Sheep and Cattle

As we are living on a farm there are inevitably encounters with, well, what happens on a farm - farming! Whether it's lambing season, calves being tagged, new land being cleared, orchards being pruned or alfalfa being baled, it's all around us and we are learning by simply being here and observing how a farm is run. This post will be about the animals (sheep and cattle), and the hard work that goes with having them.

In February, a team of sheep shearers from Lesotho came to shear St. Ancothesa's sheep - it was fascinating watching them work, doing 1 sheep in about 3 minutes. Although not done with shear scissors anymore, using the shear machine still requires skill and speed.

The machine has 4 'arms', thus 4 people can work at the same time. 

The sheep seem to enjoy being sheared, they just lie there turned paralytic.

'Naked'.  

Rather grimy wool, but packed and ready to be sold. 

During April and May (mainly), it was lambing season and every day the farm bakkie and trailer could be seen transporting ewes and new white lambs down from the mountain to the safer alfalfa fields in the valley.

They really are cute, but also surprisingly loud - a field of them calling their mothers (and mothers calling back) is quite a symphony.

One day we joined 'oom' Jan and the farm workers going up the mountain to fix the water pipes for the sheep, as well as feeding them bales. It turned out a lovely day on the mountain.