Quaint Quindanning, Western Australia

There's very little of Quindanning- a National Trust church, a fabulous historic hotel that was once a hunting lodge, a hall and a few houses- but it is well worth a visit. The stone church is sweet and small and has a lovely façade. The Quindanning Hotel, aka "Ye Olde English Inne", was once a hunting lodge and has some incredibly beautiful wood work inside. Majestic and historic, the pub has a fabulous atmosphere and does delicious meals and there is a gorgeous garden to sit and enjoy a beverage or two. The surrounding countryside is simply breath taking.

 

The Beauty of a Spider's Web

 

A delightfully dewy morning at Castle Hill reveals the delicate beauty of the spiders' work overnight. The ability to have a slow wakening up and relaxed start to the day and to be able to simply enjoy the natural beauty around me without rushing off to be busy doing something 'useful' is sheer joy. I am truly grateful for being here right now and I am enjoying learning to see and appreciate the small marvels that nature reveals every day. There is a deep understanding and admiration of the cycle of life that develops when one lives in the country, a cycle that few city dwellers have the opportunity to experience.

Building a Fox Proof Chicken Coop

Unfortunately for all Australian landholders, some thoughtless person (who obviously didn't have an ounce of foresight or any understanding of foxes' natural habits), decided to bring a little bit of Ol' Blighty to the shores of colonial Australia and introduced the fox to our beautiful country. Farmers and stock owners have been cursing this misguided person ever since. Really, you couldn't have done without fox hunting in your new land? 

Foxes are pretty and sweet to look at and who doesn't admire their glorious coats, but they are so destructive to the native wildlife and to small farm animals from coast to coast, that they simply need to be culled whenever they are seen. Don't feel sorry for them- although they are not responsible for being bought here, they are responsible for the damage they cause now they are here. We can't take back the introduction of this animal, but we must all try to correct the mistake. Our native wildlife is depending on us! Foxes are not native to Australia and they have been eating their way through our small native marsupials, reptiles, birds and insects ever since their unfortunate arrival on our shores. They are an environmental disaster.

If you want to have poultry, even if you are in the city, you will need to provide your birds with a fox proof enclosure for the night. During the day fox activity is usually low, but you may find that you still have birds taken in day light if they are left to free range outside of their enclosure. But it is from dusk to dawn that foxes prefer to work and this is the time your birds will be most vulnerable. This is when they need to be securely locked away, imprisoned for their own safety! Foxes don't just kill one bird and then set off with their meal in mouth. A single fox will kill dozens of your birds, possibly all of your birds, if he gets inside your enclosure. He will not eat them. He will chew off their heads or take a piece of their breast and then leave the rest of the bird on the ground. He will, after he has had his fun, then leave with a bird in his mouth. Foxes enjoy hunting and killing. That is what they do. Like cats, they seem to kill for the pleasure of it. It is heartbreaking to go to you poultry pen in the morning and see your birds torn up all over the place, some still alive but with terrible injuries. See this a few times and you start to dislike foxes, even if you are an absolute animal lover to the core. Don't believe me? Look at the pictures below. This is just a small number of the birds killed by a fox in one night when he ate through the wire and broke into the pen. He killed 14 birds- Guinea Fowl, Muscovy ducks and 2 of my big geese. All left dead but mostly uneaten. Some more of the Guinea fowl died from fright or from smashing themselves against the wire in panic. An absolute waste of beautiful birds' lives. You do not want this to happen to your birds!

The enclosure we have built below protects our birds from dusk until dawn and we let the birds out to free range through the day. We still lose a few birds here and there, some to eagles, some to foxes, some to wild dogs and even neighbours' dogs who are allowed to freewheel about the place because their owners are effectively brain dead. "What do you mean my dog killed your prize winning rooster? He's been asleep by the back door all afternoon". Yes, fool, asleep because chasing my birds all morning is quite bloody exhausting actually.

Let's get started.

Using a post hole digger, drill the four corner post holes for your pen. Here are the guys putting in fencing posts- but the principle is the same. You will need a larger drill for the thicker poles of your poultry enclosure. 

York, Western Australia

What to Do with an Old Skull

Mustering Sheep

I bet you think this has to be easy, right? They are sheep after all and we all know they follow the flock mindlessly, well, like sheep.......right? If you believe this you will be in for a little surprise the first time you head out to round up your mob.

