Buffalo Dairying in New Zealand

Phil with one of their buffalo - Dairy Flat, North Auckland, New Zealand

Buffalo dairying and Buffalo cheese-making go hand in hand on this water buffalo farm in northern New Zealand. When Annie Wills and Phil, her husband, decided that they would like to do something different with their Hanoverian stud property north of Auckland, they were sure they’d come up with the right idea when they saw […]

Greenhouses in New Zealand

Private Taylor Built greenhouse - Photo Theresa Sjoquist

Brief history of greenhouse use in New Zealand, and the beginning of plastic covered tunnel greenhouses. Greenhouses have developed over the last 35 years from a framed glass hothouse kept in a backyard to extend the growing season of vegetables, or to grow out of season harvests, or flowers, into high-tech growing environments utilising specially […]

Milking Goats in New Zealand – Indoor Farming

Milking goats under cover - Photo Theresa Sjoquist

Farming milking goats – Saanen and Toggenburg goats. Outline of indoor dairy goat farm operation. 1100 Saanen and Toggenburg milking goats are housed in six 80m x 9m sheds alongside one another with plenty of light for the indoor herd. Each shed, though they actually lack walls and are probably more accurately called covered pens, […]

Protea and Leucadendron Growing – New Zealand

Leuchadendron

Commercial Protea and Leucadendron growing in NZ – a brief look at the requirements of growing proteas and leucadendrons for export. Proteas and Leucadendrons In New Zealand Proteas and leucadendrons are grown for export to Pacific rim markets. The large stiff majestic protea blooms in pinks, whites and greens, with petals finished in feathery wafting […]

Possum Trapping for Fur in New Zealand

Possum fur goes into the lucrative high-end possum/merino blend clothing trade. Possum trapping helps wildlife management by culling an introduced pest. A lucrative income is being derived in New Zealand through trapping and plucking the fur of an introduced pest, the opossum, generally called possum. With a dedicated approach in areas where possums thrive, just […]