I spent five days at Tahora Farms, a Holstein and Jersey dairy south of Christchurch owned by Dean & Jo Geddes and Jim & Judith Geddes. Tahora is situated on the Cantebury Plains, with beautiful flat land looking onto mountains. I was a great opportunity for me to stay at Tahora because not only do they have absolutely excellent cattle with lots of Canadian and American genetics, but Dean is also an avid polo player and he raises polo ponies. I had never before seen a polo match, and I was quite excited to see the horses!
Polo is an intense game, and the horses and players are incredible athletes. It's an impressive thing to watch, with horses running full out across the field and players making almost impossible shots from underneath, in front and behind their horses. I was quite amazed, and it's definitely a sport I would love to be able to play. During my week at the farm, I got to help out the grooms with the polo ponies and got watch a polo match for the first time.
Jim and Judith own a few Standardbred race horses - their horses Dixie Commando and Gumboots raced at Addington Raceway while I was there. Dean and Jo also do hunting and eventing, and I got the privilege to ride Dean's hunter Lucky a couple times - easily the largest horse I have ever been on.
The main reason I had come to Tahora was to see their cattle, and I was lucky enough to be able to milk in a rotary parlor for the first time! Being located in the Cantebury region, which is the largest grain producing area in the country, access to grain a lot easier than on the North Island. Tahora's cows get grain on the rotary during milking. Milking on the rotary was very interesting, as I've only ever milked in a herringbone before. I was taking cups off of each cow, and I found and it's such a nice way to milk because the cows come to you! Each cow was on the rotary for about 8 minutes, and if a cow was still milking by the time she came around, we would just put a chain up behind her so she couldn't back out and she would go around again. It was very different than a herringbone, as if there is one cow who milks slower, she can hold up an entire row of cows. I really enjoyed seeing the different system, but it is hard for me to pick my favorite type of shed to milk in, as there are different management aspects I like about each system.
As for the cattle themselves, Tahora has some strong cow families, and I got to see a lot of great cows and heifers from the Murribrook Insp Toni, Tahora TB Leyma EX and Tahora Linmack Lara EX families. The farm has a very impressive show record, winning multiple champion titles at the Cantebury show as well as the New Zealand Royal show, with both Holstein and Jersey cows. The farm has an upcoming production sale in April, and I was able to help out with some of the sale calves. Some very impressive prospects, and I suspect the sale will go very well!
All in all, I had an incredible week and had a ton of fun with everyone at the farm, especially some of the staff. It turns out that the pub, The Famous Grouse in nearby Lincoln, is a pretty fun place to go any night of the week! I also got the chance to go out to Akaroa one afternoon with Philippa (one of the grooms) - it was an absolutely stunning place along the coast in the mountains!
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