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.

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You might also like:

Exploring Western Australia's Wheatbelt 
Wheatbelt Central - Bruce Rock 
Living and Working on the Land