Skip to main content

Kōrero: Beef farming

Cows in a swamp

Image
Cows in a swamp

In the early days, farming cattle was less profitable than sheep, as there was only a small market for their meat. Cattle were mostly run where sheep could not be grazed successfully, such as in swamps and bush country. This painting, probably from the 1860s, shows cattle grazing swamplands by the Hororātā River, near the Canterbury foothills.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: E-501-f-005

by Theodore Octavius Hurt

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Robert Peden, Beef farming – 19th-century beef farming, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/artwork/17325/cows-in-a-swamp (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Robert Peden, i tāngia i te 1 March 2009.