Preparation Is Key

What does one need to be prepared in summer time on a farm in the south west of WA?

The first thing I do when I walk out the door in the morning is make sure I, personally, have everything I need. A hat for that harsh sun, sunglasses to stop the glare and to protect the eyes when riding a motorbike or fencing. Sunscreen, because getting seriously burnt is not a pleasant or healthy experience. Some days I need jeans, particularly the days I'm working in canola stubble. I need sock protectors every day, picking grass seeds out of your socks throughout the day is annoying, painful and time consuming. And of course, your boots of preferred brand and a work shirt. I make sure I have my phone with me at all times as the UHF radio doesn't reach from one block of land to the other, on the other hand I make sure I have the UHF radio as mobile reception is pretty patchy. I take a water bottle with me wherever I go, it's not as hot as the Pilbara but it's still warm enough to dehydrate your body. I always have a pair of gloves on hand and for those solo jobs I keep my headphones handy (following a slow mob of sheep up a laneway is rather boring without some good tunes). 

So now I'm protected and prepared for the day, which vehicle do I get in? Well, it could be anything; the work ute, the two wheel motorbike, the four wheel motorbike, the little tractor, the big tractor, the harvester, or any number of machines older than I am. I could even be on foot. If it's a motorbike I wear a helmet and I take my phone or a handheld UHF radio. The tractors and the harvesters are relatively self sufficient, however, we do legally have to have a fire unit in the paddock we are harvesting in. Which brings us to the work ute, this is the trusty steed that will go almost anywhere and carries everything we need to achieve any job that crops up. 

It holds (and I may have missed some things): 

A fire unit consisting of a 1000 litre tank and a fire pump, imagine finding a fire and having no way to put it out...

Petrol for the fire pump.

Fire lighter (a mix of petrol and diesel) and a fire bug in case we have to attend a fire and need to back burn for safety. Matches, a 4 litre water bottle, the fire rake, a shovel.

Behind the seat we have smoke goggles, fire overalls, and a first aid kit.

The chainsaw with premixed fuel and bar oil plus sharpening gear, earmuffs and safety glasses.

The tool box which holds any tool we could need plus a few more.

Hard wire for fencing, soft wire for twitching, fencing pliers, strainers and steel pickets (posts) plus the dolly required to bang them in

A heavy duty chain, rope, and ratchet straps.

Fly treatment, a knife, and almost always a 22 (rifle).

UHF and VHF radios. The local volunteer brushfire brigade runs off VHF, a work phone and it's car kit which provides better reception. 

So, now you know what we carry with us at all times. On top of that, every time we get in it we make sure it's got at least half a tank of diesel. Rocking up to a fire and getting stranded with no fuel is not a good look, let alone a good feeling. Every time it's fuelled we check under the bonnet for oil, coolant, and power steering fluid levels and we check the tyre pressures. Given we don't know exactly what will arise each day it's best to be prepared. With all of this gear I could potentially check the back paddock and the sheep in it. Let's say there's a fly blown sheep, I can treat it or put it down if it's too far gone. Maybe there's a tree on the fence. I can cut it off the fence, tow it away and strain it to keep the sheep in. If a fire started I could get there and have all the personal protective equipment required and the necessary equipment to fight it. I have a means of contacting home from practically anywhere. 

Preparation is key to our farming business because, if I can't handle any job that crops up I'm wasting valuable time or leaving a soul in pain while I find the necessary means to complete the job. When you leave the house you might check for your wallet/handbag, keys and sunnies. When we leave the house we check for a whole lot more! 

It's not all organisation and planning ahead though. We have a little fun along the way.

I find a little beauty every day. 

I have a laugh at at least one thing each day, watching sheep chase me is always amusing. 

We do our best to work smarter not harder. Moving these portable panels is painful without the trusty little John Deere. 

I get to work with big things every day!

If the big things I'm working with don't fit out the gate, well we pull the strainer post out don't we! Demolition is always on the cards.

Finally, I get to contribute to building new things on the farm that will last for years to come.

