Twenty Years

My beloved father passed away twenty years ago today.  It seems so long ago and yet my memories of it are like they happened yesterday.  

My father was a hard-working dairy farmer for most of his life, having bought the farm from his widowed mother after he returned from duty in World War II.

In this old 1972 photo, he is 'teddering' the hay.  Grass would be cut and then teddered to scatter it around the field so it would dry better.  This would be done at least twice to help it dry faster (the machine on the tractor would be configured differently to how it is here).

Here he is raking the hay up into rows ready to be baled.  The tractor was a Nuffield, a true work horse on the farm for many years.

The cowshed on the far right was a walk-through.  Whole milk was collected daily from the shed by a milk-tanker, supplying the Waharoa Butter Factory (now defunct).

The farm was around 120 acres and the herd normally was around 120 cows.  Bulls and heifers were also kept on the farm, along with a couple of steers and a few sheep that were destined for the freezer.

I feel I was fortunate to have grown up surrounded with farm life.

Margaret xx

Dipping Sheep

 

Until 1993, it was a legal requirement in this country for all farmers to dip their sheep, as a means of controlling/eradicating external parasites.

The sheep would be forced to jump into the swim-pit, where they were to be “dunked” at least twice so that they were completely wet through to the skin.  I can remember my uncle doing this, and how much the sheep hated it.

It may have worked to eradicate parasites, but, unfortunately, knowledge about toxic chemicals and their effect on humans, animals, and the environment, was woefully lacking.

Many of the early dip chemicals had arsenic as a main component, and there are thousands of contaminated dip sites still existing around New Zealand.  Unbelievably, some of them are now being declared Heritage Sites, as evidence of early farming practices.

My grandfather died at the age of 36 years, and I now wonder if these chemicals played any part in his untimely death.  This is a photo of him in the early 1920s, dipping his sheep.

Generally, farm chemicals are more regulated now and there is much more awareness around safety issues.

Dipping sheep has become a thing of the past for most farmers, although there are some who prefer it as a superior method of controlling fly-strike.

Personally, I do not like the use of chemicals but I would much prefer to see them used responsibly, and thus avert much pain and suffering that an animal might otherwise endure, than to not use them at all.

It is a bit of a balancing act, really.

Margaret 😊

 

The Home Butcher

 

I was sorting through some old photos today and found this one from just over fifty years ago.  

I grew up on a dairy farm and about once a year my father would get an animal butchered for our beef (he slaughtered the sheep himself).

The butcher would arrive and humanely shoot the steer before preparing it and hanging it up as shown in this picture.

The carcass would remain like this overnight, then early next morning it would be all hands on deck. 

My father helped the butcher cut the beast up and my mother would divide the cuts into portions suitable for freezing.  Us children would get given the job of helping to package the meat into plastic bags and sealing and labelling them ready for the freezer.

Nothing was wasted.  Fat was rendered down for use as dripping, and scrappy bits of meat were put through the mincer.

With the end of the job in sight, we would be released from our chores and usually given a few scraps of meat to play with. 

I remember my brother and I lighting small fires and trying to cook them.  I don’t remember eating any of the burnt offerings we ended up with!

Things have changed a lot over the last fifty years 😊

Margaret.

 

The Cost of Being Green

 

Here we are, on the last day of 2022, and fresh eggs have become a commodity that is increasingly difficult to find.  Supermarket shelves that were once overflowing with chicken eggs are now, more often than not, standing empty with not an egg in sight.

There are different stories floating around about why this is happening, but I read an article this morning that appeared to explain why.

From the start of 2023, retailers can no longer sell eggs that have been produced by battery-caged hens.  In 2012, legislation was passed to ban them and producers were given ten years to stop used battery cages. 

Today only 10% of our eggs are produced this way (compared with 86% in 2012), with most producers switching their practices to colony-cages, which allow the hen more room for roosting, scratching, nesting etc.  A few farmers took a more expensive route and switched to free-range or barn-produced eggs (just getting Resource Consent permission to do this can cost a lot).

There are two things that appear to have caused the current shortage.  One is the increasing cost of stock food (a lot of which used to be imported from Ukraine), and the other is a decision made by our two major supermarket chains.

In 2017 the Labour Party and Green Party both announced they were going to ban colony-cage eggs.  That ban was never put into place, but both the Foodstuffs and Countdown chains announced they would stop selling colony eggs by 2027 and 2025 respectively.

