Pics of the Week: Farmer Jones

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Farmer Jones

I hope that some of my overseas readers will APPRECIATE this post about Oak's milking job.

When I mention Oak's job to people around here, I get sympathetic - but respectful - groans and sorry looks. I'm counting on some of you overseas folks to see the GLAMOR and HUMAN INTEREST in Oak's job that I see.

How many people get to spend five months living in a remote area of New Zealand, working 11-hour days as a farmhand?

850 cows need to be milked twice a day.

in the milking shed

how Oak gets around the farm and rounds up the cows

the front porch of the house where Oak lives with Tony ("Woozle")

Mercy and Noah got to work alongside Oak for a few hours.

I woke up to see Oak and Noah off at 3:45AM, but then I gratefully went back to bed.

'Cups on.'
Oak and Noah took about an hour to round the cows up from their paddock and herd them to the milking shed.

Mercy, too

another view of the house where Oak lives

I took this photo while standing near Oak's house, but looking away from the house and out toward the dairy shed.

Oak's bosses are Poppy's aunt and uncle, who have made Oak welcome in many ways. According to Oak, all of the employees appreciate working for such good people.

There's not much that the bosses can do about the fact that there is VERY LITTLE cell phone coverage . . . but they HAVE stocked two freezers with beef.

In addition, Oak drinks as much fresh milk as he wants - warm from the cow or cool from the vat.

Cooled milk comes out of a firehose-sized spigot on the side of this vat.

Oak has discovered that 1) butter is expensive, and 2) he can MAKE butter by taking some fresh milk in some small jars when he goes on his daily run.

Oak appreciates sunrises.

"majesticow" - Oak

nothing like a gumboot tan and an intense look

Besides the manual labor, Oak writes poetry, reads cool books, stir-fries vegetables, attends the 4-person church in Gore, and goes on epic adventures on his days off.