Taking on a lifestyle property can involve a sharp learning curve, but the Taieri Farm Club wants to help demystify the experience.
The club is having a ''hands-on'' workshop on a Taieri lifestyle block this Saturday.
New and prospective lifestyle property owners will be able to learn from a vet how to care for animals and practise procedures such as crutching a lamb.
Formed last year by Donald Murray, of Murrays Veterinary Clinic, and Edinburgh Reality director Peter Wilson, the club was aimed at ''demystifying'' the care of animals for people new to the rural setting.
Mr Wilson said more people than ever were leaving the city for a piece of ''rural paradise'', but there was a lot to learn.
The club aimed to make it ''easier'' for people to make the transition from city to country life by teaching them the skills needed to look after animals.
''People who buy lifestyle properties want to enjoy them,'' he said.
''They don't want to walk off after a year and go 'that was the hardest year of of my life, I don't understand any of it'.''
Even simple things such as where to buy hay could be a mystery to people who did not come from rural backgrounds.
Workshop topics would include sheep drenching, horse care, how to look after chickens and what to do with a ewe that has sleepy sickness.
People interested in going the workshop on Mr Wilson's Factory Rd lifestyle property could contact Mr Wilson on 027 4327-489 or by email at peter@edinburghrealty.co.nz.
