Easter on the farm.

Easter in Tasmania is glorious. The days have been sun filled, with a gorgeous breeze. This has allowed lots of time for exploring and working around the farm. It seems that there is always something to do and I am happy to get in and help with whatever task is out in need of doing. Yesterday's tally included some fence repairs, washing the Jeep - lots of fun with a gurney and bubbles, some gardening and as for each day we are here, checking on the livestock. The flock of sheep has been reduced somewhat as it is hard to properly care for animals when you are not on site. That said, the Black faced Suffolk's remain as does Lily. As one of the hand raised lambs, Lily holds a special spot on the farm acting as our mascot. She comes when called, ever hopeful for a hand out, but the rest of the flock follow her, and I can now identify Sweetpea and Jessie. No mean feat when they look so similar. They too will come over to say hi, but move away again if there is no treat on offer. The cattle are looking well, and Boris the bull has done his job well with four calves so far this season. Molly and Mindy have a little black calf each, Carmel has one also and the panda faced cow has a little calf the spitting image of herself. All in all, farm life is pretty special. I always feel a million miles away from any worries or concerns here. Nature works her magic to refocus how you look at life, which is pretty amazing.

2012 over and out

The last day of 2012 was spent shearing the sheep. An annual task, this is not as romantic as it sounds. In fact it is really hard work, and for me, a baptism by fire. Preparations started the day before with rams, sheep and lambs separated and brought up to the house paddocks into the pens adjacent to the shearing sheds. Although the lambs are now at least half the size of their Mums, and most are weaned, they are still closely bonded. As such the separation caused some angst and much talking. The process itself is a little fraught with animals moved from the main paddock with quad bike and dog, then sorted via a run and a chute with lambs and sheep separated by a gate operated by someone whose task it is to swing the gate directing sheep one direction and lambs the other. With almost 180 animals to process, this is a challenging task. The sheep don't always do what they are meant to either which further complicates things. Sometimes they come through in multiples, other times they bottle neck and need to be pushed through and yet other times the come through in reverse! I have seen this sheep sorting take place on tv and it isn't as easy as it looks! Once sorted though everyone settled quietly enough for the night, ready for a big day's shearing.

Lamb whispering

There is nothing sweeter than waking to the sound of the sheep talking. Until you realise that one is a lot closer than it ought to be. With a number of paddocks surrounding the farmhouse, you get good at gauging where the sheep are. They tend to stay close together and the volume of noise is melodically consistent. So, to hear one dissenter in the crowd makes you sit up and take note. Translate that as leapt out of bed and go to investigate. So, it was no surprise to see one lamb wandering the home paddock (that is, where the sheds are located, vehicles and equipment are stored) mournfully crying out for Mum. I closed the gate to confine him to that area, then pondered my next move. Luckily for me he headed in the right direction, moving towards the gate securing the main paddock where the rest of the flock were. I like to think it was my lamb whispering ability, then again, it could have been the site of me in gumboots and t-shirt so early in the morning. Either way, he headed exactly where I needed him. Thankfully there was a happy ending.....as with visions of opening a gate to return one lamb and 200 others heading out of the gate in the opposite direction was inconceivable. The lamb wiggled and pushed and somehow managed to squeeze back through where the gate joins the fence, to run straight to Mum for some comforting. No squeezing through for me though, so I opened the gate and went through to see how everyone was. When I was visiting the farm last it was just in time for the lambing. Now this batch of tiny wee things have had a couple of months of feeding with Mum, lots of summer grass and sunshine and they are thriving. Most lambs are now almost half the size of their Mums which makes for some fun antics when they feed, which they still do. Have you ever seen a sheep do star jumps? I witnessed just this thing when rather large twins decided to hit Mum up for a feed. One each side, head butting to stimulate the flow of milk was enough to raise her back legs off the ground. To see her tolerate this for a few minutes was the most entertaining thing I have seen in some time. Finally having had enough, she moved off with twins following after her. The bond between the sheep and their young is strong, with family units very much sticking together. Lily has again proven herself to be a great Mum, and her lamb Roger is now a hefty young lad. Lily was one of the hand reared lambs from a few years back, and she is by far the friendliest, coming when you call her. She will let me touch her, although Roger remains at a safe distance on the other side of Mum. Jessie, one of the Black Faced Suffolk sheep will also come and say hi....she just takes a little longer to come forward but will do so when she is ready. Another of the Black Faced Suffolk's Sweet Pea has also decided to make friends this trip. Seeing a couple of hundred sheep flooding up the hill to the top of the paddock where you are standing is quite awe inspiring. Turns out they thought I had food, so they happily came up to say hi, swarming around me bleating. Getting up close and personal is a great way to start the day, so happy ending for all.