Making New Zealand - Farming

Television (Full Length Episode) – 2019

For generations, farming was not only the backbone of the Kiwi economy; it was its identity. This episode of Making New Zealand traces farming's evolution from the earliest sheep run in 1843 to the introduction of cows, pigs, poultry and deer into the market. Historians and farmers discuss the once lucrative wool trade, the impact of refrigerated meat exports, and Kiwi inventions like Bill Gallagher's electric fence, which revolutionised farmers' lives. 'Peak sheep' arrived in 1982, but the next chapter came in a milk bottle; New Zealand's dairy boom created wealth while causing environmental problems.

They had to be dipped manually through toxic plunge dips but what else can you do? If you had to solve a problem you had to use what you could...and they did in those days.
– Waikato farmer Sam Jefferis on early sheep farmers' methods of deworming sheep