Ask 22-year-old Michelle Osborne what she thinks of working in the high country and the answer is quick and succinct - "bloody good".
"Get out, get a few dogs and really enjoy yourself," she told pupils attending the Omarama Bark Up at Omarama Station.
More than 80 year 11, 12 and 13 pupils experienced some of the many career opportunities available, with industry professionals running a wide range of interactive modules.
Brought up in the Gore area, where her father managed properties, Ms Osborne worked on an intensive sheep farm for nine months after leaving school before working at Mt Aspiring Station for three years.
She has been a shepherd on Lake Ohau and Ben Dhu stations since November last year and it is a lifestyle she clearly enjoys.
"I love being outside. I can't stand sitting inside - it would do my head in."
She was quick to point out that it was not just a male industry and being a woman was no barrier.
"If anything, it probably makes you work harder and do it better. Put your heart to it, you can do anything," she said.
Ms Osborne, who has a team of three working dogs and a pup, enjoys the scope offered by working in the high country.
One of the advantages was working in places where people came to holiday "and you get to live there".
Second placegetter in the Perfect Woman competition in Wanaka last year, she plans to enter again this year.
Long-term, managing a property was an option but, in the meantime, she planned to "just keep doing what I'm doing".
Richard Subtil, who runs Omarama Station, a 12,000ha sheep and cattle property, with his wife Annabelle, urged those attending the Bark Up to make the most of the opportunity and to ask questions.
"There's a whole heap of people here really enthusiastic to see you," he said.
Farming was still the backbone of New Zealand and the aim was to open young peoples' eyes to the variety and opportunities that existed.
It was "not just about driving a tractor" - there were so many different roles.
"We're just showcasing the opportunities that are there, trying to give people maybe a tiny nudge . . . [that] it's worth thinking about," Mr Subtil said.
There had been a lot of focus on the dairy industry in recent years but sheep and beef farming offered just as many opportunities.
With the rise of corporate farming, moving up through the ranks to manage multimillion-dollar properties was a great career opportunity.
It was planned to make the field day an annual event, held at different locations, Mr Subtil said.
Tom Waldron, from Lone Star Farms, said the industry needed keen young people.
Agriculture was changing and, with demand from customers at the end of the supply chain, those involved needed to be innovative as well as thinking about sustainable farming and environmental sustainability.
He saw the Bark Up as being critical for the development of young people into the agricultural sector.
Some astute young people were asked to be involved with the day, to portray agriculture as an exciting industry in which to be, he said.
Omarama Station's new stock manager, Brad Clouston (32), was passionate about farming, saying he "wouldn't do anything else".
It was an industry where you had to start at the bottom, but "the bottom doesn't actually last that long".
Brought up in Central Otago, Mr Clouston has worked on properties in Canterbury, Central Otago and Northern Southland.
Wanting to get back on a property which ran merino sheep was one of the main attractions for moving to Omarama.
Dog trialling was one of his interests and he was hoping to qualify two dogs for the New Zealand sheep dog trial championships in Gore next year.
Lake Ohau Station manager Simon Inkersell, who gave a dog-handling demonstration at the Bark Up, had "absolutely no regrets" about choosing farming as a career.
He said he enjoyed working with animals and had met some great people.
"So far, it's been a pretty satisfying career. There's a lot of opportunities," he said.
Meat and Wool New Zealand's OutStanding in the Field programme manager Jo Jensen, who attended the Bark Up, was thrilled it had been farmer-driven.
OutStanding in the Field initiatives also encouraged young people to consider pursuing a career in sheep and beef farming and related service industries.
"It's so exciting farmers wanting to open up their properties and their minds to having 100 kids running around their farm all day.
It's just so healthy that these kinds of programmes can gather momentum on their own," she said.
When Waitaki Boys High School head of agriculture Brent Maw took a group of pupils to a similar field day at Omarama Station five years ago, they largely went to get a day off school, he recalled.
But on the way home and in the subsequent days, "we couldn't shut them up".
"They were just full of it . . . just overawed by life, life on a high country station. They were just blown away and these guys will be no different," he said, indicating a group he took to this year's Bark Up.