screen. The insects were in full flight, literally against my sunnies on the bike! Even the frogs came out this evening with their croaky songs. :)

There's never a dull moment on the farm! 

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!

Pasture Renovations

Some of you may remember from waaaaay back at seeding time that we had enough time and the right seasonal conditions to tackle the renovation of a few pastures/putting in potential fodder crops. During my walk this morning (which was like walking twice the distance in this horrific wind) I noticed that the crop near the house is looking pretty spiffy. Finally! The Barley has had a few troubles with root lesion nematodes and as such hasn't really performed as well as we'd hoped. When farming there is ALWAYS something we can or could have done better and unfortunately this crop was one of them. However, it's starting to look a little healthier and we still have some options for spring sowing if we want to. I'm getting off track though! I wanted to show you the difference between Barley and Oats, and what better way to do that than with a picture of a paddock with both types of crop in it! 

See the dark green patch feeding in from the right? That is the Oats and the lighter green is the Barley. Oats generally grow straight up and drop their 'heads' over when they mature. When I say 'head' I mean the top section of the plant that holds the actual grain. (Rest assured there will be plenty of harvest pictures for those of you that are curious.) Whereas Barley tends to spread as it is growing, this means Barley often looks like a carpet across the paddock while you can still see down the rows of an Oat paddock. For a little while at any rate. So there you have it the difference between Oats and Barley. If you have any questions, feel free to comment. Oh, and if we grew wheat I would show you that to but we haven't done that in quite some time. 

Wildflowers - Take 2

So, I promised more photos and here they are! The Spider Orchids are starting to come out in full force and the first of the Kangaroo Paws are emerging. The bush is absolutely beautiful to wander through with the spring smell in the air. You just have to pick the time of day when the mosquitoes are hiding! I won't keep you from the pretty pictures any longer! :)

Some of the gorgeous bush daisies out at the moment, there are literally fields of these in the bush!

The infamous Kangaroo Paw. You absolutely cannot miss these colours as you walk through the bush.

The Rosy-Cheeked Donkey Orchid, I know it doesn't look that different from the Purple Pansy Orchid in my last post but you'll notice the 'ears' are positioned slightly differently and the colouring is its distinguishing feature.

These three are all the same kind of Spider Orchid and they present beautifully when they grow in threes as shown top left. After copious hunting I have discovered this one closest resembles the Hills White Spider Orchid. It is honestly astounding how many different varieties of Spider Orchid there are. 

Another of the Silky Blue Orchid, these ones were out a different section of bush and have a slightly different hue to them. It's amazing how each area of bush helps each orchid develop its own characteristics.

This is a larger Trigger Orchid and I took great delight in setting it off just so you could see what happens!

These are from another section of bush again and were in an incredibly tight cluster! I have been hunting through the Orchid books we have here and I haven't managed to find anything that exactly resembles it but I think this is a Pansy Orchid. Feel free to correct me if anyone knows otherwise! 

Last one! When this blooms it opens out into a soft yellow orchid, known as a Lemon Scented Sun Orchid or the Vanilla Orchid. These ones are very sweet and simple compared to the intricacies of some of the other orchids.

I hope you enjoy the pics and maybe manage to go and have a bit of bush walk and discover some for yourself. Until the next installment.

Wildflower Season - Pictures Galore!

So, for those of you who aren't into flowers, gardening or growing things prepare to discover some of the most intricate wonders that this land has to offer. Every year from mid August through to late September Mother Nature puts on a pretty spectacular show for us. Some of the wildflowers in my area are so well camouflaged you almost stand on them! Others are bright and stand out from the roadside. All of them are beautiful, and some of them even provide great enjoyment. If you're an orchid fan you'll know what I'm talking about when I mention Trigger Orchids..

Orchids in general have three petals and three sepals. When looking at them it basically looks like they have 5 petals and a 'tongue' to attract insects for pollination. The designs they have on this 'tongue' are delicate, striking, and enticing. All to aid with attracting the pollinators! They usually begin from a leaf on the ground, just a single leaf, and they stem up from that. So if you go for a wildflower wander be careful not to step on the ground leaves and the only tip I have is this. Move slowly and get down on a different level, you'll be surprised what you notice from a different vantage point.

So, let me introduce a few of my favourites! :)

The Spider Orchid - There are countless variations in colour and size and each have their own name. If I'm lucky I'll get to show you the Blood Spider Orchid.

The Dwarf Pink Fairy Orchid - These come out in very different soil types to the Spider Orchid (which can usually be found beneath White Gums), generally in slightly gravelly areas. Unlike some orchids these often come out in tens at a time in one area.

Ordinarily I would have called this a Donkey Orchid. As I discovered today it is actually a Purple Pansy Orchid, always pays to do your research! They do look very similar, their colouring is quite different though.

This is a Silky Blue Orchid. Before today I had never seen one of these but I stopped to take a walk through a patch of bush I'm not near very often. Always pays to live on the land and get off the beaten track. These were everywhere and absolutely stunning!

The Cow Slip Orchid, these are a little more like the Dwarf Pink Fairy Orchid in that they come out in droves.

The thoroughly entertaining Trigger Orchid. These can be white or pink and anywhere from the size of your little fingernail to the size of your big toe. Why are they called a Trigger Orchid you may ask? Any child can tell you the answer, when you take a small twig and poke it into the centre of the flower it 'triggers'. Many of the orchids are designed to trap insects and the intricacies of their traps provided great amusement as a kid. Waiting for them to reset so we could have round two, not so much fun...

If you like these then stay tuned. I can guarantee I will take far to many photos to add to my ridiculously large library of orchid shots. ;) With any luck I will be able to show you some of the following: Jug Orchid, Donkey Orchid, Purple Enamel Orchid, Dragon Orchid, some other variations of the Spider Orchid, Sun Orchid, and if it decides to let us find it the Hammer Orchid. Not to mention the Kangaroo and Cat Paws that WA is known for. Hopefully I get to go for an adventure into the Stirling Ranges and look at a completely different cross section of orchids. Either way, you can look forward to an inundation of orchid photos! Life on the Land - It never fails to provide me with a wonderous beauty.