LONG DAILY ROUTINE

Te Ao Hou, Summer 1954, Page 42

LONG DAILY ROUTINE Those are just a few of the more important problems of dairy farming in Connecticut. Because by far the greater part of the day is spent in the barn, work about the farm doesn't receive the attention that it should. On Mr Tomlinson's farm, where I have been working, work began at 4.45 in the morning. The cows had to be fed silage and grain before milking commenced at 5.15. With milking machines lacking the milk pipeline, three sets of teat-cups make a two-man job, so that milking takes longer and requires more labour than is necessary in New Zealand. We would wash up the utensils and be in for breakfast at 7 o'clock, and at 8 o'clock we were back on the job. The cows here were turned out for exercising. Manure was shovelled into the manure-spreader, and taken out and spread on the pasture. New bedding for the cows was forked out, while sawdust or wood shavings were scattered in with the bedding and in the drains to absorb moisture. Water cannot be used for cleaning out the barns, as cows would be lying in damp bedding. Drinking cups were cleaned out and hay put out for the cows to eat during the day. The cows were then brought back inside, and

the middle passage between the rows of stantions was scraped, swept and dressed with lime to absorb moisture and keep dirt and odour down. Finally the cows were groomed. By this time it was 10 o'clock in the morning. This barn was very efficiently managed, and these boys knew how to work, for in many cases I have seen farmers just finishing cleaning out their barn at 11.30. At nights, silage and grain was fed before milking, and hay fed after. It is not until one has seen for oneself the work involved in barn-feeding that one really appreciates one's good fortune in being able to pasture cattle for twelve months of the year. Farmers here do not observe a break for morning or afternoon tea, but the three meals that are served are hearty and substantial ones. It is merely a habit of consuming sufficient at one meal to carry you through to the next. At first I really did miss my cups of tea, but have now become accustomed to three meals a day with coffee to follow. Because three meals a day is usual practice, the habit of making cups of tea for casual visitors does not exist. Most housewives are staggered by the fact that women in New Zealand can find sufficient time to serve morning and afternoon tea—and supper—in addition to the three main meals.