Welcome to 2017! The end of another year, and there’s plenty going on! Our projects have been broken down into bite sized bits so you can get sneak peek into our lives.
Five new Finn sheep
Our three sheep are now accompanied by five new Finn sheep as well. We made the long(ish) journey up to Wangaratta to pick up five Finn sheep to enhance our breeding program and also keep our grass down! Driving with the trailer up to Wangaratta took about four hours each way, and the weather was stinking hot. Still, we got five happy sheep back to Moorooduc with us.
Wild weather
Victoria experienced wild weather, with flash flooding throughout Melbourne and terrible winds. Down in Moorooduc, we were not immune, with rain and wind causing some very minor tree casualties. Compared to many other areas, Moorooduc was barely touched by mother nature.
Shearing
Rach completed a shearing course in early December, and she is planning on doing a bit of shearing at our place in the future. At the moment though, we’re just too busy for Rach to practice so we brought in the experts to shear the four alpacas and our three original sheep. The alpaca shearing experience may be turned into a blog post soon. Before the shearing began, we were told how difficult it was going to be, but fortunately with a few helping hands the process ran smoothly.
Rach’s description of our local shearer taking the wool off Finnegan the ram’s scrotum is quite amusing, if you’ve ever got the chance to ask her.
Hay bales
Substantial rain over the past year has resulted in the “best ever year for hay” according to a local hay baling contractor. This is in stark contract to the previous year, that was labelled the “worst ever”. Lucky us!
We had some concerns from our neighbours about the length of our grass, so we got in touch with local hay baling contractors to cut some hay. Hay will be useful feeding our growing sheep and alpacas and will also be used as bedding for some of our poultry over the next few years.
Due to the hay bonanza on the Mornington Peninsula, it was very difficult getting anyone to respond to calls – but fortunately we ended up getting Ray to come out, cut and bale our hay. With an initial estimate of 50 bales, we only ended up with 15. We were quoted $30 per large round bale. This is due to the lack of nutrients in our paddocks, and we hope to improve that over time.
Surprise lambs
On Saturday 7 January, we were surprised with two additional sheep! Two very cute little lambs were born to one of our new Finn sheep. When we bought the new Finns, we weren’t told that they were pregnant – we thought they were just a bit bloated! As a result, we may have a few pregnant ewes running about our paddock. Surprise lambs could be in our immediate future! So far, they’re proving a massive hit with friends and family popping by to catch the lambs bouncing around and having fun.
2017 will be bigger and more intense than any previous year, with heaps of plans and projects on the horizon. We hope you can keep being a part of our journey!
When are youre duck eggs available,
Hi Chris,
We have duck eggs available now and generally throughout the year. After massive changes in weather our supply can dip but we have been able to service small orders without problem.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Kind regards,
Matt