As part of our farming operation we run a prime lamb feedlot. It’s a management tool that gets the lambs off the paddocks during summer, which in turn helps keeps our soil structure strong and (hopefully) stops paddocks from blowing, when the strong sea breezes come in every afternoon.
We become quite friendly with the lambs over the time they’re ‘locked up’! Every day we go and clean out their troughs, check their feeders and generally make sure no one has an upset tummy from the rich tucker or is unwell.
And about every two weeks we get them into the yards and weigh the, – when we send lambs to market, they need to be a certain weight.
Trouble is with using the yards a lot in summer is the dust. When we push the lambs into the yards, the dust is a thick, choking plume that is hard to see through and every time we open our mouths (accidentally, I can tell you!) you can feel the crunch on dirt on your teeth!
But there are times that the dust, lambs and sun make a magic picture. Anthony took this photo on his mobile phone, just as the sun was setting on another day of sheep work!
Fleur, your property is just beautiful.
Gorgeous photo, Anthony!
Fleur, I admire you. The photo is beautiful but I can appreciate how difficult farm life must be most of the time. I love reading your blogs because they give me an insight into your daily life and routine. Is it hard making friends with the lambs and then sending them off…
Yep, Lisa, it’s not my favourite day when the truck comes, but I have learnt not to think about it too much!
Thanks Karly! It’s a bit dry and dusty at the moment, but come March (hopefully) it will be a wonderful, florescent green!
Great photo and a lovely snapshot of life on a farm! Have always wondered how farmers rationalised sending their animals away.
My uncle used to run a dairy farm down near Lismore in Nth NSW. I loved visiting and most of the cows had names -the bull was called Soprano because he bellowed a lot – so I got quite attached to them all. Oddly enough they never let me near the poddy calves. Clearly they understood a small girl’s psyche…
We have a feedlot as well but we aren’t quite as regular with our feeder cleaning!! Dad usually waits until my brother or i am home from boarding school until they need cleaning!! I don’t mind doing the water troughs though. What sort of lambs do you use/have in the feedlot/s? Crossies i presume? Ours have a bit of Merino, Cheviot (dunno how you spell it!), PD and I think some have a dash of East Fresian!! Very confused lambies!!! 🙂
Hi Kelly, we have a white suffok stud, so they are merino x with whites!