Farmers...is my family unusual?

UtesnBoots · 21-06-2006, 22:35

Ok, so this is something I've been thinking about for a really long time, ever since I started working on my pop's farm.

My pop is a farmer and so are generations and generations and generations before him but the usual saying in my family is "We definately weren't supposed to be farmers". Generally because we are all so weak, you only have to ask me about lambing season and I'll probably have a big sook to you about the pain the poor little lamby's go through when they have rings put around their tales and the ear tags put in their ear.

My pop is as big a softy as I am (not that he likes anyone to know about it) a recent trip to the stock sales sent him of in a sad way when he found out that our crossie weiners had been sold to a meat packers. Another example is we have about 6 pet "Lamby's", "Ramy's" and "Blackies" running around the farm, whilst I find this absoloutely amusing because they're definately not stupid animals my pop says that most farmers leave them to die.

Anyway the point I am trying to get accross is, are all farmers like this? Do all farmers shoot the dog that wont "Get Behind!" or the sheep with the arthritis in the morning, are all farmers hard asses when it comes to the stock yards in Midland/wherever you are situated. Or was my family just "Not meant to be farmers!" ??

An example of the pet "Lamby" is below.

BeautUtes

UtesnBoots · 21-06-2006, 22:46

SMARTY · 21-06-2006, 22:52

well, wouldnt shoot the dog, but the sheep with arthuritis is another story, 15c bullet and its all over red rover. the lambs, its a fact of life, every sheep goes through it... how did you handle the muelsing? hehe.

the poddy lambs, yeah we would look after them, but only until they were old enough to go into the feedlot with the rest of them. then they go to the meatworks...its all prime lambs destiny isnt it?

Random181 · 21-06-2006, 22:55

I'm not worried about the lambys... and blackys... or hell, even the sookiness...
whats scaring me... is the bottle of DIET CAFFEINE-FREE COKE in that blokes hand!!!!!! WTF?????

BeautUtes

Billy · 21-06-2006, 22:56

Well I wont recommend you read the book "The Way We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter" which I am currently reading.

I am not a greenie, although a big fan of all animals and the environment we live in, but the book caught my eye... so dont hold it against me if you go to the link ... the I heard about the book on the wireless.

Bon, it must be sad to get very attached to the animals and see them carted off to you know where. I can understand.

Have you ever seen the movie or read the book Animal Farm by George Orwell ... brilliant novel!

Carrots · 21-06-2006, 22:59

Its not illegal to have a heart.....shooting/slitting the throats of livestock is a fact of life in farming etc. Horses and dogs or any other animal thats become a pet is tough.

Random - he's probably diabetic.

kaz · 21-06-2006, 23:04

I lol at this chick.
One year Mum and Dad had to go to Adelaide the same day as it was time for the shearers to finish up so I was left with the cheque book. I refused to pay one of the shearers cos he had been cutting some of the sheep up so bad that he ran out of twine to stitch them up again. Needless to say that was one unhappy shearer who had a talking down from a 16 year old chick.
Dad got home and I got into trouble (bloody contract shearers). He had to meet this guy in town at the pub to pay him and those particular shearers never came back.

We were never allowed to keep any poddies so we didn't get attatched to them, so we went to the neighbours to see them instead.
It's all a question of economics with that as well. Is it worth spending the money (and time) hand rearing after every lambing season?
On the dog thing.......if the dog is bought to be a working dog then it has to be able to work. Some of the dogs that we had were bloody useless but they then become pets. There are different rules for different animals I think.
Sometimes it is better for the animal if it is put down as well. If there is minimal chance that it is going to survive then it's best to put it out of it's misery. Like animals with broken legs or cancer.

Smarty........mulesing. Yuck! It was bad enough just taking the morning tea up to the fellas. I know it has to be done but thank goodness we got rid of Merinos.

Random181 · 21-06-2006, 23:05

Quote:

Random - he's probably diabetic.

But... But... The caffeine?!? (I drink Diet Coke too... But its gotta have caffeine! lol)

BeautUtes

kaz · 21-06-2006, 23:16

Interesting reading Billy, shame it's American.
I haven't heard the word "wireless" used since I last heard my Dad say it. Love it........Thanks for the smile.

SMARTY · 21-06-2006, 23:20

hahaha! yeah kaz, but its a job thats gotta be done. my girlfriend saw me once with blood splatters all over me, face, arms, neck, in my hair, and she freaked out and said dont come near me! i can see why the girls dont like it... its not just the muelsing though that does it, if you use the gas knife for the tails and dont cauterise it properly, the blood will shoot like a water pistol until the wound is cauterise properly, and thats an even better way to get blood spattered. love the smell though, nothing like burnt wool and seared lamb in the morning. counting tails was always a problem as the dogs would nick off with a heap!!!!! haha lets

