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.

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.