"I’ve never been able to pass a dog without stopping, so having one at home always felt inevitable for me. Once we had the land and the lifestyle, we started looking for the right dog. My partner enjoys going out after ducks, so I Googled "best duck retrieving dog New Zealand," and that's how we found him, a Toller (Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever).

I flew up to Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city, to get him. His grandfather is Halley, so it felt fitting when we finally narrowed the exhaustive list of dog names on my phone down to Harvey. Jan, his breeder, gave us a puppy feeding pack to get started with, and since then we’ve made the decision to provide Harvey with premium New Zealand-raised dog food to fuel his active country life.

Sustainability is an important consideration for us, so when we have a choice, we make it with that in mind—pet food included. We've also done regenerative planting on our property to build biodiversity, which really aligns with Silver Fern Farms' sustainability and 'nature positive' approach.

I was a little concerned that Harvey was going to dig up the new plants, but he's not shown signs of that yet! I'm looking forward to introducing him to our next season of lambs. Maple, Pancake, and Pikelet are big, scary sheep to him now, but I'm sure he will enjoy playing with the new flock."