By Judy Barnet
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.
The following message recently flashed up on my phone, “How’s life at Traprock Flats today?” I laughed and laughed, it made my day! Thanks, Alex, for the new title of this column – it definitely did happen on a par with Footrot Flats this week.
Putting up a gazebo to provide some shade outside Kermit the bus was a relatively simple job even if we did put the cover on inside out. I helped Dear Richie with this job and gave him instructions to use a couple of star pickets at the front to hold it down as the flimsy pegs supplied bent when we tried to hammer them into the traprock.
I then went off to work. Richie is on leave and so he spent his time on the usual routine of fixing things that seem to break on a regular basis on the farm. Traprock country is quite hard and unforgiving on machinery such as tractors and slashers, especially the prehistoric machinery we have.
As I had started work late I also arrived home late, at around 6.30pm. Richie was doing a small job on the bus when he came up to the house and said I needed to give him a hand. Dear Richie had been distracted by “more important” jobs and did not get around to tying down the gazebo. A gust of wind had made short work of breaking it. I had only bought it the previous day so I was less than impressed.
Richie’s family from South Australia came to visit this week as well as his son from Gin Gin. It was a wonderful time and grandson Malakin, aged seven, had a ball trying out kayaking for the first time, playing badminton and exploring the farm.
I have received many lovely Christmas presents through the years but this hat from Richie’s daughter Barb would have to be the best! Barb is a very talented artist and has previously donated her work to the Rare Breeds Trust, including some beautiful prints (such as the one pictured of White Park) and a hand painted saw.
Another Christmas present I received each year for many years was a Frisian heifer calf from my dear friend, farmer Jim O’Farrell from Junabee. If you are reading this, Farmer Jim, I hope you had a good Christmas with your family and I will be forever grateful for your gifts!
We had to carry out the final lamb vaccinations and do another worming of the sheep that appear to still be carrying a heavy burden of worms. I thought with family here to help that it was going to be reasonably quick and easy but it didn’t quite work out like that.
It was a bit hot outside and Richie’s son Steve was the first to pike out. He is severely diabetic and struggles to keep it under control. Five minutes later grandson Cooper decided he felt sick, perhaps from overindulgence the night before, and so it was left to Dear Richie and me to complete the job.
We went up for lunch and returned to the yards to drench and vaccinate the lambs. Steve came back down with us and spotted a huge brown snake only a few feet away. The snake quickly decided there was too much going on and slithered off allowing us to resume the job.
We finished around 3pm and carted the lambs off to a paddock behind the house to be weaned. Of course it was a noisy night with lambs only twenty metres from our bedroom window bellowing out for their mums!
The second snake sighting did not end so well. Friends had arrived to camp for Christmas and their dog was bitten by a brown snake before they had even finished unpacking. Levi was rushed off to the Southern Downs Stanthorpe vet where he received the most excellent care and is now recovering.
As I reflect on the year gone by and what I have and have not achieved, I know that I need to make changes in the New Year. I simply have too much on my plate. Deciding where to make the changes will be tricky as I still need to work and pay the mortgage.
I also need to take a hard look at my finances and see how much money the sheep are making or losing (which is probably closer to the truth). Farm insurance costs a whopping $800 every month and is my third biggest cost after the mortgage and fuel.
My work with the Rare Breeds Trust is a lifetime commitment to help prevent the extinction of livestock that are part of our history and also possess genetics that we will need in the future. Writing this column is something I really enjoy. Watch this space I guess!
I will have to make the article a bit shorter this week as I have people coming to look at sheep and then I’m off on a trip to beautiful Tenterfield. I will fill up the space with some of my favourite photos.
I wish everyone peace and prosperity for 2023.
