Brighter Britain! (Volume 1 of 2): or Settler and Maori in Northern New ZealandHay, W. Delisle (William Delisle)
History
Brighter Britain! (Volume 1 of 2): or Settler and Maori in Northern New Zealand
Hay, W. Delisle (William Delisle)
Ethnology -- New Zealand; Māori (New Zealand people); New Zealand -- Description and travel
Dandy Jack talks of introducing Angora goats. I do not know exactly why,
but he appears to think the project a good one. He has long ago given up
mere coaching. In fact, people began to have doubts about entrusting
themselves to his driving, though I hesitate to record such a
disagreeable matter. He joined our society some years ago, though he is
not always with us, gravitating invariably towards all the races, horse
and cattle fairs of the country. But he has set up as a horse breeder
and trainer, keeping his stud on our clearings, and thus adding another
industry to the various others of our pioneer farm. This is a good thing
for us, as Jack's horses come in very usefully sometimes, for carrying
or dragging purposes.
Our largest source of income just at present is the herd. First there is
the dairy business, which I have already spoken of. The milch cows keep
on the clearings, or near to them, and soon get tame enough to come up
when called. They are brought to the bails morning and evening, fastened
up, and given a feed of koraka. All cattle are very fond of the leaves
of the koraka-tree, and it is used to entice them with when that is
required. Of course, it will be understood that, as there is no cold
winter here, we do not require to house our cattle at any season, nor do
we need to provide them with hay or root food. They find their own
living all the year round, either in the bush or on the clearings, and
the most we do is to give them maize-stalks when we have some.
The bulk of the herd, numbering now upwards of two hundred head, runs
free in the bush. There is no native grass, as I have before mentioned,
and the feed is tree leafage. This suits the cattle, and they fatten
well upon it, though not turning out very large beasts. But the
pasture-fed cattle of the South are not in prime condition for market
during the dry-season. Our bush-raised beasts are, and this gives us a
pull.
The best part of one man's time is always taken up with stock duty. To
keep the cattle from becoming unmanageably wild, and from getting too
far away, they must be constantly driven up to the yards, and accustomed
to discipline. It is our practice to give every beast a night in the
yard at least once in six weeks. And it is also essentially necessary
to keep an eye on calving cows, for if the calf is not brought up at
once, branded, and so forth, it will be sure to turn out wild and a
rusher, and then it would have to be shot at once, to prevent its
infecting other beasts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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