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Spectrum was a long-running weekly radio documentary series which captured the essence of New Zealand from 1972 to 2016. Alwyn Owen and Jack Perkins produced the series for many years, creating a valuable library of New Zealand oral history.
In this episode, Alwyn Owen spends a few days on the Mid-Canterbury farm of Roland Clark during lambing time. Farmer Roland Clark, a Northern Ireland ex-patriate, compares his 800-acre farm to a work of art, and describes the scenery he sees. He praises the virtues of his tractor.
The morning routines include driving, picking up stray and weak lambs, helping deliver lambs, identifying twins by the mother’s ear marks, and tagging lambs with brass tags. [ Background sounds include the tractor’s engine, sheep, and dogs.]
Roland says that a farmer has to be a jack of all trades. These include the work of an obstetrician, haying, weaning, drenching, fencing, and working the land. The best training to be a sheep farmer is as a factory manager.
By breakfast at 9 a.m., five dead lambs have been picked up. They are sold for 25 cents each and proceeds go to local Scouts. Three ewes without lambs are brought in for fostering duties.
Roland says his dogs are not the best, but he is fond of them, and that sheep are not fools. They have a low cunning. He believes Drysdale is the best carpet wool in the world. A radio weather forecast in the background. The afternoon brings sleet and snow, but the sheep cope well, and the final job is to feed the weak lambs in the hot box.
Alwyn admires the smooth professionalism, skill, and good humour of the farmer.