At home on a NZ farm

Having spent the past two and a half months on the Canterbury (pronounced Canta-bree)Plains with its rich diversity of agriculture, horticulture and livestock, we reflect on our life on a NZ farm. The natural features of the landscape itself are amazing - mountains to our west, ocean to our east. It is a land where the weather can change to all 4 seasons in a 24 hour period. In fact, the daily TV weather report say it's either "wet" or "fine". We reside on a seed manufacturing farm where crops are raised, then the best seeds are harvested and sold overseas, mainly in Asia. Most of NZ farms have sheep, with over 50 million raised for meat, fleece or both. The most popular breeds are Romney and Cheviot, although Merino sheep are prized for their fine wool. Gangs of shearers move from station to station shearing 200-300 sheep a day. Farmers and their dogs ride all-terrain vehicles, repairing fences and checking on livestock. Ten million cattle are also raised in NZ, half for meat, half for dairy (milk,butter,cheese). Other types of farming include orchards containing grapes (this might be the wine talking but we're trying to taste as many fine wines as possible), cherries, kiwis, apples and silage (winter feed for grazers).
Having come from "Camp Maxson",in Bradford, R.I. we love working (and playing) outdoors so our time here on the farm has been well spent. Its hard to envision, if you're not a farmer, the amount of daily "chores" that a farm such as this involves. If you aren't able to keep up with the constant flow - repairs to farming equipment, organization of tools & farm attachments, and planning of the growing season to optimize your yield (= profits), along with fertilization and weed control, you will quickly fall far behind and a season will be wasted. We go to bed happily exhausted and look forward to each new day. Thankfully, our Farm Manager is an energetic, resourceful, hard working gal, who has been working here for 6 years. Her name is Leanne, and she is 22 years old. A small girl, she does the work of 3 men. Orginally from Scotland, Leanne moved to NZ in her teens with her family. She began working here as a 16 yr old college student (that's High School in the USA) and worked her way up to be the top dog on the farm. She's our boss and we love her. How she feels about us, well, the Scots are tight-lipped. Suffice it to say, she gives us the flexiblity to still be goofy, American tourists.