This page is an introduction in more
detail with a brief look at the way we farm.
I spent the first 20 years of my
life on Pebble Island, quite a lovely Island to the North of West Falkland.
Pebble is a popular place for tourists to visit with an abundance of wild
life, some very picturesque coastline and magnificent beaches. We can see
Pebble Island
in the distance from our kitchen window here
at Main Point,
which is rather pleasant.
Ian and I were married on Pebble
Island and had our first anniversary under Argentine occupation in 1982 and
were among all the other inhabitants there that were locked up and held hostage
by the Argentineans for a month. However that is another story. We came to
live here at Main Point in May 1983, when we had been married just two years.
At first we were employed by Hill Cove Farm that then ran 32,000 sheep, our
job was mainly looking after the ewe flocks at lambing time. In 1987 Hill Cove
was sold and subdivided into 8 smaller farms and we purchased Main Point,
(over 17,000 acres and 5000 sheep). We spent many years just the two of
us and our menagerie of animals. Horses, dogs, cats, pet sheep, hens, ducks,
geese etc, all kept us busy then in 1997 came our first miniature horses,
a great highlight in our life. Then in 1999 when we imported our second little
herd of mini horses we also had another addition to our always-growing family
in the form of our son Matthew. There hasn't been a dull moment since
.
Some farms on the Falklands are
more isolated than others are and while we are fairly isolated we do have
a link in road
now - built in 1999 - nothing grand like tarmac but an all weather clay road.
Which is a vast improvement on facing the camp land travel in the land rover
as it was before. What use to be a harrowing hour and a half land rover trip
to our nearest settlement
(Hill Cove)
is now a comfortable half-hour journey.
Not all farms have yet been linked into the main roads.
As with most farms of similar size
on the Falklands,ours is a family business.
Husband and wife team doing
all the work,with the exception of getting contract shearers in to shear
the sheep. Many of the contract shearers come in from overseas annually to
shear the Falkland flocks; local contractors run the shearing gangs. We then
bale the wool and it is shipped to England where it is sold on by an
agent.
We have a lot of sheep dogs which
we have enjoyed breeding and training for many years and my most enjoyable
days are spent gathering the flocks of sheep in at shearing time and working
with the dogs. Not so many years ago people were still riding horses for
rounding up the sheep, these days as with a lot of things time has moved
on and virtually all Falkland farmers/shepherds have became mechanical cowboys
and use motorbikes and land rovers for the task (ourselves
included).
Lambing and foaling time have to
be my favorite time of year and also our busiest time too. We lamb around
1400 ewes each spring. They are lambed in large flocks not always very close
to home. It is impossible to closely monitor 
them
but we try and shepherd most of the flocks on a daily basis. We usually end
up with up to 20 orphan lambs to hand rear each year. Lamb losses are generally
fairly high throughout the Islands, which I believe is mainly due to weather
conditions and predators. We are lucky not to have ground predators but we
do lose a lot of lambs (and some ewes) to Turkey Vultures and Caranchos (Crested
Caracaras). The latter in my opinion is a much bigger threat to our flocks
because they "hunt for fun" and frequently attack and mutilate ewes and lambs
and leave 
them
to suffer horrendously and then move on to attack others. Newborn lambs are
especially vulnerable. The Turkey Vultures can cause havoc too but they will
mainly only attack sheep and lambs in trouble and at least will continue
to feast on dead animals, unlike the Caracaras who you seldom see feeding
on dead animals. The Johnny Rook is another predator and can cause havoc
in lambing flocks.
Apart from getting the sheep in for
shearing there is not a lot involved in looking after flocks of sheep on
a farm of similar size to ours. You will maybe move them from summer to winter
camps and do some rotational grazing if you have smaller camps but often they are not rounded up from one shearing season until the
next.
All animals are kept out on grass the entire year, including horses and cattle.
Some farms feed hay to horses and cattle in winter; some do not. Again it
is a matter of personal preference. Only a few farms grow hay and only a few
other crops are grown on the Islands.
Falkland Island wool is popular
for it's high quality and natural whiteness. Falkland farming is pesticide
and chemical free. See our links for more on Falkland Island wool and
farming.
For me one of the most pleasant things
about living on the Falklands or at least what I missed most when overseas
on holiday was the lovely clean fresh air and clear skies. 
I also love the
wonderful sunsets and sunrises, though I confess to seeing more setting suns
than rising ones! I never fail to reach for a camera at the sight of a sunset
or lovely blue sky filled with magnificent clouds
We sell animal feed imported from Dodson & Horrell Ltd. Contact
us for details or check out Dodson & Horrell site on our Links Page.
.
