Daily Post: Smell you later

Humans have very strong scent memory. Tell us about a smell that transports you.

“Hello Dandelion, having fun on the daily outing?”

“I was until I discovered that Bluebell could not control her natural recycling process.”

“I heard that Dandelion. I am a clean cow and my pancakes are neat and tidy. No-one sent you an invitation to have a sniff.”

“I didn’t need an invitation, it was ready and waiting. Look the first flies are already examining the evidence. It won’t be long and they will move in and use it as a home for their offspring. Must be the smell that attracts them.”

“My recycling process does not smell, it is the country air. It belongs here. Imagine a field of cows smelling like…… well roses. It would not fit. Everyone likes to smell a cow field, it conjures up memories of the country, doesn’t it Mrs. Human?”

“I suppose it does Bluebell. Where I grew up we only had the smell of petrol from cars and dirt after the rain had fallen.”

“You didn't have any cows?”

“No, I lived in a town.”

“What about the smell of hay or grass?”

“We didn’t have that either, except in the parks. Everything was hidden under the smells of concrete.”

“Funny places those towns, but humans recycle as well.”

“That it all hidden in a special room called toilet, all in the name of hygene.”

“Poor humans they have no natural smells surrounding them. In that case Bluebell carry on, it seems your pancakes belong to the smells of the country. I wouldn't want to go to a special place every time, it is not normal.”

And so I left the cows with their discussion about being a cow. As I walked across the farmyard I saw this.

Yes, sometimes smells are there to be used. I take it that the farmer was collecting fertiliser for his field.

“Mrs. Human, if you really want to smell something invigorating, then come over here. We are the queens of smells in the farmyard, we are the goats.”

I did not have to search from where the voice came from, I just had to follows my nose. Yes, goats are the best with the  smell.

“Well I must say, you really take the trophy for a strong smell.”

“It is our trade mark Mrs. Human. What would a goat be without a smell. Our cheese smells of goat and our milk. We are famous for our goatliness.”

I did not stay long in the goat stable, I did not want to insult the goats by covering my nose with a handkerchief, so I moved on. I decided I had enough smells today. I live in the country, in farmland and so it belongs to my surroundings. There is nothing stronger than waking in spring or autumn and smell the aroma of natural fertiliser in the air. Ok, it is not all dung, we do have some nice smells as well.  Freshly mowed grass, the herbs in my garden and the first rose that flowers. They fill the air with their perfumes during Summer. Even the snow seems to have a smell in Winter, but perhaps it is because the nose experiences the coldness of the air.

As a housewife it is part of my duty to keep smells to a minimum by removing them by cleaning, but even then you leave behind the smell of freshly scrubbed surfaces. I wonder what my offspring would say about the smells of their childhood.

The Swiss Farm - Part V - Cows

Where do you start on a farm where the main source on income and most important animal is the cow. I decided to leave the cow part until last as there is so much to say. The photo above shows a cow (calf) that was born one day before I arrived. I felt quite sorry for the little man, all on his own in an "igloo" with no mummy nearbye, although he had everything he needed. His own room, food and care. The cows on this farm are nearly all black and white, the so-called Holstein cows. When they are born they are put into the igloos for the first week or so where they have more or less round the clock care.

You will probably notice that all the cows (actually all the animals) have earrings of a light fashionable plastic. As soon as they are born these markings are put into their ears. The process is absolutely painless and it is of course, for the organisation of the cow business. After all the companies and public dealing with cows, want to be able to know where the cows come from and cow infections and illnesses are kept under better control.

This little calf is a male, and might grow into a bull. If he does he will probably become a professional bull having lots of children, that he will never see, but will be well cared for. The cows on this farm are kept for their milk production. I asked the farmer's wife if she had a bull, but she said it is better not to have one as they can cause a lot of trouble. The vet comes now and again and after he has gone the cows are expecting - poor cows.

Whe the calves get bigger they are put into the cow shed where they have there own separate room. As they grow they are put together with the cows and their milky life begins. The cow stable is very modern and new. I was very impressed how clean it was. The floor is a sort of conveyer belt and when it is cleaned the belt is switched on and the dirt is collected is a sort of bin. It makes it easier to clean. I was very impressed. The old cow shed has been taken over by the expanding goat population.

The cows also have access to outside from their stable. Sometimes you like to have a neck scratch or side scratch as a cow, and as they only have legs they are help along with an electric brush fixed onto the outside of the stable. If you watch closely you can see it moving.

Of course it would be a boring life for a cow couped up indoors all the time. Now and again there might be some music from the farmer's radio, but after all a cow should be able to take a walk now and again. The farm is surrounded by beautiful green fields and an orchard with apple and cherry trees, so now and again the cows are kept outside. During the warm Summer months it can get a bit hot for a cow in the lowlands, although the flies do not really seem to bother them much. The farm has some land in the nearbye Jura mountain chain. Just far enough for an hour's drive by tractor and container pulled along. So for a few chosen cows they go up to the alp for the Summer months - sort of farm holiday. Here are some photos of the cows outside.