Picking Up The Pieces Of Your Heart (confronting images)

What would you think if you saw a 21 year old girl in jeans, a turquoise dust 'n' boots shirt, and Rossi boots walking toward a lamb with a rifle? What would you think as you watched her insert the magazine and flick the safety off? What would you think if you heard her ask her father for instructions on exactly where to shoot an animal to put it down as quickly and as painlessly as possible? What would you think if you watched this girl practice cutting an animals throat, on a sheep that's already been shot, so that she doesn't put a living animal through any unnecessary pain when a gun isn't at hand? What would you think as you heard the dull yet piercing thud of the bullet ending that lambs life? What would you think as you watch the last reflexes make the lambs body jerk and stutter? As their bowels release? As the blood leaves a stain on the ground? What would you think seeing her tow the carcass away from the mob of sheep? 

Would you be shocked? Would you be amazed? Would you think it was normal everyday life? Would you think it was despicable? Would you think 'why isn't a vet doing that'? Would you be proud to see a woman taking on that role? Would you turn away? Would it scar you or scare you? Would you cry or try and stop me? 

Let me tell you something. I have thought every single thought I just wrote, and more. I have questioned absolutely everything I do on this farm, and continue to do so regularly. In my opinion the facts are this; the human race desires and possibly even needs meat in their diet (I cannot attest to that scientifically, but I personally function better with meat in my diet). To provide this, animals will be farmed. That is a truth, an inescapable truth. The human race is too large to be supplied with meat through subsistence living. Not every person has the space or meets the requirements to humanely rear an animal to grow what they desire as far as meat is concerned. I ask you this, if you understand that farming animals is an inescapable truth, who would you prefer to rear your animals? Someone who questions the morality of what they do, who tries unendingly to improve the way their animals are cared for? 

There are practices within the stock industry that are not pretty, that are not necessarily painless. Never has the phrase 'cruel to be kind' applied to a situation so weIl. I am not suggesting that innovation is a bad thing, I fully support improving animal welfare wherever we can. What I ask of you is that you work with us. Work with the farmers, the transport companies, the live exporters, the abbatoirs and the stock men and women who handle the animals along their way to the plate; to ensure they live the healthiest, happiest and least painful life possible. 

The reality of what happens if you don't work with us, if you work with those who would impose all out bans on certain practices instead of making improvements, is harsh and horrible. If we are not allowed to mules a lamb, or don't have a more humane procedure for removing the wool from the tail region I can guarantee this is what will happen. 

This lamb died from fly strike before I could get to it to treat it or put it down.

This lamb is still alive. If your first reaction is to point the finger at me, hear me out. We breed our Merino sheep so that they have as little wrinkle as possible, so that they don't have fleece rot, so that they have as bare a breech (tail area) as possible. We manage our stock so they have the least amount of worms possible, which results in the least amount of dags possible. We remove anything we can that is appealing to a fly. We check our stock as regularly as possible to monitor any fly activity and treat anything we see on the spot, if it won't make it, we put the animal down. If you can see a flaw in the system we use, please point it out to me, as I'm happy to be shown a way that I could improve the life of stock on this farm. If you can't then please don't point your finger at a farmer, at a truckie, at a live exporter, or at a stock man or woman when you see something shocking like this. There is one thing I truly believe in and that is the way I feel when I have to put an animal down or see an animal that I haven't been able to care for properly. I trust that every person in the stock industry feels for animals the way I do, they wouldn't be in the industry if they didn't enjoy working with and caring for stock. 

Put yourself in my Rossi's for just a moment, that's all I need, just one moment. Imagine it's you slamming the ute door as you stride across the paddock with a rifle in hand. Imagine it's you that has to fight back tears as you see a poor weak animal struggling to stand because it's fly struck, because mum rejected it, because a fox has had a go at it. Imagine you have to deal with this regularly. Imagine feeling your heart break into a thousand pieces as you line up the spot on the back of their head and pull the trigger. Imagine it's you that has to help them out of their misery and it's you that takes the time to do it from behind so they don't see it coming. So they're not scared. Now imagine having to steel your soul as you walk to the second animal and do the same for it. Imagine feeling your heart shatter more than once in a day. Now imagine something worse than that, imagine finding an animal freshly dead, an animal you'd specifically gone back to treat or put down. Imagine knowing it suffered because you weren't quick enough, because you didn't have a knife or a gun with you to start with. The pain that rips through your heart and your soul when you can't help an animal is irreparable, it leaves a mark. Imagine it's you that takes yourself out to the back paddock at the end of a day like this. That you sit there for an hour crying until you feel like vomiting, that the keening noise you make scares the birds out of the trees. Worse still, imagine an industry that doesn't have people that care for animals this much.

