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!

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!

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!

#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.

The Rains are Here!

The rains are here and our faces are smiling!

It is a little later than we would have liked it, BUT some things are better late than never!

Whilst our farm has received fantastic rain not everyone has been as lucky. 

So we cross our fingers and say our prayers that everyone gets some soon!

Rain means good things, the grass will grow to feed cows and sheep, 

the crops can be sown to grow grain, the dams are filled with water,

and the rainwater tanks are topped up for our baths!

 The paddocks are very short of feed so we are feeding all the cows and most of the sheep.

The steers are very impatient. They want the grass to grow faster.

Plants need water followed by sunshine.

A few days of sunshine and maybe the crop will be ready?

With the change in the weather, the animals get hungrier!.

Every morning we check the ewes that are lambing.

Today Mum and I found a ewe cast on her side she was lambing twins.

We helped her get the first lamb out, made sure she was able to get up and left her to do the last one, I hope she can do it on her own!

The lamb is a merino, it is strong and healthy and very cute. I do love baby lambs!

Waddling Wombats!

As I was going to preschool today I saw a wombat on my way!

What a very exciting way to start the day. 

We have never seen a wombat on the farm before. He was in a really big hurry!

I thought wombats only waddled ever so slowly but they can run REALLY fast!

I go to preschool two days a week Tuesday and Friday. I catch the bus with my big sister.

We must drive to the bus stop it is 6 kilometres from our house.

I LOVE going on the bus and I have the 'BESTEST' bus driver in the world, Ken.

When I am not going to preschool I help Mum and Dad on the farm. 

The sheep are lambing now and the weather is dry. The paddocks need rain to make the grass grow so that the ewes can make milk for their babies.

Dad has sown lots of oats for the sheep and cattle but it really needs a drink!

Today I found a little lamb lost, far away from all the other sheep.

 I ran really fast to catch him and we returned him to the mob, ...

hopefully his mother will find him.

All Creatures Great and Spikey!

Look who we found yesterday.......a ball of spikes, an echidna!

He was busy trying to burrow into the hayshed.

He is one really spikey dude, a funny looking fellow and really not that friendly.
All he wanted to do was hide and he really did not want to be found.

Another discovery whilst Dad, KT and I were checking the ewes and lambs,

a family of bearded dragons.

The weather is changing, winter is just around the corner. 

I wonder if these animals are out soaking up the last of the sunny, warm days?