I started out this morning meeting up with Chris Glassey, one of the many folks at DairyNZ that I have come to know. By the way, DairyNZ is said "Dairy N Zed". Not Zee. Another kiwi correction. And here's a taste of the many cow decorations at DairyNZ.
Every Tuesday morning the folks at DairyNZ go out to their research farm, Scott Farm, and do a survey of the pastures. This consists of a team of about 7 folks tramping about in gumboots judging how much ground cover and how much dry matter (in kilos) per square meter to determine how often to rotate the herd and where to send them. By the end of it I think I got quite good at guessing a number, 1-24, of how much grass was available.
The cows in the nearby pastures were a bit curious as to what we were doing. The white grass in the picture is covered in Magnesium oxide, a supplement for the cows to prevent milk fever after calving. They're out of the milking season right now but they're going to calve in a few weeks' time.
My waterproof hiking boots are no longer waterproof. In fact, they are very, very soggy.
I met a lovely young lady about my age, Virginia (ironic?), which was nice and we chatted about horses for quite some time. Outside of Auckland she's one of very few people my age.
Finishing up about noon, I wasted no time driving over to the Hamilton gardens for a run. I owe the gardens a big fat apology. They are actually quite spectacular in the sun. I think it was the time of day that threw me off. Not to mention, today was warm and glorious sunshine all day long.
Post-run I went to the local Pak-n-save which has an AWESOME bulk section. I'm rather fond of dried figs (I know, weird/old lady) and I can buy them in bulk. That, and meringues. I love this country.
I had lunch at the Country Lodge which was spectacular weather. Knowing that I needed to prep for the Field Days, I headed out to the Cambridge i-site and drove around the little town for a bit. I also dropped by the racetrack where a nice fellow told me about the trot workouts they hold in the mornings, around 6 am. I know what I'll be doing Thursday morning.
On my way back home to the lodge, there was a little Fox Terrier running about on the highway, no owner in sight. I use the term "highway" rather loosely, as this just means a road where people drive 100+ k's per hour. Therefore, loose dog = dead dog. Not thinking, I just checked for traffic and opened my door. The little bugger jumped right in without a second thought!
She had no ID tag, but there was a 800 number for the Waikato region with an ID number. I headed to the only person I knew with a phone, Malcom, who called for me and the lady came to pick up "Roxy" after we played another chasing game. The best way to catch her? I opened the car door again.
And then she ate my meringues. I'm a little bitter about it.
I also had some time to visit the nearby horses, maybe 10 meters from my camper. The sorrel was very, very friendly. Her pasture-mate, a racehorse, was lazily rolling around in the grass, soaking up the sun.
Beauty of traveling alone: that can change. If they will be home when I go to Dargaville, which will require a route do-over, I will definitely stay there.
This country ALWAYS has spectacular sunsets.
I also met another resident of the Country Lodge, a horse transporter. Well, mostly horses. He transports quite a few racehorses and has had some crazy things like alpacas!
Apparently he also owns a few racehorses and sold one to the states, Xpectation, who has won a few of her races (6?) but hasn't gone into the high stakes. I met some others here from south of Christchurch here for the forestry/machinery aspect of the field days too.
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