A week in country NSW - on the farm
Mar 23rd 2009, 11:47 am
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Joined: Oct 2005
Location: Hill overlooking the SE Melbourne suburbs
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A week in country NSW - on the farm
Some of you might remember that quite a few years ago when I first arrived in Australia (unmarried) I did a bit of jackerooing on farms in remote/country Australia. This built on previous skills living and working outdoors. I was as happy working with cattle on horseback as I was working with sheep on bikes, and also during shearing. I liked it.
When I married, I decided I couldn't ask my wife to go into all that so we decided to live semi-rural in Sydney then ended up in Melbourne. We were quite happy to compromise.
Last year, I met the parents of a friend who farm in country NSW 50k from a town, so well-positioned. According to their daughter, who paints the picture accurately, they are both old-school intellectuals who also love country life. Including this daughter, they have 3 children, 2 daughters - schoolteachers - and one son - their 'heir' as she puts it, who has a smaller farm down the road. Not only did he and I hit it off, my eldest daughter was besotted with the old farmer. They invited us up.
After a few days notice, I went up last week on my own to look after the joint whilst they were away overseas.
My duties were to look after the homestead and to feed their sheep and cattle. I was followed everywhere by their four dogs and helped by their son who came up every few days. A lot of farmers are either grumpy or friendly - the majority - this bloke was friendly but intense and does everything at a million miles an hour. We got on really well, and if we weren't working we watched a fair bit of Super 14 and had his kids jumping all over us. One evening we were feeding off the back of this truck whilst it lumbered across the paddock on it's own. We had to climb from the back and into the driver's cab and correct the steering once in a while - it was like a scene from an Indiana Jones film
I also helped out with shearing at another farmer's shed midweek. By the end of the week he was asking me for my opinion on anything before we did it, and advising me at the same time. He complained when I SMSed that I had sighted his first lamb (one of expected twins):
'What've you done with the other one!'
but the biggest compliment I got was at the end of the week when he was watching me fix a leak in a pipe and suddenly said:
'Mate, one day you'll make a great manager. You can come and look after my place when I go down to the coast!'
In short, I had a great time - recommend that all migrants try something out of their comfort zone.
I got back a few days ago to discover that 45mm of rain had fallen and that my back yard, and village were green again after 2 months of drought-stricken punishment.
Pictures to follow!
When I married, I decided I couldn't ask my wife to go into all that so we decided to live semi-rural in Sydney then ended up in Melbourne. We were quite happy to compromise.
Last year, I met the parents of a friend who farm in country NSW 50k from a town, so well-positioned. According to their daughter, who paints the picture accurately, they are both old-school intellectuals who also love country life. Including this daughter, they have 3 children, 2 daughters - schoolteachers - and one son - their 'heir' as she puts it, who has a smaller farm down the road. Not only did he and I hit it off, my eldest daughter was besotted with the old farmer. They invited us up.
After a few days notice, I went up last week on my own to look after the joint whilst they were away overseas.
My duties were to look after the homestead and to feed their sheep and cattle. I was followed everywhere by their four dogs and helped by their son who came up every few days. A lot of farmers are either grumpy or friendly - the majority - this bloke was friendly but intense and does everything at a million miles an hour. We got on really well, and if we weren't working we watched a fair bit of Super 14 and had his kids jumping all over us. One evening we were feeding off the back of this truck whilst it lumbered across the paddock on it's own. We had to climb from the back and into the driver's cab and correct the steering once in a while - it was like a scene from an Indiana Jones film
I also helped out with shearing at another farmer's shed midweek. By the end of the week he was asking me for my opinion on anything before we did it, and advising me at the same time. He complained when I SMSed that I had sighted his first lamb (one of expected twins):'What've you done with the other one!'
but the biggest compliment I got was at the end of the week when he was watching me fix a leak in a pipe and suddenly said:
'Mate, one day you'll make a great manager. You can come and look after my place when I go down to the coast!'
In short, I had a great time - recommend that all migrants try something out of their comfort zone.
I got back a few days ago to discover that 45mm of rain had fallen and that my back yard, and village were green again after 2 months of drought-stricken punishment.
Pictures to follow!
