New Year's Eve morning started with a lecture from Russell Cameron, Farm Management Lecturer, with an Introduction to NZ Agriculture. NZ is livestock based rather than crops based like we are. They have 30.9 million (M) sheep, 3.7 M beef cattle, 6.6 M dairy, and 1.05 M deer. These large ruminant animals feed on pastures rear round as a 'low cost of production' system. There is no need to house the animals due to the temperate climate and the farms or units as they are called are large, efficient family run.
As a whole the agriculture industry is efficient in its labor and energy. They are also very sustainability focused when it comes to fertilizing and nutrient budgeting to protect water quality.
The land use is determined by its contour/topography, soil type, climate (rainfall), and pasture growth pattern. Pastoral and crop farming can be either 'intensive' or 'extensive.' Intensive is high stocking rate and is seen through dairying and finishing. Extensive is on the high, hill country which allows only a low stocking rate. 64% of the area farmed is "hill country" and its key developmental factors are due to superphosphate, seed, subdivision, and stock. Horticulture is typically on better soils and flat plains area except for the grapes.
Over the past 25 years, enterprises have intensified to less sheep, more irrigation, and more dairying. All of the subsidies were removed in 1987 and has caused the farmers to become more efficient and keep up with technology. During this time sheep numbers have gone from 45M in 1990 to 31 M in 2013. Productivity of the livestock has gained from breed changes, improved recording and genetics. Sheep are now predominately 'composite' breeds switching from wool production to such traits as carcass compostion, fertility, and lactationability. In beef cattle, Hereford and Angus have been the traditional breeds but they are now having a higher influx of Simmental influenced cattle. But as mentioned in an earlier post, irrigation technologies have made the biggest difference since just the 1980's converting dryland into dairying.
An intersting part of their beef production is Bull Beef, which are intact Friesian bulls. They are bought as weaned calves and finished as 2 or 3 year olds at approximately 680 lbs/CW. A 'techno' system is utilized using electric fenced cells/pens for intensive roational grazing in small mobs. Another interesting part of livestock production is the fact that it is illegal to run livestock across the road so they have built many culvert/tunnels under the roads for the animals to get to the other side.
It was a great briefing that will continue to be expanded upon over the course of the trip.
After lunch we hoped on the bus and headed to the Port of Lyttelton. We made a stop at the top of the Port Hills overlooking the city of Christchurch. It was quite the sight and our advisors and host said that they have never had such a beautiful day for this viewing. We could see all the way to Kaikoura which is a 3 hour drive and where we will be going towards the end of our trip to do some whale watching. We continued over and on down the hills to the Port of Lyttelton and this ride was absolutely gorgeous (see picture below)!
As we got down the hill to the other side we arrived at Sumner Beach on the Pacific ocean! Another gorgeous day and a quick hour went by as we took pictures, some enjoyed the chilly, salty water and we finished up with some delicous ice cream. Our advisors had been talking about this ice cream for a very long time and I was surely not disappointed. I had a double scoop waffle cone with a scoop of caramel fudge which has big chunks of caramel and hokey pokey which is the flavor they are known for and is a creamy vanilla with toffee chunks.
Back onto the bus we go and a few of us got dropped off at the City Centre while the others went back to LU to shower and prepare for the New Years Eve activities. Katie, Kinsey, LaNae and I stayed in the City Centre to do some further adventuring around to see some things we hadn't the day before. Katie and I got our picture next the Hereford Street because that was something I pointed out immediately when I looked at the map we received. Hereford girls at heart! Then we went to the RE: Start mall which is the only one in the world and made out of refurbished shipping containers. It was quite unique but it was 5:00 pm when we arrived and everything was shutting down. Lucky enough there was a souveniers store still open and we all got some gifts for our families and some pretty nice and of course matching raincoats. These will come in quite handy for our "boy band" photos!
Next, we ventured over to the Cardboard Cathedral and by this time Kinsey had to go to the restroom that for the next hour all of our lives became miserable. When I said everything was shutting down at 5:00 pm, I guess that meant public restrooms as well. By this time we had already walked at least 2 mile and knew that it was at least another mile if not more through Hagley Park to The Running Bull where we were planning to go eat and meet up with everyone else coming into town from LU. Even though Katie and I jokingly titled my journal for the day "The Day I Killed Kinsey and Threw Her into the Avon," we still were smiling and laughing. Thank goodness I have some sense of direction and can read a map fairly well because as it turns out the way we started our night was A LOT better than some of our groups first ventures once they got back into town. By the end of the night everyone was still laughing and smiling but it was not a real great New Years Eve. Most of the bars have a dress code in which we were not aware of and so therefore were unable to ring in the New Year in that matter, but we had fun at the FREE outdoor concert with fireworks. Another group joke was that when people would ask, "What did you do on New Years Eve?" We would reply, "9 miles!" as it seemed like that is what we all ended up walking!
DAY 4
HAPPY NEW YEARS! Although we got to enjoy 19 more hours of 2014 than my CST friends, it was quite the adrenaline rush start! Today was our first free day on the trip. 23 of us had decided that we wanted to go check out the Adrenaline Forest which is a ropes course in the tree tops with zip lining the day before. So Heather got a shuttle lined up for us and we left campus at 9:00 am. We got to the course and we all pretty excited! It was a chilly morning with a bit of a wind, but we were pumped. As we looked at the course as we walked up Morgan shouted, "It's like a big kid playground!" And that is exactly what it was. We definitely got our workout in for the day and a few minor bumps, bruises, and scrapes but three hours later we were exhausted and ready to head back.
So of course there are McDonalds here and they call them Mackers. We have been seeing these billboards for the Kiwi Burger which is like a 1/4 lb burger with lettuce, tomato, and a fried egg and beets. We have all been saying we have to try this! We asked our shuttle driver if we could stop at a Mackers on our way back as it was now already 1:30 pm so we did! A few people tried it and said it was pretty good. I kept it safe and just got a Big Mac even though I do like beets and eggs.
Got back to campus and I got on Wi-Fi for a bit and uploaded some pictures from yesterday's excursions on Facebook. I will be uploading a video of me doing one of the ziplines after this post. Then I went and started some laundry for LaNae and I and took about an hour nap. Tonight we are planning to go to the Famous Grouse a.k.a Drunken Pigeon to ring in the new year the American way!
Tomorrow we head out to Mt. Peel Station with stops along the way discussing dairying, irrigation, and to get a "feel" for Canterbury. We will be staying overnight at Mt. Peel and going White Water Rafting on the morning of the 3rd! Eeeekkkkk! I love white water rafting, I've already called the front of one of the rafts, best seat in the boat!
