Country Life

Christmas cakes, a deer hunting legend, rehoming racehorses and building a wetland on farm

Country Life is back at the A and P Show in Christchurch, checking out the best Christmas cakes in show and meets Canterbury horse trainer, Chanelle Dickie, who's taken dozens of retired racehorses under her wing. The team also takes a tour of a wetland at the bottom of a dairy farm.

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Chanelle Dickie has taken dozens of retired racehorses under her wing. She's part of a rehoming and re-educating programme that cares for standardbreds that have fallen off the pace.

Chanelle Dickie has taken dozens of retired racehorses under her wing at the Selwyn Equestrian Centre.

But she says the hardest thing is always letting them go to their forever home.

"I don't know many horses I've let go that haven't put tears in my eyes as they go down the driveway," Dickie tells Country Life.

Listen to Chanelle Dickie on Country Life

Located at Burnham, the horse trainer is part of HERO - a rehoming and re-educating programme caring for standardbred's that have fallen off the pace.

"It's run by Harness Racing New Zealand," Dickie explains.

"It's their scheme to show they care about the life after racing and the standardbred breed," she says.

Most of the horses Dickie re-trains come from the Canterbury region. However, there are also HERO re-trainers in Auckland, Southland and North Canterbury.

She says even though the horses haven't had riders on them, it's usually quite easy to break the horses into saddle.

"They've had a bridle on, a bit in their mouth, they know how to steer and stop.

"Essentially the only thing they need is weight on their back and the pressure of your legs on either side, that's new to them."

Once retrained, Dickie says it's quite easy to find horses new homes through the HERO programme, but there's a strict vetting process.

"We only ever let them go if they have another horse at home, as they're a herd animal.

"And they have to come here and ride in front of me and show me their skills," she says.

Not all harness racing horses can be rehomed for riding, due to either an injury or their attitude.

However, there are other options for these horses, Dickie says.

Females can become brood mares while males can be a good paddock mate for another horse, she explains.

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A wetland at the bottom of a dairy farm in South Wairarapa is reducing most of the nitrates being drained from the paddocks. The project at Kaiwaiwai Dairies is nearly a decade old and one of the owners takes us on a tour.

Drinking from the drain flowing out of a corner of his South Wairarapa dairy farm is not such a crazy idea, Aidan Bichan says.

If it weren't for the wildlife living in Kaiwaiwai Dairies' three-quarter hectare wetland, its co-owner has only a few qualms about taking a sip.

He took Country Life on a tour of the wetland, established nearly a decade ago.

Take a tour of Kaiwaiwai Dairies' wetland with Country Life

It was designed with advice from Greater Wellington and NIWA after several iterations and dug by an earth-moving contractor who's a fellow shareholder in the farm.

"He understood the issues around dirt."

Six metre-wide channels were dug in the carbon-rich peat and the soil pushed up to form banks in between 12 tightly squashed up curves.

The banks are now heaving with harakeke and native trees and shrubs.

Water-filtering plants were added and over the years they found raupo did the best job of "polishing up the water."

The aim was to remove nitrates from the water drained from 200 hectares of pasture.

In earlier times the pollutants from cow urine, fertiliser and plants would have ended up in the Wairarapa Moana.

While nitrate loss from the farm is relatively low - because of low fertiliser use and minimal soil disturbance - Bichan said monthly monitoring shows the wetland's working.

"We know that it's taking out somewhere between half and three quarters of a ton of nitrate out of the water every year."

Kaiwaiwai Dairies milks 900 cows off a 350 hectare milking platform. Clay and iron pans under the paddocks mean water drains sideways rather than leaching downwards.

"If it ends up in a drain we can put it through a wetland and scrub it or polish it. And that's what this was basically demonstrated to do.

"Once the temperature's above about 10 or 11 degrees, we're taking out 95 to 99 percent of the nitrate that comes through."

In winter it still takes half the nitrate out, Bichan added.

"So it is quite temperature dependent for the processes for the bacteria. But that's nice clean water."

Bichan lifts the lid on a drum at the inlet to the wetland showing where a large kōura - freshwater crayfish - had earlier taken up residence.

Tuna - eels - also live here and the wetland's designed with wide enough bays for its resident marine wildlife to take shelter when it needs to be cleaned…

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Cake convener Christine Beaton has a tip for fruitcake bakers at the New Zealand Agricultural Show, "you don't really cook a Christmas cake, you dry it out."

Cake convener Christine Beaton has a tip for fruitcake bakers at the New Zealand Agricultural Show, "you don't really cook a Christmas cake, you dry it out."

The sheep farmer from Leithfield in North Canterbury knows what she's talking about.

She learnt about the dark arts of making Christmas cakes from her great-grandmother.

"I still use her old crockery bowl but it's got some cracks in it now, so one day it's going to disintegrate."

