Memoirs of Farm Days

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We can recall what we did the first time we went out to Andy and Carolyn’s Okuku Farm, but from that moment it has felt like a home away from home. The farm is simple and functional; the land speaks for itself. It is also a playground for the imagination.

Carolyn always has a project going on. One Saturday, the two of us drove out to help her plant native seedlings around the pond in efforts to promote the return of native bush to the cultivated land. Since she started the project several years ago, she has noticed an increase in the number and variety of birds in the area. She rattled off the names of each plant as we dug into the hard, dry earth.

Andy collects and restores farm machinery. His shop is a menagerie of nuts, bolts, springs, and scrap metal. We’ve told him that he has enough prize possessions to start his own museum. He just smiles and nods. One weekend, Mindy - under Pete’s watchful eye - attempted to do some arc welding in Andy’s shop. The Big Dog wasn’t there (he was looking at Caterpillars in Australia), but Mindy left her “creation” as a gift for his return.

Farming is a way of life, and the activities change with the seasons and the weather. The land is not irrigated, and the amount of rainfall dictates the success of the year. When drought engulfs the farm, Andy has to supplement the food that the sheep eat, as they get most of their water through the grass. Even then, there are still casualties.

Thankfully, we had a wet winter, and this spring loads of little lambs bounced around the paddocks. Carolyn was nursing three orphans with bottle feedings, and they were growing like weeds. We named the girl lambs “Mindy” and “Isla”, but the boy lamb was just called “The Boy”. The “pet lambs” would be integrated with the rest of the flock once they were big enough to eat grass. Amongst the 1100 sheep, Carolyn could recognise an orphan from a previous year, as she still had her long tail.

Most lambs are de-tailed for health reasons. If sheep retain their tails, faecal matter has the tendency to build up on the wool around the rear end. This is highly conducive to infection as flies are tempted to lay their eggs there. So one spring day we met Andy and Carolyn in the morning for “tailing”. We loaded into the flat bed truck, while Andy whizzed off on the quad bike to get the working dogs. A neighbour, Chris, met us in the paddock.

First, we had to isolate the lambs from their mothers - the most difficult part of the process. The lambs were corralled into a small holding area, while the ewes were guided alongside the fence. Two of us picked the lambs up like babies and rested their rumps on a platform, while two of us fed rubber rings high onto the tails. Meanwhile, Andy drenched the ewes to ward off any bugs from developing. The lambs and ewes were anxious with being separated and continued to call out to each other until they were reunited. We moved along quickly, allowing the lambs to seek out their mothers.

Any job at the Abernethy’s always starts and ends with a good cuppa tea and Carolyn’s ginger nut biscuits. We have worked hard gardening, gathering pine cones, and tending to the animals, and we have lounged around weaving flax mats … whatever the occasion, we always have time for a cuppa tea at our home away from home.

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Photos

Quad Riding
Isla, Colin, and Bryan ride on the pond's edge

Mt Thomas
Mt Thomas rises above the pond on the farm.

Isla x 2
Isla holds baby Isla.

Corralling the sheep
Bringing in the ewes and lambs

Drenching the Ewes
Andy Drenches the ewes