Welcome to Life Images by Jill

Welcome to Life Images by Jill.........Stepping into the light and bringing together the images and stories of our world. I am a photographer, writer and multi-media artist.
Focussing mainly on Western Australia and Australia, I am seeking to preserve images and memories of the beautiful world in which we live and the people in it.

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Monday 2 May 2016

Do you name your farm paddocks?


This short piece below I wrote for my writing group homework recently - "What's in a name?"


What’s in a name they ask? It’s just a name. But without names where would we be? How would we explain our location for instance? 
 
In our own homes we say….. out the front, out the back, down the side, or even down the back if you have a long back yard. 

It is common for farmers or station owners to give their yards or paddocks names developed over time so property owners know which part of the farm they are talking about.  

In USA or England you probably call a paddock a field or meadow and in USA and Canada you might know large scale cattle grazing properties as ranches, which we call stations in Australia. I found this fascinating website giving translations - Fiona Lake - rural words.


On my family’s Western Australian wheatbelt farm they have the wood yard, house yard, chook yard, shed yards, shearing shed yards, sheep yards, and cattle yards. 

There is also the home paddock, front paddock, back paddock, one tree hill, the long paddock, the quarry, and the firing range.  The image you see above here is the "front" paddock.

You might have paddocks named for the crop that is growing, its use or events that happen there – like wheat paddock, horse paddock or jumps paddock. 

From my search on the net I’ve found….just to name a few..... the top and bottom paddocks, next doors paddock, windmill paddock, the airstrip, tea tree, pine tree paddock or plantation paddock, thistle flat, river flats, gully, railway paddock, powerline paddock, Skippies, Molly’s, kitchen field, doublegee, the pipeline paddock, the sand paddock where nothing grows, a hilly paddock called Devon and a flat paddock, Somerset. There was even bathtub paddock and the tiny paddock with no gate paddock.


My family also name their blocks -  home block, Periclies, Buttons, Finks and Macarthies, named for the previous owners of farms they have purchased. 

Bruce Rock where their home block is located, was originally named Nunagin (Noonegin) but this name was easily confused with Nungarin and Narrogin, which are other towns in the wheatbelt, so it was changed to Bruce Rock, after a nearby rock said to be named after John Ruufus Bruce who cut sandalwood near there around 1879.  If you go up to the rock which is not far out of Bruce Rock you can see an old stone well.

Here is a pic of the main street of Bruce Rock early on a quiet Sunday morning.  



The list of paddock names seems to go on forever. Take a look at Stockyard on the net, then search for “who else names their paddocks” on the forum tab.  

Finally “long paddock” has several meanings. Sometimes farmers refer to being “turned out into the long paddock” when they retire. In Australia the “long paddock” also refers to droving stock routes along roads or between grants where there was no road but the feed was often better. In drought times farmers might graze their stock in the long paddock.  You can even book to do a Long Paddock Cattle Drive.


You can check out more rural words and paddock names on the links below - 

Stockyard - Who else names their paddocks?

ABC Net - Creative Paddock names buck farmer stereotype 

Fiona Lake - Australia's Outback cattle stations - rural words - for a fascinating look at rural words used in Australia and words used in America. 
 

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed this little insight into rural names. If you live on a rural property, do you give your paddocks names? Perhaps you would like to tell us about them in the comments.

I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week.

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!


Mosaic Monday 

Life Thru the Lens 

Lifestyle Fifty Monday Linkup 
Our World Tuesday

Through My Lens 
Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global
Worth Casing Wednesday
Travel Photo Thursday

The Weekly Postcard



23 comments:

  1. Beautiful.
    Thanks for linking up at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2016/05/snorkeling-on-saint-thomas.html

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  2. An interesting idea and question. I enjoyed reading your answer

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  3. How very interesting! I have never lived on a large farm but we had names for every corner of the Pondside House acreage. We also name our cars - but that's another story!

