Most of our mustering and cattle shifts are done with horses. It suits our country, livestock handling methodology and lifestyle.

The kids are all competent on horseback and have lovely bonds with their steeds.

They’ve spent a lot of hours in the saddle these holidays and are quick to unsaddle and let their ponies  go at the end of the day.

The lengthening of shadows signals time to complete chores, one of which is to yard the house cow and her entourage.

It is a nice walk to bring them in but of course kids aren’t really into ‘walking’.

Our little dairy herd consists of 2 milkers, a very expectant heifer, a little bunch of orphaned calves (poddies) and a couple of show steers.

The calves are penned up and fed some crumble while the cows receive a little extra tucker to keep milk production high and as reward for looking after this tribe and keeping our household in all things dairy.

Animals are creatures of habit, and so this evening ritual is quite a simple thing. Open the gate, give a call and they are on their way.

Like all kids, a chore is a chore and Andrew is keen to add a little novelty and adventure to his.

Imagination runs wild as he envisions the cheering crowds.

Pedalling faster and faster toward the finish line.

The “tour de milker muster” champion for 2014 could be ….

Oh, wait, he’s no longer racing but weight lifting buckets of feed.

After the race, and a gentle reminder, we’re back on task of putting milkers to bed.

Tomorrow it’s Lachlan’s turn.

There are 4 comments on this article:

• On 26/01/2014 sharon said:

  there is something wrong in our house, I seem to be the one feeding the poddies 😉 But it is a job I quite enjoy, the kids pen them up for me. (and then they feed/shut in the chooks and dogs). Now we have brought the old horses in for some TLC, we have added an two mouths to be fed of an evening (and kept out of the feed shed….)

• On 26/01/2014 creations.1 said:

  LOL!! Your post brought back memories of our children doing their chores – I think the ‘chore’ part sort of disappeared when the imagination kicked in. Another lovely post to read!

• On 26/01/2014 Ainsley said:

  Yes! It only seems a chore when you see it that way …. it’s all in the mind isn’t it!?

• On 27/01/2014 Anne Wheaton said:

  As children our summer job was to bring back the dairy herd each evening so they were in the home paddock ready for the cowman for the 5am milking the next day. We managed to get hold of an old car so that “getting in the cows” turned into driving the longest possible way round the farm to get to the cows all for the novelty of getting behind the wheel. Happy days.