Country Life

Country Life meets Hawke's bay stud owner Tony Thompson who's been breeding cattle for half a century. The team also find out about an organic vege growing business in Canterbury and chat to a sheep and beef farming family about diversifying their business.

Collecting fine china is one of the passions of long-time Simmental cattle breeder Tony Thompson, bringing new meaning to the saying "like a bull in a china shop".

Tucked under the Tararua Range, fifth generation sheep and beef farmers, the Robinsons, have added a diverse range of income streams to the family farm including finding new purposes for the old woolshed.

They started growing vegetables in paddock for lockdown vege boxes. Five years on, Penny Platt, her brother Ollie and Issac Green grow over 40 crops on 24 hectares of chemical free farmland in Canterbury.

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

This week on Country Life we check out an artificially constructed lake on Braemore Farm that's built for water storage and fun we’re out with Anna and Mitch Munro are out on the farm every day with 18-month-old Charlie in tow.

20-month-old Charlie Munro already knows some dog calls and how to open gates. His mum, Anna, also grew up at Cravendale, a hill country farm near Mount Somers. She and husband Mitch, a builder who's quickly learnt the art of farming, lease her parents' 450-hectare farm.

Len French wanted a lake to help with water security on his eastern Wairarapa farm. What he's built, Lake Braemore, is now a community asset that can be enjoyed by all.

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

Landscape designer and market gardener Cath Goodrick enjoys showing how people to incorporate kai into their gardens.

This week on Country Life the team take a walk on the wild side with a herd of water buffalo in Clevedon, check out a botanical growing trial in Taranaki and visit an Invercargill native nursery.

Clevedon couple Richard and Helen Dorresteyn were the first to farm water buffalo in New Zealand. These giant, burly beasts produce the softest award-winning cheeses.

Organic dairy farmer Janet Fleming is in her eighth season of once a day milking, something she credits with helping get her through Taranaki's recent drought. She's also trialing growing a range of new botanicals.

Phil Moeke is the manager of Te Kōhaka o Tāne, a commercial nursery in Invercargill that has grown over 800,000 native trees and plants since it opened in 2022.

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