Ali Pugh's animal antics FAMILY, FAME & FARMING

We join the TV star and her whanau in the country for a project close to her heart.

- Fiona Fraser

There’s one song on high rotate in Ali Pugh’s household and it’s the timeless nursery rhyme Old MacDonald Had A Farm.

It’s Heidi’s absolute favourite,” smiles the mum-of-three. “It’s a big hit! If we’re driving through the countryside, we’ll pop it on and make all the noises – and because we often have conversations about where our food comes from, she’s convinced that Old MacDonald has since opened a burger chain.”

In fact, Ali says, if the family ever pop into McDonald’s for a meal, “she insists on calling it Old McDonald’s! It makes sense to her that all the ingredients have come from his animals and his gardens.”

So it was a fantastic treat for her three girls – Thea, six, Heidi, three, and nine-month-old Jemima – to join the Christchurch-based TV NZ reporter and former Breakfast presenter on a real farm as she filmed a segment for a brand-new project.

The New Zealand Agricultural Show 2021 Special celebrates our wonderful Kiwi farming communities in an uplifting hour-long TV event that brings the iconic Canterbury agricultural show – a casualty of COVID-19 for the second year running – to life.