Farm Life - Austrian travels

by Roger Hill

Amazingly whilst travelling around Austria recently, we saw many trees but very little livestock. Most farmers are part time lumberjacks with most of their animals moved to the high mountains for summer grazing. Milking cows are kept indoors and zero grazed which means grass is cut fresh and delivered to their barns.

What magnificent structures they are too. With the abundance of timber they are built as sturdy yet as aesthetically pleasing as private homes. Also log piles were a sight to behold nestling neatly beneath the overhangs of roofs. We were told that stacking was the domain of the wives. Another use for the wood was for heating homes with many villages powered by underground pipes direct from a huge boiler.

Speaking to one of the waiters in our hotel, he told us he was sixteen years of age and saving his wages to buy a top of the range chainsaw so he could work in Austria’s number one industry. We asked him why we saw very little wildlife around. He replied, with a wry smile, asking “had we not seen the storks around the village?”

They were actually large posters outside homes signalling the arrival of a newborn baby! ‘Til next time, Roger #TuppertheTractor (tupperthetractor.com)