The prettiest farm in the world

We are in New Zealand. We are surrounded by farms. We have learned a lot about all the animals on the farm. I have learned that a "steer" is a castrated bull. I have learned that dairy farming is much more intense (as well as lucrative) than beef farming. I have learned what an awful, gruesome chore "docking" is. (Those who don't know should look that up.) I have learned that most of what is farmed in New Zealand is exported, to places like the USA :)

It seems everybody in New Zealand grew up on a farm, or has a relative who farms. One of our nurses was kind enough to invite us to see her partner's beef and lamb farm. The work scheduled for the day involved moving the cattle from one old, tired paddock to another, more lush and verdant. I was disappointed to hear that we weren't going to be riding horses for this activity. Turns out modern farmers do this from the comfort of their pickup trucks. Occasionally, our friend just drove slowly while yelling at the animals out the truck window. To our city-folk surprise, the cattle seemed to respond pretty nicely to that.

Yes, even the farm has views of Mount Doom

And the volcano we skied

Yes, my boys are behind the wheel of a tractor

Here they are "feeding out." This means that they are supplementing the livestock's diet with something called "silage" which is a little like fermented hay. This tractor with massive claws drops some silage wherever the the boys tell it to. Jasper loved being in charge of this.

There is a beautiful river that borders the farm and we headed down there for a picnic after all that hard work! Our friend reported that he actually owns half the river, due to his riparian right. (This was a new word for me, as well.)

You can tell the boys loved riding in the back of the pickup truck.

They probably mostly loved riding with that super-cool teenage Led Zeppelin fan guitarist between them.

The path down to the riverside. Yes, Jasper is wearing a sweater ten sizes too big. 

Our first glimpses of the river included this little waterfall.

We saw this pair of blue ducks, once common in New Zealand, now endangered.

Here's Aidan, impersonating a Dr. Seuss character.

Picnic!

A friend from home who fished used to say often: Trout live in beautiful places. He said it often because he would cite this as his main reason for fishing. I am starting to see his point.

I couldn't get over the color of the water. It really is that clear and beautiful.

Ready to head back to the main farmhouse.

No visit to the farm is complete without seeing the baby animals, especially the piglets!

My favorite were the lambs, who would suckle on my finger - it's not weird to like that, right?