All I ask of you as a 21 year old woman in the stock industry is not to fight us in our efforts to help these animals live healthy, happy lives, but to work with us. Donate to companies that are trying to increase animal welfare; by testing new alternatives to mulesing, by improving the ships animals are exported on, by educating the abbatoir workers overseas, by using stock crates on trucks that are more user and stock friendly, by providing courses for improving stock handling. Support those that are actively involved in improving animal welfare, those that are having a positive effect in the industry. I would not want to be part of a world that pushes for restrictions to be placed on the stock industry that result in farms and stations going bankrupt, that results in people not having the cash flow to feed their animals, that maybe even results in such a severe lack of funds that buying bullets to put animals down is not possible.

Never A Dull Moment!

I guess one could say my creative streak is back in play and that's why there's such an inundation of posts at the moment. That's true, but in reality we've been so tied up with 21st party preparations that farm work fell by the way side for a few weeks. We're well and truly back on track now though! 

Can you guess where I found this petrified parrot? 

I often tell people who come to the farm that there's never a dull moment; Monday the 2nd of December proved that to me in full! As you saw in the inner circle it was a Com-Monday with rubber camouflage, we were shifting bins and getting harvest cranked up which is always exciting. Amongst these movements I was doing the last training or imprint feed for the weaners. We only have one mob of ewes and lambs left to wean and one could say it was an eventful sheep feed... There I am diligently putting my hand up the chute on the sheep feeder. Why would I do that? Well, we had a chunk of mouldy old oats in the feeder from last years crop that came out of the field bins we were moving. (As much as I'd like to say things like this never happen, we're not perfect, we stuff up!) So you can picture me underneath the feeder, my hand up the chute pulling out handfuls of hot, black, mushy grain that smells something like a mix of mouldy washing that's been left too long in the basket, pickled onions, and off beer. It's thoroughly disgusting and doesn't wash off your hands very well, but every now and again getting dirty is great fun! Around 5 Litres of 'gunk' later I stick my hand up and grab automatically, only to feel something soft and fluffy... Immediate reaction is 'get your hand the hell out of there!' My brain goes into overdrive thinking something along the lines of 'there must be a rat in here', how I thought a rat would climb into the sheep feeder I've no idea. It's safe to say I wasn't thinking logically in that split second. So I take a look and this is what I find...

Somehow a parrot had ended up dead and thoroughly dessicated in the sheep feeder! Dull moment? Never!! (Did you guess it?)

I also got to play with a 'decoy' duck as I checked the dams to make sure no stock were stuck in them. 

These ones were on the dam, ducklings and one parent. 

That dark blob is the other parent duck playing decoy to draw my attention away from the babies. I got as close as I could to him/her as you'll see. 

Until she/he took off at a vast rate of knots!

I then proceeded through the rest of my morning with a hand looking like this...

Sometimes what the farm throws at you is disgusting, sometimes it smells, sometimes it's itchy, sometimes it's heartbreakingly sad, sometimes it's great fun, and sometimes it's heartwarming. Regardless of what it is, it's never ever dull! 

Welcome to the Inner Circle...

The inner circle of what you may ask? I'm sure many of you have had to pull ALL the way off the road for a field bin to come past you at a grand total of 50 kms an hour. (Well that's what our little windy gravel roads allow, if you're in the wheat belt you can call us slow!) Have you ever seen inside the field bin though? 

First things first, these are our two field bins, the old 9G and the truck that are integral to our grain operation. 

The 9G is a beautiful old tractor, they just don't build them like this anymore. The motor still runs like a charm, the rubber on the steering wheel is giving way a little though... 

Trying to wrestle the old girl with no power steering left me with lots of 'black' on my hands to kick off 'com-Monday'. (You've got to have a little fun ;) )

So, this morning we escorted bin number one to the canola paddock we'll start in! Very exciting, we're a little later starting than we'd like but it won't have damaged the crops at all. We also emptied bin number two and I hosed it out.

