Home Alone

It was strange to be in the big old farm house all alone. There was a lot to get done and the first thing to do was to make a list. I am an impatient perfectionist, and it is easy to find things that are not up to standard. One of my pet hates is having things that work that is half done, or things that are not fit for purpose.

Yard and Sheds from Road


The yard surrounding the sheds was in a shambles. Fifty plus years of accumulated rubbish had been allowed to accumulate, without any plan. All farmers love to keep 'stuff' in case they can find a use for it. This farm was no exception. The first task was to sort out the used farm implements from the old and obsolete and to create some order. The grass was then cut, the rubbish collected and burned and a start made on sorting through scrap, the junk being discarded; the good stuff being stored in a suitable location.

The second target of attack was the lamentable state of the farm gates. Gates that don't open properly rank up there with washing dishes, shopping and bedmaking on my irritation list. It seems that the "boer maak 'n plan" mentality was very prevalent on this property. Gate hinges were broken, gates had rusted through and been tied together with wire, and worst of all gates had not been hung properly and had to be partially lifted to get them over the rough ground when opening. The staff were tasked with fixing gates as an ongoing priority. Slowly but surely we renovated each broken gate, and rehung those that needed it.

A Typical Farm Gate

One amusing incident occurred. One Monday, a staff member had not returned from his weekend and was absent without permission. He returned the following morning very hungover and was barely staying awake during the daily rounds. We arrived at one gateway where the gate had been removed for repairs. I stopped the vehicle and I gave him the keys and told him to unlock and open the gate. The rest of the staff caught on immediately, and mocked him about being "babbelas" and blind when he protested that there was no gate to open. It kept them amused for the rest of the morning. Once the gates were done, a start was made on fixing fences where strands were broken and droppers were replaced. It took no more that two weeks to get the gates and fences up to standard.

Once the gates and fences were up to standard, we set about subdividing the stone 'kraal' attached to the shed. it is here that all the sorting dosing and handling of sheep, lambs, cattle and calves is carried out. Without smaller pens to hold those sorted, the exercise is futile. This was soon completed and we were in business.

Learning The Ropes

The OVK Co-Op

Steynsburg from the R56

The Main Street

The first few days were dull and involved getting used to the many trivial things that go with farming; the most difficult was trying to learn the names of the farm camps, and trying to remember which key went with which gate lock. Most of the camps are accessed from a public road, so all the access gates are locked to minimize theft of livestock. We spent some time learning our way around town; not so difficult as it is really small. Still we had to find places such as the Co-op (OVK is the only one represented in Steynsburg). They carry an amazing amount of stock, and employ really nice and helpful staff; the small supermarket; the Post Office, the Pharmacy etc.

Getting used to the idiosyncracies of farm life was not a problem for brother R as he had done it for most of his adult life. For me it was different. The sameness of the daily routine and the long-term nature of the operations were the most difficult for me to deal with. We had the usual problems; windmills needing repairs, fences that required fixing, and sheep that required doctoring. All in all it was not unpleasant, and quite edifying. Time went quickly, and it was soon time to return to Johannesburg so that brother R could return to Zimbabwe and get on with the long drawn out process of emigrating.

He left for Zim from Johannesburg, on 21 March 2004 and I collected the cat and returned to the farm the same afternoon.

On Our Own

So! We were irrevocably committed, and for better or worse, we were now sheep farmers. The first few days were trying learning the roads, learning the idiosyncrasies of windmills, pumps and more specifically the animals. There is a saying that when two sheep stand together, they are discussing the newest way to commit suicide!! For an animal that endures the very harsh climate in the Karoo, they are remarkably susceptible to disease.

Round worms, tapeworm, wireworm, hook worm, nasalworm, pulpy kidney, bluetongue, pasteurella..............., and the ecto-parasites, bot flies, mosquitoes, ticks. They die from urea poisoning, eating green lucerne, getting stuck in the mud and lying down badly (sleg gele). Not easy at any time of the year.

We had a remarkable amount of support from the neighbours and cousins and managed to muddle through without too many incidents. We had a lightening strike on the main irrigation boreholes, and had to replace about 3 submersibe pumps, as well as motor control switches etc. The upside was that we had remarkable rains the first season - second highest recorded rainfall in 100 years.

Brother R had to go back to Zim after 3 weeks, as his visa had expired, and he needed to finalize arrangements for emigrating. We left to return to Johannesburg on the Friday, and he left for Zim the following day.

Shear Madness

Shearing usually happens once per year. We have settled on a shearing time of 1st week in October as it is usually a certainty that the last of the winter cold snaps will have passed. This year, we retained a number of ewe lambs to increase the size of the flock, and, since they were not shorn in October, we decided it was now time. We usually use BKB as our shearing service, but since they are becoming very expensive, and their service is starting to slip, we employed a gang of independent shearers.

