Fires to the south of us, and floods to the north, we were just dry and dusty. We have now had 3 inches (75mm ) of very gentle rain and the grass is already turning green. Time to get all our breeding ewes in, and give them the once over for the breeding season. We will be joining at the beginning of April and now is a good time to look at the condition of the ewes, the better their condition now the better the lambing. It is also time to see if they need drenching again, update the 6 in 1 injection, and check that their udders are sound. A little bit of time now, will help us to be organised when deciding which  ewes should go to which ram, and who should be culled, and not  again. It is a good time also to check the rams health. No good finding out that there is a problem when it is too late.

How fortunate we are to live here. We can feel safe in our daily lives, have shelter and enough to eat. Access to healthcare, social security if we need it, education and a thousand daily things to be thankful for. Sometimes life's randomizer gives us a lucky break.

We did our best, polished our sheep, advertised and the people came. But, it was a tough sale and we were not really happy with the prices but they reflect the sheep market in general. The very dry weather and the bushfires would have made people cautious which is very understandable. Let us hope for everyone involved in the sheep industry that things improve; prices at the moment are below the cost of production.
A big thank you to all our friends and customers who attended the sale, you made a huge difference to the day and your support gave us a lift.
The fun part of the day was talking to people who followed our blog, nice to meet the readers.

I suppose no one really realises how much preparation there is when having a sale. Today the three studs spent the day putting up panels in the Peden Pavilion, in preparation for "THE" sale. It takes some thought to establish the best way to layout the pens, which, are from a variety of other societies, and therefore don't fit together !( thank God for cable ties)
Well that done, tomorrow will be spent putting up signage, pedigrees, lot nos etc
We just hope  and pray that you, our clients and friends, will come and support us.

Another day in the hot sun with Mr Cranky! These pictures are of the 10 sale ewes all "First Selection T3" , and can be registered. 
They were classed in early December, and since have been shorn and have grown out to, perhaps, be better than that. 

Our wonderful desire to raise our meat rabbits on grass has backfired! There are signs of wild rabbits in the garden, which explains where it came from. Just before slaughter the biggest rabbit was found dead, the next day another, so we vaccinated our breeders, ( kept in the shed) and must have had the virus on our hands as two of those died a few days later, We slaughtered all the ones on grass even though they weren't up to weight We could see from the livers that they were in the early stage of infection.
The incubation period is only 24 hours, and death occurs within 3 days. 
The problem is that the vaccine costs over $15 per animal, so only breeders are worth doing.

We have managed to photograph the Sale rams and it is on our webpage under Catalogue Rams.
All is well here this morning with a bit of smoke and not too hot just yet. The fire at Bungendore is about 50km away but not headed in our direction. Our thoughts are with everyone close to a fire, may they all be safe.
Today "The Mad Goat Woman" returns, I have been failing badly at Goat 101 and it will be a relief to hand them over.

May we all be safe today and no one need their fire plan. We are very fortunate to have had half an inch of rain on Friday.

We have an old walnut tree, Laura's goats have been eating everything they can reach, ie the leaves and nuts.  Hence to beat them to it, I picked everything I could reach. The walnuts have not yet formed a shell, and can be pricked with a fork, soaked in brine for 2 weeks, let dry in the sun until they turn black, then placed in a vinegar solution. I have no idea of the taste but will let readers know. Britain seems to be the only country that makes this "delicacy" because their season is often too short to ripen the nut.
"A woman, a dog and a walnut tree, the more you beat then the better they be"
Thank goodness the first two are no longer acceptable!