My childhood years were spent on a dairy farm in the heart
of the Waikato, a well-known dairying area of New Zealand.
The farm was around 100 acres in size and we ran about 120
cows plus a few heifers and bulls and a couple of sheep for home-kills. Each cow had a name and my father knew every
one of them.
The cows were milked twice a day in a walk-through shed
using an electrical milking machine.
Normally there were two people doing the milking and there would be a
radio blaring out music to help settle the cows down. There was a molasses-lick in the back yard as
well as a water trough, so the cows were pretty happy chappies.
The milk was pumped through into a small ante room and run
over an open chiller (no hygiene worries in those days!) to cool it down before
pumping it into the holding vat ready for collection.
Once a day a milk tanker (as children we called them Anchor
Tankers) would arrive to pump out the vat. Tankers today are much bigger and often have trailers, as well as being fully computerized for the collection of samples etc.
The milk was then taken to the local dairy factory – our
farm supplied the Waharoa factory near Matamata. The factory is long since closed, and this
photo was taken in 1973.
Memory Lane is a lovely place to wander down sometimes J
Margaret.
LINKED TO Timeless Thursdays
I love it when you take us down memory lane! What is funny...and I did not even think till I saw the trucks. My father-in-law drove a truck that pick up milk from dairy farms when my husband was a little boy. When he first started driving, he had to pick up the milk cans. My father-in-law was a small man, and one of the milk cans filled weighed almost as much as him.
ReplyDeletePicking up milk cans must have hard work. My husband drove (modern) milk tankers for several years, mostly transferring milk product between factories although he also did one season of collecting farm milk.
DeleteIt was...the tankers came along and he got to enjoy driving one of them for a while. Then he went to be a long haul truck driver.
DeleteLOL hubby ended up doing the same :))
DeleteWhat wonderful memories. It looks like the farm was a beautiful and peaceful place. And there were MANY cows!!! I hope that you're well. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks KB, we are keeping well. I hope all is well with you too :)
DeleteIt was such a shame when all the smaller dairy factories closed down. The one at Awanui used to make ice cream.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure whether Waharoa made butter or cheese - it may have made both!
DeleteA very interesting story of your dairy farm. Thanks again
ReplyDeleteThey are great memories - but I didn't have to do the work!
Delete"Home-kills" sounds a bit harsh, if true, but harsh ;-)
ReplyDeleteClearly I did not grow up in a village! Go to the butcher and get your meat.
Can you really know 120 cows personally?! Wow!
Do you know austistic Temple Grandin and her books about humane treatment of livestock for slaughter?
I found it very interesting.
Hubby grew up on a village and got the milk still warm from the farmer for his little Brother. That guy is now even taller than him!
My Brother lives in that village now and I saw such a milk truck! Bummer, I know ;-)
We sadly often get milk from South Germany and our Northern one goes who knows where... Memory lane is the better lane, I xx
Hi Iris. "Home kills" is what we call stock that are destined for being eaten, so it is not as bad as it sounds. Usually we had a butcher slaughter our animals and it was always done very quickly and humanely. And yes, my dad did know all the animals - as I child I thought it incredible, but he was around them all day and milking them twice a day so he knew them quite well.
DeleteOh I love this! Thanks for sharing your memories! I always waver between thinking the old days were better (and in many ways they were) or if our modern times are better. I just not know but I am always nostalgic for the old times!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think an Ideal World would have the best of the past mixed with the best of now!
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteThere were a lot of cows and milk. I am not sure where our milk comes from, maybe not a farm as great as yours was. It is interesting they all had names. Wishing you a happy day!
Herds of cows today can number up into the thousands, and some farms have several herds going through their sheds one after the other. It is all very high-tech, and cows now have number tags in their ears to identify them. Sadly, many cows have become nothing more than milk-factory machines.
DeleteMemory Lane is a very special place indeed, and it is very egalitarian. Rich or poor, fat, thin or in between, white, black or yellow, confined by Covid-19 or not, Memory Lane is always open for a stroll. And there is never anyone else there to distract you.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, it is lovely that there isn't anyone else to distract us - we can pick and chose the parts we want to remember then! That is why Memory Lane is so special :)
DeleteWelcome Nastya :)
ReplyDeleteI wish you all the best on your journey towards health and fitness :)
Margaret! These memories are so very precious! Not just because you know how I love old photos and stories, but I was very awed when I saw that truck with 'Anchor Full Cream Milk Powder"! I myself am an Anchor baby and I do know that it came from New Zealand, though I thought all this time it was just repackaged on our country as Anchor but now I know it really is the brand itself! Since I was taken away from Formula at 3, I drink Anchor Milk until I was 12 years old and I can say it made me stronger than the weakling I was before. My mom was even like an endorser for it because from a sickling skinny boy I grew up to a plump and strong boy because of it HAHA (though it did not stop there and I grew bigger and bigger HAHA)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for being a frequent at Timeless Thursdays Margaret, you have no idea how this means to me :) Sending you hugs from the Philippines! Typhoon is on it's way to our province, scary. Stay Safe!
Steve
It was actually you mentioning Anchor the other day that led me down this Memory Lane :)
DeleteThe typhoon sounds dangerous - I hope you and your family all stay safe. Take care, Mxx
It's so interesting to read how your parent's farm worked. My DH's first job was as w milkman in the days when milk and cream came in glass bottles and were delivered to the door. He used to sell smallish cartons of chocolate milk and would be sure he was at the high school at lunch hour. Good sales there.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! I grew up on a dairy farm also! :)
ReplyDeleteA wonderful heritage of hard work and dedication!
ReplyDelete