Our Wiltipoll Sheep

In 2011 we purchased, from a nearby stud, a starter flock of Wiltipoll sheep. Our starter flock consisted of 19 non registered ewes and 1 ram. The Wiltipoll sheep breed suited our needs as we don’t have a stand ( for shearing) or shearing shed and it is a genuine self shedding breed, perfect for the farmer with limited acreage or the beginner hobby farmer. The Wiltipoll is extremely low maintenance because it is fly, lice and grass seed resistant. No jetting, dipping or mulesing making it excellent for organic meat production.There is no need to dock tails, however ,for my husband and I- we still do.  I guess its ingrained in us from years of marking and tail docking merino lambs for the fear of fly strike  (after all  no-one ever forgets the sight and smell of a half eaten alive maggoty sheep). Its such a relief  not to have any losses from mulesing  because , thankfully, it isn’t necessary to do this procedure on the Wiltpoll ( again another method deemed  necessary to prevent fly strike in other breeds of sheep).  Every year our ewes birth mostly sets of twins. Our ewes breed easily and are very calm,  natural mothers. Their offspring are up and about within minutes. All our maiden ewes lamb very easily and often we get twins from the maidens too! The first year we had lambing season on (June- Oct)  I was stuck inside with my own tiny offspring and glued to the window with binoculars watching each ewe drop her lamb holding my breath waiting for difficulties. None have occurred. Since then I’ve loosened up considerably to just a quick check morning and night- mostly to head count new additions gleefully.

My husband and I both grew up on sheep/ wheat/ cattle properties growing out merinos for wool so this has been a little alternative to what we are used to,  but we are very happy as our Wiltipoll flock has been a huge success. Find out more about the Australian Wiltipoll here : wiltipoll.com

Our “little” starter flock has now grown rapidly to consist of a large established herd and we are now able to sell offspring annually. Please look out for ewes and wethers advertised from our facebook page :Lansdowne Farm 

In  early Feb 2016 we had built our little herd up to 70 head and we were running at maximum capacity. We decided to sell off the ewe lambs and were thrilled to get $150/head for  19 eight month old ewe lambs. That is our best price ever recorded. We are watching the market currently and are hoping we will get a spot of rain as soon as possible that will hopefully drive prices up before we send our wether lambs off to market. Either way the boys will have to go soon . Please watch this space for an update!

Contact me using the comments section below if you would like any more advice or have any questions regarding the Wiltipoll Sheep and I will try my best to help.

Newborn Wiltipoll Lamb

Hand feeding Oats

Calendula

Ahhh Calendula , my new crush , otherwise known as pot marigold which is often in our garden growing. Calendula,  see link ,has claims of being anti-inflammatory and antiseptic. Also claims that calendula soothes, heals and helps regenerate skin . If you have ever gone to the chemist in search of an eczema product ( I think I am the queen here- there is hardly a lotion that exists in Australia that we haven’t tried on Miss 5 covered in Eczema from Birth) you will find MANY EXPENSIVE products that has Calendula as an ingredient. We got the best results on Miss 5’s skin using lotions that were as natural as possible.

 

Calendula infused oil

In early January I started reading about natural additives to soap. I had begun to make cold processed soap the year prior (2015) and am on the never ending quest to make the perfect soap/ lotions for my little eczema covered Miss 5 that FLARES UP to almost EVERYTHING!

I bulk purchased a bag of dried Calendula petals  from Tanah and started my journey. I had hoped to dry my own petals but the peafowl (or children) got to them before I did. Also it takes over two weeks for the drying out of the petals to occur and I wanted to do this recipe NOW!

Medicinal CALENDULA Oil

1. I had a clean sterile tall jam jar ( I used the hot dishwasher to make jar sterile).
2. I filled the jar half with dried calendula petals . The petals MUST be brittle dry so not to cause spoilage. Any non dried petals could possibly result in water being there =spoilage and worst case = botulinum toxin. Not necessarily, but a possibility , so I’m definitely not risking it!
3. Now fill with Olive Oil. I choose olive oil as it is always an ingredient in my soap and for little children’s delicate skin I find Olive Oil the safest, most well documented oil to use.
4. Label your jar with a date and leave for the minimum of four weeks time before using. Shake often. I left mine on the bench above my kitchen sink . The jars were there every time I washed up and I got into the routine of giving them a shake once a day.

