Submitted by Makayla Musgrove on the 2018 winter session program in New Zealand sponsored by the Department of Animal and Food Sciences…
It has been about a week since I have arrived in New Zealand. The flight here was very long, but not the worst flight I have ever been on. During our long flight from Houston to Auckland, people on our group met this lady, who grew up in the United States, but fell in love with New Zealand, so she had been living there for a few years. She had a combination of a southern accent and a kiwi accent. Learning that someone had fallen so in love with this country that they moved across the world to it was exhilarating. We could only hope that we would love this place as much as she did. The rest of day one, our advisors’ main goal was to keep us awake, at least until 9:00 pm. We shopped at their mall and had a scavenger hunt around campus.
The next day, our entire group decided to visit the beach, and it was so beautiful. We all enjoyed relaxing on the beach, climbing the rocks and getting ice cream with fresh berries mixed in. We also all learned that sunburn happens quickly here and that we need to apply more sunscreen. Afterwards, we visited the grocery store. It was so fun looking at all the differences between our grocery store and theirs. We also got recommendations from a New Zealander about what snacks we should try. Her son suggested that we try kiwis while we are in the land of kiwis.
The follow day, Thursday, we visited the university dairy and met Peter Hancox. The way they run a dairy is very different from the way we do it in America. They grow pasture and rotate the cows on these. They don’t often provide feed to the animals and the cows don’t get barns. It is very hands off. Peter told us there were less people working on this dairy, compared to ours that has at least eight. They also had around 400 cows, while we have only 100. They focus on the protein and fat in milk since they sell it as milk powder, where we focus more on the quantity of fluid milk. Peter was so helpful and answered all of our questions.
On Saturday, we went and visited the Kidd Farm. They had two types of sheepdogs, a heading and a huntaway. A heading is the classic sheepdog that you see on TV, it is silent and guides the sheep. The huntaway is unique to New Zealand, they bark to get the sheep moving and are typically used to push the sheep away from the shepherd. Peter Kidd showed us how they work in the field and showed us how he trains them. Peter Kidd and his family were very nice, each of them talked to us. They explained how important these dogs are to their lifestyle. Even though the dogs were more like employees, you could see they cared for them deeply.
After visiting the Kidd Farm, we went the Akaroa for the afternoon. It is one of the only French settlements in New Zealand. It was a classic beach town, with stores along the harbor, and plenty of options to explore the water. The views were gorgeous, and everyone in our group spent the afternoon walking around just taking it all in.
