Our First Few Days in New Zealand

I went to class for a couple of days to learn about the basics of New Zealand agriculture from my mom and Aunt Lesa and then we went on our first farm visit.

On Thursday, we walked to the Lincoln University's Demonstration Dairy Farm.  The farm is used to teach people about how to produce as much milk as possible on just grass while minimizing the impacts on the environment. Peter Hancox, the farm manager, talked to us about pasture based dairy farming and some history and information on the farm.  The farm is 160 hectares with 560 milking cows.  They milk on a 50 cow rotating carousel platform and the farm is managed by just 3.8 labor units.

We learned that the farm is the most productive all grass farm in the South Island, and we learned that the cows on the farm only eat grass, unlike in America, where they eat almost all grain.  Then, we got to look at the milking shed and the Kiwi Cows.  We even got to go into a soil pit to look at the soil that the farms' pastures are on. We learned that the soil is much deeper than most areas in New Zealand, and some of the effects of that.  They use something called a lysimeter to measure the amount of nitrates from cow urine that leach through into the ground and can get into the water supply. They also use moisture meter to tell how much moisture is in the soil so they know which areas of the farm are in need of irrigation.

Peter Hancox talks to the students about the farm. The farm has had 40,000 visitors since it opened 17 years ago.

Cows waiting to be milked. Most are kiwi cows which are crosses between Holstein Fresians and Jerseys.

Peter talks to the students in the soil pit. You could see all the layers of the soil. My mom called it the soil amphitheatre.

Seeing the cows being milked on the rotary platform

Today, Saturday, the 6th, we went to visit Peter and Marie Kidd and see a herding dog demonstration.  There are two main types of herding dogs, the huntaway, which is unique to New Zealand, and the heading or eye dog.  The huntaway has a deep bark to chase or hunt away sheep into the hills or away from the farmer.  They are big, black and tan dogs with a very loud bark.  Heading or eye dogs, on the other hand, are small, collie like dogs that never bark and bring the sheep back to the shepherd.  They are usually black and white and are called eye dogs because they use the force of their gaze to silently move the sheep down the hill.  There are also other, less common types of dogs like handy dogs, which do both heading and huntaway work, and backing or yard dogs, which I think are the coolest type of sheepdog.  Backing or yard dogs get onto the sheep and run up their backs when they are tightly packed loading in a truck or into the woolshed and bark in the ear of the lead sheep to get them to move forward.  They repeat this action with every sheep until all of the sheep are where they need to be. 

Walking out to a sheltered area of the farm for our demonstration because it was a very windy day

Peter sending Punch out. Punch is a Huntaway.

Punch sending the sheep up the hill.

Peter uses a whistle to communicate commands to Punch.

Punch at work.

Pip is a heading or eye dog. She brings the sheep back to the shepherd.

Pip using her eye to move the sheep.

Pip using her eye to move the sheep.

Chief, the two National Champion herding dog. He is now 13 and has been retired. 13 is old for a dog that has worked the hills.

After the demonstration, Peter showed us how he trains the dogs, and Marie showed  us all of her beautiful flower gardens and massive lilies.  We also got to meet two time national champion herding dog, Chief.  After the Kidds, we were on our way to the town of Akaroa on Banks Peninsula.

On the way to Akaroa, the bus broke down, so we had to wait a while for another bus to come.  In Akaroa, I went hiking, we visited stores and ate dinner at the 5th best fish and chips shop in the world.  Once we got home, we showered and got ready for bed, and I worked a little bit on a felted rooster that I am making.  All in all, it has been a fun and exciting first few days in New Zealand.