There are many things this amazing herb can be used for treating once made into a lotion/ salve/lip balm/ soap/cream or just by using the oil infusion on its own. Eczema, rashes,  dry skin, insect bites, diaper rash, scratches, scrapes, blisters, boils just to name a few.

 

Making Calendula & Chamomile Soap

 

We have to wait now for the 6 week cure time before we can use our soap made today with Calendula infused oil and Chamomile tea & essential oil. Very excited!

Lansdowne Soaps

Soon I will be attempting a salve too so watch this space for a link coming soon!

 

 

 

Growing Grazing Oats

Last year in 2015 I watched the rain fall in late April and my thoughts went out to my father who I knew would be in his shed going over and checking planting machinery for the 100th time in preparation of the annual sowing of wheat and oats on “Bombah” my family home , the farm I grew up on 60km west of Tottenham. Although we LOVE rain here ,  thankfully we don’t  rely on it for our annual income like my parents do.

But last year (2015) I started thinking about the broadacre sowing that my father does every April/May and thought to myself there is no reason we cant do everything my dad does . We will just do it on a smaller scale! 6000 ACRES is a lot different to 70 acres however I knew we had the  equipment for cropping. It was just VERY old!

Our equipment : Tractor – Fordson Major , Plough  (ancient but working) , Seeder Box or Combine ( ancient but working). We choose to plough up our middle paddock which consisted of about 10 acres. This was definitely an experiment of sorts so we didn’t worry too much about correct measurements of seed/acre ect.

Firstly Greg ( my husband) and my father-in-law Mick ( a retired farmer) crunched the numbers and decided on 4 x 44 gallon drums worth of oats would be sufficient to cover that amount of ground ( this year we will be adding much more) also we decided to undersow with Rose Clover in the hopes that when the oats would be grazed off by the sheep the rose clover would provide  a good  pasture for a long time to come(my father does this with reasonable success) . Unfortunately the Rose Clover hardly grew- next time we will plant Rhodes grass instead and not be so hasty and we will work out the proper formula. Lucky for me my father gave us the oats for free for our experimental sowing. Yay for dads!!

Greg and I had cleared the paddock earlier in the year of young wattle suckers so first he had to plough up any little stumps and get the ground ready for planting. We had a good drenching , nearly two inches of rain when we attempted this . We waited for 5 days after the rain so we wouldn’t get the tractor bogged and off Greg went Mick following along behind  shouting the occasional instruction. It was all done and dusted in less than a few hours ( our tractor is very old my father would have done it in ten minutes with his Versatile tractor!).

Our Oats GREW! They were sparse admittedly. This being due to not enough seed being used. But what was sown grew quite well with the minimal follow up rain we received.

In September/ October we grazed it off  using our new Ewe mothers.( We let the sheep on it to eat.) They loved it! Then we left it alone to grow again and  let it go to head and grazed it off again. By this time it had actual oat seeds formed .

 

Chickens – The Beginning

our very first chickens

In 2011 when we first moved to Lansdowne the first thing we decided to invest in was chickens. Chickens give acreage the ultimate farmyard feeling !

We hastily invested in some 20 week old Isa browns. They were for sale through the local agriculture produce store and they were cheap. We purchased  5 pullets. At the time I was busy,  house bound with a new baby, so i didn’t invest much time into researching breeds. These 5 pullets thrived and produced an amazing amount of eggs over the next two years. However tragedy did occur .My irritable cranky mare galloped over a hen and accidentally killed it. A fox took another. And another just died, no explanation. The remaining two hens promptly stopped laying.

our 5 hens ..eeerrr…roosters

In 2013 we purchased another 5 unsexed chickens . We  grew them out only to find……ugh we had five roosters!! We were very lucky I knew the lady that sold them to us and she happily swapped them for another 4 crossbred chickens. I kept one rooster. Luckily the chickens from the swap were hens. Finally we were on our way to getting eggs again!

Senor Our First Rooster

Our two original  Isa Brown hens are now grannies at 5 years  old and occasionally lay the odd egg.

We now incubate and sell day old chicks , unsexed crossbred chickens as well as Dark Barred Plymouth Rock chicks.