Im on the road once more after camping out with Mandi and Ant for a few days when I was doing my visits around Hamilton. I had a great time with them and learnt a lot about grass production and the trials and tribulations of milking dairy cows in NZ. Unfortunately I had to move on much as I was enjoying my stay and their company, it was great to relax for a while again after the big push earlier in the month. 
Yesterday I visited two of the stud farms owned by Landcorp, the government owned farming company here in NZ. The two locations are relatively close together one producing Simmental bulls, Texel aand Lamb Supreme composite sheep. It is a beautiful hill farm. The other produces Angus bulls. Both places primary role is to produce the bulls for use on Landcorps commercial herds. to give you some idea of the scale of their operation they own 30,000 dairy cows, 30,000 beef cows, 30,000 hinds and 400,000 sheep with all the feeding herds in addition to this! I was another of those turning point visits and I really must thank John for flying up from Wellington for the day to take me around and explain their breeding plans.
Last night I went to a Maori "village" just outside of town and experienced a bit of Maori culture for an evening along with a couple of hundred people representing 21 nations around the world. I is actually based on the site of their historic village and is owned by the Mitai tribe. We saw the warriors paddling a Waka along the river nearby, the famous Haka, and explanations of their way of life before tucking in to a ground cooked meal called a Hangi. Im off south today for another marathon drive so I will catch ya later!
Im in Rotorua this morning but I have a couple of days updates to fill in on. I stayed with the secretary Genral of the World Hereford Council which was a lot of fun. We went to see some crossbred Hereford cows and a pedigree herd in the afternoon and then tried to sort out all the Hereford worlds problems in the evening. I think we need another evening though.
Yesterday I visited two of the stud farms owned by Landcorp, the government owned farming company here in NZ. The two locations are relatively close together one producing Simmental bulls, Texel aand Lamb Supreme composite sheep. It is a beautiful hill farm. The other produces Angus bulls. Both places primary role is to produce the bulls for use on Landcorps commercial herds. to give you some idea of the scale of their operation they own 30,000 dairy cows, 30,000 beef cows, 30,000 hinds and 400,000 sheep with all the feeding herds in addition to this! I was another of those turning point visits and I really must thank John for flying up from Wellington for the day to take me around and explain their breeding plans.Last night I went to a Maori "village" just outside of town and experienced a bit of Maori culture for an evening along with a couple of hundred people representing 21 nations around the world. I is actually based on the site of their historic village and is owned by the Mitai tribe. We saw the warriors paddling a Waka along the river nearby, the famous Haka, and explanations of their way of life before tucking in to a ground cooked meal called a Hangi. Im off south today for another marathon drive so I will catch ya later!
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