1. Alice Morley Hope Valley YFC New Zealand C. Alma Baker Trust

2. It all started at the interview day in 2012 where I took a chance at the C Alma Baker trip to New Zealand I never dreamed that I would get it but I walked out of the NFU building at the end of the day telling Mum and Dad that I was going to New Zealand in January 2014. It seemed a long time away but it was soon the 5 th January 2014 and we were off to Heathrow, I had never flown or been to an airport so sitting waiting to go on a 30 hour flight seemed crazy!!

3. I made it to Auckland airport on the 7 th of January and was met by the Farm Managers Wife Carol and we then made the trek to Limestone Downs which 8,000 Acre Sheep, Beef and Dairy Station in the North Island of New Zealand. The picture was my home and bike for the 3 months, the workers unit had a kitchen/living room, a bedroom and bathroom. It was small but homely and I got settled into to life at limestone pretty quick.

4. At Limestone Downs they run around: 13,000 ewes with lambs that are bred for the store and fat lamb market. 2,000 Hereford cross steers that they buy in then sell on when ready. They have also recently converted the flats into a dairy farm which are now milking 800 cows and looking to increase numbers in the near future. Above: Wool Shed! Below: 60 bale Rotary Parlour

5. I mainly worked with the Head Shepherd who had the nick name “Crackers”. My jobs mainly included worming and dipping sheep and lambs. On one of the busiest days we wormed and injected 3000 ewe lambs. This was done by the lambs running up a race and then being pushed onto a conveyer with carried the lambs past you. My hands were blistered really bad from worming all day, had to wear gloves for a couple of days after that.

6. One of the most amazing days at the farm was around a month and a half in where they asked me if I wanted to go in the fertiliser plane when he was spreading. I was unsure because of not flying before going to New Zealand but it was one of the best things I have ever done I went on two trips and they spread two tonnes of fertiliser on each trip.

7. This was one of the best views on the station but took around 20 minutes to get there, from here there was a track that went down onto the beach where you could go and drive on when the tide was out.

8. Where my Unit was This map shows the whole station and how it is spilt up into paddocks, these paddocks are massive and this was supposed to help you if you got lost you got one of these once every week with the new stock numbers. It shows you the shear size of Limestone Downs though.

9. New Zealand is a breath taking country and everywhere you go there is something different to see. In New Zealand there are more sheep than there are people which means you can drive for with out seeing a soul which is a huge difference to England.

10. This is an amazing opportunity for people to go to a different country and get really stuck in and learn new skills and work with people that have tremendous knowledge in Sheep, Beef and Dairy. Also working with the equipment they have to make life easier when handling large amounts of stock is amazing. So a big thanks goes to the C. Alma Baker Trust and National Young Farmers and it is a trip that I will never forget.

11. Some of the Beautiful Pictures of Limestone Downs

13. Thank you very much for Listening Alice Morley Hope Valley Young Farmers