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  4. I have not lived in a farm but agree that you can name almost everything. I think it is a thing families or people who are close do. When I was a kid, we had names for all our plush toys. Say that name to my sister or brother and it will trigger a lot of memories. It is a thing that only we can understand.

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  5. How interesting, we definitely are not that descriptive in the U.S.

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  6. What a great piece of writing. I'll have to give some thought to names. We don't commonly use 'paddock' in the US. Loved this analysis.

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  7. That is interesting. I have not known anyone to do that, tho many often name the livestock on farms.

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  8. Yes I can identify with this. I lived on a dairy farm when I was young and we had names for our paddocks. We had the bull paddock, the lucerne paddock, the potty paddock and the blackberry bush paddock. There were probably more names but I can't remember them now. We also had names for all of our cows too. Lovely photos Jill. :)

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  9. Very nice set of images. Well done. Have a blessed day.

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  10. A great series of images, Jill, and a great read! I love the countryside you have photographed.

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  11. My parent's farm doesn't really have paddock names ... people just go 'over the back'. The properties I used to work on had different names for various paddocks. I helped out with fencing (meaning keeping an eye on kids) when we put in a new fence line at the first place I walked and the new paddock became Annie's Run after me. Their tradition was to name it after the person who helped of someone visiting. The second property I worked on had paddocks with those names you have mentioned, which are pretty common on a lot of properties. There was the night paddock (beside the house) along with a Paradise Lagoon paddock, the air strip, the house yard, bore paddock, holding paddock, cattle yards, house paddock, the Gorge and many other such names (that I really can't remember). It is interesting where the names for these paddocks come from. Lovely shots and interesting information.

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  12. I think it's great (and fun!) to name the paddocks. We even name the potted plants around the house! We have a 'Sofia Vergara' (because my daughter thinks that Sansevieria sounds just like her name!) and a Viola (for our fiddle leaf fig tree) and various other silly names for the other ones.

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  13. I name absolutely everything. I'm sure if I had paddocks I would name them too.

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  14. I love the golden tones in the first photo!

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  15. I never thought that they would be names, but I do use all the descriptions of direction or size.

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  16. Hi Jill. Stunning shots. We do use the term paddock in Canada, but it's not that common. I think for grazing cattle we would be more likely to use pasture. Thanks for linking up this week. #TPThursday

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  17. What a lovely article. I never knew paddocks could have so many names. When we had horses we had paddock names but only three as I remember; top, back and triangle. It's fascinating getting glimpses into your family's life in the Wheatbelt - and so great that you're keeping social history alive via your blog.

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  18. My Grandmother lived semi-rural and had one acre, divided into house yard, goat yard, citrus orchard, vegie plot and Paw Paw plot. I name my own home rooms. We have the white tiled room, which before that used to be the green carpet room lol.

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  19. How very interesting post. I love the light in the first photo!

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  20. Its interesting to read this Jill. I love that you have shared a fabulous part of your culture with Life Thru the Lens. :-D

    Gosh the top shot actually reminds me of a field right behind our house in Germany. Lovely.

    Lisa @ Life Thru the Lens

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  21. We had different paddocks all over the place in our village. To know to which one the girls had to bring their pony, we had some distinctive names for all of them. One was named after a neighbor who hated the horses next to his new built home and said he was allergic to horse po' - following the meadow was called allergic meadow! I guess many people thought we were insane who didn't know the background story ;)

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  22. Funny, some friends and I were talking about the differences between British and American English. Like 'chips' and 'fries,' 'pants' and 'trousers.' Yes, we're all speaking English!

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  23. One Tree Hill was the name of a teen TV show her in America. I'm rather sure it nothing to do with paddocks, though, ha ha. As always, I love your photos, especially the close up of the wheat.

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I hope you have enjoyed your visit to my blog. Thank you for stopping by and for taking the time to comment. I read and very much appreciate every comment and love hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return.