Page 28 - OurStories-2022_Preview

28 | OUR STORY: GREENFIELD

Paul said the family felt relieved about the
change.
“It sort of frees up your timeframes a bit more
- you’re not committed to the shearing date or a
crutching date,” he said.
“It brings in a lot more flexibility.
“There’s a lot of work in fencing and yard
building ahead of us, but it definitely frees up
timeframes.”
The family wanted their reputation for high-
quality Merinos to translate across into Dorpers,
according to Kate who said they didn’t want
to get out of Merinos and have some “shabby-
shedders”.
“We’ve really tried to position ourselves
the same way going into the Dorpers so our
bloodlines will be sought and hopefully there’ll be
quite a few people really keen to have a look at
them when we have animals for sale,” she said.
“Paul and I did an assessment on the various
risks that we saw in the business about four years
ago and at the time, we flagged being in Merinos
as a real risk.
“We thought we would transition into the meat
sheep then, we just weren’t quite sure on our
▲ FATHER AND SON: Bob and Paul Greenfield inspect a clip from their shear earlier this year. timeframe.
“When our shearing contractor rang up and said
he’s out of the game after this year we thought it
was the perfect time to make the change.”
So this year, the Greenfields held their final shear.
A bittersweet memory for the family, the fortnight
had countless people in and out of the shed who
had been part of the station’s shearing journey
across the years.
The family’s flock dispersal began in spring
last year, with the sheep topping a recent sale
at Jamestown with $321 top for a run of 179
Glenville-bloods.
“I remember not that long ago, we got $30
or $40 for a sheep at Jamestown market and I
▲ HARD TIMES: William Henry Greenfield persevered through tough times on the station, with his family still thought that was good,” Bob said.
working the land 140 years on. “When the wool market crashed, I sent fat
wethers away to Jamestown and got $6 each.
"I remember we had horses right up till about “That just makes things easier on the stock and “It cost me $2 to send them down and about
the mid ‘70s. easier on us mustering. Times were tough when 50c a head to sell them with fees and levies.
“The biggest problem was shoeing them I was younger, but they were even tougher when “(It was) $320-odd for a sheep now? I can’t
because it’s so rough and stoney, they’d wear a William Henry arrived - I can’t imagine what he’d believe it!”
set of shoes out in four or five days. think of the property now.” Contribution recognised
“When we got motorbikes that all changed. Merinos to meat sheep
“We didn’t need as many people to muster a Along with keeping a detailed history of the
paddock with motorbikes, like with horses, and The most important change for the family in inner-workings of the property of the past 140
we could ride down the other end of the property recent years has been the transition from Merinos years, the Greenfield family has also been
to a muster paddock and ride home again. into meat sheep, something Kate said they had contributing to the Bureau of Meteorology,
“Before that we’d keep horses at opposite ends thought about for some time. tracking rainfall at the station since 1882.
of the station because it was so far - that was a “It’s actually pretty exciting just to be changing it “We’ve been tracking the rainfall every month
huge change.” up and trying something new,” she said. since we came here and sending it to the BoM,”
Bob said the ability to install pipeline across the “Last year we started getting out of Merinos and Bob said.
property has also been a major advancement, are down to our last 2700, which will be gone by “About six, seven years ago, a couple of fellows
with about 100km of pipe in operation to allow Christmas. from the Bureau came over to Port Augusta and
for the country to have a spell and plants to “We’re transitioning into shedding sheep with presented me with a big picture and an award
regenerate. Dorpers but we’ve also got our eye on other for the work, but it’s not just been me - it’s been
“We used to only have 12 or 14 watering points, shedding options just so that we can try and find generations and now Paul’s taken it on.”
now we’ve got 60-odd,” he said. the right fit and the right productivity. Although an accolade for his work was a nice

▲ MEMORIES: Shearing teams have been tagging
the inside of the family’s shed for 140 years, with
▲ END OF AN ERA: South Gap will no longer be home to Merinos by the end of this year, with the Greenfield family family friends Tyson, Sophie and Mikayla leaving
now transitioning into meat sheep. their mark this year.