We have sheep - at least, that's what we told the bureaucrat

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I’ve just written about selling 9,000 kilolitres of water to an orchardist. His water licence will be increased by that much and ours will be reduced. There is a funny story behind this sale. When we took over the property, we had a licence to take 19,500 kilolitres of water from the underground aquifer. We didn’t need this much water but, as the authorities were pushing us to use the amount we’d been allocated, we asked about getting a licence for a smaller quantity. They said we’d have to give up the licence and get a new one. Vince agreed to this but was then told that they weren’t issuing any new licences so then we were back where we started. Remember that this is in a country where there is always worry about lack of water and much advice on how to save water. We were asked how we intended to use the water. Vince thought he might irrigate enough to have a golf driving range. A driving range wasn’t an acceptable use of the water. It had to be for agricultural purposes. So we suggested growing pasture. That was okay but then the guy asked did we have any stock. Yes, we said, we have sheep. He was perfectly happy with that answer and we went on our way. Luckily, he didn’t ask how many sheep as we only had two. I think perhaps I’ve told this story before but never mind. Sometimes you have to be a bit cunning to get where you want to go. Photo of Herc and Oscar