—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 27,1978
64
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Ruth and Dave Roth overlook the Waikata Valley where thousands of sheep
graze.
Perry County dairy farm couple tells
through New Zealand on agricultural
By DAYE and RUTH ROTH
LOYSVILLE - While snow and ice covered much of
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and other parts of the United
States, we were enjoying the sunny skies and balmy
temperatures of Australia, New Zealand, and the Fiji
Islands. We count it a privilege to have been a part of the
33-member delegation of the Pennsylvania Agricultural
Leaders’ Goodwill People-to-People Mission. We feel that
each of us was truly a “Goodwill Ambassador” as we
exchanged ideas and talked with people in our many day
to-day contacts.
As we visited people on their farms and in their homes
and as we talked with leaders of farm organizations,
cooperatives, agricultural colleges, Embassies, and as we
chatted informally with workers, we felt that we had
common goals: peace and a better understanding among
the peoples of the world and “the good life” for all of us.
We both feel that we learned a great deal from the persons
whose lives we touched and who shared themselves so
generously with us.
We had many advantages on this trip. We all spoke a
common language, English. We had a somewhat similar
European heritage with the people we met. The climate
was pleasant; the seasons are reversed in the South
Pacific and it was Summer there then. The surroundings
were beautiful with colorful flowers, beautiful trees, and
unique animals and birds. There was a great variety in
the physical geography with the mountains’, valleys,
lakes, waterfalls, and lovely countryside. The food was
delicious and interesting, with an abundance of fresh
fruits, vegetables, roast lamb, and beefsteaks, as well as
fish. Transportation was efficient in both their luxurious
airway service and m their practical coach service. The
accommodations and services were good. People were
friendly everywhere.
We will never forget the beauty of the countries and the
unique flora and fauna we found there. We see in our
minds’ eyes thousands of sheep on the hills and in the
valleys. Likewise, dairy and beef cattle grazed con
tentedly on the never-ending pasture lands. In Australia,
because this continent was severed from the Asian
mainland millions of years ago, we found very unusual,
native animals, birds, trees, and plants. We enjoyed
watching the koalas as they fed on the eucalyptus leaves
of these gum trees. Great grey kangaroos, red kangaroos,
wallabys hopped around near us so that we could touch
them. We watched the platypus, with its webbed feet & its
bill like a duck, from a greater distance. The native birds
were a delight. A few of us remember, standing under an
old gum tree and watching the kooaburras up in it, and
singing an old camp song, “Kooaburra sits in the old gum
tree, merry, merry king of the bush is he, laugh,
Kooaburra, laugh, gay your life must be.” The emus,
large flightless birds and about 6% feet in length, mar
ched proudly near us The lyrebird, the cockatoo and
other kinds of parrots, flock pigeons, and fairy penguins
caught our attention.
The trees m Australia are beautiful and useful. The
karn tree compares to the California redwood. It is giant
in size and very fine furniture is made from it The tall
wattle, with its yellow blossoms, has many uses bark for
tanning, twigs and branches for fences, and furniture,
The bottle trees get their name from the shape of their
trunk The eucalptus trees have many uses, timber,
decorative wood, medicines, etc There are thousands of
wildflowers all around The waratih, a beautiful red
flower, is the floral emblem of New South Wales
In New Zealand, we enjoyed the animals, birds, trees
and plants also The Kiwi is a native bird and is viewed as
their national bird emblem It is a flightless bird and the
only known bird with nostrils ui the tip of its bill It came
to New Zealand 70 million years ago, it has nocturnal
habits Its egg is V«th of its own body weight; it lays the
biggest egg of any species We listened to the songs of the
tui bird and the bellbird They have several species of
bats They have no snakes Doer rabbits pu 1 v.cl!
cattle and sheep, were brought from other countries,
Salmon and trout are abundant.
New Zealand has beautiful trees. The Mamaku tree
ferns are unusual. New Zealand is called “the land of the
fern”. The fern frond is a New Zealand emblem. The kauri
trees are tall and yield excellent, fine quality timber for
furniture and other uses. The Pohutukawa is called the
Christmas tree. It has beautiful red blossoms and grows
near the sea or a lake. There are many kinds of pine,
beech, and evergreen trees. There are many palm trees.
These and many other mental pictures come before our
eyes as we re-live our experiences.
We noted some interesting differences as we traveled
about these countries in Ins South Pacific. The drivers of
the coaches and motor cars drove on the left-hand side of
the road. Instead of yield signs, there were “Give Way”
signs. Instead of a pharmacy, the sign read “Chemist”.
Instead of a dentist, the sign read “Dental Mechanic”. We
learned some new words m our vocabulary; A ranch or
farm is a station. A meadow is a paddock. A flock or herd
is a mob. An elevator is a lift. An automobile is a motor
car. A bus is a coach. The interior region is known as the
outback or bush.
Despite the almost unbelievable fact that we traveled
25,600 niles on our 23-day Mission, some people at the
places we visited now seem quite close to us. These places
on the map have a “personal” meaning for us now
because of the people we met there.
We would like to menaon a few of these people-to-people
contacts we had that were especially meaningful to us. We
will take our illustrations from our experiences in New
Zealand.
Our stay at Christ Church on the South Island will long
be remembered. Dave met some fellow Holstein breeders
from Colorado, Maryland and other places in the United
States. They had a good time renewing friendships and
comparing notes. I especially enjoyed the dinner with the
counterparts there because we sat with a school prmcipal
and his wife. I learned a great deal about the New Zealand
system of education. Dave had a very good conversation
with the general manager of a large farmers’ co-op in that
area.
We’ll never forget how great it was to feel the warm
breezes blowing as we stood on the wagon and rode
leisurely over the John Gallagher sheep station
“Rukahun” and saw how he took care of his 4,000 ewes,
hoggets, and rams. We were heartened by John’s positive
attitude toward “his one-man farm operation”. He took
such pride in carrying on the best of their previous family
traditions and in using the best research and knowledge
he could fmd to improve his operations.
We really enjoyed our stay on the North Island. The Inn
was a perfect resting place. Outside our room were
tropical trees and shrubs Beyond was a lovely swimming
pool. We were not far from downtown. We shopped in a
real consumer-owned co-op grocery store. We felt much at
home with labels similar to those at home.
Further downtown, we bought a variety of their stamps
at the post office The man that waited on us seemed to be
glad for “our attitude” toward New Zealand “I’m so glad
to meet people from the U.S who know something about
New Zealand and want to know more Some foreigners
come here, and they think we live in grass huts,” he said.
We had a good tune buying white sheepskin rugs here
for members of our families.
Massey. one of the most outstanding
educational umitutlorislii the southern hemisphere. They
have eight “faculties” or colleges; Agriculture and Herd
Science, Technology and Food Science, Veterinary
Science, Science, Social Science, Humanities, Education,
and Business Studies They have 4,780 full and part-time
students and 6,100 students enrolled in correspondence
courses We learned a great deal about New Zealand
agriculture here. New Zealand has more than 60 million
sheep and almost 9 million cattle It has about 25 tunes as
n farm animals as people (The NZ population is
Energy is as much a subject of concern and study in New Zealand as it is in the
United States. This solar heating system on an experimental dairy farm was
inspected by visiting Americans.
3,183,000. It is about the size of Colorado - three per cent
as large as the U.S., excluding Alaska and Hawaii). Dairy
products account for a large share of the nation’s income.
Barley, com, oats, and wheat are the chief grain crops.
They grow large quantities of apples and pears. The dairy
industry is controlled by the New Zealand Dairy Board.
This body exercises stringent control over the fanners. It
tells them how much milk to produce and how much
butterfattohave.
The next day we visited Milk Processors Ltd. and a
dairy farm. The farmer was quite knowledgeable. He
seemed to enjoy talking to Dave and asking him questons,
especially at the counterpart dinner that night.
We visited the Awahun Breeding Centre. Dave felt quite
at home with these men. They know about Kingpin and
Elevation over there, too. Their AI service began in 1950.
One-half of the dairy farmers use AI. They are now seeing
an upsurge of Friesian (Holstein) cattle. Before that,
Jersey and Guernsey were nredominent. Now Friesians
account for 54 per cent; Jerseys; 45 per cent. All of the
cows are on the computer. They have a sire-proving
program. It costs only $2.00 to breed a cow. They pay $4OO
for the bulls they buy for the stud.
Rotorua, on the North Island, was a “fun place”, a
“tourist paradise”. One of the biggest things that our stay
here did for us was to greatly increase our interest in
Maori history, traditions, life, customs, education and
religion. The Maoris are truly a great people who came to
New Zealand 600 years ago (or earlier). They art com
bining with the Europeans who came in the last 100 years
to make a rich culture and a noteworthy people.
As soon as we arrived at this unique spot, we im
mediately donned our bathing suits and went into the
warm, thermal hotel pool. It was a beautiful feeling to
float and swim in this naturally warm water with water
dripping down a small waterfall into the pool. Steam was
seen coming up from the thermal basins around the
countryside.
The next day we visited the Whakarewarewa Thermal
Reserve. A special Maori guide showed us the work of the
apprentice Maori carvers at The New Zealand Maori Arts
and Crafts Institute. We were amazed at their artistic
ability and the precision of their work. Our guide
demonstrated the making of a grass skirt from the native
plant. The Maoris are an intelligent and religious people.
We saw eveidence of this all around. They made hand
some wood carvings, jewelry from native shells, and
religious carvings for their meeting houses.
The guide then took us on a tour of an ancient Maori
village. There we saw primitive houses, meeting houses,
store places, and other evidences of their ancient culture.
From there, we visited the Thermal Reserve. As we hiked
by the geysers, the thermal pools, and the mud pots, we
were reminded of our own Yellowstone National Park.
Pohutu Geyser is similar to our Old Faithful.
We walked through the Rainbow Trout Sprmgs where
brown and rainbow trout swam in crystal clear water. We
saw many of New Zealand’s native birds and animals. The
trees and shrubbery there are some of the most beautiful
we have ever seen. We had a barbeque lunch at
Hamurana Sprmgs beside a lovely stream. We watched
the ducks and sought shade from the hot Summer sun.
We then went to an Agrodome Show where 19 of the top
breeds of New Zealand sheep were on display. Their
places in the New Zealand economy were described.
The experience of the evening was the highlight of our
stay m Rotorua. We had a delicious and abundant buffet
dinner of Maori foods, including roast lamb, beef, and
chicken, kumaras (sweet potatoes), and dozens of other
native fruits, vegetables, salads, desserts, etc. We wat
ched the preparation of the roast lamb before dinner in
one of the “hot springs” adjacent to the hotel. The cooks
had placed the meat in the natural boiling water, had
of tour
mission
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