We live in the higher country of the northern Manawatu, North Island, New Zealand and have been farming together for over 44 years. We have specialised in breeding Texels since 1991, when they were first released to NZ farmers. We sold our farm in 2007 and retained 35 acres. We continue with a small flock of Texel sheep and stud rams. Steve also mills macrocarpa timber with his Rimu Mill. We are about 2000 feet (600 meters) above sea level and we occasionally have snow around the house. Our summers are fairly short and the farm generally stays green. It is what you call “safe” summer country. However the 2020 summer has been particularly dry. We have not had any significant rain since mid-January. We have three sons. Hamish and Amy live near Clinton, South Otago, where they have a sheep and beef farm They have a daughter, Maddie and two sons, Tuvia and Luke. Pete is a licensed builder and is living in Christchurch with Amanda. He is a registered builder with full-time work. They have four children Niko, Asael, Samara and Bjorn. Dave and Miriam and their family, Saoirse, Quilan and Seamus, live on Craigmore Station, Timaru where Dave is general manager. Mary has been working as a Practice Nurse for 25 years and is presently employed part-time at Feilding Health Care.
