Articles by Joyce Wyllie, from Kaihoka Farm, views from a rural woman

Jan 2017

"New" is such a shiny word. New brings expectation, imagination, and anticipation.
Calendars have turned over to 2017 and another new year began for us all. Twelve months of seasons and cycles of life and farming bringing weather unknown and markets we've no control over. 52 weeks to build budgets, make decisions, read meat-works schedules on Fridays and manage other challenges and changes. A brand new diary, courtesy of our transport company, with lots of lines on lovely white pages ready to fill with the activities and numbers of 365 more days of stock and family routine. Our two children both made huge steps over the last year... growing more, knowing more and going out from home more and I wonder what milestones I will write in my 2017 diary. New can bring some feelings of grief as happy familiar can feel quite comfortable.

Our old year wound up with a few good weeks. Lambs were weaned and now growing well on plantain/clover .Ewes settled and looking good. Calves all marked with one mob of 51 cows successfully rearing 55 offspring. Mary achieved her learners license so her focus over the summer holidays is driving practice.My "job" is to be the calm supportive one in the passenger seat, just as I did for Johnie. If life was fair Mum would train one child and Dad would take responsibility for the second, but Jock reckons it's a shame to waste the practice I've already had. Johnie now has his full license , bought a new double cab ute, loaded it with shearing gear, grinder, fan and still has room for a rousy. Driving creates independence where we live.

The 25th December arrived quickly with the traditional tree shedding needles in the lounge, heaps of chocolates, Christmas gifts and a sumptuous feed with friends and family. Grandad came out from hospital for the day and it was nice to have him back at Kaihoka even for short time . After lunch we enjoyed doing something together which most people in town are unable to do. Chairs were carried outside and parked in the sun, Gran turned her hearing aids off , the rest of us put ear plugs in and we spent a few hours admiring the view, firing clay birds off the lawn and shooting at them. Someone kept score, the Wyllie's were well beaten by the visitors , numerous intact discs were collected from the paddock below the house and next year we will probably do it all again.

Christmas is a lovely day to celebrate with family and friends but it's also a time when many festive tables have someone special absent. My great friend, Dick, usually joins us for the day bearing berries from his garden to share. We missed his genial generous company this year, although I had raided his berry patch so desert was just as delicious. I thought of many other families also experiencing their first Christmas with a big gap and know that it can be tough.

A big excitement on the last day of 2016 was that Lyn finally completed her paddle around New Zealand. Reading her daily blog we knew where she was on her adventure and have kept in touch with her since she got stuck at Kaihoka for a month in winter waiting for safe sea conditions to enable her to continue north. On 31st December she paddled past Rangitoto Island and back to Takapuna, where she started out 432 days before on a journey to raise awareness of mental health. An amazing effort to complete 5843 kilometres in 132 days on the water. All those other days were spent waiting for good weather and waves.Time to walk, meet locals and see places in New Zealand most of us never get to, and develop patience most of us don't either. I did make a new year resolution to be more patient and not so quick to express my opinion.That was just before the lawn mower malfunctioned and a big group of people abused the privilege of access across our land to the beach. I failed on both resolutions...I wasn't and I did!

Sometimes "new" also comes with a sense of relief as the old is replaced and we look forward to something better. Summer rainfall has kept grass green , clover is flowering and it's a season of growth . Dairy prices are rising and it would be wonderful if our meat and wool fortunes improved too with our produce valued and in demand.

Ahead is this wonderful gift of 365 new days. I intend to make the most of each precious one, not get bogged down and try to be positive and joyful whatever. Happy and satisfying New Year to you all.

Christmas and Shepherds

"Christmas Bells, those Christmas bells, Ringing through the land"...... familiar words we hear again at this time of the year to a tune which tends to become stuck in the brain. Be wonderful if the great message of "bringing peace to all the world and goodwill to man" came true. Songs carry memories and this one takes me back to one summer when I was rousying in a shearing gang between my years of university studies. With no fancy iPods, bluetooth or modern sound system we listened to the woolshed radio, so day after day we heard the Red Baron cry out to Snoopy "Merry Christmas my friend!"

My favourite this-time-of-the-year song is the carol "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night". As another who tends and cares for sheep centuries later I identify with those shepherds and wonder what their lives were like. So many differences when looking after our respective flocks and yet much remains the same.