Egg producers have my sympathy – they must feel like the mat has been pulled out from under their feet.

In the last 18 months our national chicken numbers have decreased by 800,000 – that is a drop of 20% - as producers reduce the number of chickens they can farm or completely pull out of the industry.

I can see we will have to learn to live without too many eggs in our lives.  Importation is not an option as the risk is too great of introducing poultry diseases that are currently not found here.

Who would have thought that such a staple food item was going to become a luxury?

Margaret 😊

 

The photos are all of chickens (hens, chooks, whatever you want to call them) that have passed through my life at various times.

 

A Harvest of Haylage

 

My daughter has now gone home again and I am already missing her.  We farewelled her with this gorgeous sunset.

Behind our house is a large open area that has been set aside for a future road, and for the last couple of years the grass has been left to grow unchecked throughout summer.

Yesterday, however, a contractor appeared in the morning and mowed all the grass.  I thought perhaps they were going to make hay, but by lunchtime the tractor was back and rowing it up ready for baling.

Late afternoon it got baled, so it was obviously haylage they were making and not hay.

Haylage is made of wilted grass that is wrapped in several layers of plastic and left to ferment.  It is a sort of cross between hay (dried stalks of grass) and silage (chopped green grass left to ferment/pickle).

I adore the smell of new-mown grass drying in the sun, and have been enjoying the whiffs coming in the windows from the straw that was missed by the baler.

The scent is one of the things I love about summer 😊

Margaret.

 

Milky Memories

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

Growing Grumbles

I have been speaking with a guy who couldn't see any point in lock-down.  Nobody in their area had been sick and he couldn't see any relevance in it.  Yesterday and today we have had zero confirmed new cases and no further deaths, which has only reinforced his viewpoint.

There seems to be a growing groundswell of grumbles that our restrictions are too severe.  More and more people are blatantly ignoring “the rules” and heading out to do their own thing.

It is left to the elderly and the vulnerable to feel fear about the virus, as the majority of the population begin to feel unaffected.

Part of the problem, I feel, is that our government’s strategy was too successful.  They were too efficient in preventing Covid-19 taking a hold here and the result is that many now feel blasé about it all.  As one person stated, it hasn’t really “arrived” here yet so the general public has no concept of the horrors of rampant community transmission and multiple deaths.

Our government is between a rock and a hard place.  Do they continue to restrict citizens for health reasons, or do they relax the rules so as to promote economic recovery and prevent thousands from facing severe hardship and mental distress?  It is a fine line that they are walking – a dangerous tightrope, in fact, with this being election year.  I don’t envy them.

Whatever people’s personal opinions are, it is surely our duty as citizens to follow the regulations the government decrees.

Stay safe and be kind to each other,

Margaret J

Life Is Surreal

Everything has changed yet everything is the same.  It is a really weird feeling.

Shops (not just supermarkets) are being swamped as people scramble to prepare themselves before going into lock-down for at least the next four weeks.  A lot of older folk are already isolating, so a lot of the shoppers now are ones who generally expected their work and lives to go on pretty much as it has always done.

Very few are prepared to be spending time at home, especially when they now have children home from school as well.  There are tips all over the place on how to work from home with children present, how to school your children from home, and what sort of activities you can do to stop you getting cabin fever.  Social media pages are crammed with memes (many humourous), and messages to each other.

The farmer still needs to take care of his stock, whatever is happening around him

On the other side of all this preparation is life as it normally is.  Things go on as usual.  We eat, we do housework, we cook meals and do laundry.  The clock chimes, the cats need feeding, the lawns get mowed, the neighbour is using his chainsaw to cut down a tree. 

This morning I planted bulbs in the garden.  Bulbs for some spring colour.  I planted hyacinths, ranunculus, anemones, and blue Dutch iris.  I never got to buy any daffodils or jonquils, which is a shame but too late now.

The bulbs I have now planted

However I am glad I have planted a vegetable garden, small though it is.  And I also bought vegetable seeds online a few weeks ago, of which I am now also very glad.  Our food stores are classed as essential businesses so will remain open, but who knows what the future will bring?

No separation rules in place here!  (Mittens on top, Millie below)

One thing is for sure, our world will never be quite the same again.  We must learn to live new lives, as we do when we have had a serious life-threatening disease, or have lost someone we truly love.  It is not easy, and it takes time, but it is possible.  We can all do this together.  One day we will look back on these days and say “I remember ….”

