Six Poky Puppies

Six roly-poly poky puppies arrived on the farm this week.

 

 Pippa is a Mummy again and she loves her babies, and so do I. 

These puppies arrived on Sunday, it took all day and all night for all six to arrive.

They are so very tiny and have not even opened their eyes. They are very sleepy.

They whimper softly. 

These puppies will grow up to be working dogs just like their Mum and Dad.  

Farewell - Goodbye

A fact of life on the farm....we are in the business of breeding and those that don't.. we bid FAREWELL - GOODBYE!

This week the ewes that have failed to get pregnant are off to the sale yards.

 They will be sold either to another farmer or to the abattoirs for meat.

Our farm is not far from very large sale yards and this is where the ewes will be sold.

There are trucks all sorts of sizes delivering sheep and lambs. It is a very busy place.

 

Trucks big and little, old and new, dirty and clean!

It is an enormous place,

 

 and there is a lot of noise, dogs barking, gates banging and stock agents working.

 

 There will be thousands and thousands of sheep and lambs sold at the sale yards today.

Our ewes are sold $90 ...........goodbye - farewell.

 

The Working Gang

Sometimes things can get pretty busy on the farm. 

We often have extra helpers come in to help with big jobs like shearing, crutching, scanning and fencing.

But we always have a team of willing helpers in the working gang of dogs.

Please meet...... Peppa, Pippa, Gibson, Bear and George.

They are a great team! 

We use the dogs when we work the sheep. 

They help keep the sheep together as a mob and direct them the right way.

I also help Dad and Mum. Sometimes by clapping my hands or shaking the rattler or........

 just staying out of the way.

Most of our working dogs are kelpies except for Bear he is a border collie, he is very old.

Last year Pippa and Gibson had puppies, Pippa had 6 pups we kept two pups

 and this is the family all grown up!

My favourites are Gibson and George.

This is my artwork of Gibson.

Peek A Boo - We Can See YOU!

It is time to take a peek inside and see what we can see.
We breed babies on our farm and lots of them.....today all the female sheep (ewes) have been mustered to the sheep yards for scanning. 

It is going to be a big day....there are lots of ewes to check..... 2500.
We start work early.

The sheep yards are full of sheep ready and waiting for their appointment with the scanning man.
 

Once again the ewes must queue in line and wait patiently their turn.
They step up, and the man places the scanning piece under their tummies and....

  PEEK - A -BOO.....we can see you!

 The screen tells the scanning man whether the ewes are having one, two or no babies. 
The ewes are split into different mobs depending on how many babies they are having.
The ewes having no babies are to be sold. This year very few have failed to get pregnant.

We are expecting lots of babies.....expected delivery day mid April through to late May.

 

Open Wide!

The sheep have worms!

....not the ones we see wriggling around in the dirt, they have blood sucking worms called barbers pole. All the sheep must have some medicine or drench to kill the worms that are living inside them. Dad must squirt the medicine into the sheeps' mouths.

OPEN WIDE!

The sheep are gathered together in the drenching race. 

My big sister counts each race and tallies the counts together to make sure they are all here.

We use dogs on our farm to work the sheep. A good working dog is as good as a man!
Last year our girl dog Pippa had pups, most of the pups left the farm to go and work on other farms. We kept two.
I called them Peppa and George.
They are 5 months old now are starting to work with the sheep. They have alot to learn.
Today Peppa is working with her Dad Gibson and my big sister KT.

Click go the Shears!

We grow wool on our farm and this week we are shearing some young merino lambs.

The lambs were born in May 2015 and this is the first time they have had their fleece shorn.

There are three shearers hard at work shearing the wool from the sheep. 

The weather is hot, I think the lambs would like having their woolly jacket shorn off!

The wool is soft and smells of lanolin.

  

After the wool is shorn from the sheep, it is prepared on the table by my mum and other shed staff.

 Wool that is short, coloured or has lots of grass seed is removed.

The wool is then ready to go into the wool press.

 

  The wool is pressed into really big bales that weigh up to 200kg.

 When all the wool is pressed a truck will take the wool away....

it is nearly ready to be sold!

Coming to a Woolworths Near YOU!

Ready for a ride north....

 after eating lots of grass and lots of grain, the lambs are ready for delivery north.

 

A  big red truck arrived early this morning to load the lambs.

 

 

The lambs are lining up to board the truck. 

It looks like they are excited to ride on the big red truck.

These lambs have been sold to Woolworths.

And in the next week they may be coming to a Woolworths near you!

  BUT not this one...

or these ones....

These lambs are our pets and we love them dearly...they are our playmates!