Today we visited Haldon Station in the Mackenzie basin of the South Island. They run merino sheep, red deer, and Hereford and Angus cattle. We visited with their manager Paddy Boyd who explained the operation and then took us on a tour of the station. The owners don't live on the property, so Paddy and his wife oversee most of the operation. We had the opportunity to see a lot of their deer, including their hinds and stags, which they raise for velvet and venison harvest. 
Haldon Station was one of the first farms in New Zealand to develop a deer farming program that they began in the late 1970s by capturing deer from the wild. In the beginning, they just captured and sold deer quickly, but not they have built up an expansive breeding program that is completely sustained and bred as a closed herd. We also learned a lot about their environmental sustainability programs. They are located in a very dry and arid area for New Zealand but have implemented large irrigation and land management programs. Paddy explained that they have made significant improvements to their bailage growth and harvesting. From the visit, we learned about the challenges and rewards of being a farmer in high desert country. We also learned about changes that have taken place in New Zealand agriculture in the past 40 years since deer were domesticated.
As we left Haldon Station, we stopped at the Tekapo Lake which sits in the valley of large snow-covered peaked mountains. We continued on to Lake Pukaki with another beautiful mountain back-drop, including Mount Hood. We are continuing on to Alexandria tonight before continuing our trip tomorrow into Queenstown.
- Hailey Traynham & Jordan Cowger
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