The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

Welcoming warmth after 'rough spring' at Munro Valley Farms

Otago Daily Times
18 Oct, 2021 07:35 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Munro Valley Farms manager Carla Murray and her children (from left) Bella (4), Lucy (6) and Fern (1) and their pet lamb Tom enjoy a spring day on the farm in Lawrence. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

Munro Valley Farms manager Carla Murray and her children (from left) Bella (4), Lucy (6) and Fern (1) and their pet lamb Tom enjoy a spring day on the farm in Lawrence. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

In an occasional series, Shawn McAvinue of the Otago Daily Times travels highways in Otago and Southland and when something catches his eye, he stops for a chat with the people involved. For the first instalment, he stops on State Highway 8 to visit a sheep and beef farm near Lawrence, in South Otago.

Just out of Lawrence on State Highway 8, travelling towards Teviot Valley, a flash of yellow in a paddock catches your eye.

The colour is a winter crop of Chou Moellier on sheep and beef operation Munro Valley Farms.

Warmer weather made the crop go to seed a couple of weeks ago, farm manager and Lawrence Area School teacher Carla Murray said.

"It's really bolted since this heat's come."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A herd of Angus heifers are "chewing it down".

Warmer weather was welcome after "a bit of a rough spring".

"We've had howling winds and rain."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Lambing had gone "remarkably well" considering a dry summer and autumn stunted grass growth.

"There's a lot of lambs around, considering the season."

Orphan Suffolk-cross ram lamb Tom had been taken as a pet and was friendly.

"We put nappies on him for a bit because he kept coming inside."

Discover more

New Zealand

Primary sector supports vaccination rollout

17 Oct 10:00 PM

Study finds intensive dairy farming doesn't add carbon to stony soils

17 Oct 09:30 PM

Keen bidders attracted to tractors at Dunedin farm auction

17 Oct 08:00 PM

Catchment group connecting farmers with community

11 Oct 09:45 PM

She had some friends who were farmers in Wales. Each season they put orphan lambs in nappies and let them sleep inside near the fire.

To show her friends they were trying their method, they took a photo of Tom in a nappy and sent it to Wales.

Tom was spending more time outside after they learnt a nappy was more effective on a ewe lamb than a ram lamb, she said.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from The Country

The Country

‘Still there’: Removal of logging machine sent tumbling over cliff proving tricky

12 Jul 05:59 PM
The Country

The great 'goat menace' of 1949

12 Jul 05:00 PM
The Country

'Game-changer': Orchardist tackles seagull invasion with lasers

12 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

‘Still there’: Removal of logging machine sent tumbling over cliff proving tricky

‘Still there’: Removal of logging machine sent tumbling over cliff proving tricky

12 Jul 05:59 PM

The damaged skidder remains stuck in a hard-to-reach location near the river.

The great 'goat menace' of 1949

The great 'goat menace' of 1949

12 Jul 05:00 PM
'Game-changer': Orchardist tackles seagull invasion with lasers

'Game-changer': Orchardist tackles seagull invasion with lasers

12 Jul 05:00 PM
'Come home': Family vintage tractor returns to original owner

'Come home': Family vintage tractor returns to original owner

12 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP