Carol Stiles
Lifestyle block owner Gary Petersen says the most difficult thing he has to do on his tiny farm is open a gate for his 13 woolly lawnmowers and walk them through it.
The rest he leaves up to Brya Harrison a.k.a Bow Peep. And, yes, she does have a "w" in her version of the name.
Brya used to work as a professional shearer in the UK and on large stations in New Zealand, but she's now turned her attention to providing services to small-block owners.
Lifestyle block shearer Brya Harrison Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
She has two young children and the hours are more family friendly, she says.
"I love that multiple times a day I'm seeing different clients and sheep that I've been shearing for years."
Brya has about 100 clients - mainly dotted around Auckland's southern border, and near her home close to Putaruru.
When Country Life tagged along she was 20 minutes from home, working with her very keen but ageing and almost deaf dog Bear to muster Gary's tiny flock. The sheep needed a drench, and for three, a tidy up of their rear end.
Bear likes to give Brya a hand, even though he's ageing and almost deaf Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
Brya says Gary's the dream small block owner.
"He's one of the ones that knows his limits but is still really responsible for his animals. You can't get much better than that!"
Gary's just sacrificed timber destined for a woodshed to build a decent set of yards.
Brya helped with the design.
"So many of my clients either don't have yards or have yards that are whipped up using a few gates or a pallet here and there. It's lucky I have a very smart dog Bear who understands what we are trying to achieve but even so, sometimes we are running around for 20 minutes, 30 minutes to get the sheep into the makeshift yards."
That's stressful for the sheep and the people involved.
Sheep waiting to be shorn Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
Brya says one of the most common mistakes her clients make is not getting sheep shorn at the right time.
"So a lot of the time I am turning up and a sheep has advanced flystrike."
Brya has about 100 clients with small flocks Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
Other challenges are not knowing how many animals a property can safely sustain, or breeding from animals with defects that will be passed on to their off-spring.
This 1.6 ha property is Gary's 11th life-style block.
While he loves having green space around him and can often be found chatting to the sheep, he doesn't want to be a farmer.
He says he thinks Brya will be back this month or next to shear the sheep, but she'll ring him and sort it.
"What Brya can't do the vets do - so I've got all my bases covered," he says with a grin.
One of the woolly lawnmowers awaiting Brya's attention Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
