Category Archives: Farm

Lamb Tailing

Once our Ewes have had baby Lambs it’s time to tail those Lambs, give them an ear mark, vaccinate them and backline them to help prevent flies. It’s generally a job for about 3-4 people (depending on the number of lambs in the mob), but with the Muddy Kids and I we had an extra large workforce to help get the job done.

The Muddy Girl’s first job was to put the rings on ready for Pa to tail them. They were also pretty good at overseeing and telling me just which one they wanted to put in the lamb marking cradle next. Then at the end they had time for some cuddles with the lambs.

It’s this sort of thing that I love about farming, we can go to work with Muddy Hubby, spend some time together, help the Muddy Kids get to learn the Family Business and best of all we’re outside and using up the energy for a good night’s sleep!

Foxy Loxy

For almost 10 years we have had chooks here at home, they have lived quite happily in the chook yard. Before us there was gap with no chooks, but prior to that there was always chooks around when Muddy Hubby was growing up, and never was there cause for alarm. Until Saturday night.

My beautiful flock of chooks (and one Rooster) had a little visitor. Foxy Loxy came calling and on Sunday morning when we went to check on the chooks, there was only 1 chook left, much to my dismay, the Muddy Kids distress and Muddy Hubby’s frustration. One lonely Rhode Island White, the sole survivor. Until this morning.

Muddy Hubby went to check on his Fox Proofing efforts and found one lonely little Wyandotte wandering outside, unable to get back in. Somehow she had escaped Foxy Loxy, and she was quickly caught and placed back in the re-foxproofed chook yard. So now we have 2 chooks.

I am not expecting any more to miraculously reappear, I have been bringing the ducks back inside at night to ensure their safety, while we bait for foxes and ensure the safety of the yards. Fingers crossed Foxy Loxy won’t bother us again, at least for a little while, as we get over our shock and grieve the loss of our 1 Rooster and 6 Hens.

Sometimes living on a farm is hard on the emotions I can tell you!

Crazy Poultry Lady

With the farewell of the pigs came the introduction of some new poultry for our Chook Yard. Our sole remaining Hen Mrs Wishy Washy and our sole Rooster Bucko were looking a little lonely so we found them some friends. 7 new hens of various breeds to brighten up the chook yard and help fill my egg holders in the fridge.

It was definitely a family effort to move them into their new home, they were all patted and held to help get them familiar with us. My Muddy Puzzler needs a few more lessons on holding as her hold is more of a strangle. The new chooks were keen on the Sock Protectors mistaking the strawberry pattern for real strawberries and having a peck. And a nice surprise when we took one out of it’s box – a egg freshly laid!

For those that are interested we now have 2 Silkies, 2 Gold Laced Wyandottes, 2 Rhode Island Whites, 1 Ancona, 1 Isa Brown and 1 Astralorp Rooster.

They are a hit with the Muddy Kids, they check the eggs several times a day, help spread fresh hay in the roost and feed them at night, all a nice start to doing chores and helping out, a win for everyone really.

The Family Business

I find this time of year hard when it comes to farming. It’s kind of like make or break time, no rain and we’re looking at a small or non-existent harvest, too much rain and it gets them a little water logged, a cold snap with a frost and the crops might get frosted. It’s this time of year that Muddy Hubby’s favourite saying is ‘Just an inch of rain would be right’. We haven’t had that inch, and for some of our paddocks that’s not a good thing. The wheat is struggling to stick it’s head up above the weeds which are prolific because the wheat was dry-sown. Other paddocks are doing better, sticking their heads up waiting for rain to help them fill.

On the other hand our Chickpeas are loving it, they hate water, especially if it rains too much they don’t cope and disease starts to set in. At the moment though the conditions are just right for them, they are podding and they have flowers on them. A little bit of rain wouldn’t hurt them to help them fill their pods, and give us some nice chickpeas to sell, but they’re still looking good.

The Muddy Kids love crop checking, learning the family business from the start, looking for flowers and pods on the chickpeas and seeing whether or not the wheat has started sticking up it’s head getting ready to fill it with grain. Our Muddy Organiser practices her counting skills by starting to count the number of grain sheaths on the wheat head. It was a lovely Sunday morning, warm weather, sunshine and family time.

This Little Lamby Went To Market

People talk about farming not being a job but being a ‘way of life’ and it really is. There is very little down time, weekends while we try to spend time together as a family, it is often spent doing farm jobs together. Don’t get me wrong we definitely do lots of other stuff too, and get out and about off the farm, but ‘there is always something’. At the moment we are in the process of sending all our Wether Lambs to the Sale Yards for selling. Before we send them we have to draft off the fattest lambs which will gain us the most money (in theory).

As the sales are on a Monday often on a Sunday afternoon you can find us in the sheep yards weighing lambs. We draft off an amount of them to weigh, then we run those ones through the race into the scales where they are individually weighed and the heavy ones are kept separate to send to market and the lighter ones are sent back to the paddock for further fattening.

The Muddy Kids all love weighing lambs, they get their spot and either sit and watch or get up close in the action if they can. Muddy Bubby has just started to be allowed out of the pram for weighing and didn’t hesitate to get in amongst it all. Really it’s not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon together.

Hay Work

It’s that time of year again, time for new life, with lambing starting. As it hasn’t rained and feed is becoming a little thin on the ground we have been feeding out hay and grain to our Ewes that are currently lambing or are feeding baby lambs. This helps to keep them strong and in good condition for looking after their baby lambs and providing them with enough milk.

