Put it on the Barbie

The view from the Emu farm

Tom the lamb

The day started out at theTrigger Vale sheep farm. In my opinion this was the first true family farm that we visited. We got to meet and visit with the whole family, even the kids as they paraded around with a lamb that they had kept aside for special nursing. IT was very interesting to listen to the talk about their view on how much fat ewes should have as well as how that correlated with reproductive efficiency. Most of the main stream sheep industry want all sheep to be as lean as possible because of thee push for leaner meat. The approach at Trigger Vale however was to incase reproductive efficiency by giving the ewes more of a reserve to help support themselves as well as the lambs. 

Some of the Emus fighting

The barbie at the Emu farm

We then moved onto what proved to be one of the highlights of the day, a visit to a Emu farm. They are in their breeding season so they were very territorial and aggressive. The males make a drumming sound while the females made a grunting sound.  Contrary to many other species, it is the females that are more aggressive. The main product that they profit from these strange birds is the oil. they also use the feathers, leather, and meat to some extent. The oil comes form the fat and a special process that requires expensive equipment is required to do so. They hosted us for lunch and we were able to experience our first true Australian barbie of sausage and steak. 

Shorthorn Bulls

At the second barbie

Our last stop of the day was to Sprys shorthorn ranch a leading seed stock operation for the area. The bulls they had were some of the most impressive that we had seen the whole trip and we were able to go in the paddock with them and get a good look at each bull as well as hear individual information about each. We had the privilege of getting treated to another home cooked meal of steak on the barbie accompanied of course by beer and wine since water isn’t a normal drink to have with meals anytime we want it we have to make a special request. Today was a great day to get to became more personal with the locals and enjoy food that wasn’t from a restaurant. We are will stay two nights in Waga Waga before moving on to Sydney on the 29th.