Christine has brought the Christmas Cake Competition back into the heart of the Christchurch show, after it was absent for a few years.

"The people that had done it had done their dash and I've got a passion for cooking so I thought, let's give it a go and see if we can start it again."

She's had a great response from home bakers with entries arriving from as far afield as Western Australia.

"I've got a cake in competition too, but mine is the lightest cake, so everybody has their own taste."

All the cakes are cut in half for judging. A ruler is used to ensure the cuts are made exactly through the centre.

"Because if you did go over to one side a wee bit and it was a bit underdone in the middle, they could miss that."

Christine says the judges, former show president Richard Parkes and farmer and Waipara foodie Judith Hoban, were really impressed by Julie Tapp's winning entry.

"The taste was good, the top was nice and smooth and soft and there was no burnt or over-cooked fruit coming up through," she says.

So did the convener get to taste the fruit cakes after the judging was done?

"I did, I cleaned up the crumbs after every cake was judged, so I do not want another piece of Christmas cake for sometime!" Christine admits.

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Changeable weather has prevailed in Pukekohe. Farmers in Otago are busy marking lambs and bulls are going out to the cows

Plenty of silage is being made in Waikato and most crops are in the ground. Farmers in Otago are busy marking lambs and bulls are going out to the cows.

Listen to this month's wrap of conditions on the land

Northland welcomed a little bit of rain through November causing the grass to take off and bumping up farmers' spirits. Positivity is waning, though, with schedules on both beef and lamb dropping and farmers are bracing themselves ... will the summer bring a drought or another tropical cyclone?

Changeable weather has prevailed in Pukekohe. Some rain on and off has kept crops growing but irrigators have been on especially where crops have been exposed to the wind. Potatoes and early onions are being harvested with strong demand from the local and Pacific Island markets. The same can't be said for broccoli and lettuce which are abundantly available at very low prices. At this stage, it is too early to predict prices for Christmas but our contact says there could be some bargains.

It's been a mixed month in Waikato. On balance there has been a reasonable amount of rain and all the crops are generally in the ground. Plenty of silage is being made, although most are behind on production due to the wet spring. Contractors have been working until 3am to get the job done. Mating has also gone well with submission rates better than last year. And there's been a spike in morale due to the change in government, we're told.

Bay of Plenty has seen some friendly weather throughout November. Consistent, yet light rain has grown a tonne of grass. One thing that needs managing is pasture going to seed - a reproductive state that doesn't provide much in the way of nutrients for livestock. The Rotorua A and P show is on this weekend .... on Saturday ... this is the new date for the show ... it's been brought forward a couple of months because of a lack of sheep and clashes with other events later in the summer. They need plenty of sheep for the shearing competitions.

It's starting to warm up in King Country. Farmers are reporting cooler westerly winds and on the whole, nice bits of rain. Cattle are doing nicely, however, lambs are a bit behind due to a lack of sunshine. Our contact says it could be better, but it could also be a hell of a lot worse. With Christmas creeping closer farmers are hoping to get some reprieve from the year, but not before another busy two or three weeks weaning and drenching lambs. …

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Sheep farming and wool innovation took centre stage at the New Zealand Agricultural Show. The new Wool Zone section showcased the versatility of sheep and educated visitors on the myriad uses for wool.

"It's the most renewable, sustainable fibre in the world. And we need to be applauding that."

These words on wool come from Anne Rogers, the first female president of the Canterbury A&P Association.

She talked with Country Life as Christchurch hosted the 160th New Zealand Agricultural Show, the largest A&P show in Aotearoa.

Walk around the Canterbury A&P Show with Country Life

Rogers has been instrumental in establishing a "wool zone" at the show saying she has floated the idea for three or four years.

This year is the inaugural year for the feature.

"We need to be able to educate people into all the ways that they can use wool in their lives from wool mats for weed prevention, to insulation, cosmetics, and shoes.

"There's somebody that's making a plastic alternative handle for knives, beautiful band-aids, and dressing material.

"There's just so many ways we can use wool and support our economy," Rogers explains.

The wool zone saw all elements of wool come to the Lister Stadium and Livestock Pavillion including the show's shearing and woolhandling chairperson James Dwyer.

Dwyer hosted a woolhandling competition which saw 900 hoggets come to town for two days of competition.

From there, current New Zealand team members, and those vying to make the team competed. It's part of a circuit of points that accumulate throughout the season.

While the event takes a lot of effort and time to pull off, Dwyer says when the public thinks it looks easy that's when they know they have done a good job.

"It's the most amount of work, but we just want people to see what a great industry it is, and the product that we're taking off the sheep for the farmers.

"We just can't do enough to try and promote it. And it's just the chance to be able to bring what we do into the city for the people to see. It's just amazing."

Dwyer says those attending the show aren't always from a rural background and showcasing wool and how it is shorn helps to bridge the urban-rural divide.

