Life Struggle On The Farm
How Do Farmers Keep Going?
I will never understand how farmers and their families continue to battle year after year in order to keep their farms going. I have been farming, in a small way, for 9 years mainly with Stud Boer Goats for sale to breeders in Australia and for export around the World. I had to get rid of them all 1 year ago.
The Daily Grind
There are things on a farm that just have to be done every day and you just do them. Cattle or Goats have to be milked twice a day, feed has to be put out depending on availablity of natural feed at the time and many other chores depending on the extent of the farming including, of course, the maintenance of fences and farm machinery. However there are many other things to be done in a farmers day that again the farmer considers normal. There could be thounds of sheep to shear along with the trimming of hooves in sheep and goats. There is the sheering of herds and of course the drenching for internal paracites and spraying for lice. It never stops - Sheep have a big problem with flies in Australia and they have to be sheered and cleaned around the back end at warmer times of the year. It just goes on - farmers have to look after sick animals themselves or pay Vet fees. So one day they could be pulling a calf from a cow and the next splinting the broken leg of a goat plus many other Vet type duties that I would not have dreamed about had I not experienced it for myself. A farmer here in Australia will always have to be on the watch for enevitable problems with Dams, Water Pipes and Water Tanks.
Then Along Comes Mother Nature
Our first few years were perfect. Plenty of feed in the paddocks and lots of rain ( Too much in fact as we had some flooding with water cascading down Gullys and not only leaving paddocks inundated, but also cutting out driveways.) Young Kid goats became lame because of sandy grit in their toes and started to sit down a lot so they were not eating properly. That was fixed with regular inspection and treatment. Still there was always plenty of feed for the animals and they were selling.
Kid Buck 3 Days Old
The Drought, which we had no experience of, hit us hard and is still here after about 4 years. We did have the odd break with some rain and thought it was over. After experiencing the drought for some time and having to spend everything on feeding the animals we did get some rain that brought a sheen of green to the paddocks. Not long after some follow up rains put some growth there for the goats. Hungry Locusts then invaded our valley and turned the fields into brown dust again despite are efforts to control them with chemicals. They left us eventually, we again got some green back but before leaving they left lots of eggs which hatched and again stripped the paddocks bare. Dams are empty, there is absolutely not a blade of grass to be seen and of course nobody is buying. The water tanks are registering water at only a few rungs up from the base and who can keep feeding animals just to keep them alive for so long? When the water runs out then we face buying it in by the tanker.
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