I had the pleasure to travel to the Southland for the
New Zealand Holstein Friesian Conference in Invercargill from June 24-27th. The week included farm visits, tours to local attractions, meeting breeders, eating raw oysters and much more.
Monday through Wednesday included mainly farm visits with various evening banquets. We visited a number of dairy farms including: Karatane Dairies (the Ormsbys), Ros Mhor (Johnny Adamson), Riverdell Farm (Owen & Cathy Copinga), Oakura Holsteins (the Taylors), Middlevale (the Dodds), and Fairleigh Farms (the Eades).
The sale was on Wednesday night in the town of Gore with a high selling lot of NZ$28,500.
Thursday had an alternative tour while the annual general meeting was in session. This included stops at the Southland museum, the southern town of Bluff and some other places.
I was pleased to see this part of the country and meet lots of new people. The conference ran really smoothly and it was evident that a lot of planning and preparation was put into it. I'm glad I was able to attend and look forward to more involvement with the New Zealand Holstein Friesian Association.
Below are some pictures from the week:
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| View of Canterbury and the Southern Alps |
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| Snow covered Southern Alps on my way to Invercargill |
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| First farm visit to Karatane |
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| 'Damion' daughters on display at Karatane |
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| Cows in a wintering barn at the Ros Mhor stud |
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| At Riverdell Farm |
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| Farleigh Farm's new wintering barn |
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| Feeling at home seeing some Ayrshires in this free stall barn |
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| Bruce Eade shares about Fairleigh Farm |
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| Monday tour to the Bill Richardson Truck Museum |
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| Tuesday visit to the Velodrome where cyclist race |
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| The Southland museum in Invercargill display a unique New Zealand Reptile, the Tuatara |
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| The Southland museum was the first to have a captive Tuatara breeding program |
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| I discovered I love Oysters, both raw and fried! |
Bluff is the southern most town in New Zealand and is know for it's oysters. It is the famous site for their annual Bluff Oyster Festival.
Bluff is also a predictor
for the typical weather. If you can see the hill, it means it is going
to rain. If you can't see the hill, it is raining.
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| Viewof Bluff from our cafe lunch spot |
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| At Bluff, far away from home |
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| Most photographed spot at Bluff |
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| Stewart Island in the distance |
New Zealand is more than just two islands! Stewart Island is New Zealand's third largest island and is 30 km south of the South Island.
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| View from the top of Bluff Hill |
For my Northern Hemisphere friends it is important to note that it is
currently winter in New Zealand. Most of the cows are dry. They are
housed in wintering barns or graze on different brassica crops such as
swedes or kale.
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| Common wintering for cows in New Zealand |
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| Perks of a bus ride = views of the Southland terrain |
My flight from Invercargill to Christchurch got cancelled so I ended up having to take a bus from Invercargill to Dunedin which was over a two hour long ride. It happened to be a nice day out so I had the added benefit of taking in more Southland scenery. This was complemented by the group of maori women on the bus that sang the entire time. From Dunedin I got a flight back to Christchurch to conclude my exciting week at the New Zealand Holstein Friesian Conference.