Welcome to the interior of the field bin, I'm standing on the mesh safety cage that stops people ending up in the auger accidentally. The bin is angled down at the bottom and the auger swallows the grain and sends it up to the spout and out into the truck or whichever transport vehicle you're using. (As seen in the first shot)

iPhone panoramas are fantastic, this is what I see when I'm cleaning out the field bin. Between each variety or crop type the bins get methodically and meticulously cleaned. As those of you who work at CBH know it's important not to have any contaminants in the grain. This can be anything from rocks or sticks to canola in barley or vice versa. Clean samples are the key to good harvest and profits!

This is about how much grain we lose out of the bottom of the bin each time we hose it out and unfortunately it's always a  soggy job and often an itchy job when working with barley and oats.

How does the auger run? It's run by a PTO or a power take off shaft. Most tractors will accommodate this shaft. So you back it in, slide it on and keep your hands clear of the fast spinning universal joints! 

That my friends is the inner circle of field bins! I apologise if you already knew all of that and if you didn't then I hope you're better informed and enjoyed the photos. :)

Weaning!

Well, first things first, we bring the mobs in! Mustering now takes place early in the morning or in the evening cool. We do this for two reasons; it's kinder to the sheep in the cool, and it's quicker as they're not slow and thirsty in the heat.

The lambs are drafted off mum, given a booster needle for their vaccinations, drenched to give them the best worm free start possible, and sprayed with Clik. Clik is a pink chemical that is harmless to animals and humans but deters flies thus ensuring they don't get fly struck for a certain period of time. What next?

They get pushed into a paddock (this is a very slow process as they're not bike and pressure savvy yet), this year it's a pasture paddock that we locked up for the winter season. It has oceans of ryegrass and clover (as you can see above) and we've cut tracks through the paddock for them which doubles as our summer hay quota. From here on out we have to monitor the weaners very closely as they do silly things like walking in the mud in the dam or not walking to the dam at all. Funnily enough I watched one voluntarily swim across the dam this week. Very strange occurrence!

Before we wean we go out with the sheep feeder and give the ewes and lambs a quick 'training feed'. This helps in summer time when we have to supplement the pasture that is or isn't left. The lambs learn to pick up the grain and get the idea that sometimes it's ok to chase the ute, not run away from it!

Our other feed option for the weaners is to put them into a small paddock we grow kikuyu (lawn) in. This stays green in our low lying wet country through the bulk of summer and is great for giving the weaners a boost!

Why Cross Breed?

When I say cross breed I'm referring to the lambs we produce that are born of a Merino mother and a Dorsett father. Cross breed can also refer to many other mixes of breeds. The Merino is primarily bred for wool while the Dorsett is primarily bred for meat. By crossing the Dorsett rams over our wool cull ewes (the ewes we don't want to breed from due to bad wool traits) we gain a flock of cross bred lambs. These lambs are quicker maturing than our Merinos and provide us with a summer income as we sell them to provide you with lamb roasts, chops, ribs, you name it! The summer income is reasonably cost free as the lambs only require a vaccination and their 'lamb mark' (see previous posts). They don't need to be fed, as spring is our maximum feed on hand time and they don't need to be shorn if we get them away early enough, so no costs there! There aren't many management costs as they stay on mum for as long as possible. All we have to do is monitor them to ensure they don't get fly blown, keep them in a paddock full of feed and draft off the fattest sheep as they reach the right weight. It's relatively easy money for our farming enterprise as long as they stay in the right paddock. Meat breeds can be rather impressive at working out how to get through fences! 

Boarding their truck, very pleasantly on a Monday morning I might add!

Lovely round little lambs :)

And, the way you see them on the roads.

Cleansing Drops

Some days the world, and all it holds, is just a little to hard to face. On these days, I write. 

Let it rain,

Upon your face,

As you storm through the air. 

Let the wind,

Slow your pace,

As it whips through your hair.

Let the pain,

Pent up inside,

Spill from the depths of your despair. 

Let it wash,

Your tears away,

As you turn to arms not there.

Let the clouds,

Boom and roll,

As the sound helps you bare...

Bare your soul,

To this world,

With each gasp of electric air. 

Let the drops,

Reach inside,

With the cool respite of care.

Let the worlds,

Very own tears,

Touch your soul and calm your fears.

And eventually the beauty brings you back to your senses.