We found two beautifully made, stone lined wells on the property. However these had a large number of bottles and other rubbish left by others in them. When they filled with rain I'd scoop out as many as I could, however a few always remained hidden in any existing nooks or crannies. After this extremely wet season those remaining few floated out and I was able to catch them. I'm not sure how efficient these wells were as they quickly dry out and are dry over the summer. There's a number of examples of the stone work the original settlers used in wells or around springs, as well as the ruins of buildings scattered across the landscape.

How time flies! We brought the ewes and lambs down so we could tag and vaccinate the lambs. It doesn't seem that long ago we did this! With the new improved yards this job was done in quick time and the flock was moved back to their fields. 22 lambs this year.

The deed is done and we've entered the world of having a three legged dog. Maggie's recovery has gone smoothly and the wound heeled pretty well. However Maggie has had moments when she's jumped up and run out or into the room, quite distressed. This made us think about phantom limb pain. While this is recognized in humans, after looking on the internet we found there is differing scientific opinion regarding dogs. Maggie is quite aware that her leg is missing (interesting since only humans are supposed to have a sense of self), I've seen her looking at where her leg should be.  Her stump does twitch and she has licked at it. The twitching is the muscles and nerves reconnecting. Luckily when we visited our own Vet she agreed that Maggie probably was having phantom limb pain and prescribed Neurontin. Maggie has been having this tablet for a only few days but I think there is a change in her behaviour, less of the panic like attacks.
It is amazing how she is coping, I was even brave and let her do some herding on a friends training flock. We make sure she doesn't over do it, while the future is to build up Maggie's strength and let her do more and more.

I think we've had enough rain now. The dams are full and overflowing, the tanks are full and the water is lying around in puddles on our hay field! Time for the weather to calm down a bit. Unfortunately that's not what is forecast. We've had storm after storm, coming every few days bringing lashing wind and rain. As well as the rain the trees are falling, across roads and fences. Not good weather for lambing but our new lambs seem alright, enjoying the brief moments of sunshine and their mothers protect them during the worst of the weather sheltering under the trees etc. How we will be able to spray the weeds this season in the hay paddock after all this rain I don't know, the ground is soft and the tractor could get bogged! The creek that goes through that field didn't even flow with water last year and is now rushing. We squelch as we walk across the field too. It's certainly a winter to remember.

I admit a was never really into chickens so when we decided to get a couple it was a learning curve. Luckily Polly was always a friendly chook, even if she didn't like being touched. Whatever you were doing she would come over and join in, hoping a bug would be disturbed to her benefit. However this morning Polly was found dead, dying from old age and the cold winter. I'll miss her, she taught me a lot about chicken behaviour and also how relaxing it was to have chickens scratching around when you were working in the vegetable garden. We have four young black chickens so our other old chicken won't be alone and luckily they all get on well. One of these young ones is similarly friendly so I'll still have a helper to eat up those insects I disturb.

It's been cold this June! I suppose after such a mild start to 2016 the arrival of winter finally, would be a shock. However it feels colder! We've been on the farm for 16 years and it's been a number of years since I've felt so cold. The rain is welcome though and the creeks have slowly started to trickle water onto the dams. My stock of dry wood in the shed is going down as we are burning it all day most days. We'll have to go out and cut some more but it'll be damp so never burns as well. I spend most of the summer preparing for now.

I've grown up with dogs, my parents were partial to Golden Retrievers! I've trained Australian Shepherds for agility and tracking, but also just to be lovely family dogs. So I thought when I was told about a 'special' Border Collie what could be any different. Well it's been a roller coaster ride! Any thoughts that I may know what I was doing as a trainer have constantly been dashed! I've told everyone I wouldn't have another. She's pushed all my buttons, I can love her and hate her at the same time, and now she's been diagnosed with a soft tissue sarcoma on her back lower leg. Is it just Border Collies but they get under your skin? They start offering a behaviour before you've shown them anything, then they cock their head to one side giving that look, yes I knew what you wanted. However now I have to make difficult decisions about her future.

The chicken and duck sale was held in a tin shed lined with cages, from the floor to the roof. Between was a narrow aisle which we had to squeeze past the others also looking at the chickens. We came with an idea of the breed we wanted and in the end bought four Australorp batams, beautiful black birds, which when the sun catches their feathers give of a green sheen. Once home the main worry was how our older two ginger coloured chickens would accept them. They were kept in the main coop for a week but after we'd found one was flying out we let them all to free range. In the end nothing happened and all six chickens just wander around, scratching for things to eat. The young ones live in the coop, while the older two have taken over our wood shed!

