More Livestock and Machinery (going back to my roots)

Karl and I spent the weekend at Opa Paul's. Well I had to work the Sunday shift, but we did a test-run of a sleepover. Saturday I took Karl to Schmitten, which is a hamlet of two farms, one on a hill, one on the shore of a large fish-pond. I spent most of my childhood's weekends and summer vacations on the farm on the hill, where we used to rent an apartment. The farmers were of course quite curious to meet the next generation Kreye. So after Karl sat through an extensive catching-up-chat in the farm kitchen, he was treated to a tractor lesson by a real pro. Alfons already taught me the art of tractor driving and haying with a tedder, back when he was the "Jungbauer", which is something like the crown-prince on a farm, waiting for his turn to run the property, and I was about seven. He also taught me how to shoot birds with a small-caliber rifle. Two skills I haven't used since, but as my friends in the peak-oil-movement tell me, they could come in handy soon. No more solo-driving for kids on the new types of tractors though. That yellow thing has the cockpit of a jet and the appearance of a monster-truck, so I guess in the case of a loss of control (as happened to me once) you wouldn't just flatten a fence, but the whole farm.

Karl also got to inspect the resident livestock, namely cows, pigs and calves. He had quite a respect for the little cows, warming up slowly. We also got to observe the milking procedures, skillfully executed by Christian, Alfons' son who is in charge of the property now, and his wive Franziska, who got a kick out of curious city-boy Karl checking out the massive machinery attached to the humongous udders (too dark to photograph unfortunately).



The visit was toped with a real tractor ride with Alfons. Truth to be told the ride only lasted a few yards, since Karl wasn't too fond of loud engine noises and severely vibrating steel frames. He preferred to watch the feed distribution by tractor from the safety of my arm. Well, we got an open invitation to come back, so we can improve on cow-handling, tractor-riding and also check out the fishery and poultry action. I was also assured that Karl's fixation on machinery and consequently muted interest in livestock is normal in boys. According to Alfons' wife Maria this preference tends to last a lifetime.