Testing Times - Farming with M Bovis and MPI Responds, Peace on Pepin, Counting Heads, Farm Succession feedback and the Regional Wrap.

Gisborne has had a couple of frosts and quite strong nor-west winds. Karamea, on the South Island's West Coast, had a mid-week down pour of about 150 millimetres.

Every year for the past 18 years, Welsh farmer Rhys Howatson has spent a few weeks in New Zealand pregnancy scanning sheep. He's scanned millions of them.

Rural law specialist Ian Blackman believes there is a clear cut way to make sure land is transferred fairly to the next generation.

Pepin Island near Nelson was bought by a German business woman in 1996 for two million dollars. She employed local farmers Andrew and Nicki Newton to manage the scenic 521 hectare sheep and beef property and they've been there ever since.

Henk Smit is hurting. M Bovis has been found in his herd and that means culling 800 calves and cows from two farms. He's finding attending to the paperwork and dealing with agencies managing the response to the disease exhausting and frustrating.

MPI Director of Response Geoff Gwyn says MPI is working closely with Henk Smith to address his concerns.

Organic garlic growers Lon and Gilly eke out a living in Central Otago. To make ends meet, Lon has sometimes chopped wood and washed dishes, while Gilly has shifted cattle breaks and painted t-shirts.

Canterbury dairy farmers Wendy and Lance Main are former 'townies'. After working their way up the share-milking ladder, the couple now produce premium milk on their own 250 hectares near Oxford.

It's empowering for farmers to be realistic about how many good working years might be ahead of them, says 72-year-old farm business consultant Don Fraser.