To see our lives through others eyes. "Beautiful days, light frost. Found the cow up behind boundary fence, might even be the neighbours paddock? He brought round 2 big bags of bread which are in feed shed. Cow has huge udder - had a calf (no sign of it) or maybe going to calve? Couldn't see her well enough to tell. One of the young rams is limping, don't know if it was limping before you left or not. And I thought there were 7 rams but there are only 6 so perhaps there were only 6 to begin with. There are 10 lambs in the lamb paddock, saw a fox in there yesterday morning so made BANG BANG noises and it ran away. Goats good, been for walks round paddock and up hill, have taken to Rose, ( sitter's daughter), pretty things they are. Sheep in pine tree paddock went nuts over lupins, and battled it out from heap to heap, until not one lupin left! Pearl (sitters highland terrier) meanwhile stuck her head through electric fence and got lobotomized! That was a bit of a shock for her, poor little fluffpot, but she soon recovered. Maggie (sitters border collie), brushed against electric fence up the hill, ran a short distance, sat down and held up her right front paw saying ouch, ouch, that bloody hurt, but she also soon recovered. The neighbour has separated the calves from their mums so there's a bit of separation anxiety bellowing going on. Didn't let the chooks out today, they seem content though and well, guinea fowl as screechy as ever. Have been giving the dam (so full!) ducks some of the bread yum yum they say".  "Blossom" a cow with a bad attitude. Add Comment One of the things we really enjoy about our farm and the Stud is all the new experiences it brings. The new and interesting people we have met who come to buy sheep and the other breeders. Skills we have refined such as giving injections , drenching, and honing in on the sheep that needs attention. And now shearing. 
Dorpers shed their wool - but everyone feels better after a tidy up.
Things are looking up. The Council will be here today to finally mend the road. The contractors say it will take 300 tons of rock to fix that big muddy mess. That much rock should mean that it stays fixed. The paperwork has arrived for the new internet service, so once that is installed we will be back to normal.  The dryer weather has also meant that we have been able to get some sheep work done. The commercial flock has finally been sorted and the last of the lambs weaned. We are now selling off our old ewes to reduce the number of sheep we will be carrying into the winter. The old girls still have the potential to give another lamb or two, so they will be a good starter for anyone just wanting a few sheep. Things will be a little shaky with the blog over the next few weeks, the satellite dish and server have come to the end of their life and we can now only access dial up. Slow but better than nothing. We have been instructed to contact the National Broadband Network about getting a new system, but they tell us it will take between 4-6 weeks. So the blog can only be updated when I am in Canberra. We will do the best we can. The update on the road is that the Council will be here any day. Aleast when they fix the road it is unlikely to be a problem again. None of the areas they have repaired in the past have caused problems during the big wet. 
With all the rain, and a motorbike/4wd event up the road, our road on both sides, has become little more than a mud wrestling pit. At least 13 vehicles have become bogged to the axles since Sunday. Four phone calls to Cooma shire have bought no result, as have two phone calls to John Barilaro, (member for Monaro) not even a courteous return call from either. My frustration is unimaginable! We have sheep to supply, sheep to oversee on the other block, and no one gives a damn. No wonder I'm a grumpy old man!  This is the best bit! We have decided we need to find softer homes for our old F3 ewes, they have been great producers in our commercial flock and popped out a lamb every year. We don't want to send them off on a truck to the saleyards, where they will be pushed around. Nor do we want to carry them through the winter here. It will be much better if we can find them a home that can fuss over them a bit and feed them a few nuts (our daughter calls them sheep crack). They have been running with Stud Dorper Rams and should start lambing in May. So for the right person at $60 we think they would be a good buy. 
The old girls.
We are back! The long drive home takes the shine off a bit (11 hours), It was worth it as we had a wonderful time. The Amarula Dorper sale went extremely well, with all the dorpers selling for good prices, despite the false start with the floods, there was plenty of interest and plenty of buyers. We brought a beautiful type 5, confirmation 5 young ram, the best ram in the sale, (we think). He will fit perfectly with our current genetics and has excellent lambplan figures. (Top 1% out of ALL sheep breeds, for eye muscle)!  Justin, Lorroi the Landmark guys and reluctant ram.  Shaz and Cherry flew in from the South for the big day Terraweena's dispersal sale was the next day, unfortunately we were unable to stay, it also went very well. Lots of very nice sheep have gone to new homes and can only enhance people's existing white flocks. Sad to see such an excellent stud disperse. We missed Friday's blog and we will not have one for Monday as we are having another attempt to attend Amarula's Sale. Enough of the roads are open to for the buyers to get through. But the bridge near Warialda with it's approaches washed out will take months to repair according to the council. That much mess must be a nightmare for local government. 
It doesn't count if a small dog has not checked it out.
It is another gloomy morning, misty rain and cloud. With the memory of the big dry not that far away it seems ungrateful to be sick of the wet, but a bit of summer would be nice. It is also not the favorite weather of sheep. 
A damp day
This time of year we like to travel north to Inverell where we visit the family, check out the grand kids and attend Amarula Dorper Stud's annual sale. We were present at their first sale, and it is inspiring to see what hard work and dedication can produce from small beginnings. Every year the sheep for sale are a little better than the previous year. The country side is very green all the way, and the days are as damp here as at home. Feels like we have skipped summer and gone straight into autumn. There was a big fall of rain overnight, hopefully not enough to interfere with access to the sale, as the country is flat and the soil black and sticky.  Every paddock needs a sheep and Dorpers are making their mark everywhere. | ArchivesMarch 2012 CategoriesAll |
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