By Judy Barnet, Farm Columnist
There is never a dull moment on the farm and this week was no exception.
Pregnancy Testing of the sheep is always an exciting time – will that old ewe I should have got rid of last year be in lamb? Will there be any triplets?
The five recently purchased very expensive stud ewes I call the wild bunch – on arrival at the farm they hit the loading ramp running and bolted to the far end of the hill paddock, staying as far away from the ram as they could possibly get – would they even be in lamb?
We are lucky to have Bruce Toms close by in our local area, he runs a company called Flockscan that does ultrasound pregnancy testing in sheep.
His services enable us to make good decisions in the management of our flock – sheep having single lambs are allowed to return to the hill country with the Alpacas, ewes having twins or triplets are kept in smaller paddocks closer to the homestead where we can monitor them more closely and give extra feed if necessary.
Ewes not in lamb can be culled if feed is short, otherwise sometimes given a second chance.
Every year when I book Bruce he reminds me to take the rams out six weeks after joining, every year he arrives and asks me which date I removed the rams and I mumble something about not quite getting around to it.
Farmers generally have a joining window so they don’t get “straggler” lambs and odds and sods that don’t look good in the sale pen as they are smaller (younger) then the main bunch.
This year we are expecting three sets of Triplets (surprise surprise – two of these sets are from the Wild Bunch), 22 sets of twins, 15 Singles and eight “stragglers” only just in lamb plus a few empties for reasons unknown.
Lambing for a selected few was due to start on 1 August although the bulk will lamb early September, so far none of the ewes have popped so maybe by next week I will have some photos for you. A few of the goats are not far away either.
Monday was a perfect blue sky Queensland day so I closed my eyes to the housework and washing and went outside in the garden.
Pruning the roses until my fingers blistered, I stood back to look and had instant regrets – had I gone too far? Spring will tell I guess.
I left one bush – my favourite – I am not sure what it is however I am guessing it is very old.
This rose is a standard, around five feet tall, and every year it has huge apricot blousy blooms with a beautiful perfume and big rosy red rosehips.
Since the drought it has looked quite sickly with more dead wood than live branches, I am a bit nervous about pruning it.
I am proud of my vegie gardens, I have seven all in old cut off rainwater tanks.
This year we have had bumper crops of everything thanks to the good rainfall.
Visitors to the cottage enjoy picking their own vegetables for dinner as well as an assortment of herbs. Stinging nettles are also part of the parcel and do catch a few unsuspecting children!
Next week I will tell you about some of the renovation projects underway on the farm and about how some cottage guests have contributed to the direction of our future on the farm.
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August Farming Calendar
With an unusually wet winter be on the lookout for wormy sheep – you can take a poo sample – most local produce stores sell Worm Test Kits you can post off with the sample. Barbers Pole worm will be very active now with the couple of warmer days we have had and can kill very quickly.
Mineral Blocks – for Sheep, Goats, Horses and Cattle Mineral Blocks are essential in Winter – they will only lick what they need.
Lambing Paddock – depending on when you lamb now may be the time to move ewes into a fresh paddock for lambing.
Fox Control – August is baiting time, not everyone baits but there are other things you can do – I put Alpaca with my lambing ewes and also use foxlights – solar lights that flash intermittent colours and patterns at night. An electric fence wire on the top and bottom of your existing fence will stop Renyard from digging under or climbing over.
Have a great week everyone and stay safe.
