At first glance cows and bees don't seem to have much in common, but dairy farmer turned beekeeper Grant Engel says there are more similarities than you think.
"They're just like little herds, essentially in boxes," Engel told The Country's Jamie Mackay, "They all need to be treated like mini farms. They've got their own health issues and genetic issues ... all sorts of management things similar to livestock farming."
Engel started out as a dairy farmer but was drawn to beekeeping when he was milking cows in Northland which he says "is a popular place for doing honey."
Although bees can sting you, Engel says it's only if you stand on them and that his Italian bees have a "pretty good temperament."
Engel won an innovation award at Fieldays in 2013 for his Mobile Honey Harvester which allows bee keepers to extract honey straight from the hive instead of transporting frames to an offsite processor.
