Bella's Baby Boy!

AT LAST.....lamb marking is finished.

2200 ewes went with the rams and there are 2130 lambs on the farm. Dad says that is pretty good, but there should have been more. When the man came and checked in the ewes tummies there were lots more lambs, BUT lots of the lambs have died. Especially the twins, it is very hard to have twins and make enough milk to keep them strong and healthy.

Lambs die for lots of reasons. Not enough milk, too cold, too wet, too big to be born, too little to live. And sometimes some very nasty animals kill them ....FOXES and CROWS!

My first pet lamb Bella, had another lamb this year. This time she had a boy, I have named him Henry. She is a great mother, she does a very good job of protecting him and has really good milk. Henry is growing up really fast.

Bella and Henry

We mustered Bella's mob on the weekend and I got to give her lots of cuddles. 

I love you Bella!

There was another surprise in Bella's mob....a speckled lamb. Like BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP!

Mum did have a small problem while she was mustering.....a flat tyre on the motorbike! I think she must of ran over a really sharp rock. 

 

No more sheep work for a while. The dogs can have a rest and I can too, I love chasing baby lambs BUT it sure does make me tired!

In 4 weeks time they all have to have another needle and they will leave their mothers!

So I will need to rest up until then.

Tour of the Winter Vegie Patch

Winter is certainly here.......

It is so cold. Yesterday it snowed just over the hills from our farm. 

Dad and PopPop are in the workshop on cold days. Whilst Mum and I spend most cold days inside............................. today we rugged up and went out into the vegetable patch. 

In the winter I grow garlic in my vegetable patch, lots of it. In the summer Mum and I will dig up the garlic. We grow more than we could ever use, so Oppy sells it for me at the Craft Shop. Last year I made $90.00. I put it all in the bank! My garlic is growing good.

Mum has cauliflowers and broccoli.....

the rocket is going crazy...

the asparagus is in hibernation, we need to cut all the dead stalks down.

the rhubarb is good but the slugs are eating the leaves.

We planted some beetroot, lettuce and spinach but between the grubs and the cold they are having trouble getting bigger. We pulled out most of the weeds, but the cold winds soon sent us back inside to the fire! 

"I'll do the little ones you do the big ones Mum"

Rugged Up!

All the big wether lambs are sold, Dad and PopPop are very happy. They have all sold very well. They made $5.40 per kilogram and weighed 21kilos.

PopPop was sad to see them go, so he kept 50 of the best woolled ones. He wants to see how big and woolly they can grow when they stay on the farm. Mum and Dad crutched them and then they put coats on them. 

They look funny now...it looks like they have rain coats on!

and I think they might need them this winter!
It has been freezing!

The coats are to try and keep the wool clean. They will stop the dust and seeds from getting in the wool. We will take them off in the spring when they are ready to shear. It will be like unwrapping a birthday present....I wonder what the wool will look like?

Skippety is growing up all the time, he drinks lots of milk. And now he is starting to eat lots of grass and hay. Sometimes I open the gate and let him on PopPop's oats, he loves that. He also loves playing in the garden, BUT he gets into a little bit of mischief! ( He loves Mums roses). 

Sad news, Princess Fiona died. I am very sad about that, we buried her in a special place I can visit anytime. I still have 3 lambs, Skippety, Black Foot and Angel.

Skippety!

Round 'EMUP

Finally all the ewes with crossbred lambs have been marked.

698 ewes and 812 lambs, that means Dad picked up 810 and I picked up 2!

Dad says when I get a little bit bigger I will be able to pick up lots more. I need to eat all my meat and vegetables so I grow up strong, like Dad. The lambs are very strong and they can kick alot, Dad says you need to know just how to handle them.

The dogs have been very busy helping. Beau, Bear and Boy are very good workers. They love to help with the sheep work. Mustering ewes and lambs is hard work, the lambs lose their mums in the crowd. And their mums go crazy looking for them.

Sometimes when we are mustering the sheep I think they play follow the leader, they always follow each other, where-ever they go!

Over the bridge...................

and through the gate!

The dogs have to work hard to keep the mob together. Sometimes the lambs get together and race out of the mob, the dogs have to be very quick on their feet to get them back!

The dogs run a long way and they must get very tired. They love to get a ride home on the motorbike. Sometimes for a special treat Dad gives them some meat for dinner. I think they deserve it.

Bear, Beau and Boy all on BOARD!

Now they need to rest up....still more lambs to mark!

