4. And The Farming Starts.

It is definitely winter here. Although the summer I left in the UK was terrible, the mornings here are cold, really quite cold. The combination of clear skies and a fierce wind (felt especially on a quad-bike) cause the hard frosts in the morning that are much less welcome than the warm afternoon sun.

Currently, 17 cows and heifers have calved out of the 525+ that will do over the next few months. The herd is made up of Friesians, a few Jerseys and Kiwi Crosses, a breed created from Friesians and Jerseys. Because of the mix of breeds the herd looks a bit of a rag tag bunch of cows, but all look stocky, quite woolly and at the moment very full of calves!

Some of the in-calf heifers braving the frost.

I am pretty settled in now, I even have my name on my postbox:

My day to day routine is just about getting started. At the moment, after first breakfast,  milking is at 7am, that time will get earlier as more cows calve.

Milking

The 'shed' is a 40 a side swing over. It is called a shed here, not a milking parlour. One of the many differences in terminology. For instance an electric fence post is called a standard, and wellies are gum boots.  Its hardly a language barrier but it does take a bit of getting used to. Also converting everything from dollars to pounds and kilometres to miles means that anything to do with numbers takes me about three times as long to work out than it would normally. 

After milking it is time to give the in calf cows and heifers a new 'break' (translation: 'a bit more grass') and check for any new arrivals. It is a couple of miles down the road to where the stock is wintered pre-calving. That journey before the sun gets up can be bitterly cold, a cab would be a good addition to the quad. Or a few more layers on top of what ever I'm wearing. I am practically wearing all the clothes I brought with me anyway.

Me on the bike

Waiting for breakfast

Getting involved with breakfast!

After that job's done it is time for second breakfast, without which I probably wouldn't survive the morning. It's about this time that the sun gets up properly and I can start to defrost, and also when the spectacular views really show themselves off.

Another great time for a Microsoft Windows screensaver is the sunsets, this one is from the my bungalow a few nights ago:

Odd jobs and maintenance are done until lunch, at the moment this is mostly clearing up branches from a recently trimmed wind break. The line of conifers had a proper short back and sides and there must be a few kilometres of greenery to move. Its going to be an on-going job for at least another week.

After lunch it is calf collection time, look out for the next blog post for a few photos of the younglings.

Thanks for reading, and keep sharing!