Looks pretty easy...

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Headed to Willow Springs Sheep Station this morning, as we were told they were shearing sheep until noon.  Our drive saw a few kangaroos, lots of dead kangaroos, and a few emus.  Our arrival at the sheep station saw four shearers going full out.  The top shearer does 200 sheep per day, the others do 150 per day.  One of the shearers, Norman, had been in Canada last year and was wearing the toque as proof.  He got us into the pen and gave us a quick lesson on how to drag a sheep onto the floor.  His experience made it look very easy, my technique was not quite so smooth, relying on more brute force.  Sheep do not like brute force and Nate got kicked... a sacrifice I was willing to make for the experience. Those nice woolly sheep are not that fluffy, and my hands and legs were scratched up from all the debris caught up in their wool.  There are other workers who are responsible for sorting the wool and packing it, and for keeping the floor tidy.  A bundle of wool weights 200 kg and sells for between 2 and 3 thousand.  Some bundles of specialized wool sold for 2.5 million, but not here.  Willow Springs shears their sheep every 8 months, and they specialize in high grade short wool.  A true farm operation.  Once the sheep were out from being shorn, they were sprayed with a delicing agent and sent back to the paddock.  The Kelpie dogs were in full form herding the sheep.  They are an Australian breed that need to be trained to not overherd. 

After a quick lunch of tasty treats that the shearers had not consumed in their last meal at the station, we went on a scenic walk.  After taking a wrong turn and climbing the wrong hill, we got straightened out and found our scenic outlook.  Our walk went past many kangaroos and wallabies who kept their distance.  Soon the boys were not fearful of personal injury due to a kangaroo attack they had witnessed on some documentary last year.  As King Julian would say, bunch of giant pansies!

After our walk we went for a short drive.  In the morning we saw many dead kangaroos, but not many live ones.  In the evening the reason for the large number of dead kangaroos became apparent as there were hundreds of kangaroos and wallabies everywhere along the road.  There really is a plague of the vermin.  We decided the kangaroos we were so desperate to see a couple of weeks ago are going the way of the African elephant… Oh look, another one!  The final wildlife of the night was the mouse that ran under the fridge after dinner.  The trap line has been set.

Vermin, but they are cute.

Flinders Ranges