Page 9 - Calga Dohnes Newsletter 2020_Flip Book Neat

The Calga Coonamble
Production Sale 2019 and the

Covid lockdown

(John Hemley Yenda NSW

Well hasn’t this year been a year of turmoil and challenge? My
daughter Dr Sophie Hemley from Rural Vets Australia kindly
joined me on the trip from Yenda to help purchase some Calga
rams at the Coonamble sale held in September 2019. We were
fortunate to be able to purchase three outstanding rams to
join to our small maiden ewe flock. Previously we ran about
three thousand wethers in conjunction with our rice, cereals
and cattle enterprises.

These maiden ewes started lambing on the 13 April with a
th
marked percentage of 94% - we will without a doubt be re-
turning to the 2020 production ram sale.
Gearing up for the lambing period was refreshing after so long
without this new life on our farm. However right before it was
time I went to visit my other daughter who has lived in Munich
for over 10 years working as a senior consultant at Allianz; as
she decided to return home; so I left to visit her in late Febru-
ary for a 3 week vacation. I arrived just before Covid was clas-
sified as a pandemic. Germany is a fairly regimented country
and the lockdowns began. They were probably harsher than
Australia and strictly controlled. The city turned from a thriv-
ing vibrant community to one which was hollow and empty.
There was a feeling of apprehension through the community
and the older generations described it as returning to the
war / post war era.
Above: Many thanks John for supplying such a great photo of the lambs
The major problem for my return was basically all flights had on the irrigation at Yenda. I am sure many of us have queried why it has
been cancelled and if not the Australia Government Smart taken so long for many travellers to return home once Australia went into
lockdown. Below: Just another dust storm at Miagunyah in 2019
traveler advised not to transit through any available hubs so
my 3 weeks holiday turned onto 4 months. I missed lambing,
marking, and shearing…

Well back in Australia I then started my 14 day lockdown which
has stretched to 24 days (luckily I was put in a Sydney health
accommodation apartment and not the police accommodation
apartments.) These are run by the health department and the
staff have been great: nothing is too much, the food is okay
and any queries are always dealt with quickly and efficiently.
The main issues is the boredom and knowing you can’t leave
the room which really plays with your mind after a while. Sim-
ple things like feeding the Indian Myna birds on the balcony
and the delivery of meals all of a sudden turn into highlights of
the day.
My major take away is I don’t think you can ever gauge the
enormity of freedom until it is taken from you even for a short
while, in relative good surroundings and make every day of
your life count. I am looking forward to seeing the next lamb-
ing season roll around, outside of quarantine

“Calga strives to produce a
genetically superior animal and different bloodlines for the
commercial breeder.
Our rams are presented well and proven to be the best
value on the market” .