Satisfaction from farming
Tierney’s talk about life on their Yelarbon property
THE country life, the peace and quiet, the space and freedom to make your place your own is the ethos behind an 80 hectare property near Yelarbon.
Owners Lindsay and Trish Tierney have been working their block for 13 years and love the place they call home. With a run of sheep and a few paddocks for feed, the Tierneys find they have plenty to keep them occupied.
As fencing contractors, the couple travels all over southern Queensland and into New South Wales for work. On weekends, it’s time for the farm life.
“I grew up on the land, west of Tallwood,” Mr Tierney said.
“My old man managed a farm out that way and that way of life is in my blood.
“What we have here I’d call a hobby farm, just enough to make a bit on the side and a source of great enjoyment.”
The Tierneys run 120 ewes and a few rams on their property, selling on-farm with the occasional visit to the sheep sale in Warwick.
“It’s by no means a full-time gig and it’s not a big enterprise, but it does make us some money,” Mr Tierney said.
“The weather can be tough at times, but we like to think it’s mostly good.
“We didn’t get a lot in the last lot of rains but our turn is coming.” Running merinos for their wool and breeding from the Carboola bloodline of Mark and Vicky Murphy, the Tierneys go by the motto of making do with what you’ve got.
“We’ll probably have to buy another ram this year,” Mr Tierney said.
“All the sales we make are usually by word of mouth.
“And we have a young fella that comes out to help us at shearing time.”
Every year the couple put in a crop of barley to feed the
❝get We didn’t a lot in the last lot of rains but our turn is coming. — Lindsay Tierney
flock, but occasionally they have good yield and can sell a little off.
“When we do it goes to the local feedlots,” Mr Tierney said.
“Our son has a small contract harvesting business so he’s able to help us out.
“But it’s nothing huge, we’ve got ourselves a few pigs, a big vegie garden and some ducks and chooks and we’re happy.”
As for problems with predators, Mr Tierney said foxes were his main concern.
“They are a menace at lambing time,” he said.
“We shot seven in one week a few years back.
“We get a lot of twins and the foxes swoop in and snatch the newborn as the mother is giving birth to the second one.
“Ideally, in the near future we’ll look at netting a 20 acre lot so we can minimise those losses at lambing time.”
For now though, it’s about keeping fit and healthy and the dollars rolling in.
“I love my job, it gives me a great amount of satisfaction and I love coming home to the farm,” Mr Tierney said. “We just keep rolling along. “We’ve got a few young grandchildren, so this year we’ll try to spend as much time as we can with them.”