Shearing has to be the best local example of union monopoly tactics. You have to transport them to the farm, provide accommodation, provide all their food, tea coffee tobacco etc, sweep up after them, then pay them and transport them back home. Still they are quick and this gang doesn't inflict too many serious injuries on the sheep.

Wool is classified by length and fineness, among other parameters so the classing is the most important aspect of the entire shearing. Most of the sheep were lambs being shorn for the first time. A large percentage was AA length, so hopefully we will get a good price when we sell in November.

Handover/Takeover

The Zim contingent left to return to Zim in mid January. Brother R would be returing to the farm on 26 February so we could take ownership of the farm on 1 March. The date was chosen as it is the first day of the tax year in SA.

While waiting for the day to arrive, I got busy buying essentials for the farm - DSTV, electric blankets, rudimentary amounts of house hold goods etc. I/someone would be on the farm, in an empty farmhouse from 1 March until the date of arrival of the family from Zimbabwe. As it turned out, it was to be many months before they arrived.

Brother R came down by bakkie from Zimbabwe on 26 Feb 2004. We loaded up the bakkie with all the farm purchases and set out. It was an uneventful trip; we left early and arrived around
lunchtime.

We spent the night at Cousin S and left the next morning to meet up with Owner D at about 9am the following morning. He had already left the farm and was travelling up from East London to hand over. We spent an interesting day counting sheep, cattle and farm implements and doing all those other things agreed in the contract of sale. The day was soon over and we were the proud occupants of the Farm. D spent his last night at the house, while we travelled back to S, just over the hill and advised that the deed was done.

We moved into the house the following day. It was like being back in university digs - only the most basic of furniture and equipment. Farming then started in earnest. One of the unexpected freebies of the purchase was James (the border collie cross) who could not go with D. James lives for two things, food and bakkie rides.

Christmas Shopping Farm Style

One of the things we inherited from the previous owner D was a flock of 102 ram lambs that had been kept for classing into breeding rams or to be sold for mutton. We took a decision early on that it was too time consuming, and wasteful of grazing to hold back so many ram lambs to breed our own production rams. We therefore decided to begin a programme of purchasing pedigree rams instead of using our own rams for breeding. The idea was to replace the ram flock on an as an when basis. The first two stud rams purchased were Big Joe and Bulldozer. They came from the Sneeuberg Dohne Merinos Stud from Graaff-Reneit. They cost a great deal of money, but the benefit of quality, time saving and the fact we did not have to keep back so many ram lambs for classing made it worthwhile.

Over time we have bought rams from other studs, replacing those that were old, and those that had died for whatever reason. About half of our ram flock now comprises pedigree rams. Our most recent purchases came from a new stud near Molteno. We went there with the specific idea of "window shopping", but took the 4 x 4 and trailer in case. Since the rams were of excellent quality, and the prices were right we bought 5!

Learning the Ropes

Brother R and SiL G flew down on schedule, and we left straight for the farm from Johannesburg Airport. The trip was uneventful and we arrived at Cousin S about 9pm. This was to be G's first visit to the farm; she had not accompanied R on the initial visi the previous September.

As part of the sale agreement, we had agreed that we would be able to spend time with owner D on the farm and be shown the Farm operations in detail. As luck would have it our visit coincided with the annual shearing operation. This was important as it was something completely foreign to R. It certainly was an interesting couple of days, with the almost ritualistic procedures involved.

We spent most of the days thereafter treavelling around the farm, being indoctrinated on the various do's and don't of the operation. I spent a great deal of time looking at what we had bought, and making sure that we were getting what we were paying for. All, thankfully seemed in order and in pretty fair condition.

We also were initiated into one of the facts of Karoo life - fire fighting! It seems that Karoo vegetation is totally willing to burst into flames at the slightest provocation. It seems that even if it is raining, the grass will burn at a moments notice. It doesn't help that the hilly terrain attracts lightening; seemingly there is as much lightening there as there is on the Reef - an area with one of the highest incidents of lightening in the world.

We were having dinner with Cousins A&P when we got a call to say there was a fire on Cousin S's farm. We abandoned dinner and raced back. It was raining steadily, but that did not seem to stem the fire at all. It was put out with the asistance of the neighbouring farmers (by law every two farms have to have a motorised "fire engine").
The fire eventually ended up on the adjoining portion of our farm before it was finally out. but we did meet most of the neighbours.

The rest of the visit was uneventful and we left for Johannesburg much wiser regarding the lay of the land - so to speak. Brother R and Sil G flew back to Zimbabwe to to start the long emigration process and start packing up their former lives.