Weather with its impact on grass growth and stock management stock affects any shepherd. The means of forecasting may be vastly different but , even with technology like TV , phone apps and computorised predictions, sometimes the good old eye to the sky and finger in the air is still useful. And every shepherd operates around seasons. Time to put the ram out, feed the pregnant ewes, care for lambs as they grow and wean them. Not for the shepherd of long ago the knowledge,numbers and planning gained from scanning.Spring simply arrived and lambs were born.

Shepherds in whatever country, climate or era know their land. They are familiar with tracks, valleys and hills, water supplies and pastures. Nowadays reticulation and troughs have been installed and grass is measured , dry matter calculated and new fodder species developed, but the requirements of the flock for feed and water are the same.
The folk in the carol were out in the night keeping watch over their flock,but we enjoy being in our beds resting with the knowledge that our ewes are safe within fences with no predators waiting to kill our animals while we sleep.

From one millennium to the next millions of reliable, generous sheep have grown their amazing, truly sustainable product, wool. Generations of shepherds from before Bible times until today have harvested this gift from sheep to keep families warm.The flock being watched on the hill that night probably looked more like goats than the larger woolly beasts in our paddocks. Genetics have improved, shearing equipment and technique have developed and sheep breeds have changed but over all that time fleeces have been shorn and woollen garments and products created for the benefit of mankind.

I wonder what markets those shepherds were selling into and what stock agents or companies they dealt with.Many lambs in AD times would have been destined for sacrifice at the temples rather than cooked and served on tables. No Friday night schedule for those shepherds to check up on prices whereas over the last 2 weeks the income from our lambs dropped 20 cents per kilogram. As lambs are growing bigger price is getting smaller so we need to decide whether to sell some now as stores or keep them hoping that growth is faster than decline in carcass value.

The shepherds the angel called on were outcast people and their job minding sheep was lowly, poorly paid and looked down on. No doubt that we are better off but with dairy prices rising again improving returns to suppliers and our economy, it leaves us feeling like the forgotten farmers again. I won't mention all the bureaucracy we deal with that I am sure they didn't face.

Shepherds watching flocks in the darkness were committed to their sheep and the job of looking after them when that amazing visitor interrupted them that night bringing "good tidings of great joy" . Visitors interrupt my days too . Maybe angels, but disguised as salesmen, fisherfolk , holiday makers, travellers with flat batteries, shearing gangs and friends.

Life is always busy for any shepherd with jobs ahead and work to be done .Those Bethlehem shepherds had a choice that night when they were invited to town to be part of a wondrous experience and we also have choices too. Either be stuck on the farm dealing with the list of many things we must do, should do , should have done, or to sometimes leave our hills. Our reasons may not be quite so history making but this is the season to attend end of year prize giving at school, Federated farmers tea, Rural Women Christmas lunch , Board of Trustees celebratory dinner , Santa parade and garden party at the hospital with Grandad. It IS the season of great joy indeed, so wishing readers Merry Christmas My Friends

The Big Picture

Sometimes it is not easy to look at the big picture when our lives are focussed on our small corner of it. Our Kaihoka month has been full with a few challenges lately.

A total of 290 mls of rain over 26 days with only 3 of them not recording in the gauge. The farm was soggy, the grass like lettuce soup and the lambs wool drenched not fluffy and bouncy and looking stringy like they all need to be hung out to dry . Washing was damp , weeds sprouted out of control in my neglected garden and the lawn grew mower-chokingly long.

Then my big healthy house cow, Pamela, produced a feeble little calf which I nursed for over a week before it died. Farmers are not callous and casual as portrayed by some sneaky organisations which are strong on feelings but weak on knowledge .We do care and deaths are sad and disappointing . Pamela has moved on and accepted a brown bull calf , born late on a dairy farm, in place of her own black heifer.

Mary has been sitting level 1 exams and realised now that it is hard to catch up at the end of the year on work not done earlier. Which is difficult for me too because as a Mum , who is also strong on feelings, there is that tricky balance between being a helping helicopter or an encouraging coach as she learns from her mistakes.

The telephone was dead for a week which makes for a quiet life but does limit communication. Cell phone coverage is patchy so our front garden, where we get best reception, looks tidy since I weeded there while having necessary conversations. And for days in a row I was going out for meetings, funerals, exams, and I seemed to be never home.

Then early on the morning of Monday 14th November we were woken with a long rolling, shaking quake. Jock checked the earthquake site with his phone and we saw the location and magnitude of it. No damage at Kaihoka , but as the devastation in affected areas unfolded I felt like a teenager complaining about split ends in my hair when cancer patients are losing theirs , or a kid whinging about eating silverbeet 4 days in a row while there are families who haven't eaten anything at all in that time.

