Find all your New Zealand livestock farming books, New Zealand Dairy Farm Books, Sheep Farming, Pig  and Beekeeping Books Here

Shear Hard Work brings to life the noise and bustle, the long days and hard work, and the extraordinary men and women of the New Zealand shearing industry. From the 1850s, when shearers were disparaged as the 'very dregs of the colonial democracy', to the present day when New Zealand shearers set world records and shear sheep around the globe, shearers have played a defining role in New Zealand life. Historian and former wool classer Hazel Riseborough has travelled from Merino stations in Central Otago and high-country blade sheds in Canterbury, to competitions and to the women's world record attempts at Waikaretu and Mangapehi, to tell this great New Zealand story for the first time. Dr Riseborough brings us the history of shearing in the words of the shearers and shedhands, wool handlers and classers, cooks and contractors who work in the sheds, compete at the shows and set the records. She chronicles key changes in the industry - from the mechanisation of shearing to the expansion of the shearing season and the shrinking of the New Zealand flock. She explores the changing culture of shearing, the role of Maori and women, and how the efforts of Ivan and Godfrey Bowen helped professionalise the industry. And she looks at those things that persisted - the challenge and competition of life in the shearing shed and the glory of being the 'ringer', the fastest shearer on the board. Shear Hard Work takes us into the country's rural heart and introduces us to some extraordinary New Zealanders who are on the job at 5 a.m. and who sweat their way to shear brilliance.

Agriculture in New Zealand is the largest sector of the economy, contributing about two-thirds of exported goods in 2006-7. For the year ended March 2002, agricultural exports were valued at over $14.8 billion. The New Zealand agricultural sector is unique in being the only developed country to be totally exposed to the international markets since subsidies, tax concessions and price supports were removed in the 1980s. Pastoral farming is the major land use but there are increases in land area devoted to horticulture. New Zealand is a member of the Cairns Group which is seeking to have free trade in agricultural goods.

Practical Organics is a down-to-earth, accessible guide to farming the organic way. It will be hugely useful to farmers and others who are setting up or converting and managing a farm using organic methods. It is written in three parts - understanding, experience and beyond. Topics include: the soil - minerals, soil tests, worms and microorganisms; the plants - photosynthesis, plant analysis, pasture species and weeds; the animals -- health, ruminants, horses etc; changing to organics -- liming, fencing, fertilising, management, weed management, animal medicine, stock handling, problems; going official - certification; marketing; conservation. There is also a useful quick reference section with frequently asked questions.

The Henty brothers were pioneer settlers from 1834 at Portland Bay. The journals tell of the lives of four young men variously engaged in farming, whaling and coastal shipping, providing a record of the introduction of well-ordered English farming methods to a new land as well as a whaling logbook.

 

 

Click Here to search for more New Zealand Farming Books at our bookshop