Moving The Calf

When you don't have a livestock truck, and most farmers here don't, you make do with what you have. In this case it's a pickup truck and A LOT if rope.  

The Camping Life

Every summer a group of Bedouin move around our area with some fairly large herds of cows that they graze in the fields that have been harvested. They usually find a field where the owner is willing to let them put their tents for a month or so before moving on. Out here in the countryside where we still have unblocked breezes for air conditioning, these tents make a lot of sense.

Lending a Hand

Egypt's small farmers are being crushed by a lack of support. There are government subsidies on human medications to keep the prices affordable, but no subsidies are provided for veterinary medications that the farmers need for their livestock. These prices are rising steadily along with the prices of clothing, schools, books, and food that they need to buy with what little money they make from their crops, whose prices are rising much, much more slowly. Many farmers now are lucky to be able to pay for medications for their animals, but can't afford to pay any more to cover the cost of gas for the doctor's car or money for the doctor's time. Most vets can't afford to spend time without earning a salary so they are not going out to treat animals.

A few months ago the Egyptian Society of Animal Friends and Al Sorat Farm joined forces to provide free veterinary care to farmers between Shabramant and Abu Sir. Here the vets from ESAF and the grooms from Al Sorat are working on a donkey with an infection in his shoulder. They make weekly visits to different parts of of the farmland as it isn't easy for farmers to find time to take a sick or injured animal to either the clinic or the farm to have it checked. Much of the work consists of discussion with the owners about the proper care of their animals to help them keep them healthy.

Waiting Their Turns

We hosted a vet clinic at the farm today. Doctors from the Egyptian Society of Animal Friends came and treated our neighbours donkeys, cows, and water buffalo for free. Most of the work was pretty easy going, worming, hoof trimming and so on, along with a lot of talking to help the farmers and their children learn to care for their animals better. We'll do it again next week and expect an even better turnout.

An Egyptian Cattle Drive

 While driving into Maadi yesterday I encountered an Egyptian cattle drive of sorts. The farmers from the eastern province bring their cows and some of their sheep and goats into the farming area here around Sakkara and Dahshur every July/August. The animals graze from fields that are being harvested and avoid some of the spraying of the cotton plants in their home province. In the old days, they used to walk them here but now they use trucks.

Urban Cow

Not exactly the sort of thing you expect to see inside an iron railing in Zamalek. The cow isn't real and neither is the grass...or there would be one very overworked gardener at the Dutch embassy.

Still The Old Days

I was out riding with some really delightful Brit visitors and we saw a man plowing his tiny field with a pair of cows hitched to a wooden plow. Taking photos from an antsy horse isn't so easy so this isn't brilliantly focused but when I downloaded from my phone and tinted it sepia, this looked like a postcard from the 1890's.

Bessy's Other Job

This farmer has two cows yoked to a wooden plow and seems to be on his way to work in his fields. I found him walking down a road. The plow is actually turned backwards with the wooden blade between the two cows.

Fast Milk

This is a milk man. I have no idea where he is taking his milk but from the jars it would appear that he is bringing it fresh from the farms.

Coming Home From The Horse Fair

On our way home from a horse fair near Imbaba we passed an old man and probably his grandson with a cart pulled by a cow. Obviously their shopping had not gone so well.