Down on the farm

We spent the weekend in Barrington as guests of bushwalker friend Alison and her dairy farmer partner Chris. And fabulous weekend it was.

With the fine company also of  Andrew, Sherilyn, Jacqui, Liam, Charles, Alison the elder, Bing the cattle dog, and Ben the bull, we rounded up and milked the dairy cows, we moved the fences, and we learned how you move stricken cows around. We also partook of a fine barbecue banquet and walked it off next morning on the nearby Bucketts Ridge, location of one of legendary bushranger Captain Thunderbolt's hideaway caves.

Chris is the sort of dairy farmer who could one day retire and take up supermarathon running and find it an easy relaxation after tending to his hundred plus herd twice a day and doing all the repairs and maintenance  you need to do around such a place. I hope he understood that we all missed the morning milking session only so as not to get in his way! I forgot to mention that when we arrived he was filling in a spare hour and a half harvesting and baling his silage. I told him about the Austrian farms where they could make a living from a cow and two pigs. He was appropriately amused. Alison helps out these days, and does a few days a week nursing with the local area health authority.

Thanks Chris and Alison for a memorable time. Hope the sick cow's recovered now.

N