Sheep are often considered to be stupid, mindless animals that run along together because none of them has a brain big enough to come up with a better plan. This is simply not true. Sheep are actually intelligent animals, capable of planning a strategy and implementing it, if given the chance. We have seen this time and again with our sheep. They can find the only way under a fence to get to a plum tree, or can understand that the gate is the exit and squeeze between it and the strainer post. They also know what time of day they will be fed and will be waiting for you at that time. They are thinkers, planners and doers and you will see this if you take the time to watch them. However, they are prey animals and are aware that they are low on the food chain and are considered to be a tasty dinner morsel by all the predators out there. Being on everyone else’s lunch list means that it is never wise to wander off alone, because if you wander off alone, the nasty predators will see only you and not 1000 others just like you and therefore you will most certainly be the one chosen for dinner. There is safety in numbers for sheep, not because together they can mount an assault on their enemy, but because if someone is out to kill one of you, you best be standing in a crowd of 1000 rather than alone! So the first rule for mustering sheep is- don’t underestimate them. The second rule is keep them together as a single group and do not allow them to split up. If you understand that they are thinking about what is going on and not just blindly moving along, you will not become as frustrated when they outwit you. If you understand that they prefer to be in a group and are actually almost impossible to move if they split up, you will find the work of moving them so much easier.

Before you start out with your sheep mustering endeavour, here are a some tips that are well worth knowing:

·         As mentioned above, sheep are herd animals and prey animals. They will always try to return to the safety of the herd if they are separated from it. This can be helpful and unhelpful when it comes to mustering sheep. A single sheep who breaks away can be left and observed- it will always try to get back to the group, if you allow it to do so, and usually does not need you to intervene. However, if several sheep break away, the rest of the sheep now have two herds they can potentially join and this creates chaos. The sheep from both herds will try and join the other herd and sheep will soon be running all over the place. You will not be able to move them anywhere once this has occurred. If your sheep do split up into two or more groups- start again. Round them all up into one group again and try to keep them as a single unit.

·         Sheep have very good eyesight and can see almost the entire way around their body- this is handy when others are out to do you harm and all you have for defence is a cloven hoof and a hard palate. They also have very good hearing for the same reason. Sheep do not like sudden or dramatic movement or sudden loud noises. These things frighten them and frightened sheep are much more difficult to move that calm sheep. When handling sheep always remain calm, take it slowly, keep the noise levels down and don’t wave your arms about shouting “Geddup there!” You are not helping your own cause if you choose to do so! Sheep will naturally want to move away from you regardless of your performance and they need very little prompting to do so. Simply walking towards them will get them moving. You do not need to add the high dramatics often associated with an amateur night at a Shakespearean play in order to get them to move. You do, however, need to know where they will move, why they will move there and how to make them move where you want.

What's Good for the Goose

We bought our first geese from a local farmer- the same farmer who sold us our Muscovy ducks. The geese were Pilgrim Geese, a goose with convenient sex linked colour differences. You can tell the sex of Pilgrim Geese by their colour- the males are completely white (although a very small amount of grey on the tail or wing feathers is acceptable)  with blue eyes and the females are grey and white with brown eyes. The colour difference is obvious from the day they are born. The male will be a consistent yellowish light grey colour all over and have an lighter pink beak and the females will be a patchy darker grey and yellow with a darker brownish beak.

The two at the top are female- darker down on the top with yellow patches on the belly and under the neck. The bottom one is a male with an all over silver yellow colour.

The one on the right is a female- darker brown beak. The one on the left is a male- lighter pink beak.

The male is the pure white one- a small amount of grey on the tail or under the wings is okay. The females are grey and white. The female on the far left with the white on her neck is a crossbred. Pure Pilgrim females have all grey necks with no white feathers on them.

