Running late ALL the time :)

After meeting Shane Whittaker, we embarked on another journey into the mountains with another 20 hairpin bends. We were all a little tired, and the 1.5 hr trip up the mountain was a challenge to stay awake. We arrived at 8.45pm, and the farmers we were meeting had been waiting since 7pm, oops! They still greeted us very warmly and welcomed us to their club. It was a very old building, and pretty rough, however the farmers were obviousy pretty wealthy! They all grew coffee, oranges and pepper. It was a shame we were there inn the dark and couldn’t tour their farms. They all spoke good English,and it was easy to chat. They talked of rising labour costs, and no one willng  to work anymore as govt’s were giving out more and more handouts (tv’s). They also believed there was no poverty which was interesting. Their wives however were the biggest hit, as we chatted to them about Sari’s, arranged marriages,and life as a female in India.

The trip home was far more entertaining, as the Irishman, fuelled by afew beers, started a sing a long, and we sang all the way down the hill. Exhausted we got home at 12.30am, and booked into our hotel.

This morning we headed out at 8.30am for 2 farm visits! They were a REAL highlight! The first was a dairy farmer who delivered milk to Shanes milk factory. It was a husband wife team and obviously pretty progressive. They milked 10 cows, and had a very neat and tidy farm. They grew  perennial grass on their 2 acres for their cows, which they cut and fed to their cows. They had an interesting system of gas production, where they put the cow manure in a pit and collected the methane for gas in the kitchen. We looked at a very deep, wide well, that they pumped water into from their electric bore, then used for irrigation and the cows. All the urine from cows was also reused onto crops. Today is a religious holiday in india, so we were invited into their home to share some of their food. We all sat on the floor and shared some creamed rice, roasted nuts, and tea. They were really beautiful people.

Our 2^nd farm visit was to a typical mixed farmer. Father/son team had goats, 1 dairy cow, silk worms, coconuts, corn, and silage. It was also a neat operation, on  acres!

It was good to see some clean, neat operations, amongst the chaos of this country. Driving along, one would think that everything  is a total mess, and wonder howanything got produced and distributed. But behind the scenes there is some organisation behind the caos.

Shane whittaker works for Hatsun Dairy. They source milk from 120,000 farmers in the area. From farmers with 2 cows to farmers with 200. They pick up all the milk in 20l steel containers in little trucks. I cant quite comprehend how all the logistics work. We visited one of their plants were milk, butter, gee, powdered milk and icecream is made. The export market has only just recently been opened up, so their powered market is growing rapidly. However most of the milk is distributed and consumed locally. WE looked through the factory, then jumped in the bus to Bangalore.

Ramesh our local Indian host had to say goodbye to us here and it was sad to say goodbye. He was the best host and really wanted to show us real india, which he did well and truly. He departed heading for the religious day festivities. He explained the birthday that the country was celebrating and the rituals that would take place.

So i am literally bouncing around on the bus to Bangalore. The roads are SO rough!!!! I type with one jolted finger! The bus is continuosly beeping its horn as it overtakes vehicles in crazy places. However saying that, our bus driver is fantastic, and been very understanding of all our stops, and running late!