Farm Tales - 3. FT Chapter 3 - Water Tank

Farm Dogs and Vehicles have a hard time on the farm, and on our farm, this was very true on one occasion.

One warm spring day, I was doing a water round, checking and cleaning all the water troughs, and the water levels in the storage tanks, of which most of them are concrete.

In one of the north- western paddocks, I was nearing one of the water points when I spotted a caste ewe on the ground, and stopped to assist the sheep, walking around the back of the Ute, forgetting that this vehicle has a faulty parking brake.

As I was attempting to get the ewe to stand up again, I head the twang sound and looked up to see that the Ute had rolled away from me, through the fence and was heading straight for the fairly new concrete water tank.

Unfortunately, I was too far away to be able to do anything, but start to walk in that direction, and watch as the Ute rolled straight into the tank with a loud bang, temporarily forgetting about the ewe for the moment.

Backing the Ute away from the tank, I tuned the Ute off and left it in gear, as I began to assess the damage. I was surprised and very pleased to see that there was a tiny chip of concrete out of the tank, and no sign of any cracks or leaks, which I was relieved to see, but that all changed when I looked at the front of the vehicle and saw the very badly damaged, front bumper and broken indicator light of the Ute, and I knew that I was now in big trouble.

Before I could go back home to report the incident to dad, which I was dreading, I had to deal with the caste ewe, which I managed to get back onto its feet, and after a few wobbles, it went and joined the rest of the mob.

Next, I had to repair the huge hole in the fence, cause by the runaway Ute, and luckily, I had the fence repair gear with me on the back, and I soon found some spare wire lying around the place, and I was able to do a reasonable patch up job, until I could get some more wire and do the job properly.

I was shocked and relieved when Dad that I go off so lightly for what I had done to the Ute and the fence, I had to as I expected to go back and fixed the fence up properly, which was not difficult for a farm boy like myself, and in regards to the damage to the Ute, Dad assured me that the insurance would cover that.

I enquired why he was being so lenient to me for what I had done, and I was informed that a similar incident had happened to him just a few weeks earlier, where he had the dog tied on the back of the Ute, and it rolled away from him down a hill, through one fence out of the paddock and into the laneway, and through another fence out of the lanes way and into another paddock, before coming to a stop on its own in a hollow in the paddock.

I must admit it was extremely funny, trying to picture the poor dog stuck on the back of the Ute as it went through the two fences, and Dad chasing after the Ute on foot.