The Adventures of Farm Girl.

So today is one for the story books.  Having just moved onto our 20 acre farm in the last couple of weeks, we have really been embracing the "farming lifestyle".  You know .. driving down a dirt road ... no traffic around.  Today was our first step into conventional farming.  We went to a farm down in Pakenham to pick up 2 baby calves - only a few weeks old each.  And also 2 pregnant ewes - they are both due in the next 6 to 8 weeks, so we will have beautiful little lambs.

So the adventure began when we had loaded the animals into the trailer and brought them back to the farm.  The ewes came off first and were released into the side paddock which had all of the gates locked up.  And then came the calves.  They were put into the back stable bay all lined with fresh hay and hey were loving life.  Bear (our one year old kelpie) was at his usually occupied position next to the chicken coop.  But he eventually realised that there were other animals in the stable and came rushing over to meet the 2 new additions.  For such a hyperactive and energetic puppy he was really calm and gentle with the calves.

And then he noticed the ewes.

He was running home through the side paddock when, about half way up, he realised the paddock was already occupied.  So he took off after them and started the afternoons chaos.

We weren't worried about the sheep escaping because all of the gates had been shut up and there are fences around the whole property.  What we didn't realise however, was that sheep are very "houdini-esc" when they are being chased by a barking puppy.  They ran straight through the wire fence and into the open back 6 acres.

The next 4 hours consisted of myself, my dad, my best friend Tarryn McDonald, my ex-boyfriend and his sister running through neighbouring properties trying to catch the sheep.

We were lucky to find the first sheep within the first half hour .. but it took us at least an hour and a half to two hours to trap him close enough to catch him.  He had escaped next door into the cow paddock of our neighbours property and everytime we got close he would bound away to another neighbouring property.  Finally with enough stealthy approach and careful attack we had him close enough to catch.  PROBLEM: He was right up at the house caught in a garder bed surrounded by windows.  Teancum and Dad snuck up to the corner, counted to three and *SMASH* ... there goes the bottom window.  Luckily they managed to hold onto her and she didnt make it all the way inside or cut herself on the broken glass.

By this point we were all beyond exhausted from running through the fields non-stop but we had another sheep to find.  And the urgency was getting greater as the sun sets around 5:30.  We only had a few hours to find her and were getting extremely nervous about the survival rate for her and her unborn lamb.

So after an hour and a half more paddock-hopping in pairs we eventually all met up at the far side of our property to investigate another neighbours land.  It seems we all had the same train of thought.  And after only 5 minutes of walking along the perimeter we spotted her hidden behind the barn.  She was a lot easier to catch and instead of 2 hours we had her caught in 10 minutes.  The neighbours came down to have a good laugh and look at the sheep and then we got her in the car and back to the farm.

So we packed the two ewes into a freshly lined stable overnight until a more secure field could be fixed for them.

I have a feeling that farming life will suit me very nicely.