What is….

All things

In the previous post ‘Thursday Thoughts’ someone asked about ‘sheep graziers warnings’….so with my limited suburban knowledge I said basically they are issued when it’s going to be cold, wet and windy…..or even very hot!   

Pregnant ewes, lambs and shorn sheep don’t do too well in the cold so the farmers (graziers – owners of stations….large properties on which sheep graze) get warnings issued so – if possible – they can get them into protected areas.  

This is a copy of the one from the Tuesday’s forecast photo on that post:-

 Sheep graziers are warned that cold temperatures, showers and southerly winds are expected during Thursday. Areas likely to be affected include parts of the North East, Central and East Gippsland forecast districts. There is a risk of losses of lambs and sheep exposed to these conditions.

I also explained that farmers/graziers can be prosecuted under ‘cruelty to animals’ if they don’t care for their stock.  It covers big properties running thousands of heads as well as small hobby farms

https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/livestock-and-animals/sheep/health-and-welfare/sheep-shelter-guidelines

And mentioned an article they might be interested in – it talks about winter months but these warnings can be given at any time of the year

https://www.westernag.com.au/warning-sheep-grazier-alert

Maybe some of my rural readers could add to that…..
Also are warnings of this sort given in other countries

8 thoughts on “What is….”

  3. I have never been where sheep graze or live so have no idea if we do or not. here in FL if there are any sheep it would be heat wave warnings. makes me wonder what the people did that went into the wild west of USA and became sheep farmers, no waraning back then. I just stopped to see if we have sheep here and yes there are some but you have to have a LOT OF LAND and that would be a problem. found this
    Can you own a sheep in Florida?
    You have to have at least five acres and there’s a limit per acre, as follows: “Equine (e.g., horse, mule, donkey, etc.) and bovine (e.g., cattle, bison, etc.) shall not exceed one for every two and one-half acres and caprine (e.g., goats), ovine (e.g., sheep) and lama (e.g., llama, alpaca, etc.)

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  5. Sheep graziers warnings as especially helpful during lambing season
    As my sheep, about a dozen, are self shedders I don’t really have to worry about them. I can probably guess when the weather will change if I notice their shedding. Some years they shed quick others, like this year, the look scraggly much longer

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  6. As always, you have written an interesting post. Here on the Great Plains of the US we have all kinds of weather warnings. I imagine the ranchers pay close attention to them and move cattle and sheep to protected locations. Whether or not specific grazier warnings are issued I don’t know for sure. Alas, I visited a family farm as a child but grew up in a small town.

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  7. In South Australia there are also sometimes frost warnings for grape growers etc. I don’t know exactly what the farmers do about that, maybe light fires somewhere???

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  8. I was in the country last weekend and there were several times I noticed that every horse was standing under a tree if there was one available. Not all paddocks have a tree though.
    Livestock put up with a lot

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