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Yarnauwi Farm

~ Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia

Yarnauwi Farm

Tag Archives: alpacas

The drop: lambing season begins!

27 Sunday Sep 2015

Posted by Joel in livestock, planning

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

alpacas, farm, lamb, livestock, seasons, sheep, southwestern Fleurieu, spring

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A young ram lamb takes shelter with its mother.

After weeks of expecting a lamb at any moment, the season has begun with five dropping at once! Fathered by the late, great Damara x Dorper ram Pecorino (sheepish in all but his appetites, he came to an untimely end after over-doing it on lupins), these little crossbreeds have a distinct Damara bearing and appearance, with their floppy ears and dappled coats. While the alpacas typically have an adolescent aloofness, now that there are lambs about they’ve switched into vigilant mode, keeping a close eye on their young charges and leading the flock to water and fresh pasture.

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After starting the flock with Wiltshire Horns, we found that this breed didn’t exactly relish our pre-treed (ie. open, windswept and exposed) environs, so we’ve started breeding the flock towards hardier, less selective grazers like the Dorper and Damara that also offer a yield in meat and hides. So with last year’s lambs being Wiltshire Horn x Dorper, these are all of the above, but mostly Dorper. As with virtually every aspect of this farming project, it’s an experiment!

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Year of the Sheep: Introducing Pecorino

15 Sunday Feb 2015

Posted by Joel in livestock

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

alpacas, events, farm, livestock, photography, sheep, southwestern Fleurieu, summer

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Despite his noble bearing, thus far Pecorino has demonstrated a rather sheepish personality.

With the Year of the Sheep just around the corner on the Chinese calendar, it’s fitting that we’re celebrating the arrival of Pecorino. Pecorino is a Dorper-Damara cross ram, adopted from our friends Stefan and Amanda from their property at Inman Valley. Although our Wiltshire Horn-Dorper lambs have been pretty unfazed by the blinding summer heat, their Wiltshire Horn mothers have not fared so well. Enter Pecorino and his robust African desert-survival genetics and fat-tailed energy-storing mystique. Continue reading →

Alpaca makeover: our first shearing

08 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by Joel in livestock

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

alpacas, craft, farm, livestock, seasons, southwestern Fleurieu, summer, textiles

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The before shot: full-coated alpacas from Yarnauwi and Whistling Pig mingle before their makeover.

Our alpacas Fidel and Ernesto have tolerated the heat for some weeks now, so there was general celebration when their shearing day arrived. Unfortunately, it also happened to be a searing, humid afternoon when we attempted to load them onto the trailer to transport them down the road to Delamere’s stunning Whistling Pig Farm where the shearers would meet us and clip our respective animals. In the past, we’ve thought of Fidel and Ernesto as compliant, if a little aloof, but that afternoon, with the sun beating down, they flatly refused to step aboard the trailer. We bribed, cajoled, pushed and persuaded in every way we could think of, but they just sat down in the grass, leaned against the trailer tailgate, and ignored us. Thankfully, the shearers were passing, and in a matter of seconds had them aboard on their way to Whistling Pig.

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Ernesto takes a professional interest in Fidel’s trim. 

Continue reading →

New Flock on the Block

27 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by Joel in livestock

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

alpacas, farm, fencing, kangaroos, livestock, planning, sheep, southwestern Fleurieu

The new flock of Wiltshire Horns, watched from afar by the alpacas.

The new flock of Wiltshire Horns, watched from afar by the alpacas.

Just as the last rays of sunlight slipped below the cliffs, Asher and I arrived at the block with the final trailer-load of livestock. It had been a massive day of zig-zagging across the southern Fleurieu, transporting our small flock of Wiltshire Horn sheep and alpacas from Hindmarsh Valley to the farm. Driving along Range Road in the late afternoon light, we did our best to not think of the wedge-tailed eagles picking over the lambs as some kind of omen. Continue reading →

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Thanks to everyone who came joined us on our farm tour as part of @historyfestival and @heritagefleurieucoastfestival - we really appreciate your interest and enthusiasm!
We're honoured to have this story pop up on @abcnews_au sharing some of the work we've been doing to regenerate our patch. Our deepest thanks to all the friends, neighbours and family who have helped transform the property over the last decade!
It's been a good year in our little orchard, with plenty of ripe figs for us - and others! Here's one we found, positioned just like this on top of a fence post. I'm looking for a raven with fig juice running down its chin.
It might have an Instagram-unfriendly level of detail, but here's a comic Joel's been working on about our relationship with a particular weed, and some of the people who have inspired us to rethink how we manage it. You can have a look at the whole thing on our blog.
For the last few years we've been planting acorns in our front paddock. They're for Holm oaks (Quercus ilex), adapted to a similar dryland Mediterranean climate as ours. They're evergreen, and in decades to come will offer shade, fire suppression and both stock and human feed throughout their acorns. They're slow growing at best, but we've been able to get them growing with mulch, complete organic fertiliser and occasional watering. We've sliced pickle barrels into rings and partially buried them to form a well to hold water in the root zone when watering. The difference between those with and without the wells is pronounced. This little one is perhaps 3 years old, direct seeded.
After a couple of years, our stone terrace garden is complete and freshly planted with a pomegranate, mulberry and loquat. Thanks to @anacotillasprings for the stone! The scraps of mesh and sheep panels will keep the kangaroos off while we establish the garden.
The nopal with a fighting spirit! 💪 For years this single old prickly pear pad sat in a metal bucket only half full of soil, repeatedly gnawed at and knocked over by roos and presumed to be long dead. A bit of heat and dose of summer rain and what a resurrection! With its delicious fruit and young pads, we are so lucky to have such tough plants in the world!🌵#opuntia #pricklypear
We have reached a major milestone with the arrival of a Superb Fairy-Wren family! This is one of the species we have most been trying to attract by planting plenty of dense bushes for cover. In the end they used chest-high brassica weeds to hop up from the Anacotilla creek valley, and have set up a nest in one of our Old Man Saltbushes. One blue male and two brown females/juveniles can now be heard merrily cheeping as they flit along our wildlife corridors from saltbush to saltbush to kangaroo thorn to feral fig tree - just goes to show weeds have their place in habitat creation! 🌿 (this image taken at a different location). #maluruscyaneus #superbfairywren #fleurieucoast
"The best fertiliser is the farmer's footsteps," goes the old proverb, so we try and make a habit of walking and observing what's going on, whenever we can. Here's a few spring time happenings: Christmas beetles arrive, shinglebacks on the move, callistemons in a pollination frenzy, and roos chilling in the shade in small family groups. Observing helps us to understand what's working and inspires us to keep going.

What We’re Writing About

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