Weaning and Shipping Lambs
On Sunday morning a few thousand lambs and ewes greeted us when we arrived at the woolshed to start the weaning and shipping process.
It all starts with Brendan conducting a four way draft. He separates ram lambs (boys), ewe lambs (girls), ewes, and ‘odds and ends.’ ‘Odds and ends’ include runts, sick lambs and any that look injured. The shepherds started at 4:00 a.m., moving stock from paddocks to the yards around the woolshed. We got to sleep in and did not arrive until 6:30 a.m.
Once all are drafted, we begin to move them up through a few yards and eventually into a race where they are weighed and separated again, this time depending on their size. ‘Fats’ weigh more than 31.5 kg and will be sent to the meat works later in the afternoon. Those between 26.5 and 31.5 kg and under 26.5 kg are separated into two groups that will go to a ‘finisher,’ who will hold on to them for awhile to fatten them up. They will become lamb chops in a few months instead of later in the afternoon. Below are some pictures of the lambs before they are weighed and Anders behind a group already sorted. The weighing machine is to his left in the picture. It essentially stops them as they try and run through, weighs them, and then opens a gate automatically based on their weight so they are drafted into the correct yard.
After separation, each group of lambs is dagged. We mentioned this before… it is essentially cutting off any poopy wool from their backside. This has to be done before going to the meat works so that it does not contaminate the factory. If they are not dagged well then the meat works will actually send them back. Not all the lambs need it so it goes pretty quickly. Steve is quite a speedy dagger after couple days practice but Vicky has a hard time holding them still. She is very good at dagging one side before the lamb wiggles away and has taken to just catching them for someone who knows what they are doing. Amy and Sarah decided this was best for them as well. Its boy work… Below are some pictures of Geoff, Greg, Willy and Steve dagging the lambs. Then a video of Greg, who we all agree is definitely the best... he was a professional shearer once.
Most of these lambs eventually go on a truck in the afternoon to be transported to their next destination. Below are some photos of Roger, Dick, Steve and Amy working to get the lambs loaded and a video of their success.
About 6,000 total ewe lambs will be kept at Castlepoint Station to replenish the breeding population. Next year they will be hoggets, or teenage mothers as Emily refers to them. These lambs get really special treatment. They are drenched (given oral liquid that prevents worms) and go through what we refer to as the ‘lamb car wash,’ where they are sprayed with a dip that prevents blowflies from bothering them. Below are pictures of Steve, Geoff, and Willie drenching and a lamb coming out of the 'lamb car wash'. There is also a video of the 'lamb car wash' process.
On Sunday we weaned about 4,500 lambs and on Tuesday around 4,000. The total for the week will be around 13,000 after Thursday. The rest will be done in a couple of weeks since they are younger.
Below are a few pictures of some of our co-workers! The first is Emily and Amy in front of one of the trucks and then Dice and Fluke, two of Geoff's dogs. Dice is our favorite dog of all.
