By Judy Barnet, Farm Columnist
What a cracker start to Spring with glorious weather, beautiful crisp mornings followed by warm sunny days and cool nights great for good sleeping. I have been up by 5.30am every morning enjoying the mist on the dam and the early morning chorus of birds. It truly is the best time of day.
This week has seen about 20 lambs born but unfortunately there have been several losses due to feral cats most likely. The losses have all been in ewes having twins and triplets. A cat trap has failed to catch anything so far.
A couple of nights ago we went spotlighting, I figure I have the best job as the driver, I just jam the old cruiser in first gear and head off around the property in the cosy warm cab. Richie and CJ are on the back with the spotlight and the rifle ready to shoot a feral cat or fox but this trip resulted in nothing.
Births, Deaths and Marriages
I am proud to announce that the Marriage of Shirley Shropshire to Jimmy Baa-rnes earlier in the year has resulted in a splendid pair of twin girls, real b-ewe-ties are they! I have had a run of ram lambs this season so it was heartwarming to welcome these beautiful twin ewes into the world.
In Australia there are only 16 breeders of Shropshire Sheep with a combined total of approximately 300 breeding ewes. Of these flocks, the three longest running were established in 1891, 1906 and 1966 respectively – these three flocks have about half (150) of the breeding ewes in Australia.
The breed is the oldest registered pedigree breed in the UK and are known as a tri-purpose breed, producing excellent wool for hand knitters. They have excellent meat and great feed conversion. They are tree friendly, being small – medium size are good for orchards and vineyards.
They also make a good terminal sire.
My Anglo Nubian Milking Goat Noobi kidded last night with twin doe kids.
Anglo Nubians tend to have what is called “Bottle Teats” – big bulbous teats that are hard for newborn kids to latch onto and sure enough when I spotted them this morning on my daily circuit they had not had a drink from mum. They were slightly tucked up and their hair was standing on edge.
It must have been one of my quicker days as I was able to sneak up and grab the pair before they realised what had happened.
They screamed blue murder, lucky there were no guests in the cottage. An hour later I had mum and kids back at the house, milked the goat and bottle fed the twins. I will do this for a couple of days by which time they will be big enough to latch onto mum’s teats.
I have taken advantage of the beautiful spring days and got stuck into the garden trying to wrestle back garden beds from the jungle of weeds that has flourished with the wetter than normal winter. Friend CJ has been planting these areas as they are cleared so bit by bit the garden is taking shape again.
I am making preparations to take a menagerie of animals over to the Highfields Pioneer Village for a week during the carnival of flowers.
The village have a week long festival of the Big Cow during which they will have daily shearing demonstrations and singer/songwriter/shearer Terry Arnold from Warwick will use my lambs for working dog demonstrations.
On Sunday the 19th a Concert featuring Brendan Walmsley, Ray and Sue Owen, Michelle Schneider and the Voll Girls promises to be an excellent day. The mini steam train “Mrytle May” will be running as will “Henry” to Model T Bus – taking visitors around the village. On the 19th, 22nd and the 26th there will be Bee Keeping demonstrations and a Farmer Innovation Display – the train and bus will also run on these days. I will be attending from the 22nd to the 26th, you will find me at the Animal Nursery so call in and say hi!
A while back I talked about the rogue goats I had bred and was having trouble catching to send into the sale. One of these goats had eluded yarding for two years. Well, I now have a finale to their story, the two worst culprits (including the one still wearing a halter) were finally caught by a very persistent Richie, loaded into the trailer and delivered to the Warwick Saleyards. That night I received a phone call from the agent saying the goats had escaped the saleyards – the Blue one was recaptured but to date the fat white wether is still on the loose.
My three fat heifers, Tess, Vicky and Varina have been letting me know it is time for me to find them a boyfriend. They are extremely vocal and upon spotting the neighbours cattle they run up and down the fence for hours hoping there may be a bull nearby.
I would like to use A.I. but I can’t find anyone willing to come out this far to Glenlyon. So I am on the lookout for a Hereford, Speckle Park or Shorthorn Bull as first preference.
I sold my Shorthorn bull and herd due to the drought a couple of years ago and have not worried about replacing the bull as three cows is not enough to keep a bull happy.
Spotlight on Shropshire Sheep:
• The Australian Shropshire Sheep is a Small to Medium Size Sheep
• Docile Temperament
• Fine Dense Wool – Count 56-58 microns
• Excellent for small farms due to docility and hardiness
• Good feed conversion and carcass attributes
• Excellent wool for hand spinners
