About Me

Hi there!

I’m L-J, a country girl from rural New Zealand.

My fiancé (Freddie) and I have moved to a family owned sheep and beef farm in the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand. We live with our Jack Russell X Archie, Hunterways Toad & Scooby, Heading dogs Mighty & Jed, cat Lily and horses Diva & Rum.

I created The Wandering Hogget as a wee space to share what we get up to on the farm, because for me it’s meant moving home to where I grew up as a child, and for Freddie it’s meant starting a new venture in sheep and beef farming for the first time here in New Zealand.

I’m proud to be a farmer’s daughter and am hugely passionate about being involved with everything rural New Zealand. Although I work off farm full-time during the week I help out on the farm during the weekends and whenever else time permits me to, so I definitely consider myself a bit of a part-time farmer (if that can be such a thing!). I hope you enjoy following this blog and it provides you with a little bit of an insight into what it’s like to live and work on a New Zealand sheep and beef farm. x

About The Farm

Waka-Whare Farm is a family owned sheep and beef farm located in the Manawatu-Wanganui region of New Zealand. It is a mixture of flats, through to rolling and steep hill country spread over 800 acres. The property consists of mainly clay soil and silt loam, so the farm does get winter wet but stays relatively summer safe. It is a very traditional sheep and beef farm, where the stock are kept outside and are only fed additional forage, e.g. silage or hay, if we are having a dry summer or very wet winter.

We run 3,500 head of Romney sheep and also have roughly 250 head of Angus X steers on the farm as well. Waka-Whare is run in conjunction with Holbrook Farm, which is 200 acres of flat land used for finishing purposes.