Country Life

Bidding was competitive at the Mt Cass Station Wiltshire Sheep Sale in North Canterbury. Nearly 3500 sheep reached higher than expected prices at Andrew and Sara Heard's farm and were sold to bidders from Kerikeri to Cromwell. Wiltshires shed their wool annually and are becoming popular with farmers and lifestyle block owners seeking an easy-care meat breed.

Greg Taylor is the son of a bushman and first started working in forests in the 1960s. For more than 40 years he's lived near Colville in the northern Coromandel where he grows trees, fells and mills timber and makes one-off pieces of furniture.

People hunkering down in pandemic-hit US and UK - major markets for Marlborough wine - has meant a lift in sales of wine from New Zealand's largest wine growing region.

Temperatures plummeted in Canterbury this week from near 40 degrees to 2 on Friday morning. Hawke's Bay grape growers have had heat and rain when they've needed it this summer.

Fionnuala Reynolds has spent the summer checking the quality of cherries coming off trees in Alexandra.

Wine sales lift after people staying at home in the US and UK reach for a bottle from Marlborough, one look at a log and wood worker Greg Taylor knows what he should make from it, wool-less sheep are in hot demand, and the Regional Wrap.

Work has finally started to restore an old wharf at Tokomaru Bay on the East Cape. A committed band of locals has been working for years to raise money for the rebuild which they hope will reinvigorate the town.

Rangiora's Luisetti Seeds' warehouses, seed clearing facilities and silos are a constant reminder to locals of the town's long agricultural history. The family business was established by Vincent Luisetti in 1932 and while it may be 88 years old, the company is in expansion-mode and is investing in state-of-the art seed cleaning technology.

In January Tararua farmer Mel Poulton took over as New Zealand's special agricultural trade envoy. She'd typically be advocating for New Zealand's farmers and products overseas - but she's had to do that job in front of a computer. She says NZ exporters are well set to cope with Brexit, whatever the announcement is on Sunday.

Stock need sun on their back with more than enough rain in the north, vines are spurting along in Marlborough and Hawkes Bay and farmers are fighting to maintain pasture quality in Southland.