Tuesday, 4 February 2014

A Day in the Life of Ali the Australian Dairy Farmer

I've been at the farm for over a week now and have established something resembling a daily routine, so I thought it might be interesting to read about my typical day on an Australian dairy farm.

- Wake up: 6.15am last week, 8.15am this week. The helpers here start at 7am one week and then 9am the next, so one week you're milking twice a day and the next week just once.

- Breakfast: Bewildering large according to my host. Eggs from the farm, toast, and cereal with milk straight from the dairy. My large, needy, and at times insatiable appetite, makes me the most difficult animal to feed on the farm.

- First milking: At around 7am.

- Washing the dairy. In the morning both the pit (the milking area) and the cows' entrance and exit areas have to be hosed. Every day I face the bewilderment of how much  shit the cows have managed to drop. Blasting the brown stuff  is a tedious task and actually requires a fair amount of energy as viciously waggling the hose greatly increases SSS (shit shifting speed). The job takes the best part of an hour, but I've found ways to make it more interesting, such as challenging myself to maximise my SSS and creating acronyms related to the task.

- Various tasks: It is usually 9-10am by the time the last of the shit has finally been washed away. The main part of the day is occupied with a variety of jobs, the most undesirable being shovelling out weeds and picking up sticks from the paddocks - laborious tasks under the sun but they need to be done. Other days we've rounded up cows from the other farms owned by my host, killed chickens (see previous post), and attended a clearing sale. A clearing sale is a closing-down-farm auctioning off all their equipment. Everything from ploughing machinery to a car to a decrepit netball hoop was sold. While watching the fast paced auctions, I had to be careful not to make any sudden movements, otherwise I might have accidentally bought an expensive piece of farm equipment! I wasn't the only attendee with no interest in buying anything - one elderly fellow was pointed out to me who apparently goes to every clearing sale despite being retired. "Go to clearing sales and funerals, that's all he does" I was told.

- Second milking: The cows produce an astonishing amount of milk and at about 3-3.30pm we need to milk them again.

- Washing the dairy. Thankfully, only the pit has to be hosed in the afternoon.

- Filling up the calves' water. A nice part of the day - with the rush of the milking and the majority of the day behind me, filling the calves' containers is relaxing as it can only be carried out at the leisurely speed of the hose.
By the time all this is done it is usually around 5.30pm. Sometimes there are a few more things to do, but if not it's time to unwind. I finish up hot, sweaty, smattered in cow shit, and tired from being on my feet all day, so showering and sitting down to relax (sometimes with a beer) at the end of the day feels amazing.

It's a long day and can be hard work, but you finish each day with a  real sense of accomplishment. When I worked as an insurance broker, I often left the office with a feeling of "just what did I do today?"  Here, at the very least, I've transferred hundreds of litres of tasty milk from cow to tank, and the milk company collect the tank every other day. Furthermore, I am learning a great deal about dairy farming every day, so this has been a very rewarding experience so far.

2 comments:

  1. As it happens, maybe to your surprise, I have watched a good few milkings myself - on two continents; not actually participated though. As I learned it, ALL the teats on ALL the cows had to be washed down with disinfectant before the suctions were attached. A bit slap happy these Aussies!

    What breed of cows do they have in Northern Victoria? Huge Friesians as here nowadays or is it too hot and dry for them? The prettiest cows that give the creamiest milk by far are the Jerseys and Guernseys - but not so much milk. I have watched them milked by hand (oh, those were the days!) which was pretty easy 'cos they are gentle breeds.

    Grandad

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  2. Loving the updates my friend, I'm envious. KUTGW and all that...

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