Next the new chooks had to learn how to use the pop up feeder. We use this feeder rather than the others to keep the sparrows away! They quickly learned, being hungry speeds up this process.

All this of course leads to having your own eggs and for these we had to wait a few more weeks and then there they were!

State of the farm.

We had to buy more round hay bales this week as we used our last, feeding the main flock of sheep. There's a hint of green in the fields but this, on closer inspection is not clover or grass but weeds. The fields are looking bare but this is not a great problem, the lack of water is beginning to be a worry. We've had a few days recently of light drizzle, it gets things wet but otherwise not of any value. The rains stopped at the beginning of spring and we've been dry since. The dams have got lower or just dried completely so now the sheep have to walk to access water.

The front dam dried out completely over a two week period, while our larger main dam is lower every time I see it. I've been placing a stick at the waters edge and now have a row of eight or nine leading to the latest water level. It hasn't been this dry since the Millennium drought.

 

We have a spring on the farm and so far this is holding out and is the main source of water for the flock. They are hungry and will eat out a round bale of hay in a few days!

 

It's a waiting game now, the weathermen tell us the El Nino is over and we're to have above average rains this Autumn, however we're still waiting. The ground is so dry that when the rain comes it will soak into the soil and not run into the dams. How long it will take before the creeks flow again? So we wait.

My mother never like leather furniture claiming they felt cold so not nice to sit in. I on the other hand love them and have never found them cold, in fact I find them warm and inviting. So it's not surprising I have them in my home. I have a large, block like arm chair circa 1950's and the latest is a beautiful arm chair from the 1920's, so lovely to sit in!

I've heard of people finding unusual objects when they've moved into a new home but we didn't expect this bird when we bought our property 15 years ago: an emu! The locals told us the previous owners had removed the emu from a nearby dairy, to the property, as it was frightening the cows. Oh that was 10 years or so back we were told. This emu then has wandered around our fields now for over 25 years. She's semi tame and we only give her seed in the dry summer months. We had to learn how to move her when we wanted to move our own sheep, slowly by putting pressure on her shoulder like a cow. However cows don't stop to go through their feathers! We asked an emu farmer at a show how to tell which sex our emu could be and learnt that the female drum. Well ours drums deeply! She is a fixture if annoying at times and for how long we don't know.



We need to take more time to appreciate the beauty of nature. I've seen some wonderful sunsets recently which those around me seem to miss. As I get older there have been more aches and pains, and health issues appear ( gall stone pain is terrible). I feel the need to try and slow down and enjoy the simple things, like sunsets. Why is it we race around more and more, try and fit lots into each day and complain there's no time to do everything. Surely we are in control of our lives and therefore can make time just to stop and relax. All those gadgets we're supposed to have, just seem to me to used for games and pointless activities! It's time to step back and remember that your health, friends and family are the important things and watch the sun set sometimes.

A quiet moment! He's hoping I'm carrying a carrot!

After such a dry spring it was only a matter of time before our front dam dried just leaving mud. A bit of rain at the beginning of February only delayed the inevitable.  A green tinge has reappeared over our fields but the lack of water is a real worry. Deciding where to move the sheep is a problem. We still have a larger dam with water but that provides a number troughs, and then there's a natural spring. Anywhere else and we have to move water to those troughs and refill them when they empty, a heavy and tiring business. One of our next jobs is to sell our wethers now numbering around 25. Less stomachs to fill with water on hot days! It all stems from the El Niño which changes the water temperatures of the coast of Chile, affecting weather patterns and the result is our spring rain vanishes! This dam hadn't filled at the end of winter. Spring was extra hot which didn't help. Now we wait to see what happens over the next few months weather wise and if Autumn is normal and the season breaking rains will come.

 

 

 

 

At around 15 or 16 years of age I had to think about what I would do with my life. I had an interest in animals and natural history so thought a Zoo Keeper would be interesting. However Mum and Dad soon talked me out of that saying I'd be cleaning up after the animals and only feeding them. We know Zoo Keepers do much more than that, watching animal behaviour and doing research studies, but I took my parents advice and looked elsewhere. So it seems somewhat ironic that I'm now feeding stock and sometimes cleaning up after them too. I also help a friend who is a wildlife carer when they go on holiday, cutting up fruit and vegetables, mixing chaff and grains for a group of kangaroos and wallabies.