15+ RESOURCES EVERY BLOCK OWNER NEEDS

It's important to get good quality information from the right sources. These are some of the best resources for block owners.

NZ Lifestyle Block magazine’s archive

For more than 35 years, NZ Lifestyle Block magazine has featured articles on every aspect of country life.

A huge number of the magazine's stories are free to read on its website. There are also articles from NZ Life & Leisure, Nadia: A Seasonal Journal, and the In Your Backyard series. You can find advice on animal health and welfare, poultry-keeping, organics, growing crops, gardening, and features on inspiring block owners from around NZ. www.thisnzlife.co.nz

Animal breeds

There are hundreds of breeds of domestic livestock, some common, some very rare. If you're interested in a specific breed, a great place to start is with the breed society for a particular animal. Almost all of them have websites with directories of breeders nationwide. Registered breeders strive to produce the best genetics and breed qualities for their chosen animal.

Resources

Some of the more popular groups include: NZ Sheep Breeders Association – nzsheep.co.nz

Black & Coloured Sheep Breeders' Association of NZ – www.colouredsheep.org.nz

NZ Beef & Lamb (beef and sheep breeds) – beeflambnz.com

NZ Rare Breeds Conservation Society – www.rarebreeds.co.nz

Weather forecasts

Knowing an area's climate is critically important so you can plan and make crucial decisions on feed and stock numbers. Resources

NIWA (the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) publishes seasonal climate surveys that give you predictions by region every three months. It includes probabilities for rainfall, soil moisture, and temperature. They do a video discussion on the results, looking at each region which is also very helpful. niwa.co.nz/climate/seasonal-climateoutlook

BONUS: the rain radar

MetService has regional rain radars, which are helpful during the working day, giving you an excellent idea of the speed of rain clouds and how heavy or light rain will be:

www.metservice.com/maps-radar/rain/ radar