"We're really fighting against a stigma that wool is a negative product, that it is bad.

"And even perpetrating the myth that an animal has to be killed for its wool to be removed, which is just a complete fabrication because it's the most sustainable product we can imagine. …

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Bryan Baker has been making knives for over 40 years in Waiuku - and now the legacy keeps growing as the next generation comes through.

Bryan Baker's story begins with a lost World War Two bayonet and a pocket knife vanishing in a paddock.

He has spent the last 40 years honing his craft of knife-making under the Svord brand in a humble shed in the rural town of Waiuku.

Listen to the story of Svord on Country Life

And now the story has taken a step he never saw coming - it's become a family affair.

"I wouldn't have foreseen that...I think it's good to have a family business," Bryan tells Country Life with his two daughters who have joined him in making knives perched to his left.

"To me, it's a better thing having a family business than having a public company. You're working towards something together."

Bryan's journey into knife-making took root during his college years, where a stolen project in metalworking class sparked his interest.

Night classes and dedication followed, and at the age of 18, he began his journey into the art of knife making.

His skills drew the attention of a seasoned knifemaker named Bohumil Nebesky, who offered Bryan invaluable lessons in both the business and the art of crafting knives on a larger scale.

"He offered to teach me and so then I learnt the business side of it and also the side of how to make knives on a manufacturing basis, as opposed to making them in the shed, one at a time.

"That was a big boost to my business and for many years, I'd go down and see him and stay in Hamilton and learn the trade-off him."

Inspired and armed with newfound knowledge, Bryan developed the iconic peasant knife in 1995, using Swedish carbon steel and the Svord brand was born.

Bryan says when he started 99 per cent of knives were made with stainless steel. However, Bryan uses carbon steel stating it stays sharper for longer.

Over the years, Svord expanded its offerings to include chef's knives and kitchen knives, firmly establishing its presence in the market.

"We've actually been recognised as one of the - probably the only company - in Australia or New Zealand, in the modern era, to start up a cutlery company and be successful at it.

"There are lots of small guys, one-man operations working from home, but nothing on the scale that we got here."

However, Bryan's passion for knife-making did not stop with him.

His 24-year-old daughter, Kelsey, had found her way into the family business.

Despite initially contemplating a career in sewing, Kelsey's hands-on nature and love for creating led her to the workshop…

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Wool's versatility showcased, knives out in Waiuku and a chat with farmers' market rep Jono Walker.

Country Life finds out about wool innovation at the New Zealand Agricultural Show and pays a visit to a niche knife-making factory in the small North Island town of Waiuku involving a father and his daughters.

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A round-up of the week's agricultural news with RNZ rural news reporter Monique Steele.

RNZ rural reporter Monique Steele takes a look at the week's rural news including the new line-up of government ministers for the primary sector, a botch-up in dairy cow AI among Waikato herds and a Marlborough oyster farm's expansion plans.

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Jono Walker, chair of Farmers' Markets New Zealand, is Country Life's guest this week. He's been in Rome mingling with other farmers' market representatives from around the world.

Farmers' markets in New Zealand need more support from local authorities and government, a farmers' market advocate says.

In other countries, like Italy, authorities increasingly rely on weekly farm-to-fork style markets as a way of ensuring people are fed, especially in times of crisis, according to Farmers' Markets New Zealand chair Jono Walker.

Walker went to a meeting of the World Farmers' Markets Coalition in Rome this year and told Country Life mingling with attendees from as far afield as Alaska and Ghana felt like being part of one big family.

Listen to the interview with Jono Walker on Country Life

It made him realise how important farmers' markets are and how seriously they are taken elsewhere.

"They are not just a fun thing, where a few people turn up to sell a bit of nice food at the weekend.

"It's a way that people can eat more locally, more sustainably, tastier food, but also food that's going to be there for sale every week and not be affected so much by these extreme climatic events."

He said market organisers here needed to "shout from the rooftops" about their market's authenticity and importance.

How to operate in a pandemic was also an experience shared at the Rome meeting of the coalition which was set up in 2021 with funding from the Food and Agriculture Organisation, a UN agency.

Unlike in New Zealand, many farmers' markets overseas were deemed essential and still allowed to operate during lockdowns.

"It makes a lot of sense, knowing what we know now that outside spaces are much safer.

"The frustration was not being able to even get to speak to someone, any higher than sort of MPI, who were very helpful, but we could never get near any sort of government ministers to discuss this issue."

A farmers' market in Christchurch.

Walker highlighted Italy's approach to farmers' markets which receive strong support from local authorities and farmers throughout the country.

Selling local food to local people is ingrained in the culture, but people are increasingly reliant on them, he said.

"Their union of farmers got together behind local markets, and they've developed a chain of about 1200."

In many countries, markets are crucial to building trust between farmers and highly urbanised consumers, not such a big problem in New Zealand, Walker said…

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