Colanya is owned and operated by Pat and Sue Hegarty along with son James and daughter Emma
Colanya is located 140kms north west of Longreach in central Queensland.
Latitude 23:15.04South Longitude 143:16.45 East
Size: 13,500 ha or 33,300 acres
Annual average Rainfall: 370mm or 14.5 inches
In 2010 the rainfall was 594mm or 23 inches.
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Take a look at some of the activities on Colanya
January
Annual classing of all breeding ewes
Selection of top ewes for joining to top sires.
Dr Jim Watts visits property to selects best sires and advises on joining programme
Second shearing of all rams 6 weeks before scheduled joining with breeding ewes.
Hopefully will be getting some wet weather by now.
February:
Crutching all sheep on the property including young weaners
Drenching if required.
Ewes paddocked in their respective mobs ready for joining
Hay cutting to store fodder for drought reserve if we have plenty of feed
Predator (wild dogs) controls an ongoing process.
Weed spraying for control of Noogoora & Bathurst burr after good rain.
March
Joining: March is the month we put the rams with the ewes
Singular joining of top sires to selected top ewes
Hay cutting
Weed control
Predator control
April
Property maintenance
Predator control
Weed control
May
Annual shearing of all sheep including short wool rams.
Rams removed from breeding ewes
Surplus sheep drafted off in to sale lots
June
Wool sold. We are a NewMerino® ‘preferred producer’ and always hope our wool will be suitable for a direct processing consignment
Sale sheep assessed for sale on Auctionsplus.
All breeding ewes pregnancy scanned.
Supplementation of breeding stock begins to boost nutrition
July:
Start grain feeding pregnant ewes on automatic feeders to boost nutritional requirements in late pregnancy
Big emphasis on predator control for pigs, dogs, and foxes prior to lambing
August
Lambing starts
Feeding and predator control is in full swing
Property maintenance and improvements attended to as time permits
September
Lambing still in progress along with feeding and control of predators
October
Supplementation feeding continues
Lambing completed
Still controlling pests and attending to general property maintenance
November
Lamb marking (we do not mules any lambs due to our plain bodied breeding)
Lambs weaned into small weaner paddocks and fed grain in automatic feeders and grass hay as well as loose lick
All lambs vaccinated and drenched.
Breeding ewes put into fresh paddocks to spell
Drenched if necessary having been tested for worms via dung samples
All testing done on property with Haemonchus test kit
Alpacas are used for preditor control. They run very happily with and are protective of sheep
Maintaining weaners in weaner paddocks
Monitoring worm burdens through dung testing
Wild dog control
Annual alpaca shearing (alpacas are used for predator control)
Hopefully storms start to show up and we get some rain to start the ball rolling again the next year