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Story: Beef farming

Cattle farming in the North Island

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Cattle farming in the North Island

This idealised view shows a North Island farm around the start of the 20th century. The hills have been cleared of most of the heavy bush cover, and Mt Taranaki (Mt Egmont) can be seen in the distance. Stockmen on horses are moving a mob of cattle, while sheep and cattle graze in front of the homestead. However, the reality of bush farming was often rather less idyllic.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: D-009-025

by William Shaw Diedrich Schmidt

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.

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How to cite this page

Robert Peden, Beef farming – 19th-century beef farming, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/17326/cattle-farming-in-the-north-island (accessed 11 June 2026).

Story by Robert Peden, published 1 March 2009.