Unfortunately, this time of global crisis has also brought out some very spiteful comments being made on different blogs.  I am tired to deleting them into my spam folder, so have now (hopefully only temporarily) enabled comment moderation.  I hope this does not put off anyone from making a comment, as I appreciate the genuine comments that you make.

Sending virtual hugz to everyone J

Margaret.

Climbing Hills

Over the years we lived in many different houses, often in rural areas.  Nearly always we had wonderful neighbours who would allow us to wander over their farms as long as we never disturbed stock and always left gates how we found them.

One such place we lived in, during 2006, had a good-sized hill behind the house, and I used to walk up here almost every day.

The property was in a long deep valley not too far from Te Awamutu.  This was the view from half-way up the hill.

The woolshed can be seen on the left, the old shearer’s quarters on the right, and our home was the one nestled in among the trees.

It was a deceptively steep climb up this hill.  I used to sit in the grass at the top and look back down over the valley while I caught my breath again.

If I felt energetic the tractor track continued up into the hills beyond and made for a longer walk.

When you got high enough the road noise disappeared and it became very quiet with only the wind, farm stock and a few birds making the odd noise.  I loved the silence.

I seldom walked past the duck pond, but would turn around here and make my way back down again.

These photos were all taken on various walks during 2006, and I always felt the house was welcoming me when I returned from a walk.  Maybe it was the cup of tea I was looking forward to!

What a joy it is to be able to look back upon pleasant memories J

Margaret.

Seasonal Decor

 This ewe was a busy mum with her triplet lambs (2006)

Occasionally I meet a person who believes in changing their home’s décor with the seasons and have always thought it sounded like a great idea, doing things like swapping heavy winter curtains for lighter summer ones, putting out throws on the sofas during winter, or creating a fireplace arrangement for summer.  It sounds like a nice way to mark the change of seasons.

My efforts are much less exciting and far more utilitarian.  With our temperatures warming up, I have now removed the electric blanket off the bed and moved my slippers to the back of the wardrobe.  Everything in my bedroom has been cleaned to make it sparkle, not that it was that dirty as we only moved in a couple of months ago.  I still have two sheepskin rugs on the floor as I like the look it gives the room, but once the days get hot they too will disappear into the blanket box, as I know it will make me hot just looking at them. 

Halloween pumpkins displayed on the porch (2010)

I once met a woman who loved to decorate her house according to the current season or holiday period.  She kept barrels of decorations stored away in her basement, all neat and tidy and labelled so they would be easily accessible when needed.  I wasn’t sure if I thought her efforts were Ultimate Clutter or Creative Fun, but the main thing was she loved what she was doing.

Always be yourself,

Margaret

A Day Out

I had a wonderful day out today with a dear friend in Morrinsville.  Morrinsville is a town that is thirty minutes’ drive from Hamilton, and is set in the middle of dairy farming countryside.  Cows are so important to this town that they have created full-size cows out of fibreglass (I think!) and painted them to match the business they have been placed outside of.

So far there are over fifty such cows, and I saw a new one today outside the Police Station.  It is a Police Cow!

The Police Cow reporting for duty outside the Morrinsville Police Station

Friend and I caught up on all our news and I was able to have a look around her new home.  It was so light and airy and full of sunshine, and it made one feel happy to be there.  I was given an enthusiastic welcome by Lucy, the pet Maltese Shih Tzu.  She is like one big cuddly teddy bear and has a beautiful personality.

Lucy, the 2-year old Maltese Shih Tzu

After a bite to eat for lunch, friend and I headed down-town and visited a couple of thrift shops.  We had fun!  I bought two tops, a summer cardigan, a lightshade for my bedroom, and a couple of little trinkets.  I am slowly learning that just because I like something, it does not mean I have to buy it!

When I left this morning it was windy and raining.  Coming home this afternoon it was still windy, but I was bathed in brilliant sunshine.  I stopped and photographed these dairy cows ruminating beside a large weeping willow tree.

Dairy Cows enjoying the sunshine

Back in Hamilton just in time to get caught up in the start of rush-hour traffic.  Son is getting dinner tonight so I can relax.  He is very good to me.

Home is a wonderful place to live.

Margaret