Farm Life with Erin

Farm Life with Erin

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

All the Rivers Run....


We saw the sun......and we made the most of it!

A glorious Sunday afternoon spent in the fresh air. 
Moving our meat lambs to new paddocks, off the crops to make room for more.




There were other creatures out soaking up the sunshine too.

SPOTTO... a shingle back lizard!



All of nature was alive today!

The paddocks are very wet and water runs from dam to dam through all the little creeks.

On the way home Mum and I followed the water to see where it all comes from.
We started at the bottom of the farm and worked our way up.
From one dam to the next the water overflows through pipes and trickles its way down to the next dam and the next dam and the next dam.


 I call this dam... Big Barrie's.....he is a giant fish that lives at the bottom. He eats boats!


All the dams are full to the top.


The dams are important to the farm. They hold water for the animals to drink.
They provide a home for water creatures.
They also help filter lots of natural things before the water reaches the rivers.

Monday, July 18, 2016

What to Expect?


Sometimes when I wake up in the morning Jack Frost has been to visit. 
He lays a blanket of ice across the farm, and the puddles freeze!


Work starts early when the sun shines, lots to be done.
The last of the cows are getting their needles and medicine before their babies arrive.




 These cows are called heifers they are about to have their very first baby.
I wonder if they know what to expect......


Soon they will be mothers and they will have a very big job ahead of them!


Sunday, July 17, 2016

Stuck in the Mud!

Farmers will often tell you that there is money in mud!

Not this time...just POP's tractor!


You must think carefully about where you try to drive on the farm at the moment.

Feeding the cows and sheep can see you stuck in the MUD!

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Grey Skies.

Grey skies are going to clear up....so lets get busy!

Two days of clear skies before the rain returns. 

All hands on deck.... to inject cows with medicine before their baby calves arrive in one month, and wean the baby lambs from their mothers.




The animals on our farm are what makes money for us. 
We must look after them the best we can.

The cows get a needle that protects both them and their unborn calf from diseases.
All the lambs that are being weaned from their mothers also get a needle, that protects them from diseases and worms. 
People get needles too, it helps keep us healthy.


We have had so much rain in the last 10 weeks. The dam behind our house is nearly full.
Even when it is not raining the water is still running into it, the ground is SO wet!

The water is running every where.......the creek through our farm even has waterfalls!




This creek starts in our farm and flows into another creek called Limestone. 
Then that creek flows into a river called the Belubula. It is brimming full.
The Belubula then runs into the Lachlan River and it just keeps on going! 
I am not really not sure where it finishes...............


My big sister KT and I have made the most of the weather.
We have spent hours exploring and having fun whilst the hard work was being done!

Friday, July 8, 2016

Mud Glorious Mud??

Rain, rain go away....I am sorry.... we need you to come back another DAY!

We have had lots and lots of rainy, grey, dark days.
And everything is WET, WET, WET!

The sheep are wet, the cows are wet, the roads are wet and the paddocks and BOGGY!



It makes getting around the farm a little difficult. 
It is too wet to get lots of work done. 
Lambs need to be weaned from their mothers. 
Cows are due to have needles before their babies arrive..... and the list goes on!

In winter on our farm the grass barely grows, the dirt is too cold and there is little sun.
So all the animals must be fed extra food by Dad.


We make hay from the spring grass nearly every year and store it away in sheds ready for winter time. 



'Henry' Ford and Dad spend hours feeding out hay to the cattle.


The cattle love the hay, it fills their bellies!



Wednesday, June 1, 2016

A Spoonful of Medicine?

Winter is here the grass will not grow much at all. The days are short in sunshine and the nights are cold.

The ewes and their lambs have been eating very short grass all autumn and they have lost condition. They have also got WORMS. Not the good worms we find in the vegetable patch, these worms are nasty and suck the blood from the sheep. 
The sheep get weaker and weaker and they can die.

We have a special spoonful of medicine that can fix this. The sheep need a drench.



Dad, Mum and I along with Gibson and Bear are drenching all the ewes.



I love to help. I am getting to be big help especially when I have Gibson by my side.


With so much to do we have morning tea in the paddock, a little picnic. It is a bit chilly!


The sheep are taken to a new paddock, the drench will hopefully kill off the nasty worms, and the sheep will be well again.
A big day in the sheep yards and paddock today and more of it tomorrow!

Friday, May 20, 2016

#Action4theLand

As a farming family that grows animals our job is to look after the animals the best we can.
Our other job is look after the land we live on the best we can.

This week Mum and I have been planting trees on the farm. 
Like everything in the world, trees get old and they eventually die. 
Or sometimes they just fall down.


Over the last 10 years Mum and Dad have fenced off areas in paddocks and planted young trees. My big sister KT and Mum and Dad planted these trees 5 years ago and now I am filling in the gaps.


The trees pictured below were planted 10 years ago, they have grown tall. 
The trees provide a home for birds and lots of other little critters.



It is important we look after the land, so it looks after us, 
it is another one of our jobs as farmers.