On 14 January, I took off to my new home in the southeast of New Zealand with 10 others. We arrived in Christchurch on 16 January and the following morning, Carmen Ryan from Celtic Connections collected us from our hostel and got us set up with bank accounts and New Zealand phone numbers. Later on in the day, we each got dropped off to our different farms all situated around the Canterbury region. Our first thoughts of New Zealand were pure amazement. I think what surprised us all the most was the sheer quantity of cows in paddocks and the large irrigation pivots that were located in nearly each field we drove by. It was a far cry from the fields back in Ireland! That evening I got dropped to my farm, located in an area known as Coldstream, located on the east coast. I soon got to meet everyone working on the farm and settled in very quickly. I was made feel right at home from the moment I arrived.
Waimanu
Waimanu Dairy Farm is a large-scale dairy herd consisting off just over 800 cows. Warren and Suzanne Harris are the farm owners and Tracey Whitwell is the farm manager.
Tracey, originally from Northern Ireland, has been out here for the past five years. Tracey’s husband Harry also works on the farm along with two Taiwanese guys called Kyan and Latte. Warren and Suzanne’s son, Robert, runs the run off block with Warren where all the animals are grazed during the winter on kale. Spring oats is grown after the kale is grazed and is harvested as whole crop silage. At Waimanu, the 800 cows are split into two herds.The main breed on the farm are Friesian X and they are milked through a 54-bail rotary parlour. Day-to-day jobs include milking cows, herding, setting up break fences and platemetering to name just a few.
Since I’ve came out to New Zealand, I’ve learned a lot of new information and farming methods that hopefully I can bring home to our own farm in Kildare and implement in the next few years. New Zealand farmers are known for their ability to grow an abundance of grass, but this doesn’t happen by itself.
Regular plate-metering, creating farm wedges and allocating grass according to the growth rate and if necessary feeding supplementary feed all helps in their ability to grow good-quality grass almost all year round. A big thing that stood out for me is that kiwis sow plantain in their grass mix. It is known for its high-mineral content, particularly in calcium. It is a high-livestock performance forage, comparable to ryegrass and clovers and it is drought-tolerant.
Differences
When people ask me what’s the main difference between dairy farming in New Zealand and Ireland, the most obvious one to say is that cows are outside 365 days a year - hail, rain or snow. The only sheds on this farm is a calf shed and the cow shed, which is known in Ireland as the milking parlour.
I suppose what’s different on this farm compared to other farms in New Zealand is that they do most of the tractor work on site. Robert does all the sowing and reseeding on the farm whilst all the fertiliser spreading is also done by the lads. They also cut down all their own silage. Most farms in the Canterbury region generally have contractors in for all their machinery work.
Social life
The social side of my placement has also been incredible. I am very fortunate to be placed with guys on the farm that are very similar to me and enjoy playing lots of sport. Every Tuesday night, I play tennis in the local village called Hinds. In Ashburton on a Wednesday, I play hockey with the local ladies hockey team and matches will soon be starting up. I also spend most of my free time water-skiing which has been amazing. I am lucky enough that Robert owns his own boat and that there are lots of lakes nearby too. I’ve almost managed to ski on one ski which has been quite challenging! We all spent St Patrick’s weekend in Queenstown and we had a ball. It is such a beautiful and scenic part of New Zealand and there is something for everybody to do there. I got to do a sky dive when I was down there too which was such a incredible experience!
Ailish is travelling as part of her work experience. Ailish is a winner of the Agricultural Science Association - PWE Travel Bursary Award which is supported by the Irish Farmers Journal and Glanbia.
Read more
Student blog: Monday meetings the most important hour of the week
On 14 January, I took off to my new home in the southeast of New Zealand with 10 others. We arrived in Christchurch on 16 January and the following morning, Carmen Ryan from Celtic Connections collected us from our hostel and got us set up with bank accounts and New Zealand phone numbers. Later on in the day, we each got dropped off to our different farms all situated around the Canterbury region. Our first thoughts of New Zealand were pure amazement. I think what surprised us all the most was the sheer quantity of cows in paddocks and the large irrigation pivots that were located in nearly each field we drove by. It was a far cry from the fields back in Ireland! That evening I got dropped to my farm, located in an area known as Coldstream, located on the east coast. I soon got to meet everyone working on the farm and settled in very quickly. I was made feel right at home from the moment I arrived.
Waimanu
Waimanu Dairy Farm is a large-scale dairy herd consisting off just over 800 cows. Warren and Suzanne Harris are the farm owners and Tracey Whitwell is the farm manager.
Tracey, originally from Northern Ireland, has been out here for the past five years. Tracey’s husband Harry also works on the farm along with two Taiwanese guys called Kyan and Latte. Warren and Suzanne’s son, Robert, runs the run off block with Warren where all the animals are grazed during the winter on kale. Spring oats is grown after the kale is grazed and is harvested as whole crop silage. At Waimanu, the 800 cows are split into two herds.The main breed on the farm are Friesian X and they are milked through a 54-bail rotary parlour. Day-to-day jobs include milking cows, herding, setting up break fences and platemetering to name just a few.
Since I’ve came out to New Zealand, I’ve learned a lot of new information and farming methods that hopefully I can bring home to our own farm in Kildare and implement in the next few years. New Zealand farmers are known for their ability to grow an abundance of grass, but this doesn’t happen by itself.
Regular plate-metering, creating farm wedges and allocating grass according to the growth rate and if necessary feeding supplementary feed all helps in their ability to grow good-quality grass almost all year round. A big thing that stood out for me is that kiwis sow plantain in their grass mix. It is known for its high-mineral content, particularly in calcium. It is a high-livestock performance forage, comparable to ryegrass and clovers and it is drought-tolerant.
Differences
When people ask me what’s the main difference between dairy farming in New Zealand and Ireland, the most obvious one to say is that cows are outside 365 days a year - hail, rain or snow. The only sheds on this farm is a calf shed and the cow shed, which is known in Ireland as the milking parlour.
I suppose what’s different on this farm compared to other farms in New Zealand is that they do most of the tractor work on site. Robert does all the sowing and reseeding on the farm whilst all the fertiliser spreading is also done by the lads. They also cut down all their own silage. Most farms in the Canterbury region generally have contractors in for all their machinery work.
Social life
The social side of my placement has also been incredible. I am very fortunate to be placed with guys on the farm that are very similar to me and enjoy playing lots of sport. Every Tuesday night, I play tennis in the local village called Hinds. In Ashburton on a Wednesday, I play hockey with the local ladies hockey team and matches will soon be starting up. I also spend most of my free time water-skiing which has been amazing. I am lucky enough that Robert owns his own boat and that there are lots of lakes nearby too. I’ve almost managed to ski on one ski which has been quite challenging! We all spent St Patrick’s weekend in Queenstown and we had a ball. It is such a beautiful and scenic part of New Zealand and there is something for everybody to do there. I got to do a sky dive when I was down there too which was such a incredible experience!
Ailish is travelling as part of her work experience. Ailish is a winner of the Agricultural Science Association - PWE Travel Bursary Award which is supported by the Irish Farmers Journal and Glanbia.
Read more
Student blog: Monday meetings the most important hour of the week
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