Once I got out of bed and had breakfast (around 7:30), I dosed the large tank with anti-algae stuff and plant fertilser. Because the algae stuff is removed by carbon, I turned the big filter off. Then I changed the bulbs on the lights and was quite pleased, I would start on the sheep by 8. I got the bike and trailer and went over to Julia's place. Before trying to catch the sheep, we quickly gave "Flo" and the other ophan lamb (who's name I can't remember) their vaccinations, as we know that there are some nasties in the soil around here (Clostridium perfingen we believe).
Once that was done, we started moving the sheep into the little pen, it looked like it was going really well, they were about 1 metre away from the entrance, so I moved in a bit closer and one sheep decided that it was a bad idea, and sheep being sheep, all of a sudden, they all thought it was a good idea to go somewhere else (OK, in this instance they are right, 'cause in a few days, they'll be in the supermarket!)
But it was bloody typical, the ring leader of the great escape was one of the black faced ewes..Those black faced ewes, are trouble, if a sheep is going to bolt, jump, you name it, anything you don't want them to do, it will be them. I'll be glad when we "rationalise" them into the freezer.
In the end we caught them in another part of the property, in a pen about 25m by 3m. Word of advice, that is too big, I spent more time chasing them than loading etc. After three and almost fainting, I can to that conclusion and we resized the pen down to 3x4, which was much more managable.
As you can see, they've put on a lot of weight.
Because they had to go in two trips, in between I came into the house to get the camera, and noticed the floor was wet, about 1cm of the big tank had been leaked onto the floor. When I dosed the tank, I turned the filter off, and whilst it was off the back pressure was enough to seep through the seals!
After that,which took till around midday, I picked up Julia's dead orphan lamb and skinned and buried it. I then did the charming job of cleaning out the bunnies, which was long overdue. I had a quick hold and an attempt at trying to sex some of them, all I could tell is that some of them were either boys or girls, not both!
During lunch I was sitting there (feeling knackered and light headed), and then I noticed that the flying foxes were doing what I bought them for, cleaning algea.
In the afternoon, I gave the lambs a sanding, and they came up really well.
Anyway, I'm cooking tea (lamb chops, ha, we always get the upper hand!), and looking forward to a glass of red wine with dinner, and a few sherry's before bed whilst watching a movie, not sure what yet.
Later.
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