Small Abattoir Processing Sheep

Here are a few of the photos taken during our visit to a small country abattoir outside of Perth, Western Australia. We were interested to see how a small family run abattoir that processed small numbers of animals operated, compared to a large factory abattoir. I visited a large beef abattoir many years ago and was saddened to see how frightened the animals were before they were stunned. It was extremely busy and noisy and the calls from the other animals were distressing for those waiting in the lanes. I wanted to see if there was a better way to kill our meat animals, causing the least stress possible and achieving a completely pain free and instant death. In Australia, all animals killed for sale as meat have to be killed under strict conditions that satisfy the requirements of Health and Safety regulations. Large animals must be inspected by a meat health inspector while being processed. Unfortunately for most of our meat farm animals this means they are sent to large factory abattoirs for processing. There are a few small abattoirs left in Western Australia that process small numbers of animals and have a meat health inspector visit on kill days. These small abattoirs offer a small meat producer and his animals a few benefits. Firstly, a farmer can stay and observe the entire process from off loading his animals to cutting and packing the meat, so he or she can be assured that the animals have not suffered during the process. Secondly, the sheep can see a familiar face and feel some reassurance. Thirdly, the sheep are processed in very small numbers and well away from the other sheep. They are given an electric shock that stuns them into unconsciousness outside the building and are then pulled through into the processing room. Before they are stunned they do not call out more than is usual for sheep so they do not agitate the others waiting in the yards below. Once each group is processed, another is driven up onto the stunning platform, away from the sight of the other sheep below. The process is much kinder to the animals than what I observed in a large factory abattoir. No process that involves killing an animal is going to be completely stress free unless you shoot your animal through the brain while he is eating some grass in the paddock- which incidentally is how farmers manage animals they kill for their own consumption. Animals killed in such a way can be eaten by the farmer but are legally not able to be sold to a third party. This is where the problem lays. The quickest, kindest and most stress free way to kill an animal is not able to be practiced on animals for public sale. However, my observations at the small abattoir were that, as far as abattoirs go, this is the better option if you are concerned about your animals' welfare.

BE WARNED: There are graphic photos of sheep being processed on this page! If you do not want to see sheep being killed, skinned and cut up, DO NOT LOOK AT THIS POST!!!


The holding yards at the abattoir- undercover. The animals are held for several hours to reduce the stress they have experienced during transport to the facilities. The building looks like a shearing shed and so the sheep will be most likely expecting to be shorn- a mildly stressful, but usually painless (depending on your shearer!) procedure that they know and understand. This helps reduce the stress they feel in the unfamiliar waiting yards.

Managing Livestock so They don’t Become Dead Stock

(Or why you are not exempt from animal welfare laws just because you live on a farm)

Firstly, I must do the disclaimer! I am not a livestock expert. I am not a veterinarian or an agriculturalist. Seven years ago I was a complete novice in the farming world. Now I like to think I have learned quite a bit about caring for these beautiful farm creatures. This information is what I have learned from seven years of watching, looking, listening, and reading all about sheep, cattle and pigs. It is the accumulated knowledge of seven years of owning, caring for and loving my own livestock. As with anything else in the world, do further research to find out for yourself if what I know and believe works for you and your situation!

Anecdote: When we first looked at Morilla with the real estate agent we drove around the whole farm and did notice there were several dead sheep in various stages of decomposition lying about in the paddocks. I commented: “There are a few dead sheep about”, to which the real estate agent replied, without missing a beat: “If you’ve got livestock, you’ve got dead stock”. This seems to be the general attitude of farmers who own vast amounts of land and have large numbers of livestock. If you have 20 sheep it is a tragedy to lose one. If you have 2,000 sheep, who’s counting anyway? To me, every sheep who dies is a terrible loss that probably could have been prevented if I had been more knowledgeable, more mindful or more determined. I do not like to lose an animal because I just failed to care enough.

Having livestock in your life is a great joy and a blessing. It is also a responsibility, both morally and legally. Your farm animals must have the following conditions, the same conditions any other animal in your care requires:

Access to clean fresh water at all times

Access to adequate feed to meet their nutritional requirements at any time

Access to shelter from the sun, wind and rain

Freedom from pain and discomfort

Treatment of any injuries, illness or disease in an adequate and timely fashion

Gentle handling undertaken with all due care and consideration

Freedom from fear and stress

Adequate preventative health measures to ensure good health, such as worming, lice treatment, hoof management, vaccinations etc

Freedom to live a life of quiet contentment while being able to exhibit their natural behaviours as much as is possible.

