Day 7- Farm Visit

Today we went to a farm, which is owned by Oscar, a boarding house student.

 We took a 1 hour long bus trip to the farm. Unlike in Singapore, the speed limits are really high, so we had an awesome time in the bus with the wind “smashing” our faces. As soon as we reached the farm, we were welcomed by Oscar, his parents… and his dog, Ted. They were all very sociable and we quickly made a conversation about random stuff. Oscar’s father is a really funny guy and a wonderful guide. Oscar’s mum is a really hospitable lady.

 That is the introduction to our hosts. Therefore, we can start on what happened during the farm “excursion”. Firstly, we were shown to the chicken coop. There was a special surprise for us as 6 eggs had just hatched, so we could see the chicks. The hosts had set up a house just for the chicks and their mother hen. We also saw a rooster, which was making noises, thus we all made a mental note that the rooster had no sense of time.

 Then, we went to the pig sty. We were all surprised and overwhelmed by the fact that the 3-5 years old pigs weighed around 300+kg!!! They were so fat that their eyes were just slits across the skin! Despite their size, they were harmless to us and were just snorting lazily. Thus leading to us calling them, “The Gentle Giants.”. They were definitely much bigger than the boars we can see in Singapore.

 

After that, we went to see the calves, which are the offspring of the cows, most of them which were born recently in September. They were considered as really big for their age, thus showing the nutrition the calves get at the farm. Some of us including Mr Teo put out our hands to gesture to the cows to lick us and the cows did! Although the saliva was really slimey and sticky, we found a really exciting experience. Another thing that we observed was the tags placed and the paint put on the calves. Those stuff were put by the government to identify the calves.

We then took a bus ride through the biggest hop farm in the southern hemisphere. Hop is an ingredient for wine. They are a climber plant thus resulting in a lot of strings put up in the farm, which makes the view really blurry. XD. Oscar’s father told us about the native hens, which he called “The Stupidest Bird in the world” and “Kamikaze Hen”, because they loved to run in front of vehicles.

We then went to the farm building where the sheep were sheared. Once we were in the building, the “Mmmmm” sound of the shears and the bleating of the sheep filled our ears. We were all very excited and upbeat due to the fact that most of us had not seen sheep-shearing in real life before. However, when the shearer started shearing, some of us started to give negative comments of the shearer because he cut the sheep quite often, leaving nasty cuts on the sheep’s body and man-handling them.

 

 

Then came the most exciting part of the trip…… the cow-milking. We were told that even cows could get diseases no matter how strong and big they look. Bacteria could get into the cow’s udders and make the milk bad. Firstly, the cows were herded into the waiting area and thus into the cow-milking machine. I, myself was surprised as I thought that cow-milking was done by hand. However, the process was really fast, but dirty. The cows walked into revolving machine and the farmers put suctions cups onto the cows’ teats and the milk was sucked into a big tank located in another room.  However, some cows did extra work and did their big business while they were getting milked, I was almost hit myself!!! We were also allowed to try putting the suction cups onto the teats. I found this really cool as this was my first time doing this kind of stuff.

After that, we went back to our boarding house with fresh experiences and awesome memories and pictures as souveniers. We are all looking forward to the hike at Mount Wellington tomorrow, where we can enjoy the cool wind at the mountain.