Day 3

 

Some students were able to visit some local farm stores in Morrinsville and chat with some of the employees. They were thrilled to see Americans here learning about New Zealand Agriculture.

We started out the day by departing our hotel in Hamilton. We then drove to Morrinsville, a local community centered around the farming industry. There, we had the opportunity to visit several local farm stores such as Farm Source, Farmlands, and PGG Wrightson. It was very cool to see different farm products that are used in New Zealand and compare them to what we have in the US. We also were able to visit the local bakery, Wagon Wheel, where we tried lots of tasty pastries and treats. 

While in Morrinsville, we were able to visit a local bakery. Dr. Walker has talked about this since the beginning of the semester, so students were excited to try the treats! There were many display cases filled with pastries and desserts.

 

From Morrinsville, we headed to a local dairy owned by Chad and Jan who were originally from the United States before coming to New Zealand as backpackers. We learned a lot about the grass-fed dairy industry and how it differs from the US dairy industry in many ways. We were able to learn about their milking process and how much it differs from the US. Chad and Jan run a 600-700 head mob (also known as a herd). It takes 2 people about 2 hours and 15 minutes to milk all the cows. They do this twice a day, at 5:30 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. The cows get milked for 305 consecutive days before hitting a dry period. They calve out 3 times a year which is not like the rest of the New Zealand dairy industry. Most of their calves come in July, August, and September. They have smaller calving “seasons” in April and between November and December. Chad also said that he brings in some dairy genetics from the US into his herd. The cows wear collars that help to determine whether they are in heat and ready to be bred. Since all of the breeding is done through AI, this cuts down on a lot of work for Chad which gives him more time to handle the day-to-day operations. After the farm tour we headed to Matamata.

This is what New Zealand dairy producers call a “Calf-eteria”. It is used as a more efficient way to feed calves some milk replacer that they need to grow. The calves were about 8 months old and were in the process of being weaned off the milk which lead to them eating more grass as they get older.

We were able to learn more about their feeding systems. If you look closer in the photo, you will see something that appears to be a potato. It is actually a kiwifruit, which is a very commonly grown fruit in New Zealand. Chad and Jan buy the fruit that is not fit for sale at a supermarket for a low price and feed them to their cows as a filler for when grass is in lower supply.

We had the opportunity to tour the set of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings movies. This picture displays the vibrant green grass and the rolling hills of the Alexander Farm.

While in Matamata, we were able to make our way to the Hobbiton movie set. The movie set in based on a small portion of the Alexander Farm. The farm is comprised of 12,000 acres where they run over 13,000 head of sheep and 400 head of Angus beef. Not only was it cool see the livestock grazing the land but it was a beautiful site to see with all of the rolling hills and the deep valleys covered in green luscious grass. On this set, Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were filmed. We were able to go on a 2-hour tour around the movie set and see different aspects of how the movies were filmed and produced. This is a major tourist attraction that brings in people from all over the world.

This was one of the Hobbit Holes we had the opportunity to see on our tour. The students enjoyed being able to walk through the very detailed movie set and see all of the small effects that the filmmakers added.

To end the night, we were able to enjoy a buffet style dinner at the Skyline restaurant that over looks Rotorua. This restaurant is located on the top of a hill. To get to the restaurant, guests need to take a gondola to reach the top. There was a wide variety of food covering every course from soup, salad, different types of fish, pork, lamb, and beef, as well as an array of desserts. Once at the top the students were able to enjoy the evening while looking at the city and talking about their day and what they learned.

After riding a gondola up to the restaurant, students enjoyed a wide variety of appetizers, entrees, and desserts while looking over an incredible view of the city of Roturua.

 

After dinner, we headed back to our current accommodation, the Rock Solid Hostel in Rotorua. Students are settling in tonight for a big day tomorrow.