We have been super lucky to have never had a lamb taken by foxes, and thankfully that is still the case, but unbelievably this afternoon a fox tried to take down Lilly (the first photo below) who is a fit healthy lamb that weighs 20kgs if not more.
As its the time of year when young foxes start learning to hunt, we assume it was a young fox that had no clue what it was doing, luckily G heard the commotion and was able to chase it off. Poor Lilly was scared but otherwise unhurt, I think she was more shocked than anything as she is used to Indi working with the flock, but he is gentle and quite patient with the sheep so dosn’t threaten them.
Apart from that, the lambs are all growing well. The merinos have all dogged down to well working with Indi and have figured out they can just stop moving, it’s proving impossible to get a shearer to come out here for a small flock so we will move them on very soon. The merinos and the Wilti girls have done a great job moving the grass in the house paddock this year, making clearing the firebreaks much easier than its ever been before.
They are locked back in their paddock from now on as they had got way too friendly and were spending too much time up around the house making a mess and decimating the Lilly Pilly hedge out the back.
We ended up 200mm less rain than average this winter and by all reports its going to be a long hard summer for everyone. Hay and grain prices have gone through the roof as there is a massive shortage due to the bad season that has been everywhere.
Once the lambs are weaned and the merinos have gone, the rest will be moved out to the back paddocks where there is plenty of standing hay and green pick in the creek paddock to see them through the whole of summer.
I’m going to miss their sweet little faces every day.
