Visit to a NZ sheep farm

Jo-Ann with Mower the Mohair goat with some sheep in the background

Our friend, Winnie, with the mother sheep and 2 day old lamb

In between our competitions we had some free time where we went to a sheep farm as my daughter has never been to a real farm in her young life so I thought it would be a good experience!

She decided after the visit that she does not like farm life as she was all squeamish at the amount of mud, poohs and some dirty animals (after a full rainy day before!) in a farm.  The only spark in that visit was "Mower" the Mohair goat they had!  She was tied up but she hated Murphy the town dog who was there on a short holiday while his 'mum and dad' are off on a vacation.  Mower kept chasing after Murphy each time he passed in front of her so that was really hilarious as Murphy was so hyper jumping into the pond and out despite the cold water.  The 2 black swans in the pond just ignored Murphy while the white duck was more cautious.  

I also learnt that a lot of farmers are switching to dairy farms due to the high price of diary products where each cow is worth about $2000.  However, the sheep farmers do not like the diary farmers as apparently the diary farms are polluting the rivers with their discharge.  Diary farms are more work because of the twice daily milking that needs to be done but the returns are high with the current milk prices.

It is nice to be in Southland as the people are generally friendlier and that was what struck the Aucklanders the most about how life is more relaxed and people are not stressed or in a hurry to get anything done!  The small town of Gore welcomed the 500 odd people who visited Gore during the Figure Skating Nationals as all the visitors are always hungry and in search of food all the time!  The small town does have Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut but too small to have a MacDonald's.  I think the nearest big M is in Invercargill about 45 minutes drive away.