Biosecurity for your Farm

Farm Biosecurity

Farm biosecurity means preventing the introduction of infectious agents to your property and livestock, preventing the spread of disease agents from an infected area to an uninfected area, and minimising the occurence and transmission of microorganisms of public health significance. Biosecurity and quarantine are vital components of any successful farming system. How seriously you take biosecurity on your property is an individual choice, and strict biosecurity may seem like a bit of overkill- until you introduce a disease or infectious organism to your property and then have to deal with the aftermath. Eradicating some infectious agents is very, very difficult.

Farm biosecurity is about keeping your farm and all of the animals and crops on it free from potential disease. It is the application of various systems and practices in order to prevent the introduction of diseases, pathogens, weeds and other pests onto your farm. It also is the implementation of systems and practices which prevent the spread of these pathogens, weeds and pests from your property onto other people’s property.

Biosecurity is the ongoing day to day application of a set of simple yet essential practices designed to safeguard you lifestyle and livelihood from potential disaster. To be effective you must be uncompromising in the applications of the principles and practices required to ensure the system works properly and does not fail.

 Keeping diseases, pests and weeds off of your farm and out of your business is essential because they reduce your farm productivity and therefore your business income. These diseases and pests can make your animals sick and in order to solve the problem you may be required to pay costly veterinary bills or cull valuable animals and lose irreplaceable bloodlines. Certain diseases have an added risk as they can be passed on to humans, potentially affecting the health and wellbeing of your family and workers.  If the pests and diseases are difficult to eradicate from the land, the value of the land may be reduced, possibly greatly. If large numbers of farms in an area are affected by the pathogens or pests, it can have a flow on effect to markets, domestic and international.

Why is establishing a biosecurity system on your farm important?

The efficient Australian quarantine system and the fact that we live on an island can lead some people to believe that we are relatively safe from potentially devastating diseases and pests. While these two facts do help reduce the risk of new pests and diseases being introduced into Australia and therefore making their way to your farm, they are not fool proof (and there are plenty of fools out there who ignore our quarantine rules) and we already have many devastating and costly diseases and pests in our country.

Some of the pathogens, pests and weeds that cost Australian farmers vast amounts of money, time and stress are:

·         Bovine and Ovine Johne‘s Disease- a muscle wasting disease of ruminants that is rare but endemic in Australia. There is no treatment for this disease and affected animals either die or must be destroyed.

·         Newcastle Disease- a highly contagious disease affecting the digestive, respiratory and nervous systems of birds. Highly virulent strains can cause 100% mortality. This disease is occasionally passed on to humans.

·         Avian Influenza- a contagious disease of birds that occurs worldwide. Severe strains cause sudden and quick deaths in birds. There is no effective cure. It is occasionally transmitted to humans.

·         Classical Swine Fever- a highly contagious disease of pigs last documented in Australia in 1961. The risk however is not eliminated and an outbreak would have disasterous consequences to the Australian Pork industry.

·         Anthrax- a disease caused by spores that may be buried in soils for many years before coming into contact with an animal. It can be passed to humans who come into contact with the carcass of an infected animal. Outbreaks in Australia have only occurred in NSW.

·         Foot and Mouth Disease- is a highly contagious disease of cloven hooved animals. It is one of the most serious livestock diseases in the world. While Australia is considered to be FMD free, outbreaks of this disease have occurred in Australia from 1801- 1872.

·         Intestinal parasites- cost farmers valuable dollars in lost or slowed growth and development in affected livestock, costs to drench animals, and the increasing risk of parasites developing resistance to drenches

·         Prickly Pear (Opuntia stricta spp.) This plant, introduced from the Americas sometime in the early 1800’s became a truly unmanageable menace in NSW and Queensland between 1900 and 1930. By 1925, prickly pear was completely out of control, infesting some twenty-five million hectares in New South Wales and Queensland. It was spreading at the rate of half a million hectares a year. Chemical weed control failed to stop this plant’s advance and it was only with the introduction of a biological weed control in the form of cactoblastis caterpillars (Cactoblastis cactorum) released in 1926 that the prickly pear problem was overcome. Within six years the weed was almost totally eradicated. (http://www.northwestweeds.nsw.gov.au/prickly_pear_history.htm)