THE FUNNY FARM

For the past couple of years, Nadia and Blair Wisely of Netherton Farms near Otautau, Southland, have been breeding a curious mix of American bison bull and Charcolaise cow they have dubbed the Beefalo. The meat tastes like lean beef and gets sold as Beefalo pie, Beefalo salami and in special cuts.

Our agricultural scene has always been marked by an apparent farming monoculture. While we may still be known globally for having many more sheep than people, today dairy dominates the country’s agriculture industry — to the point of inarguable environmental damage.

But there have always been plucky cockies like the Wiselys who have bucked the major trends. Some attempts at farming outside the box have been unqualified disasters, economically and environmentally, like the possums imported in the 1850s to breed for what was then a roaring fur trade. Others have become viable industries, like deer farming which took off in the