Country

Rain arrived onto already wet pastures in the North Island and in the South, it's becoming too cold for the grass to grow in Central Otago. Audio

Mavis Staples, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan are touring New Zealand, in song form, covered by country soul singer Tami Neilson. Audio

Simon Morris talks to Aly Cook from Nelson about the success of her single 'Western Line' in Australia and her new series called Kiwi Country ­ - being broadcast in the UK and the US - which… Video, Audio, Gallery

More dairy herds are being dried off, or slowed to once a day milking now and there's the first snow on some North Island ranges. Southland dairy farms are also moving down to 16-hour-a-day milking in… Audio

Lovely calm and sunny days, with cool nights, let North Island farmers and croppers get onto the land for cultivation or repair work, and the kiwifruit harvest had an uninterrupted week for a change… Audio

The North Island is drying out after the Easter rain, and cool temperatures are helping kiwifruit mature. The rams out in force on hill country farms in Marlborough and there's tons of feed around… Audio

Many North Island farms have saturated soils after a week of rain and in-between the downpours contractors are trying to harvest maize. In the South Island rain is destroying grape crops in Malborough… Audio

The country's largest on-farm deer sale was held on High Peak Station, Mid Canterbury, this week and Edgecumbe farms are swamped. Much of the rest of the North Island is sodden too. Audio

Bay of Plenty dairy farms are having a decent autumn but wet weather has interrupted the kiwifruit harvest. Grapes in Marlborough need more sun to ripen and in Southland store prices are on the rise… Audio

Maize is being harvested in Waikato and the first kiwifruit exports left for China this week. Marlborough farmers are busy setting up rotations around tupping blocks for ewes. In vineyards the bulk of… Audio

In Bay of Plenty the first of the Sun Gold kiwifruit are being harvested in sunny conditions. Kiwifruit are also being picked in Poverty Bay and Northland. On the West Coast of the South Island lots… Audio

Northland, Auckland and Coromandel were swamped in a one in 100 year deluge this week, while elsewhere in the North Island the rainfall was more gentle, welcome and has grass growth pumping. In the… Audio

John McDowell manages a large sheep and beef farm at Orere Point south east of Auckland. It is scarred with slips following 220 millimetres of rain in just 12 hours this week. Audio, Gallery

On a rugged sheep and beef farm near Taihape, Dan and Jacqui Cottrell grow New Zealand's only commercial crop of the ancient South American grain. Audio, Gallery

The North Island is having a late summer and store lamb prices have increased, while in the South Island some farmers on the West Coast have turned their irrigation on! And a haze is in the air as mid… Audio

Michele Connell and her husband Roy are dairy farmers on the outskirts of Hamilton. Their online business Off The Beaten Track links holidaymakers with farmers. Audio