We load up the truck with big round bales and cart them out to the mobs of Ewes that are lambing. The Muddy Girls love getting up on the truck and trying to help push them off. Then they help unwrap the netting from around them, round and round in circles they go til it’s unwrapped and the sheep are able to get at the hay. The hay we’re feeding out at the moment is Sorghum hay, which was made out of a summer crop. We can also feed them Oaten Hay that we produce from early winter Oat crops.

We also have a feeder bin that we put on the back of one of the utes and this feeds out a strip of grain to the Ewes for them to eat, which will also help keep them in good condition. Muddy Bubby loves watching the Ewes come up and chase the ute as we start to feed them.

The Muddy Girls have also discovered a new trick with the Big Round Bales while we’ve been busy feeding the Ewes – They make a great stage!

The Running of The Ducks

We’ve had our Indian Runner Ducklings for a couple of weeks now and we’ve started to let them wander around the house yard during the day, then we put them back in their box at night with a warm light so they don’t get cold.

They are getting bigger and cuter by the day and they must think Muddy Bubby is alright, as they tend to follow him around, they let him share their water dish and come looking to him when they’re hungry.

There is still one that’s a little bit of a runt, her name is ‘Sprinkles’ and all the Muddy Kids want to hold her and pick her up and put her in the box at night. I’m hoping she gets a growth spurt soon, otherwise she’ll be left in the box alone at night as the others are growing too big!

We also said goodbye to our pigs this week, they’ve gone away to become Christmas Ham and Pork Roast so we don’t have to worry about losing our Ducks to the pigs the way we ended up losing 3 chickens. My next addition will be restocking the chooks, so we can get some eggs coming back in!

New Family Members

My Muddy Puzzler only had one request for her 3rd Birthday – Ducks. Our first attempt at the Poultry Auction was a sad outcome, we came home with nothing. Now, however I’m quite pleased we came home with nothing, because I found 6 little ducklings to fulfill the request, and to top it off they’re my FAVOURITE type of ducks. They are Indian Runners, they can’t fly, so they can’t escape on me, they’re great for training your sheep dog (so Muddy Hubby is happy), and they are so good looking and friendly once you’ve got them used to you.

They had a long trip to make it home to our house, I picked them up and they attended their first baby shower, before spending the night in Nana’s shower recess, then a 6 hour drive home. They were very pleased to be put in their new home, have something to eat and a nice bath and drink, before the Muddy Kids started the cuddles!

They have kept the Muddy Kids entertained for hours, just sitting and watching, or sitting and holding. Muddy Bubby has tried to climb in with them a few times, or tried to pull down their light, but he’s getting used to them.

There’s one little duckling we’re keeping an eye on, she’s a little bit smaller than the others, the runt of the bunch. My Muddy Organiser has named her Sprinkles and yesterday she was being bullied a little bit, today the other ducklings are being a bit nicer, she’s getting something to eat and drink and seems to be growing and happier. There’s no doubt about it, they’re a very welcome addition to our Muddy Family.

The Canola’s Flowering!

You always know the year is moving along quickly when the Canola is out in flower. The first flowers shoot up and appear during shearing and within a couple of weeks the paddocks are a blanket of yellow. It was such a lovely sight to come home to after my weekend away.

Muddy Hubby took the kids down to check it out while I stayed and unpacked the car and got dinner started. The kids always have a lovely time playing in the crops, and my Muddy Organiser in particular likes to show off with silly faces and dance moves. Some of my favourite shots of the Muddy Family are taken in our crops, they make such a great backdrop.

Whenever we have Canola the ‘Bee Man’ comes and puts out his ‘Bee Boxes’ with hives of bees to make honey from the Canola Flowers. He places the boxes near the crop in a place where he’s sure he won’t get bogged, they have to also be near a water source, as they need water to drink and help with the honey production. In return we get a box of lovely honey to enjoy for several months after. It’s also a good sign that things are starting to warm up and winter is not far from over, Hooray!

The Bee Boxes in the Distance

Poultry, Poultry and More Poultry

You would think that the trauma of the pigs and chickens would have put me off purchasing any more poultry pets for a while. Alas no, our Muddy Puzzler turns the big 3 this week and she has put in a request for Ducks. All she wants when you ask is ‘A little Ducky’.

So Sunday we headed off to the big Poultry Auction. It’s held on the first Sunday of the month and has all manner of poultry available, Chooks, Roosters (hundreds), Special breeds of Chooks, Ducks, Guinea Fowl and yesterday one great big Turkey. We walked the Muddy Puzzler around and she pointed out what she would like, including a pair of ducklings and alarmingly the Big Turkey.

Alas it was not to be, one pair of Ducks she liked went for over $200 and Muddy Hubby was the losing bidder on a few other pens, so we came home Duckless and Thank Goodness we also came home Turkeyless. It was a fun day out though, a definite eye opener as people raced to out bid each other on what they obviously thought were prize Chooks.

There’s a man on mystery at the auction each month, the rumor going around (which auction stalwarts were eager to share) was that this particular individual lives in a massive mansion in Sydney and earns a lot of money and each auction he puts on his daggiest clothes and buys up all the cheap roosters ($1-$2) and takes them back to Sydney. There is lots of speculation on what he does with them, including running rooster fights. My bet is on selling them at markets or pet stores, but the mystery still remains.

Now the hunt is on for ducks before the big birthday arrives!