I wonder whether I am strong enough YET?

My backyard

There are always jobs to do on the farm BUT sometimes you have to make time for a bit of FUN!

 

I have the biggest backyard...it is full of lots of fun things.

My cousins came to visit on the weekend, I love to see them. They live on a farm too, it takes them 3 hours to get to my house. I have played with them all weekend and it was an extra long weekend, there was no preschool on Monday!

We played hide and seek, football and lots of other games. 

They boys really wanted to have a sausage sizzle in the paddock, it was very windy. 

BUT Dad and PopPop found a special spot out of the wind.

Sometimes I think it is like having a gigantic park at my back door, we can run and jump. 

We go exploring to find exciting treasures.

There are even special balance beams to play on!

  The boys thought they would try digging for GOLD.....they didn't find any!

 

 

There are no other children that live near my farm, so it is great to have my cousins visit.

Broken Down!

We have lots of machinery on the farm, and sometimes things break down. Dad and PopPop are good at fixing most things BUT sometimes they have to call a mechanic.

UH OH !

PopPop's tractor is broken down

 ....something is wrong with the wheel. The mechanic came to the farm today to fix it, he has lots of tools, and he gets very dirty. 

It has been really cold on the farm today, Dad and PopPop spent most of the day in the workshop fixing or making things. It is a good place to be on a cold winters day. Sometimes I help out, I can sweep the floor, there is always alot of rubbish on the floor. I am not sure why they are so messy. 

MORE MESS!

PopPop has a special tool that picks up metal, I love to carry it around an pick up things, you never know what I might find?

It is TOO cold to stay in the shed today.....I think I 'll go home and warm up in front of the fire. Mum might make me hot chocolate and I think she has some marshmallows hidden somewhere!

Yummy in my Tummy!

Living in the Clouds

Winter is here and it is cold and grey. When I woke up this morning I thought we were floating in the clouds, BUT it was thick fog. I could hardly see anything!

PopPop's ewes with twins are right next to our house, I can hear the little lambs looking for their mums in the fog. It is cold out there. The weatherman says it is going to be cold all week, it might even SNOW!

MUM....where are you?

The sun is trying hard to peek through, I hope it can find its way through the fog.

Winter is not my favourite season, it gets too cold to play outside. 

The sky is always cloudy and grey.

The ewes still need lots of grass to make milk, their lambs are getting much bigger and they drink more and more. Sometimes in the winter we have to feed the sheep extra food to keep them strong, the ground is so cold that the grass just does not grow!

Finally the sun got through..... and it was time to get some jobs done.

My chickens are growing up........they love their grain.

Not sure but we think Pinky might be a rooster!

 

It is always important to keep your eyes open wide when you are out and about, we keep a close eye on all our animals to make sure they are healthy. Today we went and checked the cattle we weaned from their Mums. They are doing great, they are on the crops Dad sowed and they love it.

 

Lamb Marking

The ewes have finished lambing. It has taken 6 weeks for all the lambs to be born. And now the fun starts.......lamb marking!

All the ewes and lambs have to be taken to the yards, one mob at a time.  The ewes have to leave their lambs just for a little while. But they will be back together in no time!

Dad and Mum and PopPop all have jobs to do. I think Dad gets the best job, he has to give every single lamb a cuddle! Not really.....he has to catch them and put them in a special cradle. I love catching lambs, I can pick up the little ones but some are just too heavy! I am not quite tall enough to reach the cradles, so I just give Dad a hand to catch them.

Got one Dad!

  

Ready Dad!................. Quick......he's heavy!!!

It is like they all get to have a ride on the merry go round....round and round and jump off!

All ABOARD......spinning around and around!

All the lambs are given a needle by PopPop. It is to stop them getting diseases. I remember I had some needles once and it didn't hurt a bit!

They also get a special mark in their ear. It is so other people know what farm they belong to. I think it would be a bit like having your ear pierced?

All the lambs have their tails cut off, they cannot wipe their bottoms and their tail just collects poo! Then out they jump....and off to find Mum! 


Most mummy sheep have looked after their babies, BUT some have lost them. Some lambs died when they were being born, some die because they don't get enough milk, there are lots of things happen. We check all the ewes to make sure they still have their lambs, it is easy to tell......you just need to look underneath.....

this one has lots of milk!

The ewes that have lost their lambs have no milk at all, it is all dried up. They are taken away from the mob and put in another paddock. Mum says....

"we will deal with them later"