A weekend back on the farm

The cow after the deed. Yep, that's all from
one of them.

It was only my last post that I mentioned that people here in Quirinopolis like wanton animal slaughter, and alas I must fulfil that stereotype again. Carlinho wanted to kill a cow, so therefore Cristina, Daniel and I headed to the farm with Ed Carlos and (the heavily pregnant) Shinayda for the weekend.

After arriving and helping them milk the cows (with surprisingly little excrement sprayed by them this time - it appears as though they've got used to me) I listened to Ed Carlos talking to his mum about the pros and cons of killing the new litter of 5 kittens that had been born. Apparently she had been waiting for his arrival so that he could do it (I'm not sure if it's seen as some sort of honour or not). He wasn't too fond of the idea however and hasn't as yet taken on the task.

So, whilst Daniel was off riding horses and calves

Andre the loverat and the destruction of a toilet

The farm...

I've mentioned Andre and Diana (the latter pronounced Dee-an-a) in passing before, but now I've decided that they both (Andre in particular) deserve their own little historic background.

After Mauricio left (not entirely on friendly terms) about four months ago there was a bit of a handover period while Carlinho and Euda looked for new people to help on the farm (somehow I didn't seem to be top on their list. Mind you, Cristina was happy about that). After a week or two of waiting for applications, one of Carlinho's brothers (Paulo) found a possible candidate. A guy had walked into his mechanic shop and asked for a job for him and his girlfriend. There were none going, but Paulo referred him to Carlinho. Now, these two apparantly had no experience of working on a farm, came from Mato Grosso (a more northerly state), and were desperate for a job as they were to be turfed out of their home by the end of the week. I don't think either party was too enthralled with the idea of them working on the farm, but

A weekend on my horse...

In which I learn that the best way to get a male horse is to whore out a mare, it bloody hurts when a horse stands on your foot, and sometimes you shouldn't willingly jump off a horse...

My horse (Peter Jr.) has, for all the time I've been here, been living the life of Riley in the field behind the house with two mares (one of which is his mum, but he still tries). As we were going to leave the farm soon and I still hadn't ridden him I asked Carlinho whether it would be possible to take him for a ride. Carlinho looked a bit reluctant, but eventually agreed.

So, after we'd finished milking the cows on a Saturday morning Carlinho, Euda (mother in law), and I headed up to the field to go and get him. I was on another stallion and was tasked with herding all three of the horses towards the bottom of the field and the gate. Once there Carlinho and Euda would spring the trap on Peter Jr.

With the plan set Carlinho urged me to go and find them.

Average farmer or Brazilian Ray Mears?

It takes a certain type of person to live on a farm in Brazil.

It is not just because of the 3:30am starts, and the long working days that I say this, but also because you can spend weeks, and sometimes months with only yourself and one other person as company. It is a lonely life out there in the sweaty heat-blasted fields where you put your body through torture each day (there are no weekends on a farm).

Take Carlinho for example, he grew up on a farm with his parents and his six brothers who all started milking cows by the age of seven.