Country Life

Northland, Auckland and Coromandel were swamped in a one in 100 year deluge this week, while elsewhere in the North Island the rainfall was more gentle, welcome and has grass growth pumping. In the South Island night temperatures have dropped quickly but often stunning days are following.

John McDowell manages a large sheep and beef farm at Orere Point south east of Auckland. It is scarred with slips following 220 millimetres of rain in just 12 hours this week.

Geoff Copstick farms angora goats and cattle on his 90 hectare Northland property. He and his wife Kate live "off the grid" and see living in harmony with the land as the ultimate sustainable lifestyle.

Country Life was there when the handpiece buzzed at the 17th World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Invercargill.

On a rugged sheep and beef farm near Taihape, Dan and Jacqui Cottrell grow New Zealand's only commercial crop of the ancient South American grain.

The North Island is having a late summer and store lamb prices have increased, while in the South Island some farmers on the West Coast have turned their irrigation on! And a haze is in the air as mid Canterbury farmers are now allowed to burn stubble

Ian Handcock's Fit for Farming movement encourages farmers to be active off the farm. One farmer is taking it to an extreme and will attempt to milk 4,000 cows in 12 hours.

Rob and Lydia Armstrong's house at Conway Flat was badly damaged by last November's earthquake. The sheep and beef farmers hope to start rebuilding as soon as the insurance paperwork is signed off.

Veterinarian Samara Johnstone is from the tiny Hebridean Island of Islay. Currently working in New Zealand, She hopes to return there to farm one day.

Michele Connell and her husband Roy are dairy farmers on the outskirts of Hamilton. Their online business Off The Beaten Track links holidaymakers with farmers.