Who's da boss?
With a history that saw the first Boss bale feeders built in 1999, Taupo-based Feeder Leader has built any army of enthusiastic followers around New Zealand, who rate its performance and reliability.
That's just where one North Canterbury dairy farmer goes to relax after a hard day on the farm.
Oxford dairy farmer Stu Parker has 250 cows on his 95ha property, and he has a backyard observatory where he searches the sky looking for Supernovas.
Parker is a part of BOSS -- the Backyard Observatory Supernova Search -- and to say he's good at is an understatement: he's only the sixth amateur in the world to have discovered a hundred supernovas, and he's still searching -- the current tally exceeds 120.
His wife Lynn describes him as a part-time farmer and a professional astronomer, but it wasn't always this way.
Dairy News had originally contacted Parker to get his opinion on a Lincoln University study saying small herd dairy farmers were generally happy with their lot.
Parker had been a large herd farmer in Southland, then he shifted back to North Canterbury to a small herd six years ago.
In Southland the Parkers milked 700 cows as contract sharemilkers as well as milking 250 cows on their own farm some distance away. It was full on, Stu racking up 35,000km one year driving between the farms.
At one stage they realised they hadn't had a day off in three years and Lynn hadn't left their farm in nine weeks.
After some family members died, the Parkers realised you couldn't put a price on your sanity and they moved to North Canterbury.
On bare land near Oxford they started from scratch, rediscovering life.
Saying that he couldn't go back to a big herd, Parker finds small herd farming more enjoyable, saying you can truly get to know your cows and have a better quality herd; the couple have excelled at pedigree breeding Friesians.
Being a member of Ambreed for 26 years, they were delighted to have a bull accepted by the firm, and they also have a stunning line of heifers coming through this year.
Saying that the scale can be difficult, he said "You can't do anything about the payout so you have to focus on your farm and your cows; that's where you can make a difference."
They recounted that when they were sharemilking the payout was at one stage $3/L, of which they were getting only half.
It's obvious the Parkers have a bond with their cows: when it's milking time many of the cows will come over for a scratch or rub while waiting their turn in the shed.
Parker says some farmers will think he's soft, but when recently faced with a dying cow of 16 years standing on the farm, he opted to have a vet euthanase the animals and he buried her on the farm.
He asks, what's the point of sending her off to the works and getting $500 for her when she has given many thousands of dollars to the business over those 16 years.
The Parkers have done some big farm things like centre pivot irrigation and a winter shed for the 60-odd cows they winter milk. He describes the shed as necessary for maintaining condition in the harsh snowy winters Oxford can experience.
Downsizing has allowed him to have a bit more of a life; Parker says he'll step back a bit when the downturn comes right.
Not wanting 100% of their focus to be on the farm is how he expanded his astronomy hobby.
Joining the supernova search has given him a new challenge. A supernova is a star at the end of its life, going out in a huge explosion whose after-effects are visible from earth.
With the discovery of his first supernova in 2009, he has gone from strength to strength, recently buying a new 16inch telescope from Italy.
