Let’s Hope The Weather Holds

Ryan O'Connor from the Stag Roar podcast - A life less ordinary

I speak to optometrist Ryan O'Connor from the Stag Roar podcast about podcasting, optometry, what tech will change the way we see, starting hunting later in life, the western diet and its influences on different cultures, I admit to being a chocoholic, we talk Seventh Day Adventists influence on the modern diet (I kid ya not!), me freaking out in the bush, my English also dries up so I blabber a lot, Ryan tells me about his interest in herd history in New Zealand and more.
The Gary Fetke interview with Ryan on the modern diet, carbs and more is worth a listen. https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/the-stag-roar-life-less-ordinary/id1257836237?i=1000429186527
The Stag Roar: Life Less Ordinary https://www.stagroar.co.nz/
 
 

Canoeing Kiwi saves dog and gets stalked by wolves on 5000km Canada canoe trip

Kiwi Tom Hudson speaks to  me from Winnipeg where he is taking a few days break from a 5000km canoe and land trip across Canada. We talk about how he became a traveler, being stalked by wolves, being in bear country, the time he saved a dog from sure death and ended up on Canadian news, and more.
His YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@WhatInTheWorld_Tom
CBC Manitoba report on Tom rescuing the dog form sure death https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQSlSn2LpHE
Tom's Instagram profile https://www.instagram.com/whatintheworld_tom?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
 

Deane Parker on adventure film-making and regenerative farming

What does regenerative farming and adventure film making have in common? It has Deane Parker in common! Deane talks about bikerafting, the film festival scene, regenerative dairy farming and healthy soils.
Check out his Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/deaneparker_adventurechannel?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
 
and his website
https://www.deaneparker.nz

Jurgen Schwaneke - hunting, poetry, pest control and film making.

Jurgen Schwaneke talks to me about hunting in New Zealand, back country poetry, guiding hunts in the USA, his work as pest controller and the challenges the industry faces and outdoor film making.
His YouTube channel Strider Media has some cool philosophical ramblings on hunting and good outdoor adventure videos of a man with his dog.
https://www.youtube.com/@strider_media
His Instagram account
instagram.com/strider_adventures

Erin Forsyth - the natural history illustrator

In this episode botanical and wildlife illustrator Erin Forsyth talks about how artists can be facilitators for better understanding of nature, we talk about indigenous, christian and science perspective of nature, she walks me through her process, she tells me how she thinks of her work as part of a greater tradition and talks about art seen in perpetuity, documenting biodiversity from a science perspective and ties to colonialism, the shift in cultural understanding away from particular interests married only to western science, citizen science, how to include te reo Māori, respecting indigenous people in your work and the influence of her own cultural history.
Her website: http://www.erinforsyth.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erin_forsyth/?hl=en
 

45 Tahr Pink eye project with Francesco Formisano

Veterinarian Francesco Formisano tells me about the Pink eye project where, with the help of New Zealand hunters acting as citizen scientists, the prevalence and spread of Infectious Keratoconjunctivitis in New Zealand Tahr herds were studied.
Franco also tells me about hunting roe deer in France, his vet practice and the possibility of more research projects in New Zealand.
Download the 14 page report on pink eye here:
https://nztahrfoundation.org.nz/project-pinkeye
Franco's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/altitudeandtrails/
Thar are artiodactyl ungulates related to goats and sheep.
The New Zealand Himalayan tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus) are an introduced species but have now become part of the landscape.

44 Better grazing means better meat, milk, soil and animal health

In this episode Pablo Gregorini, Leader of the Lincoln University Pastoral Livestock Production Lab, tells me about a trial where animals were given a choice of what to eat and how it improved animal health, soil health, the quality of meat and milk, and was also better for consumers.
 

43 Tracking a whale carcass

Research Fellow in Marine Science, at Griffith University in Australia Olaf Meynecke talks to me about tracking a whale carcass around the ocean to map how wind and tides affect its movement.
 
This research will hopefully be used so that beached whales are not taken to landfill but that they can be towed to out to sea and their nutrients returned to the ocean without colliding with ships.
He talks about his latest paper 'Dead on the Beach? Predicting the Drift of Whale Remains Improves Management for Offshore Disposal', the role the nutrients of a dead whale plays in the ecosystem, the challenges they faced, why this cheaper option is not the current way of doing, he tells me about sitting in whale carcasses for arthritis treatment, the software they used to map the whale's 150km drift path, the sharks that fed on the carcass and more.
His paper https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/12/7/1156
 
All music by Jacques van Wyk