Certainly gives me a wake up perspective on the bigger picture. We are all still together in a warm, dry house with lawn and garden not crumpled . We have a road to drive to town on which has no cracks and slumps . Mary has a school still standing and safe to attend. Our power and telephone are functional and we have communication.We have intact sheds , water systems and farm tracks .Fences and paddocks are still where they should be and so are all our stock. My cow is still milking, Johnie is shearing ewes in the wool shed, and the pups are growing up in their pen . Our farm is operational, our income not impacted and our budget does not have to somehow fund huge costs of repairs and restructure. Our time will not be consumed with clean up and fix up, not to mention front up to insurance and EQC. Our normal routine is happening, we are not dreading the next shake and our familiar land marks look the same.

I am painfully aware of the hardships so many families are living through, especially on farms and more isolated valleys and homes away from support ( and media!)
These challenges for so many will go for a very long time yet and so will anxiety over further shocks and worry about more damage.These people, so badly affected, who are working through their disrupted lives are so often in my thoughts as I gratefully work through my reasonably normal days. I wonder how to respond in a helpful, constructive way. We have sent donations and given some unbroken home bottled fruit to the local appeal. I can say through this column that we are certainly empathising with you and invite anyone who would like a quiet relaxing family break on the West Coast far away from the devastation on the East Coast then you are welcome at Kaihoka for a holiday . We do care and as I walked out in the quiet dark paddock to milk my cows carrying my little torch late one fine evening I looked up at the hundreds of stars spread across the black night sky . Now that is a good way to get a perspective on the really big picture.

Tribute to Dick

What a difference one month makes. 4 weeks ago I was helping my friend judge the pets at show day and today I am helping arrange a funeral service to celebrate his life.

I dedicate this column to one of my true friends, Arno Richard Wenzel...Dick, my first "boss" when I began my veterinary career. Late 1980 ,about to graduate from Massey University Vet faculty I was applying for that important first "real" job. Golden Bay Vet Club was looking for a locum and having been to this beautiful part of NZ before I was keen to live and work here. Figuring the best thing was to front up for an interview I flew from Palmerston North to Nelson and bussed over the hill. Arriving in Takaka all passengers disembarked to meet people waiting for them. I looked for Dick, the head vet who was picking me up. With this idea of what a "head vet" would look like I didn't see anyone fitting that image. Eventually everyone else departed leaving a slightly built tanned man, very reserved and with an appearance more of an artist than a practising scientist. He looked just as surprised to see me. With my bare feet, fresh face and luggage lost on the way down I probably didn't like a serious job seeker. When we shook hands then I had no concept of what an impact this kind and clever man would have on my life. I stayed 3 days with borrowed overalls and gumboots, was offered that locum job and started work after graduation the following year. Dick loved music and was conductor in the local orchestra so one question at the interview was whether I played any instrument.Maybe I was accepted because I had some experience with a trumpet and the orchestra was short of brass

Leaving Vet school I had the training and head knowledge but it was alarming to drive to a farm and realise that this client actually thought I was the vet, while I sure didn't feel like one. Dick was a wonderful encouraging boss, gave me his time ,straightforward advice and value of his experience. If I turned out to be useful as a vet it is largely thanks to Dick's influence and guidance and I am enormously grateful. He had a great way of listening to my end-of-the-day retelling of calls and cases and never once lost his cool and spluttered anything like ..."You did what ??!...that was so dumb". Instead he would counsel "next time you could try this"...or " something else you could maybe consider .." I gained so much learning without losing confidence and there were many other new graduates who also benefitted from Dick's expertise in the same wise way.

That first spring season was busy and I had a run of difficult calvings which I couldn't deliver so I had to resort to performing caesareans. By the 4th one in a row I asked Dick to come out to the farm as I was feeling incompetent. He put his arm up to examine it, agreed with my decision and helped me with another C-section. Later I wondered if that cow really did need that surgery or whether Dick was more concerned about the confidence I had in my ability. When I asked Dick whether he actually could have pulled the calf out per vagina his reply was his characteristic philosophical "mmmm", a small smile , and "what do you think?".

Dick was one of those talented vets who was competent with large animals, as well as a brilliant surgeon and small animal clinician. His contribution to Golden Bay went far beyond his vet services. Lions Club, Abbeyfield Housing Trust, Probus, U3A, Wrinklies Express, and others all benefitted from Dick's commitment and dedication. His involvement in many organisations and service on various committees was recognised last year by a well deserved Tasman District Council Community Volunteer Award.

