International Exchange
New Zealand 2007
I was selected to take part in this year’s International Exchange Programme. I was to travel to New Zealand for just under three months taking part in a variety of activities where I gained first hand experience of both the NZYF movement and New Zealand agriculture.
I arrived in New Zealand on Wednesday 9th May 2007 where I spent the first day in Christchurch the largest city in South Island relaxing after the long journey over. Up early the next morning and jumped on a flight down to Queenstown it was a lovely clear morning and I had fantastic views over the famous Canterbury Plains from the air I could clearly see the massive square paddocks and the braded rivers which the area was renound for. I couldn’t figure out what the big circles were – they looked like crop circles (had aliens landed?). Later one of the farmers from the area told me that these were in fact due to the use of massive irrigators – the plains get very dry in the summer months and irrigation is a big issue.
Change of scenery and within half an hour I was in the mountains – I arrived in Queenstown and was greeted by the English exchangee, Lucy Bellefontaine and Northern Ireland exchangee, Sara Caskey. They had been in New Zealand for about a month already as unfortunately due to University commitments I had been unable to join them sooner. The programme set out by the New Zealand Young Farmers had provided for us to have some “free time” so it was an excellent opportunity for us to get to know one another. We had a few days in Queenstown savouring the beautiful scenery and Sarah did a bungee jump – Queenstown being the adrenalin capital of New Zealand.
Then we began our journey up the west coast with its rain forest like terrain and massive waterfalls. We stopped in Franz Joseph for a night and the next morning dawned our blades and waterproofs and took part in a ½ day hike up the glacier. Then it was back on the bus and onto Greytown where I was met by my first host.
Host One - Haupri
I stayed two nights with Willie Coats and his fiancé Michelle on their Farm at Haupri a couple of hours in land from Greymouth. Willie was a keen Young Farmer but was now just too old for the organisation but still helped out. New Zealand Young Farmers range from 18-30years old. Willie runs a contracting business, amongst other jobs, cutting silage on the surrounding farms during the summer months. Unlike Scotland where we are pleased to get two good cuts of silage some New Zealand farmers can have up to 4 or 5 cuts in a season.
During the winter months Willie grazes dairy cattle on his farm – again unlike Scotland it is almost unheard of to house livestock during the winter months. Instead many of the dairy farmers dry off during the winter months May, June and into July with slight regional variations the south having a slightly longer winter season. The dairy farmers then either pack off there stock to run off farms to graze or put them on sacrifice paddocks in order to rest their paddocks in readiness for the new milking season following on the spring calving.
In supplement to this Willie also had 1500 deer. Farmed deer is quite common in New Zealand – they didn’t seem to need much attention the occasional bale of hay. There is a steady demand for venison it seeming more popular in New Zealand than Scotland.
Willie owned his farm but he was keen to point out that there were several state owned Farms in the area operated by Land Corp. These farms are then managed by a Farm manager the operation of the scheme did not seem too dissimilar to Scotland’s Agricultural and Crofting Tenancies but was state backed rather than by private landowners. This was the first example the opportunities afforded to young people trying to gain entry to the agricultural industry.
Host Two - Nelson
From Willie and Michelle’s we continued out travels north and spent a night with a Young Farmer, Charlie Douglas-Clifford in Nelson. Charlie was a Rural Business Manager with National Bank. He explained to us that National Bank was a huge rural employer in New Zealand with branches throughout the country and what seemed like an army of rural business advisors. He enjoys his job at the moment and hopes that the knowledge he is gaining will stand him in good stead for the future. His main hope is to return home and manage his family’s dairy farm just North of Christchurch.
Charlie was kind enough to give us a lift up to the Ferry at Picton. We then left South Island and headed for Wellington.
We were met in Wellington by the NZYF National Delegation who had been in meetings in Wellington. They gave us a lift up to Palmerston North where the National Committee Meeting was taking place.
We were staying with hosts in the area.
Host Three – Palmerston North
I stayed with Kim Dowson on her and her boyfriend’s dairy Farm. He had gone fishing for the weekend leaving her to milk his heard as they were just beginning to run down production with a view to drying off for the winter months. So up at 4.30am to milk there 150 heard and my first experience of milking cows. The heard consisted of Guernsey x Frisians colloquially known by most as the Kiwi cross. Quite a compact and hardy cow a million miles away from our Holsteins back home. They had what was a relatively small herringbone parlour with twelve a side – within a few cows I was getting the hang of it and I had woken up too. After morning milking Kim took me up to Massey University. Kim works for the University running some of their Farm trials. The trial she was running at that time was a study into the effectiveness of Palm Kernel as a supplement feed source.
We then had night out on the town with all the Young Farmers who were in Palmerston North for the Committee meeting. It was really good as I got the chance to meet some of the people the girls had met in the South Island and we met some of the people we would be staying with later on in our trip.
The Sunday morning saw the National Committee Meeting take place. We were asked to give a short presentation on our own organisations and to make suggestions on how we thought NZYF could improve and expand. At the moment NZYF only has about 800 members and they are working hard to boost numbers. Since arriving home I have heard that two new clubs have been formed – so obviously they are moving in the right direction.
Host Four – Pihama
Kyle Goodwin and his fiancé Jodi took us home from Palmerston North with them to their dairy farm in Pihama. Kyle was the Chairman of a newly formed club, which he and a few others had formed. The club was now thriving with 50 paid up members – the larges club in New Zealand. The club was formed in September 2006 so was doing very well.
I was to be staying in a house in the neighbouring town of Opunake. I stayed in a shared house. Angeleigh and her boyfriend Nigs both worked on nearby dairies and Mark ran a contracting business. It is very common in New Zealand for young people to move out of home at 16-18 and share houses with others often referred to as “flatting”.