There are actually 3 farms in a row, each farm doing its own thing. Next door to this farm there are some sheep grazing in the orchard.

As I mentioned this farm depends mostly on milk production. When the cow stable was built with all mod cons, the milking room was also built with the most modern milking system. Gone are the days when the farmer sat on his 3-legged stool, smeared his hands with milking butter (or whatever it was called) and had to work out which part of the udder to pull first. Now it is all done by computer. I would have liked to have filmed the milking process in action, but it was three in the afternoon and was told that the cows are milked in the evening. However, I took a photo of the milking chamber. The cows are lead into the room and stand around on the balcony. The milking machine is then attached to the udder and the computer does the rest under the watchful eyes of the farmer. As I spent my childhood in East London my farm knowledge is fairly basic but those who may chance to read this blog will probably know better than I do how it all works. Here is a photo of the milking room/chamber/operating theatre?

As you can see it is very clean and I am sure the cows are quite satisfied with the room.

I have now come to the end of my farm series. I really enjoyed doing this blog. I would of course like to thank the farmer's family for all the assistance and help they gave me. I spent two wonderful afternoons on the farm which I will never forget.

Here is a glance of one of the farm buildings with part of the farmhouse on the righthand side and of course the all present dunghill.

And here is one of the cows to wish you goodbye - until the next time, I don't think this will be my last visit - after all we have harvest time in Autumn when the crops are gathered in.

The Swiss Farm - Part IV - Pigs

This is a farm with a lot of animals and the recycling process of the animals is quite regular. Every farm has its dunghill and the photo shows that this farm is no exception. All the animals make their own contribution. The pigs not being an exception. I made an extra journey to the farm last Saturday, just for the benefit of the pigs. They only arrived last week on Thursday and are still settling in. They have their own stable divided with a half wall into two parts. The back part being sheltered and the front with an opening. As I approached them they all ran away into the back part of the stable, but within a minute they were all back at the front pushing each other on one side with their noses as if to say "it's my turn to be photographed now".

Did the pigs smell - well not more than pigs usually do. If you look at the photos you can see that they are basically quite clean, although the photo was taken before meal time. They were very lively and active.

The pigs are only staying at the farm for a limited time - as soon as they are grown up and nice and fat - well we just have to face facts; most of us enjoy a good bacon and egg breakfast, or a Christmas ham. All I can say is that whilst they are on the farm they lead a good piggy life and are looked after with care and understanding.

The farm itself is quite large, and there are many buildings and barns for keeping the animals and the farm machinery. The following photo shows a small "street" on the farm with buildings on each side.

On the left of the photo are two silos where grain is stored and on the right a shed with wood. Toward the end of this small street there are piles of wood. This part of the farm is used by the farmer's brother who has a saw mill business.

The Swiss Farm - Part III - Goats

The Man in the goat stable

How do your find a goat stable - just sniff and follow your nose. I do not want to be disrespectful towards goats, but they do have a sort of goat aroma about theirselves. On my friend's farm they have quite a comfortable stable. I remember a couple of years ago when the farmer's oldest son decided to start with goats. He bought a couple and soon there were babies in a stable that they shared with the cows. At the beginning there were a few difficulties with the kid goats but after a while practice made perfect and the goat family started growing quite quickly. For this reason the goats eventually got their own home. Nice and spacious with the kids and grown-ups being kept apart. Here are a few photos.

When I entered the stable I felt like the stranger in the Wild West Saloon. About 10 goat heads moved sychron in my direction. After they realised I was just another 2-legged goat they carried on with their goat habits. As you can see one of the goats is a different colour to the rest. This seems to be a whim of nature and I can assure that this makes absolutely no difference. This goat is not left out of the goat club and is accepted completely after all they all smell the same.

You may be thinking what the idea is of having goats. If anyone has read the book "Heidi" by Johanna Spyri you may remember Peter the goat boy (Heidi's boyfriend). As Heidi and her grandfather lived on the Alp there were no cows for milking or making cheese, but there were goats. Not that my friend's family live on goat milk, but they bring the milk to the local cheese makers, where it is made into goat cheese which is a further source of income. So once again the goats are not served once a year as a meal at Easter, but live their lives happily as long as they are able to produce milk.

I also noticed in the stable that they have music to accompany them through the day from a radio. Not that goats are particularly musical animals, but at this time of the year the fox likes to pay a visit in the night. As it would be difficult for the farmer to keep watch through the night in the stable, music gives the fox a feeling that someone is there, although my friend told me that only last week a couple of kids were killed by the fox. I really enjoyed my visit to the goat stable and they all turned their heads together and watched me leave.

