Hay and raw milk

January 6. 2015

The New Year is off to a flying start. We woke up on Saturday to discover that our hay had been baled over night and the small bales needed to be brought in before the rain was due in the evening. Edd had to go to market first and I had to do the milking and watering so there was no chance to start before lunchtime. It was a difficult day too, 4o degrees and windy with an extreme fire risk alert! This had a fortunate effect for us because my eldest son evacuated from his town in the hills and brought his important gear to store in our cellar, thus rendering himself available for hay work!

Our dear friend, Graeme, also came over to help, so in the afternoon we borrowed the large trailer from our friends up the hill and all drove down the road to the property where the small bales of hay were. The first load was hard work, well, not for me. I had the easy job of driving. Edd and Graeme threw up and Al stacked. After we had unloaded and stacked in the shed we went back for the second load. We were all pretty exhausted but we were rescued when Bo and her daughter arrived with frozen fruit icy poles and an offer of help. With this extra boost the job got done and by evening we had the hay all stacked under cover so we treated everyone to a meal at Bo’s restaurant, after we all showered the seeds off.

It was a lovely end to the day. Hay making is the same but different year after year. Edd and I remember getting hay in with a horse and cart. I wonder if Bo’s daughter will one day tell her grandkids she remembers getting hay in with an old petrol ute. The aspects that stay the same are that the men can show off their strength and fitness, the young girls can bring refreshments and everyone can celebrate with good food when the hay is safely stored.

The other big news is that raw milk sales are now banned in Victoria. Up till last week milk for human consumption had to be pasteurized but raw milk could be sold as “bath Milk” for craft soap making and for pets. People who chose to drink raw milk, but could not keep an animal, could get supplies by ignoring the “not for human consumption” label. Recently a young child died from E-coli infection and it was discovered that the child had been fed raw milk sold as Bath milk in a store. The milk was from a farm that did test their milk and no contamination had been found. The case has not yet passed the coroner but already the milk has been blamed and the law changed.

This affects us because we sell pet milk. This year we have supplied several young animals including a deer and yes, some of our customers probably drink the milk raw. Luckily it does not form any big part of our income but another local farm that sold raw cows milk now have almost no family income and had no warning to prepare for the changes. We can still drink the milk from our own goats and I pasteurize the milk I make cheese from anyway, so we have no cut in our supply but others are horrified to find their choice of food restricted. After all, the number of people who die as a result of smoking is enormous and on a scale that eclipses all cases of food poisoning, but so far shops can sell cigarettes without restriction.