On the morning of January 31, I hopped on the bus in Auckland to head south to work for Tony Barton at Kauri Glen Farms, a Holstein stud near Matamata. Matamata is in the Waikato area - one of the largest dairy regions in New Zealand. As a matter of fact, there are more dairy cattle in the Waikato region than there is in all of Canada. In 2010, there was over 1.8 million dairy cattle in Waikato, whereas in Canada in 2010 there were 1.4 million dairy cattle. The dairy industry is extremely important to New Zealand, it is the largest industry in the country and in 2008/09 contributed over $10 billion to the New Zealand economy. In the last couple years the price of milk has been increasing, encouraging more investment into dairy farms and there has been a massive turnover of other types of farms into dairying.
Kauri Glen Farms milks purebred Holsteins and calves year round, similar to dairies in Canada and the US, yet vastly different from many of the farms in the area. Many farms in Waikato milk crossbred Jersey/ Fresian cattle and calve once per year, in the spring. This was new to me, as dairy farms in Canada also calve year round and I have never seen a crossbred herd at home. It was very interesting to see the difference in management practices between Canada and New Zealand.
Tony uses a lot of Canadian and American genetics in his herd and has built up a beautiful herd over the years. His hard work has paid off, and his cattle did quite well at this year's NZ Dairy Event in Fielding this January. Kauri Glen took home the titles of Junior Champion and Reserve Junior Champion, Intermediate Champion and Reserve Senior Champion. To say the least, I got to work with some excellent cattle!
I spent two and a half weeks working at the farm; milking, feeding calves, moving stock from paddock to paddock, processing calves and generally loving the beautiful scenery of the farm. Kauri Glen is made up of beautiful flat, lush, green paddocks with the Kaimai Ranges in the background, just a short drive from the farm. From the farm you can see the 153 meter high Wairere Falls, which are used as a background for all the Kauri Glen cow pictures. The view from the cowshed will always be one of my favorites, so nice to be milking great cows and be able to look out onto the Kaimai's. In one word: incredible.
During my two weeks I also got to experience Tuberculosis testing, processing calves to prevent facial excema, and the Semex On Farm Competition. Tuberculosis is a disease not yet eradicated in New Zealand, and each cow was injected with the modified virus by a veterinarian, and then left for a couple days. The vet then came back to see if there were any cows that reacted to the injection and were positive carriers of TB. Luckily, there were none. Facial excema is also another common problem in New Zealand caused by a fungus in rye grasses. This fungus produces spores that, when ingested causes liver damage and photosensitivity in cattle. To prevent facial excema, each animal is given a bolus of zinc, which combats the disease. It was really neat to see different issues from home, and how they are managed.
I was also really lucky to be able to do some really cool things while I was there as well. The first weekend I was there - Tony, Mark (Tony's son) and I went up to the Coromandel Peninsula to Whangamata to visit Tony's sister Patria and her husband Shannon's batch. I had a great time, got to go out on the boat to pull up some crayfish pots, enjoyed some great food (I'm now additced to lamb and venison) and drink (Also addicted to NZ red wine), met some amazing people and received true kiwi hospitality!
The second week I was there, Tony took me up into the Kaimais to do some deer hunting for Red Deer. Unfortunately we didn't come back from our hunting trip with any venison in our packs; but I got to do some wicked hiking through the Kaimai bush, saw lots of deer tracks and pig tracks, and got to look out over the top of the Wairere Falls. An absolutely amazing view of the Matamata/ Waharoa/ Te Aroha area!
The next weekend, we went up Whangaparoa to go fishing with Tony's cousin Scott his wife Michelle and their daughters Sam and Georgia. It was a great weekend even though we didn't reel in any huge fish, we still caught a few red snapper and even a couple baby sharks! We spent the rest of the day snorkeling and riding a sea biscuit around and Scott dove for some scallops. For the first time in my life I tried a raw scallop straight from the ocean! To be honest, it tasted quite good, however I almost couldn't handle the slimy texture. That night we enjoyed incredible seafood, and I tried whitebait for the first time. Absolutely delicious! I was treated to more great kiwi hospitality and I had a blast!
I also got the opportunity to tour Hobbiton movie set where they filmed the Shire in the Lord of the Rings movies as well as the upcoming Hobbit movies. Quite a fitting thing for myself to experience while in Matamata, as those of you who know me know that I am a shorter person, quite reminiscent of a hobbit. Super cool to be there!
Tony and I also went out to Muangatautri Scenic Reserve, an fenced off bird reserve around Mt. Muangatautri to keep out possums, stoats and deer. The reserve was really neat to see, as there were no pests, so the bird life was diverse and the undergrowth of the forest was denser than in the Kaimais where we had hunted the week before. Very beautiful place!
I left Kauri Glen on February 17th after such a great two and a half weeks, so I was very sad to leave. I met some amazing people and have great memories to look back on. I am so lucky to have been able to stay at Kauri Glen, and I'm so thankful to have that experience! I can definitely see myself going back for a visit!
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