Shearing time again…
Tag Archives: sheep
Family Friendly Farm Getaway by Liza
Reblogged from: http: I Heart Your Outfit
Canola-time in the Overberg!
The Cape Overberg is an incredibly diverse area of South Africa with scenes of striking beauty – a natural visual smorgasbord for amateur and professional photographers: from stunning seascapes with a backdrop of breathtaking mountains, covered in beautiful fynbos, hidden valleys and waterfalls; to patchworks of rolling hills of wheat fields in various shades of green interspersed with bright yellow canola patches in late winter and spring. In summer the colours change to varying shades of gold with the ripening of the wheat, and during harvest the fields are dotted with hay bales. After the fields have been ploughed, the scenes once again change to various shades of red and brown according to the soil. Grazing sheep and cattle, Blue cranes, and various other bird species flying overhead, or feeding in the fields add to these bucolic scenes. It is also an area with a rich history, quaint villages and their quirky characters. To whet your appetite and get you out for a weekend away on a photography outing, here are some beautiful pictures of canola fields by Jan Hendrik van Straaten of Caledon.
Weaning lambs…
Six hundred lambs, all ± 3 months old, from the last lambing season, were weighed this past week to determine whether they were heavy enough to be weaned and sold. Their average weight was 30,5kg. The minimum weaning-weight is 25kg. The lambs were colour-coded and sorted into different groups according to their weight:
GREEN – under 28kg
BLACK – 29 to 32kg
BLUE – 33 to 37kg
RED – above 38kg.
The blue and red group are ready to be sold.
The green and black group will be moved onto forage and grain-based diets until they are ready to be sold.
And then we have to get ready for the next lambing season in September!
Time to be weaned…
Some of our babies are now grazing well by themselves, and it is time to get them off the bottle. But, boy, are they protesting!!!!! Enjoy!
Two top SA Magazines have come to visit us…
We are very greatful that two of South Africa’s top magazines featured us as best destinations for weekend breaks and farm stays in the Overberg! Yeah! You can read what they had to say, here:
Mr & Mrs Kolbroek now also roam Landmeterskop Farm!
Landmeterskop Farm now also boasts two Kolbroek pigs, a bore and a sow. Kolbroek is South Africa’s best known indigenous pig. The name Kolbroek originated from the name of the ship called Coalbrook which was wrecked on the Eastern Cape coast in 1778. Another theory is that this breed was introduced to South Africa by the earliest traders from the far east. It is smaller than most other ‘modern’ breeds. It has sturdy legs, strong feet, is extremely hardy and survives under harsh conditions. It is also a good forager and efficient converter of high-roughage rations. All of these features make the Kolbroek ideally suited for free-range or smallholder systems.
A weekend away!
Robyn MacLarty, a feature writer for a well-known women’s magazine, recently spent a weekend at Landmeterskop Farm:
You can read more of their weekend away from city-life in her blogpost here:
http://maclarty.blogspot.com/2014/03/away-from-it-all.html
Some Comments from other guests:
“This is one of the top places to go to for a weekend away or for however long you want. The interior of these self catering cottages is of the best that I have been to. Everything is well thought of and lots of effort has been made to make each room very comfy and neat. There is a nice indoor fire place and a outdoor braai area on the stoep. From each cottage you have a wonderful view of the Overberg area. The cottages are far apart enough to feel as though you are on your own and that your privacy wont be compromised. We would without a doubt visit the farm again in the future.The price is also a plus, very affordable.” (Mark Grandcourt, visited March 2014)
“The cottages are fantastic, stocked with everything you could need for a weekend getaway! There is also tons of stuff to keep you entertained, from collecting eggs from the chicken coup in the mornings, mountain biking, a 4×4 trail and a lot more that we didn’t get around to doing on this visit. Will definitely be going back at some stage.” (Paul Gouws, visited February 2014)
“We absolutely loved our stay here. Not only are the cottages beautifully and tastefully furnished, but they are equipped to a level of detail not many self-catering facilities can boast. Will definitely be returning.” (Carla Viljoen, visited February 2014)
Naked sheep and a clean-shaven Don!
Last week the sheep shearers visited Landmeterskop. Now our herd of pregnant ladies are running around somewhat naked! Even Don Carlos had to pay a visit to the barber, and lost a lot of fleece, but none of his dignity! And, no, if you have wondered, we have not converted to a nudist-farm!
Yes, we are expecting! Lambs… singles, twins and multiples!
We recently scanned our ewes for pregnancies, and 412 of them are bearing!
Look at them! Those with the red mark on their faces are bearing either twin or multiple foetuses; those without a mark are bearing singles, and the dry ewes are marked with green.
Pregnancy scanning is a great management tool to improve profits for meat and wool enterprises, particularly those running higher stocking rates and when paddock feed is in short supply. The rams had been sent in with the ewes on the 15th November last year, and were taken out on 31 January this year.
The commercial availability of ultrasound scanning for pregnancy in ewes has been a major development for the sheep industry. It enables farmers to know the pregnancy status of their ewes about two months before they are expected to start lambing. Information on the pregnancy status of ewes enables farmers to:
• Identify and manage ewes separately according to pregnancy status
• Identify and potentially cull dry ewes from flock
• Identify early and late conceived single bearing ewes
• Calculate lamb losses between scanning and marking
We expect our new babies to be born from the middle of April 2014!
Landmeterskop Farm Cottages 