Country Life

The Country Life team take you all over the motu to hear the extraordinary stories of every day rural New Zealand.

Hosted and produced by Sally Round, Cosmo Kentish-Barnes, Duncan Smith and Gianina Schwanecke

An abstract heart constructed from shapes similar to rural fields seen in aerial photography sits behind the text 'Country Life'.

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FULL SHOW: Country Life for 15 November 2024

This week Country Life chats to a young woman learning the ancient craft of saddlery, meets a dairy farming couple who no longer use imported feed and synthetic fertilisers and heads out on a hunt for wallabies in the Bay of Plenty.
New episode
Lake Rotorua

On the hunt for wallaby at "Ground Zero"

Iwi are trying to reclaim their forest from mobs of wallabies which they say are killing the bush and gobbling up pasture around Rotorua. Country Life heads out on a wallaby hunt.
The first wallaby catch of the night during one of Te Arawa Kāhui's regular culling expeditions in the hills above Lake Okataina. Wayne Morgan Ranui is the team's head shooter

Healthy cows and worm-rich soil make Motupipi milkers happy

There's no looking back for a Golden Bay dairy farming couple who eliminated imported feed and synthetic fertilisers from their paddocks.
Wayne and Nicky Packard

Young kiwi rides high learning the craft of saddlery

Young equestrian Sophia Stratford has gone to the other side of the world to learn the craft of saddle, harness and bridle making at prestigious Capel Manor College in London and is among its top students.
Sophia Stratford's quest to build a better saddle for the horse she loves has led her abroad to the UK, where she is training to become a saddler at Capel Manor College in England.

Rural News Wrap for 15 November 2024

A wrap of news from the rural sector for the week ending 15 November 2024
A team carrying out disinfecting in Japan's Ibaraki prefecture to guard against bird flu, after confirmation of a bird flu outbreak there, in November 2023.

FULL SHOW: Country Life for 8 November 2024

This week we chat to a veterinarian at Wellington Zoo's animal hospital, Te Kōhanga, we visit a peony farm in full bloom, and we hear from scientists about the pros and cons of nitrogen.
Wellington Zoo's The Nest veterinary centre.

All creatures great and small: The zoo hospital helping native wildlife

We take you inside Wellington Zoo's animal hospital, Te Kōhanga, where they help rehabilitate native birds ready to be released back into the wild.
Wellington Zoo vet Fiona Esam

Nitrogen: Friend or Foe?

Scientists look at the details underpinning nitrogen and its use in agriculture, horticulture and its impacts on the environment.
A fixed-wing aircraft is used to drop fertiliser on a field.

Business is blooming at family focused peony farm

Flower picking and packing for export is in full swing at Prebbleton Peonies near Christchurch.
Prebbelton Peonies

Rural News Wrap for 8 November 2024

A round-up of the week's agricultural news.
Containers being unloaded at Lyttelton Port

FULL SHOW: Country Life for 1 November 2024

We chat to a rural vet, visit a farm where horticulture is helping addicts recover and find out about a novel plan to capture greenhouse gases for feeding farm animals.
The Scion building in Rotorua

Capturing greenhouse gases for farm feed

In a Rotorua lab scientists are cooking up plans to create stockfeed out of captured greenhouse gases from geothermal power stations.
Christophe Collet, Scion's microbial biotech team leader

From the Archive: Growing plants helps addicts' recovery

Country Life visited Nova Trust's farm near Christchurch where the charity is helping rehabilitate addicts through horticulture.
Nova Trust

Rory Dean - a rural vet inspired to write

Rory Dean, graduated as a vet from Edinburgh University in 2015, and has already filled a book - Adventures of a Country Vet - full of adventures and experiences as a rural vet in his native UK and now New Zealand.
Rory Dean, rural vet and author of Adventures of a Country Vet

On The Farm for 1 November 2024

Kiwifruit is starting to bloom in Bay of Plenty, dairy farmers up and down the country are busy breeding the next season's calves, while North Canterbury farms have welcomed some recent rain to break the dry.
Bay of Plenty gold kiwifruit orchards are in bloom with one grower describing a 'sea of white flowers'.

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