rivettingKateTaylor

I have loved the past few weeks hobnobbing with the elite of rural New Zealand 🙂

First the Silver Fern Farms Hawke’s Bay Farmer of the Year as run by the HB A&P Society (took photos for fun) then the ANZ Young Farmer Contest in Auckland (working as photographer) then to Dairy Industry Awards in Wellington (I photograph the Hawke’s Bay Wairarapa regional winners but got to go because Thomas works for Ravensdown – thank you!) In a few weeks I am off to the Ballance Farm Environment Awards showcase in Hamilton (recent photos from the Smedley field day).

This has made me realise just how slack I have been on here this year – only the Young Farmers photos are on here!!

So – here are a few just for fun and then feel free to have a look at my flickr site for more (lots more and they DO tell a good story if I do say so myself…)

I will start a new post with photos from the Farmer of the Year field day on Kereru Station.

View from the airstrip on Smedley… Ruahine Range out of the photo on the left and Hawke’s Bay away out to the right 🙂

One of the Smedley cadets holding some sheep for the willing audience

A friendly wave from a member of your Hawke’s Bay Regional Council land management team

Smedley Station manager Terry Walters

Some of the Smedley cadets watching proceedings

Not a bad view from the top

Solving the world’s problems?  BFEA East Coast chairman (and Feds president) Bruce Wills talks with 2012 East Coast winner James Hunter, now a trustee of the NZ Farm Environment Trust, which runs the awards.