tHe ReAsON wHY fArMeRS arE NOt RiCh...

This may come as a shock to some town people who so strongly believe that farmers must be rich............WRONG! ! !

I had a lady say exactly this to me when she asked why my husband and I had come back to NZ...

"To farm" I replied.

"You must be rich then" she said.

I laughed out loud and more importantly in her face.

Here is a webcam reenactment...

It is true...you need some money to begin with in order 'to farm', but then after that you just keep chasing your tail so to speak. You buy to sell, so you can buy more to sell, to buy more... you get the picture.

So for us, this is what $245 looks like these days - and sometimes it dies for no reason.

And surprise, surprise, there are hidden costs that nobody tells you about too.

                              A tonne of milk powder and half a tonne of grain = thousands of dollars...

Milk bar feeders = hundreds of dollars...

$80+ worth of electrolyte powder...

Antibiotic powder...

Anti-shitting liquid...

The most expensive disinfectant in the World!!...(not much change from $250)

Iodine spray for umbilical cords...

Paint markers for singling out the slow/fast feeders...

Sawdust by the tonnage, water troughs, hay and grain feeders...

Trailer to go to the auctions with...

Times $245 by 50...you do the math...

Man hours...

Do you still think we're cute??...and that farmers could possibly be rich after all that?!!!...

psst... An optimist is a person who doesn't understand the enormity of the problem.



LiKe A buLL At a GaTe

We now have 50 calves to care for, feed and grow. What was cute on day one is now blindingly hard yakka and best described as a shit-fest.
It is important to remember that only 4 months ago we lived on the sunny Gold Coast (Australia) and we were bored with the beautiful beaches and the sundowner beers overlooking Surfers from a comfortable distance. Now we are farmers. We are often covered in shit, mud and milk powder.
In the 4 days we have had the calves I have learn't that...
- 4am in the morning is not a fun time to get up and work
- a scouring calf is one who is shitting through the eye of a needle that is more than 1 metre away
- nothing smells worse than a scouring calf doo doo
- calves have teeth; sharp nippy teeth
- calves often enjoy nibbling on bottoms, legs, arms and clothing
- calves can leap and kick with scary accuracy
- greedy calves can happily feed forever if you do not watch what teet they are on
- bunting; a calves given right. Just watch your nads

We have approx 6 weeks of this before they get to go out into a paddock for good.
So remind me again why we left the Gold Coast?