September 2009

Well, here we are with another lambing season over. All went well with 17 lovely lambs on the gorund - mostly girls this year which is a complete reversal to 2008.

Both Tango and Topsy our 2007 triplets had twin girls and are proving wonderful mothers - as are all our Ryelands. Tink and Wendy, our 2006 born ewes, and Millie and Florence our 2007 born ewes who were in our 2007 and 2008 show teams have produced twins. We wil show Wendy's 2008 ram lamb, Darcy, this coming show season. Tink and Millie were both judged Supreme Ryeland Exhbit at the Royal Geelong Shows in 2007 and 2008 - the largest entries of Ryeland at a show in Victoria with more than one exhibitor for many years.

The lambs this year are sired by the senior ram Malung 4 of 2004 - and Peartree Oscar who was Champion Ram at Geelong in 2008.

It is so nice to watch the lambs playing lamb chasey in the paddocks. Ryelands are such wonderful mums and keep an eye on them and it is lovely to see them so proud of their babies.

As usual our rain fall has been below aveerage, the winds have been up to 130kph which dries everything out and it has been cold with early frosts. Pasture is not growing and sheep continue to be fed. The dam has not filled so water will also be an issue over summer.

May 2009

The weather has turned cold here now but still little rain. The sheep have forgotten what green feed is! The rams have been taken out from the girls and are bachelors again. Two young rams from the 2008 drop have been retained, Darcy and Bingley, and will be available late 2009 as flock or stud rams. Sadly this year I lost three of my foundation girls as old age caught up with them at 12 and 13 years old.

April 2009

I took two sheep, Turbo our triplet wether and his sister Topsy, to a Fibre Festival where, although not a wool breed, they created a lot of interest among fellow exhibitors and the public. Of course, these two are personality plus and just refuse to be ignored! The display was on a school oval and neither Turbo or Topsy lifted their heads until they had eaten the green grass in their pen. Then they begged for pats from their admiring public.

Misd April I visited the ewes and two rams we sold to start the new Thrun Stud. I ampleased to say that they all were happy, healthy and even more pleased that they remembered me,

January 2009

We are now truly in the middle of a hot dry summer after a cool start. We had very little rain in November and of course, as previously mentioned, the spring rains did not come again this year. Nor did the usual 'autumn break'. In December we got a couple of days of good rain - real rain - not just showers. As I lay in bed listening to rain on the roof and the windows I realised that I could not remember the last time I had heard that sound. As nice as it was, it was not enough to put water in the dam or to grow any grass.

It is now very dry and very little grass is left in the paddocks. Sheep are being supplemented and fed hay. The 204 and 2005 ewes have been sold to start a new stud. It was a sad moment as they were very nice ewes but without rain it is hard, and too expensive, to keep more. They were dear little ewes of very nice Ryeland type and temperament and it was like selling family! They were accompanied by Peartee Heraldic (Harry) and Peartree Henry - the two rams we showed with success during 2008. They have gone to a higher rainfall area and I am sure they will appreciate the better pastures.

I had a good show year in 2008 again winning Supreme Ryeland at the Royal Geelong Show and all show results are on show.html

It will soon be time to put the rams out and this year I will join about 14 ewes and until the rain comes - if ever - this will be about my limit. However, quality not quantity should be what it is all about.

October 2008

The show 'year' has commenced again - year is a bit of an exaggeration as we only show for about 2 months as lambing gets in the way of the early shows and then fire danger season gets in the way of the summer shows. This year we are also cutting a couple of shows from our calendar because of the cost of fuel.

We have started off our 2008 shows with a great win - Champion Ram and Champion ewe at Royal Geelong Show in an entry of 14 Ryelands from 2 studs. That is about the most competion for a few years. Oscar, who had some nice wins last year and this year has sired us some lovely lambs, was champion ram and 'Millie' a 14 month old twin ewe was champion ewe and Supreme Chmapion over Oscar.

We have also taken one of our triplets has also made the show team. She is a little smaller (but catching up) but after the start she had in life we are thrilled with her. We love her true Ryeland type and soundness and also she is a most obliging little girl who just loves attentiion.

It is very dry here again. September was the driest September on record and we are almost at the end of October and have had about 15% of our normal October rain. This is usually our wettest time of year. Pastures did not come away this year and what there is is already drying off. If anyone knows a good raindance please put on your dancing shoes!

September 2008

Lambing is still not finished - a couple of late girls again this year.

We have had a glut of ram lambs - 75% of lambs born so far are rams! I hear that other studs across most breeds are aIso getting a majority of ram lambs. Is this nature's way of telling us the drought is going to continue?

The winds in August/September have been gale force and many have been dry warm northerlies which has dried the ground out without much growth. Looks like another hard season here.

Is there a better time fo year than lamb time. Ryeland lambs are so innocent - just like nursery rhyme lambs with their black noses and dark eyes and little fluffy white topknots and whiskers. Early morning and late afternoon the lamb races start. A group of lambs will get in a bunch and then race down the paddock. They love to use an old creek bed as a raceway (it hasn't flowed for the past 3 years) and when they get to the end they all have a little chat about who won and then they race back again.

