A NEW DIRECTION FOR THE OLD RAM

[Hens and Roos]

You've probably thought of this already but are there any good friends that Jenny is comfortable with that would be willing to come visit to help give you a break?

I know my dad didn't like having "new" people stop in at our house to see how he was doing. Even with 6 of us helping him some days were better than others.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

THE SHEARING IS ALL DONE:This will be the last time for the Suffolk flock as they will all be sold now except for the 2017 drop of lambs which will be sold early winter for the boys and late summer for the girls.The total number of breeders was 170 head made up of 159 ewes and the balance rams,we have sold a couple of rams and we now have an add for the ewe flock up on Gumtree
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/braidwood/livestock/suffolk-sheep-eweflock/1172837171

So soon we will only have the new flock of Dorpers and the Wilti's to form the new composite breeding flock,this is going to be a new and interesting journey and a welcome break from the day to day chores around the farm.But as with everything the new sheep come with their own set of new challenges in the form of up-grading the fencing to keep them where I "want them".
My God it's been so hot down here ,it's going on two weeks of almost 40 C each day and it's something e are just not used to,the rain has eluded us and we are watering the sheep in troughs each day at least the air-con is "free " from the solar /battery system.

I allowed seven days for the shearing because of the heat ,starting early and finishing by lunch with the stock shorn,drenched,back-lined and back on feed and the wool pressed into bales,Then it was back to the air-con and a beer for the rest of the day.We have been so "unlucky" with local storms as they have all missed us except at the minute when we are getting light showers,after a visit to Charlotte(my chiropractor) this morning to push everything back into place,I will be a new man tomorrow(lol) and should be good until I finish cutting the wood for winter.
Rosie and Meg are going along really good under the guidance of the two older dogs and they have been practicing moving the sheep up the lane to the yards prior to shearing....T.O.R.

 

[Baymule]

That's HOT! In the heat of the summer, we do the same, start early and knock off anywhere from 11:00 AM to 1 or 2 PM, depending. Then we go in, take showers and collapse. LOL

This has got to be bittersweet for you. You have put the work in on your sheep. Your flock is really nice. But I sure understand your need to lessen the work demanded by the sheep. I researched sheep breeds before buying. We bought our hair sheep when I was 60, so I knew I didn't want to have the work involved with shearing. You have had wool sheep for how many years? A long time, certainly. I hope all your sheep go to farms where they will be appreciated for the fine livestock that they are.

What is back lining?

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day BM,we have been breeding our Suffolk's for about 20 years ,when we moved to our present farm we had been breeding Goats for about 20 years(all vars of goats )mainly developing a meat goat for the local trade derived from dairy female lines with the objective of a 10/12 kg milk fed carcass.But we found it was just "too cold" to continue it down here and the fox problem was horrendous.

"Back-lining",is the application of a chemical to control lice and external parasites.It works by preventing the lice from moving from one stage to the next,it is much better than the old shower dips in that the chemical is targeted and the operator is not "de-loused" as well.....T.O.R.

 

[Latestarter]

Glad to hear you're almost done with the old and well vested in the new. Enjoy that well earned beer in the AC and give your back a rest.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day,you know its"dry" when the Kangaroos come to graze the front lawn in the morning.Since I took this pic we had 75 mm(3 ins) of rain ,even got some run-off into the dams..T.O.R.

 

[Latestarter]

You seeing the kangaroos munching your lawn/pasture is probably much like when I see deer here. I actually really enjoy having the wildlife around.

 

[Baymule]

I am glad that you got some rain. I'm sure the pastures appreciated it. Our dogs keep the deer away, but in the horse pasture where they are not allowed, a couple of does stash their fawns in there every spring.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day, thought you might be interested in our fencing project,we have been working on the plan for quite some time now.We started with 2 x 40 AC paddocks and have transformed them into 9 paddocks along with an access lane for easy movement from the far paddocks to the yards.NOTE.The original permanent fence in HH was taken down.I estimate the total length is about 1.5 kms and the last bit in AA/BB involves a creek crossing which I will detail as we move through the job.

Photo 1 is the sat photo with plan ,original fencing is Black.New fence is in Red.along with a few photos of the fence itself which has undergone a few modifications as needed.The one shown is the design we are using going forward.

I'm sad to say that we lost Rosie in a farm accident a couple of weeks ago,but Meg is continuing with her education and I will post an update of her progress soon.T.O.R.

 

[Latestarter]

Sorry to hear about Rosie. Lots of fencing...