Country Life

Head inside a Hawke's Bay packhouse and orchard once covered in millions of litres of silt after Cyclone Gabrielle and meet a topdressing pilot who's still flying after nearly half a century on the job.

When Cyclone Gabrielle hit two years ago, 4th generation orchardist Cameron Taylor sprang into action rescuing people from rooftops in his Taylor Corporation helicopter. Since then it's been non-stop in restoring the family orchard and packhouse into working order.

Aerial topdresser John Bargh is preparing for another season up in the air. He's spent nearly five decades in the skies spreading fert on hill country farms.

Red seaweed grown in Bluff has been shown to significantly reduce methane emissions in beef and dairy cattle with no adverse effects to the animals, their products or the environment.

A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.

We head to a woolshed where hundreds of sheep are being shorn for charity and find out how the Tora Coastal Walk has helped a rugged sheep and beef farm weather tough times.

It's 30 years since the Elworthy family began the Tora Coastal Walk, one of the first multi-day hikes on farmland in NZ. It's been the key to this marginal farm's survival.

Dozens of shearers slipped on their moccasins for the Shear For Life charity shearing event at Hinds, raising $150,000 for local charitable groups.

The team at Waka Dairies near Dannevirke is turning waste from milking cows into fertiliser that can be worked back into the farm.

A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.

Meet farmers Joyce and Jock Wyllie, who first met when she was a locum vet visiting his isolated farm in Golden Bay. We also check back in to see what progress Miley the Huntaway is making and talk to Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford.

Joyce and Jock Wyllie first met when she was a locum vet visiting his isolated farm in Golden Bay.

We catch up with Miley the young Huntaway and her trainer Chris Shaw as she celebrates her first birthday. You'll be blown away by how much progress she's made.

How do New Zealand's farming leaders juggle the farm with the many other hats they may wear in the public arena? We go behind the scenes and catch up with Wayne Langford.

A round-up of conditions on farms and orchards around the country.