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.