A View from the farm towards the Swiss Jura - Hasenmatt

The Swiss Farm - Part II - Chickens and Guinea Pigs

Carrying on with my tour of my friend's farm I visiting the chicken run, more like a house with all mod cons suited to the life of a laying hen. The chickens living on this farm are not there to supply a chicken roast or fried chicken, they have a purpose in their short lives. They lay eggs. The chickens actually have an indoor home and outdoors connected with a sort of chicken slope for coming and going. They seem to be very happy, talkative chickens as you can hear on the short film I made.

Not being an expert on the life of a chicken I was just contented to watch them enjoying theirselves in the sun. Here are a few further photos I took inside

Next door to the chickens the guinea pigs are kept, naturally in their own private sphere. My friend is a registered guinea pig breeder and it is one of her favourite hobbies. As well as the normal guinea pigs she has a few specialities with curly long coats. I would advise to visit her link shown on my blog roll if you are interested in knowing the types she has. Although the web site is in German many names are the same in German as well as in English.

At the moment the guinea pig population seems to be somewhat diminished. They are divided into types and sexes - I mean you cannot have a male guinea pig amongst the females as that would definitely be a source of envy amongst the ladies. She sells the guinea pigs, ladies for 60-80 Swiss Francs and men for 30-45 Swiss Francs according to the quality of their fur. It seems that in the guinea pig world woman are are a treasured possession.

And as a farewell for this article, the farm tractor.

The Swiss Farm - Part I - Cats, Dogs and Tortoises

I have a friend that I have known for many years. When we met she was working in our office and was engaged to the son of a farming family. Over the years she got married, took over the farm and now about 25 years later she has a family of 7 children (5 daughters and 2 sons), the youngest daughter now around 8 years old. They have quite a large farm in a nearbye village at the foot of the Jura mountain chain. I still have contact and now and again pay a visit to catch up on the latest developments of the farm. Here a few photos of the surroundings of the farm.

It is difficult to know where to begin, but they all live in a very large farmhouse and the cats are kept in the house. There are a few wilder cats living on the farm which are cared for and fed. They are important for keeping the mouse population under control. The cats in the farmhouse are Persians and the kittens are sold to interested customers.

The amount of mother cats changes, but at the moment it seems she has four female cats. There is one man in the house, Diego. He was the product of a mating session a year ago and was kept (for an obvious purpose). He will become a father for the first time in May. Up to now the ladies have been sent on various visits to other male cats. At the moment there are two litters in the house. One about six weeks old and the other 4 weeks old.

The large white cat, Melody, is one of the mothers of the kitttens. The larger black and white Persian cat is Diego, the father-to-be (or many kittens is hoped - what a life!). The kittens are still very young and still have their blue eyes. During my visit I was surprised how they managed to move around in the rooms without someone falling over them. I made a couple of small videos.

As a cat lover I was naturally fascinated by so many sweet little felines in one place.

A farm is not a farm without a dog, and in this case there are basically two dogs. Buddy is the sheepdog, although there are no sheep. Buddy usually spends his time outside on a chain keeping watch. although now and again he is let free. He is not the sort of dog to give a pat on the head with remarks like nice doggy etc. etc. He is a watchdog and very good at his job. At the moment he has a special work to do. There are foxes around at night and he patrols outside to make sure that nothing happens. Only last week a couple of kid goats were killed. Here is a photo I took of Buddy. I did not go as near as the photo seems, I managed to zoom in.

The other dog is Bessie. Bessie has now grown up and last year she discovered her maternal feelings. The children of the family took pity and took her for a walk to a nearbye farm where they knew there was an Appenzeller dog that was probably willing. The result was 9 sweet little puppies who found good homes. This year Bessie was again willing and paid a visit to a golden retriever. The result - 11 babies as follows.

The babies opened their eyes for the first time last week - here is a film of them when they were a day old with their mother.

That would be the animals kept in the farmhouse. I would just add another interesting animal that my friend likes to have on the farm. She has Star tortoises. As they are a tropical kind, they do not hibernate in Winter. In the warmer weather they are outside in a large compound and in Winter inside. She also has normal tortoises which are in a separate compound outside. During the Winter they sleep in an old refrigerator. They have also been known to lay eggs. A year or so ago I was on a visit and was able to see the little toroises that had just hatched. They lived in a glass aquarium with a special light to keep a good temperature.

I nearly forgot this little fella. He is a Shitzu dog belong to one of my friend's daughters. She lives in the farmhouse but has her own flat on the ground floor.

Just to finishe this tour, a photo of the farm water supply of olden days. Each farm seems to have its own water trough in Switzerland. Useful for a quick hand wash or cleaning the wellies.

My friend as her own web site. A few photos were borrowed, but the rest I took myself on my visit yesterday. You can find her link in my list.