Well another two months have past and it keeps getting better. When I last spoke to all we had just finished at AGFEST. Since then I have travelled quite a bit After we got over the lack of sleep I went to Hobart the capital city of Tassie and did a few of the tourist hotspots like Port Arthur which was the largest convict settlement in Tassie.
I then moved on again to the Oatlands club in the middle of Tassie where they are facing the worst drought in living memory. The farm consists of around 6500acres and has 1500 ewes which are kept for wool. A fleece is worth about $30 and they do all of their own sheering. There is no grass growth here at all and the sheep are just about able to live in these harsh conditions. They cannot irrigate the land as there is no rain fall to fill up the dams and the rivers have dried up.
I spent my days working with the sheep, feeding the 1500 ewes and doing a lot of fencing. James, my host, had just leased a block of 70 acres for trees which is a booming industry with logging companies buying up a lot of the farms. He hopes to have almost 300 acres of plantation under a 15 year growing contact. At the end of the week James took me and the 3 other exchanges on a three day bush walk around Lake St Claire which is Australia's deepest fresh water lake.
After this we headed back to Devonport for another week. I stayed on a 700 acre vegetable farm. They grow potatoes, poppies, cauliflower, broccoli, brusselsprouts, barley, wheat, oats and maize. I spent my week working with the potatoe harvester, cutting and sorting seed potatoes and a brusselsprout harvester which was a great experience.
I also spent a day on a local poultry farm which was set up around 30 years ago by a family from England. They breed all of their own chickens and turkeys from hatchings right through to processing and packing on the farm site.
It was then time for me to pack up and move once again. Another 2 exchangees join us, Kathryn from England and Kari from Norway (all girls again life is tough!). I moved to Western Tiers club near Deloraine and stayed on a dairy farm for the next 2 weeks. The farm has 900 acres milking cows and a 50 point rotary parlour and they have also just installed a 200 acre centre pivot irrigator.
I also spent 2 days hiking along with all the other exchangees on the Western Tiers and we stayed in the hut that the Rural Youth Club had helped to build.
I then spent some free time in Melbourne and watched the Australia v Ireland rugby match.
When I returned I headed from the North West coast to Circular Head where I was staying at another dairy farm.
My host Kris lives and works on the family farm running 400 fresian cows over 700 acres and also doing some contract ploughing, sowing and potato harvesting. I spent my time helping to push together the 2km of 6 inch irrigation pipeline that was being installed throughout the new block of 250 acres that Kris had just purchased himself for £3500. I also spent a day on the cattletrucks moving dry cows to adjacent farms. Nobody rents ground long-term as at home. Farmers pay a weekly rate per head for another farmer to look after them.
It's hard to believe that I have been away for 3 months now and it has gone as fast. It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am making the most of every day of it I would once again like to thank my sponsors, the YFCU and Coleraine Young Farmers for this wonderful experience.