Saturday night, beef dinner.
The town has set up a rain shelter in the square. The residents here are descendants of Eastern European immigrants, so the buildings also have an Eastern European style. There is a circle of rough stone pillars in the square, and the shed can be pulled up on top to shelter from the wind and rain.
This carnival is an opportunity for the club to gather together for ranchers to communicate with each other and engage in activities together. It is not really about enjoying anything.
The Cow Club has been around for a long time. It was one of the earliest clubs established in the South Island. At first, it was just a few small ranchers with little money. They gathered resources from far away and helped each other. The carnival at that time was very simple, just a self-help& ;gt ;
Today, the club still retains some of its past traditions.
They drank hard liquor and ate dry barbecue. There was no good wine or fancy dishes. Everyone gathered around the campfire, sat down casually, and chatted freely.
Here’s an episode. Before the meal started, the town’s police chief came to check their alcohol license: According to New Zealand’s alcohol control regulations, a gathering of this size requires the consumption of spirits and must apply for approval in advance.
When the carnival started, Leonard stood in the center of the venue with a microphone in hand and introduced the new members of the club, who were called calves.
The club does not accept many members every year, less than ten this year. Wang Bo made the finale, and the last one was introduced. Leonard said that he was the only remaining Chinese rancher in the club.
Wang Bo stood up and waved to everyone, ran around the bonfires and got to know many ranchers.
Returning to his campfire, he asked strangely: "There are no Chinese ranchers in the South Island? Isn't that right? There are quite a few Chinese in New Zealand."
Motak was drinking ale from a large teapot and explained while drinking: "Of course, there are many Chinese, but most of them stay in cities, such as Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin. In fact, Very few of your compatriots engage in ranching, and even fewer have large ranches, and Jian Niu only accepts large ranchers.”
"There were a few people who came before, such as Anthony from Taiwan, right? But they were not very good at managing ranches, and they all went bankrupt and quit the industry." Moses added.
Another rancher smacked his lips and said: "Tsk, tsk, quit this industry. The animal husbandry industry is so difficult now that I can't bear it anymore. Damn it, there is a severe drought in the South Island this year and the price of forage has increased. I feel like this." If this goes on, I will go bankrupt sooner or later."
Others echoed: "Yeah, damn it, God really doesn't leave us a way to survive. It's been a quarter this year, but has it really rained?"
"Your Marlborough area is already doing well, but we in Canterbury are miserable! Snow, the groundwater is about to be drained!" Moses complained.
"Old Moses is right, Marlborough is in a good situation, their Canterbury and our Otago, damn it, are almost becoming places abandoned by the gods!"
At this time, someone looked at Wang Bo and said, "Wang, how is your place? We heard that your ranch is very profitable now!"
Wang Bo took a sip of white wine, sighed and said: "It's okay, I rely on the Twin Lakes and can still supply water. But the animal husbandry industry is a whole, and everyone will be prosperous and everyone will suffer losses. Your life will be difficult. I Life is not easy either.”
In fact, he was just trying to comfort the group. His life was not going to be too easy. With the upgraded heart of the pasture, the growth rate of the cattle and sheep would speed up, and the quality of the pasture was even worse.
However, his place is not affected by drought at all. Not to mention the Twin Lakes, just the two spiritual springs are enough to supply the water needed for livestock.
Motak raised the cup in his hand and said: "To this damn world!"
A group of people raised their glasses one after another, with a lot of complaints in their mouths.
What ranchers are most concerned about now is the weather. After drinking, Motak looked at the light rain outside with envy and said: "If it continues to not rain in Aocheng, I plan to move the ranch here. Look, there is so much rain here." .”
Gormon, who was with Wang Bo during the day, came over and said, "This is a national park. Do you want to engage in animal husbandry here? Ha, how are you going to bribe New Zealand politicians to allow you to come?"
"I'll give them a slap. Hey, my cousin, look what you've done to this country." Motak grabbed the fat man next to him and slapped him twice on the fat face. Of course, It was not photographed.
The second fat man looked confused. Damn it, what does this have to do with me
Hearing the roar of laughter around him, he was very dissatisfied. He showed his claws and tore at the back of Motak's hand. The Maori rancher gasped in pain. Erpang got rid of it and immediately ran into Eva's arms.
These two little guys are very discerning. They have been released, and Eva is more protective of them than Wang Bo. Now if there is any trouble, they no longer seek protection from Wang Bo, but go to Eva.
The beautiful teacher smiled and slapped the fat man's butt twice, and then apologized to Motak.
Motak didn't pay attention. The back of his hand was scratched. He picked up the white wine and poured it on as a disinfectant, and that was the end of it.
Then they talked about the situation of pasture. Due to the drought, the price of pasture has increased, up by 12% compared to the same period last year. Dry pasture now costs more than 150 New Zealand dollars per ton, and it has become difficult to feed the livestock.
An old man came over and asked, "Do you want to buy a ranch? I plan to sell my ranch."
Moses looked at him in surprise and said, "Old Vince, are you kidding me? Sell your ranch? It's 980 acres, right? Isn't that your lifeblood?"
Wang Bo calculated that 980 acres is close to 4 square kilometers, which is smaller than his ranch, but it can still be considered a large ranch.
The old man sighed and said: "Well, you know how bad the world is now and business is not easy to do. I am getting old and don't have so much energy to take care of it. I might as well sell it."
"Are you really willing to give up? You have worked hard all your life to get a ranch like this."
Motak handed the old man a glass of ale, and the old man took a sip and said: "I really don't want to part with it, but it's time to retire. My two sons are both in the United States, and one of them asked me to go to Hawaii to retire, so I thought, then Why don’t I go?”
"How much did you sell it for?" Wang Bo asked.
The old man heard him ask about the price, so he looked at him and said, "Six million and a half million New Zealand dollars, what do you think of the price? With real estate, 10 bedrooms, all brick and stone tile roof structures, and three roads, or Intersection of Route 82 and Route 83."
Wang Bo thought about it and realized that the prices of ranches in New Zealand are different. Ranches close to major cities such as Auckland and Wellington can sell for 5 million New Zealand dollars for 10,000 square meters. But when his Sunset Ranch was first developed, , five or six square kilometers, can only be sold for half a million New Zealand dollars. (.)