September 21st, 2026Bruce sharing his love of lambs to Bunding
Bruce Rolfe knows and loves his sheep.
While gently tending to a little one struggling with scours, he tells me it’s been a big year for triplets, with 17 sets born on Oberon Suffolk Stud so far this season.
Twins are common, triplets less so, and as sheep only have two teats Bruce says adoption can sometimes be the best option.
Somewhere along the line mention is made of the fact that lamb from his farm in Musk is served up at Annie Smithers’ renowned Trentham restaurant, Du Fermier.
I also discover that among his 200 or so breeding ewes is a sheep crowned “2024 Supreme Suffolk Exhibit”.
But today is all about introducing Liz Bourke from Dragonfly Springs Farm in Bunding, between Spargo Creek and Ballan, to her new babies.
One of the new arrivals Liz is set to tuck under her wing is a little lamb belonging to a special sheep Bruce bottle fed and named Pirate.
“Her mother dumped her because she had a beautiful big brother, sometimes they do that. I reared Pirate, and Pirate is the friendliest, chattiest, most adorable animal that you would ever meet, she’s my best friend.”
Bruce tells me all sheep have different temperaments, but he believes Pirate’s lamb will make a great pet.
“They all have different personalities – there are bossy ones and sweet ones and shy ones and incredibly pushy ones, they’re all different. I know that this little boy is going to be a delight because of Pirate…”
When Liz arrives, she scoops Pirate’s baby into her arms and Bruce instantly knows his lambs are in good hands.
Liz says the four lambs she’s adopting would be given every chance to become part of her menagerie.
“We like to have a few bottle-fed lambs every year because we have a lot of people stopping, probably a lot of Hepburn area tourists stop and buy our jams and our eggs,” she said.
But the four lambs will settle into their new home in “a little pen set up in our loungeroom to keep them warm”.
“When they’re small, you’re feeding them six times a day to start off with, so it’s easier if they’re in the loungeroom and you don’t have to go out in the cold in the middle of the night.
“The lambs will stay inside for maybe three weeks, depending on how well they’re going and they’re in a pen in the house yard after that.
“With the help of a couple of vets we’ve become quite experienced at looking after lambs that aren’t doing very well.”
Liz said she had been on the farm at Bunding for five years. “What started as a little cupboard at our front gate to sell some of our homemade produce, eggs and veggies has turned into a busy little business and we’re in the process of building a bigger shop, so on the weekends we’ll have the shop open.
“We sell produce from other vegetable growers from around our area – local spuds and garlic – and we started off with 20 chickens, selling our left-over eggs we didn’t use and now we’ve got about 250 chickens, and we can’t keep up with the egg demand.”
Liz said she’d raised several lambs which people enjoyed visiting, but it was the first time she had adopted babies from Bruce.
It may be the first time Bruce and Liz have met, but with an open invitation to drop by Dragonfly Springs Farm, I get the distinct feeling it won’t be the last. Words & images: Kate Foulds