21-06-2006, 22:35	#1 (permalink)
UtesnBoots Status: Beaut Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Boulder Posts: 337 Rep Power: 3	Farmers...is my family unusual? Ok, so this is something I've been thinking about for a really long time, ever since I started working on my pop's farm. My pop is a farmer and so are generations and generations and generations before him but the usual saying in my family is "We definately weren't supposed to be farmers". Generally because we are all so weak, you only have to ask me about lambing season and I'll probably have a big sook to you about the pain the poor little lamby's go through when they have rings put around their tales and the ear tags put in their ear. My pop is as big a softy as I am (not that he likes anyone to know about it) a recent trip to the stock sales sent him of in a sad way when he found out that our crossie weiners had been sold to a meat packers. Another example is we have about 6 pet "Lamby's", "Ramy's" and "Blackies" running around the farm, whilst I find this absoloutely amusing because they're definately not stupid animals my pop says that most farmers leave them to die. Anyway the point I am trying to get accross is, are all farmers like this? Do all farmers shoot the dog that wont "Get Behind!" or the sheep with the arthritis in the morning, are all farmers hard asses when it comes to the stock yards in Midland/wherever you are situated. Or was my family just "Not meant to be farmers!" ?? An example of the pet "Lamby" is below. __________________ Buy a real ute...buy a ford Utes and Boots are god's way of telling us he loves female's Cowboy up or get out of my swag! Last edited by UtesnBoots; 21-06-2006 at 22:49.

21-06-2006, 22:46	#2 (permalink)
UtesnBoots Status: Beaut Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Boulder Posts: 337 Rep Power: 3	Re: Farmers...is my family unusual? __________________ Buy a real ute...buy a ford Utes and Boots are god's way of telling us he loves female's Cowboy up or get out of my swag! Last edited by UtesnBoots; 21-06-2006 at 22:49.

21-06-2006, 22:52	#3 (permalink)
SMARTY Status: Beaut Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Northam WA Posts: 575 Rep Power: 4	Re: Farmers...is my family unusual? well, wouldnt shoot the dog, but the sheep with arthuritis is another story, 15c bullet and its all over red rover. the lambs, its a fact of life, every sheep goes through it... how did you handle the muelsing? hehe. the poddy lambs, yeah we would look after them, but only until they were old enough to go into the feedlot with the rest of them. then they go to the meatworks...its all prime lambs destiny isnt it? __________________ *We Hold It Flat, And Then It Go "BOOM"* *Toodyay RUM RIGGERS*

21-06-2006, 22:55	#4 (permalink)
Random181 Status: September 2006 Best 4x4 Ute! Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Adelaide Posts: 3,310 Rep Power: 8	Re: Farmers...is my family unusual? I'm not worried about the lambys... and blackys... or hell, even the sookiness... whats scaring me... is the bottle of DIET CAFFEINE-FREE COKE in that blokes hand!!!!!! WTF????? __________________ Sellaxxar- Level 70 Undead Holy Priest- 1441 Unbuffed heals. Jubei'Thos - Cheese Addicts Anonymous (I know this means nothing to any of you but I'm proud).

21-06-2006, 22:56	#5 (permalink)
Billy Status: BeautUtes.com est. 2004 Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Dumbleyung! Posts: 8,170 Rep Power: 10	Re: Farmers...is my family unusual? Well I wont recommend you read the book "The Way We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter" which I am currently reading. I am not a greenie, although a big fan of all animals and the environment we live in, but the book caught my eye... so dont hold it against me if you go to the link ... the I heard about the book on the wireless. Bon, it must be sad to get very attached to the animals and see them carted off to you know where. I can understand. Have you ever seen the movie or read the book Animal Farm by George Orwell ... brilliant novel! __________________ Rural Classifieds \| AFL Gear \| Motocross \| V8s \| Bush Swags\| Western Australia\| Utes \| Depression Forum

21-06-2006, 22:59	#6 (permalink)
Carrots Status: Try Me! Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: SA Posts: 1,255 Rep Power: 10	Re: Farmers...is my family unusual? Its not illegal to have a heart.....shooting/slitting the throats of livestock is a fact of life in farming etc. Horses and dogs or any other animal thats become a pet is tough. Random - he's probably diabetic. __________________ *"Road Hammer"*

21-06-2006, 23:04	#7 (permalink)
kaz Status: November 2006 Best Street Ute Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: hillbilly Posts: 3,974 Rep Power: 30	Re: Farmers...is my family unusual? I lol at this chick. One year Mum and Dad had to go to Adelaide the same day as it was time for the shearers to finish up so I was left with the cheque book. I refused to pay one of the shearers cos he had been cutting some of the sheep up so bad that he ran out of twine to stitch them up again. Needless to say that was one unhappy shearer who had a talking down from a 16 year old chick. Dad got home and I got into trouble (bloody contract shearers). He had to meet this guy in town at the pub to pay him and those particular shearers never came back. We were never allowed to keep any poddies so we didn't get attatched to them, so we went to the neighbours to see them instead. It's all a question of economics with that as well. Is it worth spending the money (and time) hand rearing after every lambing season? On the dog thing.......if the dog is bought to be a working dog then it has to be able to work. Some of the dogs that we had were bloody useless but they then become pets. There are different rules for different animals I think. Sometimes it is better for the animal if it is put down as well. If there is minimal chance that it is going to survive then it's best to put it out of it's misery. Like animals with broken legs or cancer. Smarty........mulesing. Yuck! It was bad enough just taking the morning tea up to the fellas. I know it has to be done but thank goodness we got rid of Merinos.

21-06-2006, 23:16	#9 (permalink)
kaz Status: November 2006 Best Street Ute Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: hillbilly Posts: 3,974 Rep Power: 30	Re: Farmers...is my family unusual? Interesting reading Billy, shame it's American. I haven't heard the word "wireless" used since I last heard my Dad say it. Love it........Thanks for the smile.