Living in Wellington, it is easy to forget that this is a predominantly agricultural country in which the dairy and meat industries are the prime earners of export dollars. Easy to forget that there are no EU subsidies for New Zealand. And that its status as a “first world” nation, indeed its existence as a nation, relies on sheep and on cows. But we get occasional reminders. Today the Dominion Post business section had a large feature on bulls. Several pages on artificial insemination and the selection of sires. Including, I kid you not, an advertisement which appeared to show (it was photo-shopped – unless it was a very big syringe indeed) a hypodermic needle penetrating a bulls scrotum. You don’t get that kind of thing in the local paper back home. (And for anyone suffering under the fond illusion that this is how those gold plated sperm are extracted – let me assure you – the actual process is far less clinical.)
I was reminded of a diverting newspaper account of a local agricultural festival in a rural area, north of here. There were sheepdog trials and the like. Man-and-his-dog races. And a race – for humans, not their dogs – which involved completing the course with a bulls testicle (uncooked) in your teeth.
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