Pihama club was the most active club we stayed with and during our week with them we took part in a club game of squash, went out in an inflatable search and rescue boat and played netball and they organised a BBQ so that we could meet all the members and not just the people we were staying with.
I milked in Kyle’s herringbone and helped move stock and electric fences on the Farm. He also had a few late autumn calvers so we had them to keep and eye on too. Again even calving seems simpler in New Zealand – they leave the cows in a paddock and only intervene if absolutely necessary.
Kyle was a share milker – this meant that the farm and capital was owned by someone else but he owned a share of the cows. Kyle was coming to the end of his first season. He had previously trained and worked as a Butcher before deciding to take up milking. This is another example of the opportunities present in New Zealand to young people wishing to gain a start in the Industry.
We accompanied Kyle and his boss on a farm walk. At that time his cows were on a thirty-day rotation and for the coming season it was decided that he would be supplementing the cows diet with palm kernel. Unlike most farms in the area Kyle milks all year round so maintaining good quality pasture is very important. Most New Zealand dairies are seasonal and aim to dry-off mid-May to be dry by June 1st. Milking then starts up again at the end on July – beginning of August. The 1st of June is an important date in the New Zealand calendar. It is when people swap Farms or jobs. There are a lot of Farms bought and sold and this time. What we did find odd was that many people will only work for a farmer for a couple of years and will either move to a better paid position or will move up to the next rung on the ladder.
We went on a visit to al brand new state or the art sixty-bale rotary where they were milking over 600 cows owned by one of the Pihama young farmers. This could be operated by as few as two people one in the shed and one to take the cows in. The cloister removal was automated the gates were computer operated, the cows had chips that were read by the computer to determine things such as which paddock they were going to or if they needed any treatment for mastitis etc. even the washing was automated. I still prefer the herringbones – the pit in a rotary is too deep I can barely reach the udder to put the cups on!!!!
Went out with one of the members, Vanessa who was a Dexcel Officer, this is an Advisory Body run with Government funding. She ran local Farmer Discussion Groups. The Taranaki discussion group was taking place on a monitor farm discussing the pros and cons of winter milking. The farmer was this year going to try milking approx 30 cows, mixture of empties and late calvers and they were going to monitor the progress of this both economically and socially with most dairy farmers used to their two month winter break from milking.
We ended our stay in the area with a days Kiwi fruit picking – very good fun and exhausting. The whole club pulled together. The profits from the pick were going towards re-flooring the local town hall.
Briefly back to Palmerston North where we spent the day with Ben Alomes and his family. Ben is NZYF National President and share milks in Woodville a town close to Palmerston North. Ben arranged for us to give an interview to one of their national farming papers, Countrywide. The reporter seemed fixated on BSE and foot and mouth and CAP. We found this a lot – many of the people we met were under the mis-conception that the UK was riddled with BSE and Foot and Mouth and that the farmers lived off European subsidies and that they were being paid not to Farm. We assured him that his was not the case and that the UK has stringent safeguards in place against both diseases. Unfortunately our words have been proved true given the way that the authorities here have dealt with the latest outbreak of Foot & Mouth in the south of England. We then steered him back to discussing the strength of the Young Farmers movements within the UK and highlighted that unlike New Zealand Young Farmers and not just farmers, I’m a trainee Solicitor, Lucy is working in the management of fresh produce companies and Sarah is a Beauty therapist. Our organisations appeal to a broad spectrum of rural young people brought together by a shared interest in rural and agricultural matters. We were then picked up from Ben’s house and off to our next hosts.
Host Five – Masterton
We stayed with Richard Reid and his girlfriend Dolly. Richard was the East Area Vice-Chairman and very passionate about Young Farmers. He managed a 1500-acre sheep and beef farm in the south east of North Island. He had 250 fattening cattle a mixture of Herefords and surprisingly Simmentals, not many continental breeds of cattle present in New Zealand.. He also had 3000 ewes, 1500, ewe lambs and 1800 ram lambs which he was hoping to get away fat very soon – looking for an optimum live weight of 44kgs. He had a mixture of cheviots some Suffolk’s and some cupworths.
From Richard’s we moved north to the Hawkes Bay area.
Host Six – Hawkes Bay
Our next host club was Esk View Young Farmers.
Initially we stayed with Callum Sherwood for a couple of days on his 950-acre farm which is parents owned together with another 650-acre block. Callum and his parents had a 2000 Romney flock, 1000 hogget’s and 90 steers. Callum was very good and showed us the local sites. After a couple of days we were dispatched to go and stay with some of the other members.
I wend to stay with Suz Bremner and her husband. Suz managed the family farm, “Reekin” 850 acres, 1300 Ewes, 300 Hoggets, 80 Suckler Cows and 3 Angus Bulls. Suz was having to send a lot of her stock to the local market due to the drought in the area. They had not had any significant rainfall since November and this was now mid-June. Normally she would have around 80 fattening cattle, 80 wieners and 400 wedder lambs. She was trying to reduce her stock numbers in order to protect what she had left. She felt it important to keep the cows and ewes as these were her means of re-stocking once the rain did come and the pasture levels back to normal. It was getting so bad in the area that they were even utilising the grass verges at the roadsides just so that the stock had something to graze.
Suz used irrigators on one of the more sheltered paddocks but as it was winter growth rates were slow. We went along to a local drought meeting which the local stock agents had organised. They had speakers from the Bank, Vets, Counselling Services, Fertiliser Companies all trying to give their advice on how best to sit out the drought.