Even in the middle of winter, there are always jobs to do on the farm. The most pressing job right now is scanning our ewes to see if they’re pregnant.
With about 2000 ewes to scan, it’s a big job for all involved.
The first step is to muster all the ewes that we need to test, and move them from their paddocks into the sheep yards. For this, we put our best sheep dog Muesli in charge.
The rams have done their bit and it’s time to find out how many sheep are pregnant and how many will have multiple births. All the ewes have to be put through the scanning booth where Lucy our technician will scan them to see if they are pregnant, and how many lambs they will have.
Lucy works seated in the scanning cubicle and this is what she can see on the screen. This is one foetus about 75 days into a 150-day pregnancy. Most of our sheep have multiple foetuses – 2, 3, or even 4. Just 2-5% have none.
The next generation of farm workers! These pups are just 8 weeks old and ready to be weaned. It’s almost impossible to resist keeping one of these little guys, they are just so cute.
After helping Muesli muster 2000 sheep, Tank has had a tiring day. Tank is an all rounder – in the paddock he keeps the sheep in a mob, but in the shed he burrows underneath, or climbs on top to keep them moving.
After a busy week we decided to make the most of a perfect Winter morning this weekend and get the fishing rods out.
A couple of hours of intense relaxation on the Aire River and caught some fabulous Bream for dinner.