The annual June migration

Most of my work is done in rural districts. the Casa del TFU is in the middle of what is considered by many to be the richest dairying country possibly in the world. Dairy farmers financial years in NZ start on the 1st of June. So every year for a week either side of this date stupidity rules the roads as cockies try to get their stock from their old farm to the flash new place 20 k down the road in the cheapest possible manner.

One thing is a certainty stupidity breeds. Not only the drivers are stupid, the farmers try to be stupid too, just to exascerbate the situation. Problem is I've been around long enough and farmed in the right places to have seen, and worked with, Drovers moving real mobs. 2 or 3000 head sometimes. Drovers rarely held up traffic cos they spread their mobs out along the road side. Cockies these days try to keep them as bunched up as possible. Trying to get a truck and trailer through a mob when they travelling in the same direction as you is a bloody pain.

So advise to farmers for next year. Take a leaf out of the old drovers book. Borrow a couple of horses. They're easier to sit on all day than a bike and they travel at the same speed as a Cow. Don't drive the whole mob, just the old Girl that all the others follow. And be patient... it's much less stressful