When cattle take to the highways

Barrie Gordon: “I’ve seen a lot of changes.”

01-05-2010 | Barrie Gordon

The factors effecting the movement of beef cattle around the country are many, varied and ever-changing.

These things conspire to change "the market", the availability of quality beef, and interrupt chains of operation.

The major factor is the weather. Beef animals follow the grass, much like the way the aboriginal people followed thunderstorms and old time Australian cattlemen tracked the flow from monsoon rains. In New Zealand, the circumstances are different but the principles are similar.

In more than 60 years of observing the year-to-year movement of beef cattle, particularly in the North Island, I've seen a lot of changes.

Traditionally, beef cattle were established on hill country with the main purpose of crushing fern and scrub, developing pasture and controlling feed quality for sheep which were the biggest money spinners.

Several breeds were tried; Shorthorns were used initially on the East Coast, then replaced with Angus and Herefords as the main breeds.

On the larger stations, steers were retained until three or four years of age, then sold and moved to richer pastures in places such as Hawke's Bay, Manawatu, the King Country, Waikato and South Auckland

Numbers of herds increased rapidly after World War II as hundreds of returned soldiers were granted land under the rehabilitaion scheme across the country and the Government Land Development scheme on Central Plateau scrubland.

A typical "Rehab" farm carried 800 breeding ewes and 60 breeding cows, numbers considered to be an "economic" unit. Steeper blocks carried 1200 ewes and around 100-120cows.

All this added production led to a massive increase in beef calf numbers; weaner fairs at places like Matawhero had to instigate a three-day series of sales with up to 10,000 steer calves the first day, 6000-7000 coloured steers the second day, and 4000-5000 heifers on the final day.

Traditionally drought-prone regions like Gisborne-Hawke's Bay and theWairarapa were normally net exporters of cattle and the large autumn and spring fairs saw large numbers of animals move towards the grass. Moving them was accomplished in three ways.

Many hundreds walked, hundreds took a rail journey and a few were loaded on to "lorries" - but truck companies were not allowed to compete with the rail system so could not cover long distances.

The sight of several hundred bullocks trudging their way along our roads and highways was common. Most mobs would comprise 300-400 head for one-man drives and up to 600. These huge mobs certainly kept the roadsides clean but caused frustration for county roadmen whose hand-dug drains were trampled out of existence.

As road traffic increased during the 1960s and 70s, tensions grew as motorists encountered the mobs.

Picture a white-shirted salesman, desperate to keep an appointment to sell his toothbrushes, held up by 300 big black bovines. Honking and tooting his way through, he caused havoc. The boss drover, slumped in his saddle rolling a smoke might give a barely heard whistle and "Beau", "Bounce", and "Ben" would set up a cacophony of noise which would pile the monstrous cattle up around the man's car. They would peer at his purple face as the drover, rolling his fag to the other corner of his mouth, would ride away saying: "Jus try'n to help ya, mate!"

Today, cattle are transported to their new homes in as many hours as it once took weeks - and sometimes mobs spent months on the road. "I don't want them home until the grass grows!"

Year 2009-2010 has presented many problems as unprecedented drought has afflicted the Far North, creeping like an incurable disease down through Auckland and the Waikato, spreading into the Bay of Plenty, and now affecting more southern districts.

Thousands of cattle from the Far North have followed a rather different path to the usual and ended up in Hawke's Bay and Manawatu and even into the Gisborne region. It is understood around 75% of local trade cattle for the Auckland regional market come from the Far North.

Senior livestock representatives from many North Island provinces are commenting on the changes and the effects on the market.

Climate change, if that is what it is, has resulted in normally dry Hawke's Bay having one of the best summer-early autumn growth rates for years. Manawatu and Waikato also had good growth rates and Gisborne had sufficient heavy rainfall to produce good autumn pasture. It, too, has absorbed a lot of cattle.

These ebbs and flows are reflected in auction values, "auction" still considered by many experts to be the best way of marketing cattle.

Younger animals have brought some great returns for vendors, the series of weaner sales conducted around the island producing per head figures not seen often. Rising two-year steers and heifers also fetched great prices as expectation of a great autumn encouraged buyers.

Then, it changes. As the expectation of real rain fades, so do prices - the endless cycle.

Underlying all this, there appears to be a belief that beef values will be good in the future and we all pray that that will be so. Most of us firmly believe we should be building the great beef herds that disappeared when pine trees went in.

Then there is the burgeoning dairy industry, which after what looked like bringing a bonanza, has stuttered and stammered. Certainly that industry is contributing to supplies of beef via boner cows and the crossbred calves dropped in their thousands; the "whiteface" Hereford/Friesian cross has become a popular purchase by "weight-gainers".

On a positive note, stud stock agents report that there are some truly magnificent sires awaiting the annual bull sales across the country - opportunity knocking?

The movement of cattle across the country is a fascinating study which would require a tome to cover.

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