August 2008

Well, lambing has started with the first lamb, a ewe, born to a first-time mum on the 27th July. It was a bit of a surprise to get up to go to Ballarat Sheep and Wool Show and find the first baby of the season just born. As usual with Ryelands, Mum was coping well and had the motherhood thing down to a fine art, so off we went to the Show.

Two rams and two ewes from the 2007 drop were exhibited. Sadly we were the only Ryelands but the sheep were awarded champion ram, reserve champion ram, champion ewe and reserve champion ewe and received pleasing comments from the judge. The boys behaved very well but the girls were primadonnas!

Since then we have had another 5 ewes lamb and eagerly await the rest! It is such a lovely time but also a bit stressful as you hope all goes well.

This year we used four rams, our senior ram Malung 4 of 2004, a leased ram Malung Excel and our two home bred rams that were shown in 2007 - Peartree Dice and Peartree Oscar. Peartree Dice has since been sold and we hope to be able to keep some of his kids.

This year we have two alpacas, Suri and Lacey, who are doing a good job at keeping the foxes away. At the first sign of a fox they set up an alarm call and round up ]the lambs. At night the ewes and lambs are shedded and the alpacas post themselve outside the shed. They round up the lambs if they think they are getting too adventurous and wander too far from mum. I have gone from being a sceptic about alpacas stopping predation, to being pretty well convinced. They were here last year but not until the lambs were much older. I watched Suri park himself right near a lambing ewe and stay with her for a couple of hours.

Originally I was concerned about Copycat, the deiighful little tortoiseshell cat that thinks she is a shepherd. She adores lambs and sits close by to watch the birth and I have even caught her cleaning up the front of a newborn lamb while mum cleans up the other end. She follows me through the paddocks and pretends she is a sheepdog and she can often be found just sitting out in the paddocks with the sheep.

Last year she was so angry that the alpacas were here. She used to sit on a fence post and hiss at them and they would spit back! This year they have accepted her and aren't too concerned about her wandering around or sitting on fence posts but she does believe discretion is the best part of valour and avoids going into the paddocks with them. She has sifted her alliance to the sheep in paddocks without alpacas. Since we shed most of the ewes to lamb in the same shed as she calls her 'pussy palace' she gets to spend time with the pregnant ewes and newborns.

June 2008

So far 2008 has not been any better than 2007 for feed and water but the sheep are doing fine. They are still fat and happy and the girls are very pregnant.

Turbo - our little triplet boy from 2007 has grown into quite a character. He was marked so that he can stay for ever and ever. He loves cuddles and comes when called. He is smart and a problem solver - somthing most Aussies don't believe of sheep.

We have retained a few boys from the 2007 lambs and hope to show a couple later in the year. We are not going to Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show as ewes will be getting close to lambing and we won't leave them at that time of year. It would mean 4 days away from the sheep or travelling back every day and with the cost of petrol that idea was quickly discarded. Ribbons are not as important as the welfare of the animals back home.

March 2008

Well, the fun begins agian. The rams are out with the girls and thisyear they have mating harnesses and already girls are well and truly wearing red! We have some old grannies - the original ewes - and they are a bit upset at missing out on the fun and are calling the boys. Lucy, mother of the triplets, is not getting the chance to give us a repeat of last year's 'litter'. She has earnt her retirement, as has our rising 11 year old ewe, Maggie, who is now toothless and gets special attention and feed.

All the sheep are enjoying fallen pears but I collect them and toss them into the paddocks as I am sure if they were let into the orchard they would gorge themselves. The pear tree has had an enormous amount of fruit this year and I have given away 12 buckets of pears, kept some for myself, fed a couple of buckets to the sheep each day and the ground is still carpeted with pears.

It is very dry here and the paddocks are bare. Top quality oaten and lucerne hay with oats and pellets supplement the meagre pickings in the paddocks. If only it would rain.

2007

2007 was a tough year for both feed and water but the Ryelands proved the old writers correct when they stated that the Ryeland "endure privation of food better than any other breed" and "Ryelands deserve a niche in the temple of famine

As the photo above shows, they made it through to lambing in very good condition. We were gratified by a neighbours compliment in February 2007 on how good the 2006 lambs were looking. He had sold his 'more fashionable' breed, ewes included, because theywere not doing well - and he has the same pasture, or better, than here. Lambing in 2007 was a bit of a surpise with the arrival of triplets - Turbo and his sisters Tango and Topsy.

Mum, Lucy, fed the girls but Turbo hit the bottle although Lucy mothered him in every other way.

Under a bit of pressure from my mentors, Malung Stud, I entered shows in the Western District and Central Victorian Goldfields area. After 47 years of showing and judging dogs and being organised to an inch of my life by stewards, it was a pleasure to show in such a co-operative atmosphere and my thanks to stewards, judges and fellow competitors who made the experience so positive. I thorougly enjoed myself and hope to repeat the experience in 2008. To have a look at the 2007 show team and their results click here