Time outSIDE

The South Island Dairy Event - SIDE

'tis the season, day rather, for

Time outSIDE

See we have a bunch of dairy industry events all with SIDE

somehow in the event name and

this week it was the annual Time outSIDE

One day, just one day especially for those in their

first five years of their careers in on-farm dairying.

that's gobblely gook to you isn't it?

Here's the deal,

a Kawasaki ATV for $6999 including GST

haha not that deal, though it is a good one if you thrash ATVs

and go through one every three years,

that piece of advice is for free.

So the deal is...

There is next to no training for those who want straight forward farm work.

The training that there is great.

It's from the AgITO or from farmer levy organisations like DairyNZ

so if you choose not to attend pasture plus or the like

there aren't many options but to learn from your very busy on-farm boss

and even then the rule of thumb is the right way is the farmer's way

that may not be the best way nor will you have the whys and wherefores explained.

These guys are learning about why you herd test

I didn't attend this session so I still don't know why you herd test

I could probably guess though

but you tell me why you need to herd test your cows....

or what herd testing is at all if you would prefer....

Anyway Time outSIDE has five sessions of which herd testing was one.

Tug of war is not a session

but that's what we did at lunchtime,

including me but I'm not in that photo

and my team lost.

Tug of war is really hard,

could be my soft, inside person hands.

CRT Leeston did the lunch BBQ

and very nice it was too

In NZ BBQ is just a sausage on a grill with grilled onions on white bread with tomato sauce,

it hits the spot, repeatedly.

Excuse me for a minute

some chick on American Idol is singing one of my favourite songs

Wicked Game

(don't you know it Ngaire)

......
ok she should have chosen something else, it was very karaoke

So for me Time outSIDE this year was different

because it's my first time I've worked on it as a volunteer.

One thing I love about rural communities is that they really understand about volunteering

and they know that if it's going to be, it's up to me, or them.

Which is why the next evening only four people turned up on our Leeston Envirotown meeting but that's ok really cause we just talked about Earth Hour and what we are doing which will be turning out our lights for an hour on a Saturday night.

Hardly a peek electricity usage period.

That's an argument for another night.

The importance

of earnestly eating a good nourishing, filling breakfast.

I've always been a breakfast eater. I can't comprehend why someone would ruin their day by not starting off with a full (ish) belly. I do that and by 9am my vision is woozy, my head is thumping and I'm yawning like it's 10 to midnight. I do have to tell you if you catching me yawning, I'm hungry not bored or tired - know thyself, I say.

Seriously I wrote a paper on this for Time outSIDE so the newbies to the dairy industry would realise how easy it is to get going for the day even if it is 4.30am, pitch black and cold. Just a banana kids, that's all you need to get going.

This is what I'm eating right now - mashed omelet.

Sorry the picture is a bit dark, I liked the steam coming off the mashed omelet.

I do try to have an omelet but my non-stick pan is getting a little less non-sticky than I need it to be. It's kind of a mix of what's in my fridge and an egg from the neighbours (not stolen) and full cream. Yes full cream, that way you only need to use about 2 tablespoons and it comes out light and fluffy.

Today there's red and green peppers, red onion, ham and left over potatoes (thanks to Oti for that addition).

I add heaps of salt and am contemplating getting a salt lick for my door for easy access.

This morning for your enjoyment we have a mix of water and cranberry juice. How weird is that I can ingest salt by the tablespoon but can't stomach straight (but already well diluted) cranberry juice.

I better get going to church, I'm dressed but I think I need to change. We've had 5 whole days of warm summer weather and today we are back to a wintery 12 degrees. There is no heat at the chapel. May have to borrow a child to keep warm with.

leaving

Tomorrow is my last day at Lincoln University's Professional Development Group. I've had some great experiences, some more challenging than others but all really worth while.

My job was to organise conferences - that's a broad concept but here are a few of my coolest projects.

The 7th World Potato Congress.

Yes potato people have conferences and like potatoes there are plenty of them. We had 600 delegates from all over the world - seriously even places like Cuba. Be warned: dancing with Cubans will dislocate your hips if not prepared.

Starting with an international golf competition, a welcome evening with fantastic singing, an congress opening with this wonderful song , three days of serious science, practical industry advice and lots of networking and the best ever congress dinner.

We started with an awards ceremony, then a piano concert from David Helfgott (yes that brilliant pianist from the movie 'Shine') and then smokey jazz from Natalie Slade and finally we danced the night away to the Garden City Big Band. Hence the dislocated hips - actually that resulted from helping to organise a visa so poor Juan did not have to add 13 hours to his flight home.

These are the great people I worked with from the Potatoes New Zealand.

That fulla at the front is Ron. Ron taught me so much about so many things. He is a tough auld bastard but has a heart of gold and sitting at his elbow in meeting after meeting taught me that nothing is impossible and it's always about squeezing a bit more out of the meeting.

The farmer members of the committee are good solid blokes - farmer's natures differ based on what industry they are in, it makes sense really as each type of farming reflects the personalities of those involved. Not all farming industries are equal. Everyone's favourite on the committee is Terry.

Terry is a fine chairman who kept planning meetings on track and bearable - an uncommon skill. He is quietly friendly and kind. A pleasure to spend time with.

I owe all my potato knowledge to these guys, especially John from McCains. Cuts of french fries are really interesting and much more involved than you can imagine. The lengths that PotatoesNZ is going to educate about how healthily potatoes are, how they should be cooked etc is wound up in their passion for potatoes. It's great.

The South Island Dairy Event SIDE

My first and most regular conference, every June either at Lincoln Uni or in Invercargill 500 dairy farmers, researchers and service people gather for three days of workshops and keynotes all about how to improve dairy farming in the South Island. It's a big deal this conference, plus as a committee member you get to wear those bright lime green fleece vests - believe me in June you are grateful for those ugly fleece vests. I must say 500 dairy farmers in an enclosed space for a winters day takes on an aroma of silage, not entirely unpleasant.

Spin off from SIDE are things like Time outSIDE, WestSIDE and TopSIDE (look for more punningly named events - I wanted bandannas for WestSIDE). Above is Time outSIDE in North Canty where there was a tractor pull - this was the fun thing. The rest of the day has five short workshops on things like motorcycle maintenance, shed hygiene, herd testing, human nutrition (young farmers start at 4.30am and don't eat breakfast! until they finish milking at about 9am - that's almost a whole days work before eating!). The programme is aimed at those new to the dairy industry - the next one is March 3rd go to side.org.nz to go.

The thing I love most about SIDE is the people - actually conferences are all about the people who attend, who organise it, who are passionate about their industry. Farmers rock. They truly have no idea about how vital they are to our existence - as far as they are concerned they are running a business that uses the land and animals to make a profit. Us townies owe them a lot. Farming is hard and worthwhile. SIDE farmers are keen to make use of all the new technologies and methods they learn about to improve what they do on-farm and there are some impressive things going on on farms.

I'm going to miss working with new groups of people regularly - actually my new job won't be that different. It's still all about farmers and land-based folk, it's still about education and passion, entertainment and fun - actually my new job really won't be that much different at all!