On the Ahuriri River

Brent and I on the river this afternoon. His daughter did the video of us going through the rapid. Am now down about 2 and half hours south of the farm in the town of Twizel. Going tomorrow to watch off road racing friends of Brents.

Migration Day!

I've been waiting quite a while for the right time to post this video. And the time has come! I'm done on the farm here for awhile. And am migrating south in the morning. But that is the opposite way I should be going as the birds fly North here in winter!! Anyway am taking off for the southern part of the South Island. For a month or so I'll travel around camping and have a good look around. After that not really sure what I'm going to do. Something will happen I'm sure. Will continue to use farm here in Methven for a home base. It is very generous of the family I've been working for to let me come and go. They are really super people! Its been a true blessing working for them. The last three months have flown by which happens I guess. Looking forward to whatever happens next!!

Ps. This video was taken last November at the B Bar. I didn't even know that my good friend Bryce had taken it till he sent it to me very recently. Needless to say it brought a smile to my face. Hope you enjoy!!

First Overnighter

Went out on my first overnight camping trip last night. It was a solo trip of course. They only other living things i saw where of course sheep, and some cows. At least they were Angus! It was a 9.5 kilometer hike with a approximately 2500 foot gain in elevation. Took me 2 and half hours to hike in. Stayed in a small public hut that was super clean. They are common place here on hiking trails. First come first serve. Was a beautiful day. The only downside was the lack of wildlife around. Only saw ONE hare. That was it but oh well. A great trip. Four more days of work then I'm off to do some traveling for the next month or so. Looking forward to that!

Methven A&P Show Grand Parade

A video of the grand parade at the show. Love listening to those bagpipes!!

Methven Arable and Pastoral Show

Went to my hometown A&P show on Saturday in Methven. It's their equivalent of the county fair. Only one day though. They had lots of things that I found interesting. The horse events were really neat. Had never seen Dressage and Show Jumping so that was really neat. Lots of beautiful horses. (And the riders weren't bad either! ) The wood chopping was pretty cool. Amazing how fast some of the guys can chop through a log. They had a pretty nice display of antique tractors which was nice to see. Had three John Deere Two-Cylinders. Lots of European makes. And a fair display of modern equipment. I thought the big moldboard plow behind the John Deere tractor was interesting. Never seen one like it before. Other things I saw but failed to take photos of were competition sheep shearing, little girls doing Scottish Highland Dancing which was really cool. Missed out on the sheep dog trials. I found it hard to see everything when they pack it all into one day. Lots of things going on at once.There was not a lot of livestock there. Perhaps 100 different sheep and 50 dairy heifers. Not sure why they do it that way. None the less it was a good day.

Pregnancy Checking & Working Ground

Yesterday we brought the big heifers in so the vet could preg check them. Out of 321 we had 19 open. They are due to calve late June early July. Am working the ground today. The soil type is what they call a silty loam. With some stones of course!! Interestingly enough the soil has zero clay in it, so even when it is soaking wet NO mud sticks to your boots. Which is really nice!! A bit different from the mud of Indiana, which i hear there is plenty of at the moment! You can see Roger with the spreader in one photo. He is spreading oats on. They will be used for winter grazing of dry dairy cows in June and July. I come behind with the sunflower and till them in. Tomorrow I will come along with a roller and smash down all the rocks. Once we put the center pivot irrigator across with some water they will be up within the week. We only burnt the stubble off yesterday and finished harvesting the wheat last Friday. Less than one week from one crop to the next.

Piggin'n

Went on my first hog hunt this morning. The guys picked me up at 3:45am. Took about an hour to get to hunting area. Up in the mountains quite a ways. Was a foggy day as you can see. Walked for about an hour in the dark with the dogs. They had seven dogs that scent and catch the pig. They got one in a very steep ravine after about two hours. Once we caught up to dogs the one guy grabbed the hind legs and I took the knife and did the dirty work. No gun involved. Pretty intense. 120+ pound live boar hog going absolutely nuts. Neat to be around all the dogs. They're all really friendly like pets. You wouldn't know that they were hard core hog dogs!! Got to see some wild Red Deer on the way out. We decided to let them go for another day. Unfortunately they were to far for photos. Got finished with the wheat harvest yesterday so will be getting more days off. Which will lead to more blog posts!! I know that there hasn't been much lately.