There were plans to capture his life story on paper. Dick, Joan and I were 3 vets who all worked together in Golden Bay over many years, and we discussed working together on a book. Sadly it is now too late for Dick to write his own chapters but what a fitting tribute to him if we collected and published his stories submitted by family, farmers, pet owners, neighbours, friends and colleagues . On the radiotelephone Dick would call in "Vet One to Vet Base" and maybe that could be the title. Stories of his eccentric doberman , Gretel and Kelly his kelpie, stories of visiting vet students ,of his travels and many adventures and covering all the changes in veterinary practice which he was part of.

During his life Dick has touched so many lives in so many ways and I am grateful that mine was one of them. I honour Dick Wenzel, valuable friend and colleague.

School pet days are some of those memory making , memory evoking events . Collingwood Area School has just held show day again which was a wonderful, colourful, busy community event.As well as animals there were competitions in the hall for cooking, crafts, photography and flowers, plus art exhibits, games, food and a waterslide. It was a big day out for all our family as my husband, Jock , was one of the "knowledgeable" lamb judges making the hard decisions on cute children with cute lambs, many of which originally came from Kaihoka. Son, Johnie , was helpful support steward for both goats and dog sections, watching over his sister in both events. I held ribbons and filled in prize sheets in the pet department as the judge examined a chatty bird ,some baby guinea pigs, rabbits in various cages, a cat and the chooks .

Our daughter , Mary , really enjoys participating in show day and puts in a big effort .We headed to school the evening before with portable gates loaded on the ute to build the pen for holding lambs, plus all the exhibits to go in the hall. A pet rock called "Bling, the lady bird", photos, a carrot-and-cauliflower butterfly vegetable critter ,creations in biscuits, hats and decorated saucer sections and a big bright piƱata pig made of paper machier which is to be be broken on her birthday. On show day another load was organised....lamb, Cleo calf, cage with bantam and chickens, Nanny Goat, Rossy dog and boxes with all required leads, bowls, bottles, and biscuits. After a busy day in the sun the whole transport operation is repeated , then we pass the shop for an ice cream, and head home to unload it all. In past years we had three children contributing to pet day so numbers were trebled and, even with a trailer, that took some working out where everything would go, with kids holding stuff and the odd squashed treasure.

The primary school I attended was too small to stage a pet day because it had a maximum role of 10 students, so as a child I missed taking my varied menagerie for exhibition. When I came to Golden Bay as a vet I was cajoled into judging various pets categories at different schools. Veterinary universities do not train one for making these serious and important choices between pet.Most of them were obviously much loved and well trained, although the occasional goat was covered in lice and several dogs headed off to parents when let off their lead in the 'obedience" class . Some children like talking and answering questions about their pet and some go all shy . This adjudicating job can be tricky in a small community knowing children and families, and their efforts and expectations.

The first show day I attended as mother was very special. After Johnie was born we spent 3 weeks in hospital before the joy of coming home. 2 weeks later was local school show day and I was such a proud mum on that very first exciting public outing, pushing my own cute "exhibit" in his buggy .

Lots of work from lots of people goes into school show days and I am so grateful to teachers and committees who together make it happen every spring. Also to sponsors who support the event because the necessary ribbons and rosettes all cost money. It is a great opportunity for people who don't have the privilege of pets at home to interact with animals, as well a time for those who do have pets to enjoy showing them off. It would be so beneficial to have a country show day in a town school to share this lovely experience.
Over a school year there are students who shine on sports days, or in the swimming pool,or on the rugby field and netball courts, or at speech contests, or art competitions, and in the end of year class prizes in many subjects.To be successful at something is a wonderful confidence boost .It is brilliant to have a day for students who enjoy creating, and those who love and care for animals to have their day in the sun. I am proud to see Mary's collection of ribbons and her name engraved on cups. More than that I love her enthusiasm to contribute , her encouragement of others and pleasure in their success ,her generosity in giving her lamb to another girl to take home and her enjoyment of other's creativity. Like the inspired winning entry in the senior "Hat decorated with natural material" section. This enterprising lad's humorous interpretation was an akubra piled high with dried cow dung pats, tastefully tied with ribbon and adorned with gorse and hawthorn flowers. Rural , funny and clever it was definitely one of many happy memories of another the country school pet day .

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Kaihoka Farmstay
Kaihoka Lake Road
Golden Bay
West Coast
New Zealand
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